This could be a real drawing lesson!!!

Yes all.


Today's lesson is all about sketching!! You should be completing your initial ideas ready for Mr Simmons lesson on Thursday.

During the lesson today I will be coming to look at your ideas and giving you advice on how to improve your work etc. Your sketches should be full of detail, annotation and should have a little bit of colour. Even if you are doing a more 'graphic' based project, redesigning a logo, poster etc, you can still do initial ideas, see the image below for an example.

The images below show some good examples of sketching.

Well, well, well, Jack Frost was indeed your friend last week ladies and gentleman, allowing you a few extra days grace to complete your research section. This should now be done and dusted and today we are moving on. I will be popping round during today's lesson to look at your research section and offering you some advice on how it may be improved.

So whats next???

Well, first of all we need to look at specifications. The specification should tell the examiner, in detail, exactly what your product will do and what your product will have. You may want to
write about the following points in your specification;

• Function- What does your product need to do?
• Size- Are there any restrictions? Can you specify the size at this stage?
• Weight- Is this important? How will the user carry it?
• Durability- How long will the product last? Will it be exposed to any conditions that may affect its performance?
• Aesthetics- Does it need to match a particular style? Consider colour, form, proportion, pattern and texture
• Materials- What materials will be used? Do they need to have any specific characteristics, such as being water proof or easy to clean?
• Safety- The British Standards Institute produces guidelines for many products. http://www.bsi.org.uk/education
• Cost- Is there a limit to your budget? Does your product need to compete with other similar products?
• Manufacture- Does your product need to use any specific processes? What scale of production are you expecting your product to be manufactured on?
• Packaging- Does your product need to be flat packed in order to transport? Do you need to include assembly instructions for its use? Does your product need to be protected?

During the lesson I will also be talking about sketching. This is going to be the introduction to you starting your initial ideas. Once your specification is written then you can begin these. Remember the examiners are looking for "Comprehensive, imaginative and feasible ideas".

The deadline for this next section is the 28th January 2010 (End of Simos lesson two weeks on Thursday.

That's all for now......

Morning all and welcome to 2010. The next decade is a big one for you guys. It is possible that in this decade you will gain your A Levels, go to University, get a degree/s, get married, have children or buy a house!!!! Scary I know, but it just may happen......

Less of the sentimental rubbish and lets get back on with the work!!!!

The first thing I want us to do today is to mark someone elses work. The reason for me making you do this is to allow you to see how much you have done, or not done in some cases, in relation to your peers. You need to mark a persons work against the specification as stated in your As handbooks. Give your peers work a mark based on the progress they have made. This will allow them to see how much they need to do to get a improve their grade.

Remember that the official hand in date is the 7Th January (that is Thursday!!!!)

Once your work has been peer assessed then you may continue with the work in order to get it ready for the hand in on Thursday. The pages that me and Simmo are expecting to see are as follows;

• Hyperlinked Contents Page
• Analysing the situation (This should be your Situation, which is the 'background' information for you product, and your Design Brief)
• Moodboard
• Timeplan
• Research Plan
• Existing Products
• User Data collated and analysed (this might come in the form of an interview with your client, emails which you have sent to your client or surveys you have carried out. The information you collect then needs to analysed)
• Environment Research
• Primary Materials
• Research Analysis

Best of luck and we look forward to seeing your work on Thursday.