Learner Resource 3: Developing a design brief (a tried and tested approach)

Introduction

Using a series of open questions, your task is to identify and write down all of the elements that will form your design brief.

By asking the questions of your stakeholder, you can write down a series of answers which will give you an open starting point to your project.

You can use videos provided by the teacher, or on as a starting point

The activity

Either in pairs or as a class, students ask a ‘stakeholder’ in a mock interview or through role play, the following questions:

  1. What do you aim to achieve in this context?
  2. What is the solution required to do?
  3. By when do you need to solution in place?
  4. How much can the solution cost?
  5. What would a successful solution feel like?
  6. What do you do currently do to attempt to solve the problem?
  7. What historically has been the solution?
  8. Are there any competitor solutions available?
  9. What do you see as the current trend in this context?
  10. Who else, beyond yourself, would want to use or have an interest in the solution?

Version 11© OCR 2017

Identifying Requirements – when delivering D&T holistically

Extension activities/questions:

In order to extend this activity, you could use video or still images of a role play scenario played out by the stakeholder.

This could involve the stakeholder or user acting out or conducting the task in front of the class, and the students recording and observing what is being done by the person conducting the role play. Questions during the role play could be asked, including areas such as:

  • How does that feel?
  • Is that easy or hard?
  • What are you concerned about as you do this?
  • What do you do to compensate for this situation?
  • What would make the biggest difference to you?
  • Who else would do this as you are doing it?
  • Can this be done differently? Etc..

Version 11© OCR 2017

Identifying Requirements – when delivering D&T holistically