Lesson video

Hi, I'm Ms. McGoldrick and thank you for joining me today for our lesson where we write a design brief based on research.

And this lesson is part of the unit where we investigate and research a high-profile event.

So let's take a look.

So our lesson outcome for today is I can create a design brief after investigating and researching a context.

Our keywords for today are design opportunity, so finding a gap or a need where a new or improved product would be beneficial, so finding that opportunity to start designing.

Design brief, so design brief outlines the design opportunity, the objectives and the requirements of the design task ahead.

And lastly, informed, so having knowledge or understanding about a subject, and that is usually gained through doing some research.

Our first lesson outline is design brief.

So all design and technological practise takes place within context and that informs our outcomes.

So a context is a situation within which something exists or happens.

And it is the starting point for all the investigations, the analysing, and then we go on and identify some opportunities for designing.

So the context in this unit is a high-profile event and it's things like kind of large outdoor music festivals, large sporting events, a royal event.

But the main focus in this unit has been on those large outdoor music festivals.

So when we investigate a context, we start by conducting lots of different types of investigations and research tasks, things like user journey mapping.

Okay, so kind of that story boarding of the different steps involved in completing a task.

User profile, so finding out way more details about the users, the people who are directly interacting with products.

Environmental, moral, and social considerations, really key factors there that we should be looking at when kind of investigating a context.

Understanding design fixation, being aware of it is the first step to avoiding it.

Conducting interviews, completing questionnaires.

Analysing all of that data and presenting it to see where the patterns are, to see where the key kind of pieces of information are.

Design security and branding, and economic viability.

Okay, time for a check.

What is the starting point for investigating, analysing, and identifying design opportunities? Is it an idea? Is it a problem? Is it a design brief? Or is it a context? So pause the video here and have a go.

Okay, so the starting point for investigating and analysing and identifying design opportunities is a context.

Well done if you've got that right.

So designers use a design brief to define the design task.

After exploring initial investigations, the next step is to create that design brief.

And a design brief outlines the design opportunities.

So, where are the gaps where you can start designing? There is objectives in there as well and requirements for that design task ahead.

And it provides a focus for moving forward.

It's like a checkpoint, it's like a mini summary so far, it just provides that clear focus for moving forward into the designing phase and it will be unique to the task.

Time for a check.

After exploring investigations and research tasks, the next step is to create a, manufacturing plan, a specification, a design brief, or a design sketch.

Pause the video here, have a go.

Okay, so after exploring investigations and research tasks, the next step is to create a design brief.

Well done.

So let's have a look at what makes a design brief successful.

It's got to be challenging.

That doesn't mean that your design will be really complicated, a really kind of tricky, complicated kind of design, it just means there has to be a bit of challenge involved in that design brief.

If it doesn't have any challenge, then when it comes to designing, it won't lead to lots of different creativity, kind of lots of different ideas, and there might be elements of design fixation in there.

It's got to be relevant to the context, so your design brief has to reflect the context that you started with.

It's got to identify a user.

So if you have done lots of user investigations, user profiles, your design brief will be evidence of that.

You will talk about your user in enough detail to prove that you have investigated and researched into your users enough.

It's got to identify stakeholders.

It's got to provide an opportunity to design a creative and innovative design solution.

And once again, that doesn't mean, it could be that your design will be a very simplistic design.

Good design is often very simple, but there's got to be an opportunity there that isn't or hasn't really been thought of or explored in great detail before.

It's got to be non-specific, okay? If it's too specific, it leads to design fixation, and we'll talk about that in more detail in a bit.

And it's got to be informed by your investigations and your research tasks.

What's the point of doing all of those investigations and research tasks if it's not going to inform the way forward? Okay, time for a check.

Successful design briefs will be, non-specific, easy, relevant to the context, or non-informed.

Pause the video, have a go.

Okay, so successful design briefs will be non-specific and relevant to the context, along with the other kind of points we discussed just a second ago.

So let's look at a successful example of a design brief.

So Jacob here is using the context of a high-profile event and Jacob has wrote a successful design brief.

So Jacob has said, "Design an innovative and engaging solution to increase fan interaction during a large sporting event.

The design solution must support in creating memorable experiences for users.

Users are fans attending the event, including individuals, families, and groups with varying interests and ages.

Stakeholders include event organisers, sports teams, sponsors, and local businesses that rely on fan engagement for the event's success." So if we remember what makes a design brief successful, we can apply it to the design brief that we just read through.

So, was it challenging? Was it relevant to the context? Did it identify a user? Did it identify stakeholders? Did it provide an opportunity to design a creative solution? Was it non-specific? And was it informed by all the investigations and research? So as you can see, there is lots of ticks there, okay? So using that success criteria and using that to analyse the design brief, we can see that this or that design brief was successful.

Let's look at a non-example.

So Alex here says, "Design a mobile app for fans at a large sporting event to track scores and to buy merchandise.

