Clarification details
Updated December 2016. This document has been updated in its entirety to address new issues that have arisen from moderation.
Research
The emphasis should be on exploring aesthetic and functional features, and evaluating their fitness for purpose for the conceptual design, rather than a list of annotations that reflect personal opinion, such as 'I like this design'. Large volumes of research that are not relevant to the design context or contribute towards generation of design ideas do not add depth to the submissions.
Functional modelling
Functional modelling should be undertaken to explore, test and evaluate the technical feasibility and social acceptability of developing ideas for the conceptual design, including fitness for purpose of the final conceptual design. The findings from functional modelling and stakeholder feedback are key in determining the fitness for purpose of selected design ideas.
Stakeholder feedback
It is expected that students would undertake feedback from more than one stakeholder. Stakeholder feedback should be undertaken throughout the development process. It should be relevant and of sufficient depth so that it allows the student to inform and confirm the selection of design ideas for the development and evaluation of the outcome. Students should be supported to undertake quality feedback.
Ongoing exploration
To access the higher grades, students should explore design ideas beyond basic features expected for an outcome. For example, HTML/CSS, font, colour, layout are basic requirements for a web design while type of material and joining systems are basic for a table.
For ongoing exploration, students should further explore or refine features that enhance aesthetics and functionality of the outcome within a design context.
Substantiate the outcomes fitness for purpose
Evaluating evidence from ongoing research, functional modelling and stakeholder feedback would provide students with better opportunity to substantiate their decisions for the selection of design ideas for the conceptual design and the potential fitness for purpose of the conceptual design.
The outcome
The final developed conceptual design that clearly highlights the selected aesthetic and functional features should be communicated after the development stage.
Although students may go on to produce the prototype or the final technological outcome itself, these are not required for this standard. However, a scaled model that clearly communicates aesthetic and functional features could be used to communicate the final conceptual design.