Section 1 New And Emerging Technologies Flashcards
Why product evolution occurs
Continuous improvement
Market pull
Technology push
Social/cultural needs
Political/environmental needs
Market pull
Designing to satisfy needs and wants of customers - consumer demand
Changing fashions and social attitudes affect what people want and it isn’t always same
Example:
Car is designed to get you from A to B,
but they have become a status symbol and luxury extras such as seat-back TV screens are added
Technology push
Research and development leads to new technologies, materials and manufacturing techniques
New technology can make a product:
Cheaper
Perform its function better
Nicer-looking
Example:
Computers started as a huge ‘adding machines’ but now microchips allow for small, fast and powerful machines
Continuous improvement
Manufactures want to make more money, increase profit
Improve design so they can be made more easily - ‘continuous improvement’
Make them as good as possible to make money, be competitive and meet standards of product quality
Reasons a product can evolve for
Social or cultural needs (For example, wind-up radios for Africans so they could listen to educational broadcasts about health concerns)
Political or environmental needs
(For example, need for environmentally friendly products such as hybrid engine cars that are more efficient)
Arts and Crafts movement
Founded by William Morris
Bases on patterns found in nature
Upright and angular
Made by skilled craftsmen
Art Nouveau movement
(Hint: flower)
Designers include Louis C.Tiffany
Flowing and curvy designs
Use floral or insect motifs
Art Deco movement
Inspired by African and Egyptian art
Bold colours, zigzag and stepped shapes, bold sweeping curves and the sunset motif
Example: Chrysler building in New York
Bauhaus movement
Movement from Germany
Has motto “form follows function”
Function is most important and appearance is second
Futuristic, simplistic and used mass production materials
Uses chrome tubing and black leather
De Stil movement
Dutch modernist movement
Basic - Uses simple shapes, horizontal and vertical lines
3 primary colous only
Well known example: Gerrit Rietveld’s Red and Blue chair
Postmodernism movement
Rejected ‘form follows function’
Put style as focus point of design
Memphis used bright, contrasting colours and different materials
Some styles contain kitsch and minimalism
Human factors
Addressing different needs and values of target groups:
Disabled users
Cultural and religious values
Age groups
Ergonomics
Anthropometrics
How products can be changed for disabled users
Braille for blind users
Buttons bigger and brighter so are easier to press and find
Products such as smoke alarms can have visible signals as well as audio ones so deaf people are alerted to fires
Instructions can be given in picture or diagram form so people with difficulty reading text can use product
Wheelchair access must be designed into busses, trains and working stations (like ATMs)
How products can be changed to suit cultural and religious values
Cater for dietary needs
Create products to suit a particular custom or celebration - Diwali uses lights
Cultures can use things differently - Japanese custom is to eat at a low table on the floor
Clothing styles can vary - it could be inappropriate to wear revealing clothing
Colours can have different meaning - Chinese brides wear red clothes for example
How products can be changed with respect to age groups
Small children or elderly may not be able to manipulate small parts such as tricky fastenings or open packaging
Elderly and infirm people may have trouble holding and using products so you could make easy grip handles
Ergonomics
How easy and comfortable a product is to use - efficiency in use
Why ergonomics are important
To fit size and proportions of the user
Improves safety, comfort and efficiency
Long-term damage to health can be caused by badly-designed products
Example:
Chair seat must be the right height off ground and support person’s back in right places
Anthropometrics
Study of human body measurements used to make products of the right size and shape
Designers use them to cater for 90% of their target market
They use percentiles between the 5th and 95th in their design so it is suitable for most users
If you lie outside of the 90% you need to have products custom made
Example:
Tennis racket handles width needs to fit the size of the average hand
Football t-shirts should be made for average torso, arm and neck sizes
Design brief and what it includes
Statement of what a product should do, a starting point
What kind of product is needed and why
How the product will be used
Functions and properties it should have
Who the product is for (target market)
Purpose of carrying out research
To find if product is needed/wanted
Find what people like/dislike about the design
Get inspired by existing designs
Find out what materials, components and techniques would be suitable for your design
Know manufacturing and selling costs
Market research
Consideration of what’s already on the market (product analysis), eg a competitor may want to evaluate the good and bad points (customer perceptions) of a mobile phone or 100% electric car against hybrid
Critical evaluation of what’s already on the market and what they would be in competition with
Identification of a gap in the market for a particular product
A manufacturer will want to know if the development of a product is viable, eg like Land Rover with the first SUV in the 1970s or more recently Nespresso with their coffee pod machines
May involve interviews or surveys
Product analysis
Examining an existing product by disassembling it
Finding out how it was made and works
See the good and bad features
Know the size and weight of the product
Know how it tastes, feels, looks or smells (sensory analysis)
How do you draw conclusions from research
Summarise your findings
Explain how that is applied to your design
Design specification
Gives certain conditions product must meet - often known as design criteria and take account of research findings
3 main design methods
Systems approach
Empirical problem solving
Intuitive designing
Features of a systems approach design method
Breaking down design process into different stages and carrying out each step in turn
Needs to be orderly and reliable
