Design+Assignment

=Design Assignment=

Here are a few things that would be really usefull to look at before or throughout your design assignment.

Activity aimed at encouraging students to identify alternative uses for items featured in the Higher Product Design Assignment. Looks at the role that sketching plays in communication within design. Looks at how productive lateral thinking can be in design and the role that lateral thinking plays in technology transfer. media type="custom" key="5411847"
 * Lesson of 22nd of Feb 2010**

In the lesson of 22nd of Feb 2010, we looked at using recycled items to meet a human's basic needs. Natural disasters tend to be at their most destructive when they hit developing nations. Kevin McLoud, in his Slumbing It documentary, showed just how good developing nations can be at recycling, featuring the recycling habits of the citizens of Mumbai, India. This short clip gives a valuable insight into the practice of recycling in a developing nation. media type="file" key="Recycling Mombai2.wmv" width="300" height="300"

Although natural disasters are not only a problem for developing nations, the effects of an earthquake, hurricane or a flood tend to be more catastrophic in these nations. It could also be argued that in the immediate aftermath of a large natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, even an area in the wealthiest nation in the world can find itself functioning in third world conditions. In the lesson of 22nd Feb 2010 we looked at low tech and high tech transfer. This video from the bbc iplayer gives an example of low tech design. I think that it shows that low tech design doesn't have to be low creative design. This is worth considering when working on your design assignment 2010. []

These resources should help you understand some of the design issues surrounding this years design assignment. Although these resources have focused on lateral thinking, technology transfer and recycling these are not the only techniques to help you come up with ideas. You can look to your product design course notes for other methods of generating new ideas.