Quick questions on Needs, wants and opportunities in QCE Design Unit 3

A want is the surface-level, expressed preference - what the person tells you they would like. Wants are easy to collect because people volunteer them, but they are shaped by what the person already knows exists. A want is a clue, not an instruction. Treating every want as a literal specification produces incremental, unimaginative designs.

A need is the underlying requirement that the want is trying to satisfy. Needs are more stable than wants and more revealing. They come in layers:

An opportunity is the gap a designer chooses to act on - an unmet need, an underserved situation, or a frustration nobody has solved well. Identifying an opportunity is a decision: from all the needs you uncover, you select the one that is most worth solving for this person in this context. A well-chosen opportunity is specific, evidenced and meaningful to the identified user.

QCAA is explicit that analysis must rest on data. You gather empathy data through interview (open "why" questions, likes and dislikes), observation (watching the person in their real context), and immersion or experiences (simulating the person's situation, such as wearing gloves to mimic reduced grip). You then analyse that data rather than leaping to a solution:

If your resolved design cannot be traced back to a need you identified here, the human-centred thread is broken.