About

As you do research in the UNDERSTAND stage, so you will learn about your design topic. It might be the first time that you have designed such a thing, or the first time that you have designed anything at all! Therefore, you should have learnt quite a lot and gathered a lot of information about the thing that you are designing. The Problem Page (III) in the DECIDE stage, is where you note down important information about the design topic, and it is where you clearly write down ‘the problem’ that you are trying to solve in this design project.
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What you need

• A4 notepad and pen.
• Your mind map of the UNDERSTAND stage.
• Your ​​​​Questions and Answers (III) notes.

 

How it’s done

​​​​​​​On a single page, write down the answers to these questions as thoroughly as you can. The problem page will guide you as you work on the design project. The questions are about the design topic, that is, the thing that you are designing.

• About the people you are designing for:
  • Who needs the design topic* that you are designing?
  • Describe the general type of person who might use the thing that you are designing.
  • Try to be specific and name a person whom, you think, needs the thing that you are designing.
  • What do they need that thing for?
• About the thing that you are designing:
  • What is essential, that your design topic must definitely do or have?
  • What is optional, that would be nice for it to do or have?
  • What is undesirable, that it should not do or have?
• About the UNDERSTAND stage:
  • What important things did you learn about the thing that you are designing?
  • What interesting or surprising things did you learn about it?
• Write down the problem:
  • Summarise everything that you have learnt about the design topic by writing a single paragraph describing the thing that you are going to design as completely as you can.
  • Begin with the words, “I am going to design...” or “We are going to design...”

Tip

• Note that the last point, ‘the problem,’ is the most important thing in the problem page.