1.8 The Requirement for Product Design and Development

What is environment?

The impact of the product on the environment during production, use, and disposal/reuse

What is testing?

How each part of the product will be tested and the measurements that will mean success

What is safety?

All relevant safety standards and legislation

What is product life span?

How long the product should last before replacement is necessary. This includes technology push, market pull, and built-in obsolescence

What are materials?

The key material properties required for each component within the product

What are ergonomics?

How the product will be interacted with and how the design will assist the ease of use for the client/user

What are aesthetics?

Any appearance characteristics of the shape and form to meet the client’s requirements

What is performance?

How well the design must function in comparison to existing solutions

What is product cost?

All of the cost restrictions upon the design, regarding materials, manufacturing and labour costs, etc.

What is time scale?

The project deadline

What is size and weight?

All size and weight restrictions on the product including relevant anthropometric data

What is maintenance?

How the product will be maintained, Consider whether there are any consumable parts and how these will be replaced/changed

What is accuracy of production?

The use of simple geometric forms within designs increases the ease of manufacture, reducing complexity in machining and aiding the ability to produce accurate repeatable products by hand or machine. It is necessary to ensure components can be combined effectively

List the critical analysis

• Product analysis

• Perceived function

• Task analysis

• Ergonomics

• Aesthetics

• Materials

• Manufacture/process

• Scale of production

• Environmental impact

What is product analysis in the context of critical analysis?

An effective product analysis can only be completed on a product that you have direct access to, so you can interact with it. You can only assess how well a product succeeds in performing its perceived function if you have used it for the task it was designed to fulfil

What is perceived function in the context of critical analysis?

To analyse the function of a product, you must perform a task analysis, using the product and assessing its success in performing each stage of the task

What is task analysis in the context of critical analysis?

The idea of a task analysis is to break a specific task down into individual stages. By breaking the task down further, we can look more closely at how a product is suited to a particular task and if there are any elements that may be improved