Design and Communication
Design and Communication
This domain tests how well you communicate a design idea: analysing a brief, generating and developing concepts, sketching in proportion, rendering materials and form, and presenting work with clear layout and annotation.
Core rules
- Start from the brief: identify user, purpose, constraints and evaluation criteria, then write a short specification.
- Use crating and construction lines to keep proportion; choose one perspective or isometric system and stay consistent.
- Render with a single light-source direction; use tonal contrast to describe form rather than decoration.
- Layout: establish hierarchy, align elements, use white space, and keep lettering legible. Annotate key features, materials and dimensions.
- Communication drawings should be self-explanatory: exploded views, sequence sketches and labels reduce ambiguity.
Worked example
A brief asks for a portable desk lamp for a student. A weak response draws a stylish lamp immediately. A stronger response lists constraints - clamp or weighted base, low cost, adjustable head, USB power, safe low-voltage LED - then sketches three concepts: a folded-sheet metal arm, a gooseneck, and a hinged plywood frame. The chosen concept is developed in isometric with a light source from the upper left, so the top surfaces are lightest and the underside of the shade is darkest. Annotations name the material, joint type and adjustment range. The evaluation compares each concept against the specification rather than against personal taste.
Traps
Jumping to a final idea without a specification; inconsistent perspective; rendering every surface equally so form flattens; unreadable lettering; and leaving the viewer to guess what a sketch shows.