The users are fans who own smartphones and the stakeholders are the sports teams and the app developers." If we use the same success criteria, we can see that the brief is not successful, okay? So there's our success criteria again.

If we give it a tick or a cross, we can see that there are quite a few crosses there.

Okay, so we've got a cross for identifying a user.

We've got a cross for providing an opportunity to design a creative solution, a cross for being non-specific, and a cross for being informed by those investigations and research.

So let's look at that in more detail.

So, why was that design brief an unsuccessful one? So if we look here, we're gonna take identifying a user, which was one that we crossed on our success criteria, and let's have a look why.

So it says, a user has been identified, which it did, I think it was anyone with a smartphone, wasn't it? But it was not specific enough after user investigations.

So if Alex had completed really good, a good standard of user investigations, I think Alex would be able to be more specific with identifying a user, provide more details.

So it's says, smartphone users vary, so a lot of different people have smartphones nowadays and may not have an interest in this context.

Okay, so one of the other crosses on our success criteria was to be informed by those investigations and research.

So a lack of detail in the design brief implies a lack of quality in those investigations and research tasks.

The brief is not fully informed by credible evidence.

So in your design brief, you are proving that you have done lots of investigations and research to give you really good quality evidence to move forward in a particular way.

Another cross was providing an opportunity to design creative solutions, and kind of it was an app.

So many apps already exist, including news and sport apps that inform users of scores, so this design brief is encouraging design fixation, and that is the opposite of being innovative, okay? So lots of apps already exist, that is a challenging thing to do to create an app.

But design fixation is kind of fixating on one idea and kind of going forward and not exploring lots of different opportunities.

And that relates to being non-specific here as well.

So the design brief is not open enough, it's too specific to provide wider opportunities for creative designing.

So by naming or saying that you are going to design an app, you are design fixating and you are being way too specific, which will restrict creativity and give you less opportunities to start designing.

Okay, time for a task.

So you are going to read the design brief below.

So there it is.

After you've read the design brief that Jacob has wrote, you're going to move on and you're going to decide if the design brief is successful or unsuccessful and you're going to use that success criteria that we have talked about already.

So, is it challenging? Is it relevant to the context? Does it identify a user, stakeholders? Does it provide an opportunity? Is it non-specific? And is it informed? Then you are going to use this table below, okay? And any that you have cross that you think is unsuccessful, you are going to explain why.

So an example has been completed here.

So I looked at the design brief that Jacob wrote and I thought that it didn't provide an opportunity, so I crossed that one on the success criteria, and then I had to think why.

So I thought about this design brief is encouraging design fixation.

So it specifically names a backpack, so it names a product that Jacob is going to design and make.

And that product is an existing product and it's widely used and known, it's widely available, so it wouldn't be a brand-new product, which is also restricting creativity.

So there's an example for you.

So read through the design brief, decide with ticks and crosses on that success criteria if it's successful or unsuccessful.

And then for the unsuccessful points, provide a reason why.

Have a go at the task, we'll come back for some feedback.

Okay, so some feedback.

So I've read the design brief and then I've decided, right, okay, there's not many that have ticks, so there's not many that are successful.

So I've put a cross for challenge, so it lacks challenge.

It does have a tick for being relevant to the context.

Once again, cross for identifying a user and then cross for the rest of the success criteria as well.

So that design brief that Jacob has wrote is an unsuccessful one.

But why? So let's have a look here.

So, is it challenging? We spoke about a little bit already about the fact that it is a backpack, so Jacob mentions very specifically that he wants to design and make a backpack.

So a backpack is an existing product that is widely used and known.

It would be difficult to make, but in terms of coming up with a design, it would be a really easy thing to do to just copy existing designs, so it wouldn't provide enough challenge.

Identifying a user.

The user is identified in the brief, but it's not specific enough, it's lacking in detail.

And the same with the stakeholders.

Stakeholders have been identified, but they are not specific enough, and could be stakeholders for lots of things, not just specifically backpacks for festivals.

Does it provide an opportunity? This design brief is encouraging design fixation.

This was the example, so we've spoke about that already.

Lots of backpacks exist and they're out there widely used, widely known, so it isn't a new created product.

And is it non-specific? So once again, Jacob mentions the fact that it is a backpack, so the brief is too specific and does not allow room for creativity when designing.

The brief says the design will be a backpack that can hold everything.

Once again, that's just being a bit too specific.

And is it informed? So the lack of detail in the design brief, the lack of user detail, the lack of stakeholder information, the lack of kind of leaving it open for creativity in lots of different design opportunities, implies a lack of quality in investigations and research tasks.

So the brief is not fully informed by credible evidence.

So our second lesson outline is create a design brief.

Let's have a little recap from that first lesson outline.

Okay, so designers use a design brief to define the design task.

And a design brief outlines that design opportunity, so it outlines how we can start designing, and it's got objectives in there and it's got requirements for that design task.

