Learning Resources

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Outcomes

In this lesson you will learn

  • the role and responsibilities of clients in a design enterprise
  • the purpose and uses of contracts in a design enterprise
  • document all work in your design portfolio

Students will

  • develop understanding of the role of clients and contracts in design
  • write a design brief
  • conduct investigation and research to aid in developing a communications technology solution
  • identify a variety of solution options
  • create criteria for assessing the options
  • use the criteria they created to assess their solution options or ideas
  • based on their assessments, identify a solution for further development

Introduction

During this stage of the design process you will prepare the groundwork for actual development of the solution.  There are 7 parts to the process

  • Clients and Contracts
    • This is a look at the whole issue of design as a process involving client (who has the need or want) and designer (who develops a satisfactory solution).  In this instance , the teacher will server as a form of client, you will be the designer.
  • Write the Design Brief
    • The design brief is used in business as a binding contract between client and designer.  In this case, the design brief will define the nature and scope of your design activities, and will be determined by you and your instructor
  • Conduct Investigation and Research
    • This activity will give you background information on similar issues, solutions, and available resources that you will need for decision making later on. 
  • Identify Solution Options
    • This is a idea generating activity.  It's purpose is to identify as many different ideas for solutions as you can.  Variations on an idea don't count as different ideas.  The goal is to find at least 5 different ones
  • Establish Assessment Criteria
    • Assessment criteria are used to rate each idea.  For example, it is important to know the time required to construct the solution. You will need to identify a number of criteria
  • Apply the Criteria-Assess the Solution Options
    • Each criteria is given a numerical value of 5.  For example, an assessment criteria called Time Required could be used and each idea rated from 1 to 5 depending on how long you thought it would take to develop.
  • Specify the Solution to be Developed
    • This part is straightforward.  Based on the assessment you did in the previous step, you will pick one of the ideas for development.  You will need to say why you picked this idea.

Prerequisites

To be successful in this part, it would be helpful to

  • be familiar with FrontPage
  • be familiar with the design portfolio
  • have completed design stage 1