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Project Example

Soap Powder Dispenser

These pages are meant as a guide for prospective candidates of Design and Technology, they are not prescriptive nor cover the full range of tasks that a candidate would complete to fully satisfy the examination criteria for a Major Design Project.

Note that each of these examples has a title, the title for a project should not be fully determined until the needs have been identified. Someone who sets out to design a bridge, may find that a tunnel is a better solution!

Project Proposal and Project Management / 15
Project Development and Realisation / 35
Evaluation / 10

Project Proposal and Project Management / 15

Identification and exploration of the needs

Consider social and environmental costs of overuse of soap powder.
Consider financial costs.
Survey market to see if product type is viable and seek needs of customers.

Areas of Investigation

total consumption of soap powder in Australia
number of washing machines
materials, tools, techniques
existing solutions
environmental impact of detergents
possible benefits of a new system
washing machine requirements
potential user requirements
possible systems
accuracy mechanisms

Criteria to evaluate success

derived from the needs
minimise environmental impact
ease of use
low cost
mass production possible
accepted as a normal practice
methods of measuring the above criteria will be developed
analyse the functional and aesthetic criteria

Selection and use of ideas and resources

Select the best ideas to use from a range.
Select the better resources from those investigated.

Action, Time and Finance Plans and their application

Use a flow chart to show the plan for the time management of the required actions.
Create different versions, which are dated to show the change in planning as it occurs.
Use a separate line graph running beside the flow chart to indicate budget and how it is expended.
On the finalised version add photographs and drawings to indicate the progress of the project and how the time management has been applied.
Break the folio up into chronological sections each relating to part of the flow chart.

Identification, Selection and the Justification of resources

Identify resources for research phase from the phone book and the Internet.
Resources for the manufacture stage will be found by word of mouth, visiting plastics manufacturers and injection moulding tooling suppliers.
Aim to use several suppliers for each resource so that a sensible selection can be made and justified.
Use a card system to write down all of the resources, contact made with suppliers, experts and others

Project Development and Realisation / 35

Documentation of research, experimentation and testing of design ideas, materials, tools, techniques and the application of conclusions.

Research will involve the development of a range of prototypes and the determination of the correct "dosage" for washing machines and the mechanism by which this will be dispensed.
Experiments will be with mechanisms and processes to construct the prototypes.
Testing will be of prototypes to see if they meet the criteria.
Records of visits to factories and other experts will be kept on tape and a summary provided in hard copy.
The flow chart will show the application of conclusions and how they are applied.
Prototypes will be dated with an attached document indicating what was learned at each stage.
Refined designs will be market tested.
Later prototypes will be shown to manufacturers and detergent companies to see if the ideas are viable.

Consideration of design factors relevant to the major design project

Develop an analysis of the range of factors that are involved in the design of a soap dispenser.
Brainstorm from existing soap dispensers, materials, properties, usability, mapping and ease of use.

Use of communication and presentation techniques

Use environmentally friendly paper.
Desktop publish as much as possible using a standard page layout.
Include evaluation, planning and diary on each page.
Create separate displays for each prototype.
Make signs of the comments made by expert evaluators and put them on the display.
Have a working prototype to explain the concept.
Explain all of the communication methods used.

Evidence and application of practical skills to produce a quality project

Manufacture a quality prototype.
Make many prototypes in a range of materials, showing a range of model making skills.
Make 3D CAD models of each prototype.
Have a pattern maker or professional model maker assist and give an evaluation of the quality of the prototypes.
Take photos of each prototype and keep all developmental exercises as evidence.

Evidence of creativity - ideas generation, degree of difference and exploration of existing ideas

Create as many ideas as possible and develop the detail of each of these ideas.
Be innovative in the product itself and push the limits of the materials.

Consideration of the practices in industrial/commercial settings as they relate to the major design project

Do a separate study of the processes, techniques and methods used in the product design industry to design similar dispensing constructions.

Evaluation / 10

Record of Evaluation procedures throughout the Design Project and the application of that evaluation

With the separate display of each prototype, include reference to its evaluation and the development that occurred as a result of it.
Evaluation will be a part of every page, so that time, actions, product, functional, aesthetic, societal and environmental aspects can be discussed as the project progresses.

Analysis and Evaluation of Functional and Aesthetic aspects of design

Create two charts showing the aspects of such a product which are functional and which are aesthetic. Include these in the ongoing evaluation.
Compare this product with others like it in terms of function and aesthetics.
In a comparison of current methods of dispensing soap powder and the redesigned method evaluate the aspects which are functional and which are aesthetic.
Have potential users complete a questionnaire after trialling late prototypes focussing on the functional and aesthetic aspects.

Record and application of evaluation procedures throughout the design project

Be able to show and justify the actions you have taken after evaluating aspects of your project

Final Evaluation with respect to design criteria and impact on society / environment

Calculate the percentage benefit of the new system over the old methods and its consequent environmental benefit.
Measure the benefit to society as a result.
Photograph the improved laundry environment with this system in use.

Relationship of PSE to the Proposal

Revisit the original proposal and highlight the advantages and any disadvantages of this new system.