It should be unique to the task and it should be informed by those initial investigations and research.

Okay, time for a check.

Fill in the blanks.

So a design brief outlines the design, what, objectives and, what, of a design task.

Pause the video, have a go.

Okay, so a design brief outlines the design opportunity, objectives, and requirements of a design task.

Well done if you got both of those right.

So we can use that same success criteria, okay, from the lesson outline one, and we can use that same success criteria to help us write a design brief this time instead of analysing if it's successful and unsuccessful.

So there we go, that should look quite familiar to you.

Let's have a check.

How can you avoid fixation when writing a design brief? Can you conduct lots of research? Can you be non-specific? Can you be specific? Or can you conduct a minimal research? Pause the video, have a go.

A way that you can avoid design fixation when writing a design brief is to be non-specific, to keep it open for opportunities for creativity.

Let's have a look at a task.

So using our context of a high-profile event, you are going to write a relevant design brief that could be used to define a design task.

And of course, we need to use that success criteria to do it.

So using that success criteria below.

Okay, time for a task.

So using our context of a high-profile event, so a large outdoor festival, a large sporting event, a royal events, try and draw on your experiences.

If you've been to a high-profile event, fantastic.

You might have watched one on the TV, you might just be aware of one, but you are going to use that as a context and you are going to write a relevant design brief that could be used to define a design task.

So you are going to use that success criteria and you're going to write your own design brief for the context of a high-profile event.

Now, after you've wrote your design brief, you are going to analyse it using that same success criteria that you used to write it.

And you're gonna decide if your design brief is successful or unsuccessful.

Now, what what might actually be a really nice idea, if you can, it might be nice to kind of switch design briefs with somebody else in order to analyse it.

So you could do it yourself or you could ask a peer to actually decide if your design brief is successful or unsuccessful using the success criteria below.

So pause the video and you're going to write your design brief there using the success criteria.

Then you're either going to analyse it yourself or somebody else's using the same success criteria to decide whether it's a successful or unsuccessful design brief.

Have a go at that and we'll come back for some feedback.

So let's have a look at some feedback.

So Sofia here has wrote a design brief and it says, "Design a innovative and sustainable solution to improve accessibility for families with young children at an outdoor music festival." So there's the context there.

Families with young children, that's identifying the users.

"The design solution must be safe and improve the experience of families moving around the festival grounds." So that is the opportunity there to provide a creative solution.

Sofia's not being super specific there, it's being kept quite open, so a product that helps improve the experience of families moving around the festival grounds.

So there's no specific products being mentioned so far.

Oh, so more detail about users.

So users are families with young children who may be in prams or unable to walk long distances.

Young children, they get very tired very quickly and they often require to be carried around if any kind of long-distance walking is involved.

So stakeholders now include the festival organisers, security, safety and first aid teams, sponsors, and festival vendors, who all rely on user engagement and enjoyment for the festival's success.

Aisha has also wrote a design brief.

So, "Design an innovative design solution to enhance the experience, safety, and enjoyment of young people attending an outdoor music festival." So we've got a user, we've got relating to the context with their friends.

"The solution should empower the sense of independence and ensure safety in a crowded festival environment." So Aisha is not being very specific there and not mentioning a product, once again, keeping it quite open for lots of different design solutions.

"Users are young people between the ages of 13 to 17," so that's very specific about the users, good amount of detail, "who like spending time with their friends, but may find crowded places.

Overwhelming stakeholders include the festival organisers, security, safety and first aid teams, festival sponsors, and the users' parents." So they are two examples of design briefs relating to a high-profile event.

The second part of that task was to either analyse it yourself or get somebody else to analyse it using the success criteria.

So as you can see here, for both of those design briefs, they did very well, they identified all of the points on the success criteria.

So they both were challenging, they both were relevant to the context, they both did a really good job of identifying the users and the stakeholders, there's a really good amount of detail in both of them.

They both provided an opportunity to start designing in a creative way.

They both were non-specific, neither of them mentioned a product and they kept it quite open.

And with the amount of detail, it's evident that they use their investigations and research results to inform that design brief.

So both of those design briefs were very successful design briefs.

Let's have a summary of today's lesson.

So today's lesson was write a design brief based on research.

And after exploring those initial investigations, the next step is to create a design brief, and that allows designers to define that design task.

And a design brief outlines the design opportunity, objectives, and requirements of a design task.

And it paves the way forward, it focuses, it's kind of like a checkpoint, a summary at that point in order to provide some guidance moving forward.

Successful design briefs will include challenge, be relevant to the context, be open, present an opportunity, identify a user and stakeholders, and be informed by initial investigation.

So that is the success criteria of a design brief right there.

And using that success criteria can help you create a unique design brief to design, sorry, define a design task.

Okay, thank you very much for joining me today on our lesson on writing a design brief.

Thank you very much.