Welcome, Welcome

Morning one and all. I am very pleased to welcome you to my Blog. I will be using this blog extensively during your time studying A Level Product Design. I will be posting what you should be achieving in my lessons, any cover work if I'm not in and boring things such as marking criteria’s etc, etc.

So your first task in Year 12 was to write a 250 word article on a product that you had wished you had never brought. The assignment is described in more detail below:

Assignment One

I should never have purchased!

You are required to write a 250 word article that explains your frustration towards a product that you wish you had never purchased.

Your article can be based on any product you wish. However there needs to be a focus on FORM V’s FUNCTION.

You are required to post your article on your personal blog.

Assessment:

10 marks awarded for quality of presentation of your Blog.
30 marks awarded for the quality of the article.
10 marks awarded for the quality of written communication.

I will then mark this via your blog by adding comments to your postings. This task needs to be finished by the end of tomorrow's lesson (7th September 2010).

Peace.

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.

In my absence!!!!!!

Although I am in school today, I will sadly not be in attendance to your lesson. I might not be 'in' but I believe you have plenty of work to carry on with!!! If your thinking "what work have I got to do?", check the posting below..........

Remember I know all, like a Jedi Knight, so be warned if I sense your not working!! Let the force be with you........

As Major Project

So.... a week later and you should have an idea of the project you will be doing!!!! (we hope!)

Deadlines.....

The first deadline is your first Thursday lesson after the Christmas holidays (7th January 2010). For this hand in me and Mr Simmons need to see the following sheets in your e portfolio;

• 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

Sorry to say it but you haven't got an awful lot of time to complete it all. Including the 2 week Christmas Holiday you have just over 5 weeks!!!!

Keep strong gang, Mr T

As Major Project

Well gang, your packaging projects should have been handed in and completed. Me and Simo will be marking them over the next week or so.

So onwards and upwards......

Hopefully you will have been giving some serious thoughts to your major project. What you choose to do for your final project is an open choice. However, here are some key pieces of advice when deciding what you are going to do for your final product.

1. Find something that you are interested in!!

2. Find a real client!! If you find a person/company that actually needs something to be made then it will help you when you are carrying out the research for your product. It will also allow you to carry out an end of project interview with the client to get their view point of the product you have made.

3. Remember this A Level, not GCSE!!! It is not advisable to 'make up' a client. Neither is it OK to simply say "I'm going to make a CD rack"!!! And no Boxes!!!!!!

4. Ensure your portfolio pages are compact. Do not use a larger font just so you can fill up a page!!

The most successful products that are made at A Level are those that are simple and solve problems.

There is a lot for you to consider and we will be discussing it further during tomorrows lesson.

Peace.