Skip to main content

← Product Design and Technologies syllabus

VICProduct Design and Technologies

Unit 3: Influences and designing for end-users

13 dot points across 13 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you turn an end-user's needs into a design brief and a set of evaluation criteria that will later judge the product?

What are the design factors, and how do the elements and principles of design, function, purpose and context shape and justify the form of a product?

How does a structured product design process, such as the Double Diamond, move a designer from a vague problem to a resolved product?

What is the role of the designer, and how do intellectual property protections such as copyright, design registration, patents and trade marks affect product design?

Who is an end-user, who are the wider stakeholders, and how does designing for real people rather than yourself change every decision in the folio?

How do economic factors such as cost, budget, scale and market demand constrain and shape product design decisions?

How do new and emerging technologies such as CAD, additive manufacturing, automation and smart materials change the way products are designed and produced?

How can a designer evaluate existing products and judge their success against sustainability, innovation and ethical considerations?

How do you generate a wide range of design ideas and then develop and refine them into resolved options using visualisations and design thinking?

How do social, economic, environmental and other factors influence the way products are designed, developed and produced?

How do you select a final design from several options, justify it against evaluation criteria and end-user feedback, and prove the concept will work before manufacturing?

What research methods uncover what an end-user or stakeholder actually needs, and how do primary and secondary research differ in what they can tell you?

What are the different scales of industrial production, and how does the chosen scale shape the materials, processes, cost and design of a product?