Communicating Design Solutions

Drawings are for somebody else

This topic is a list of six named things. Sketches in two dimensions with notes. Sketches in three. Sketch modelling. Exploded drawings. Mathematical modelling. Flow charts. Learn the names, the reasoning goes, and you have revised it. ⚠️⚠️ THEN THE QUESTION ARRIVES AND THE COMMAND WORD IS PRODUCE, WHICH WANTS A DRAWING RATHER THAN PROSE, AND KNOWING THE NAMES TURNS OUT NOT TO BE THE SKILL AT ALL. ⭐⭐ THE EXAM NEVER ASKS YOU TO NAME A TECHNIQUE. IT ASKS YOU TO CHOOSE ONE, AND EACH OF THE SIX EXISTS BECAUSE IT ANSWERS A QUESTION THE OTHERS CANNOT. Look at the title of this part of the specification. Communicating design solutions to a third party. ⭐ A THIRD PARTY IS NOT YOU. THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS IN YOUR HEAD, THEY ARE NOT ADMIRING YOUR DRAWING, AND THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT AFTERWARDS. Everything follows from that. Somebody choosing between your ideas needs to see what each one is and why you did it that way. A quick flat sketch with notes beside it does that better than anything else, and the notes are doing at least half the work. Somebody who has never seen the thing needs to know what it looks like. That is what a three-dimensional sketch is for, and it is a poor way to explain why you chose the material. Somebody who has to put it together, or take it apart to repair it, needs to know how the parts relate. An exploded drawing shows exactly that and is a great deal of effort if assembly was never the question. ⭐ SOMEBODY WHO NEEDS TO KNOW WHETHER IT WILL FIT, HOLD OR BALANCE NEEDS THAT SETTLED BEFORE ANYTHING IS BUILT, AND A CALCULATION SETTLES IT. A number that answers a question is a message too, which is why mathematical modelling belongs in a topic about communication. Somebody running a process needs to know what happens in what order, and what to do when a check fails. That is a flow chart, and nothing else on the list can carry a decision point. ⭐⭐ AND SOMEBODY WHO NEEDS TO KNOW WHETHER IT WORKS IN THE HAND CANNOT BE TOLD BY ANY DRAWING AT ALL. THAT IS WHAT SKETCH MODELLING IS FOR, AND IT IS THE ONE ITEM ON THIS LIST THAT IS NOT A DRAWING. ⚠️ NOTICE THAT NONE OF THOSE SIX IS BETTER THAN THE OTHERS. EACH IS THE RIGHT ANSWER TO A DIFFERENT QUESTION, AND THE WRONG ANSWER TO THE OTHER FIVE. Carry one question through everything that follows: what does the person receiving this need to be able to do afterwards?

Six techniques, six receivers

Each technique set out by who it is for, what it lets them do, and what it is bad at. None of them is better than the others.

Tap the two a drawing cannot answer

Tap the TWO questions that no drawing on this list can answer, however well it is done.

• Is it comfortable to hold for a long time?
• Will it stay upright when it is loaded on one side?
• What does the finished thing look like from the front?
• In what order do the parts come apart?

Choosing for the wrong reason

Asked to communicate an idea to a manufacturer who will assemble it, a candidate produces a carefully shaded 3D sketch. Why does that score below what it should?

• Because it answers the wrong question: the receiver needs to know how the parts fit together and in what order, which is what an exploded drawing shows and a 3D view does not
• Because shading is not an accepted technique at this level
• Because 3D sketches take too long to produce in an exam
• Because 3D sketches cannot carry notes

The six, named precisely

Five of the techniques, each defined by what it is. The last two are the ones candidates most often describe loosely.

Match each receiver to what they need

Two that follow from the receiver

Select the TWO statements that follow from the technique being chosen by what the receiver has to do.

• No technique on the list is better than the others: each is right for one question and wrong for the other five
• Notes beside a sketch carry a large share of the marks, because they say what a line cannot
• A 3D sketch is the most advanced technique and should be used wherever there is time
• Sketch modelling is on the list by mistake, since the topic is about drawings

Answering a produce question

The command word here is usually PRODUCE, and the grade-9 note for this topic says so plainly: the expected response is a drawing or a diagram rather than a paragraph. That changes how the time is spent. ⭐⭐ READ THE QUESTION FOR THE RECEIVER BEFORE YOU DRAW A LINE. Somebody is named or implied in almost every one of these questions: a client, a manufacturer, a user, an operator. What they have to do afterwards chooses your technique, and choosing it deliberately is worth more than drawing beautifully. ⭐ THEN ANNOTATE, AND ANNOTATE THE REASONS RATHER THAN THE PARTS. ⚠️ A NOTE SAYING HANDLE IS WORTH NOTHING, BECAUSE THE DRAWING ALREADY SHOWED A HANDLE. A NOTE SAYING WHY IT IS THAT SHAPE, THAT MATERIAL OR THAT SIZE IS WORTH A MARK, BECAUSE THE DRAWING COULD NOT SHOW IT. KEEP THE DRAWING FAST AND THE THINKING VISIBLE. ⭐ NOBODY IS MARKING YOUR SHADING. A ROUGH SKETCH WITH FOUR GOOD NOTES BEATS A BEAUTIFUL ONE WITH NONE, EVERY TIME. AND IF THE QUESTION IS ABOUT A PROCESS RATHER THAN AN OBJECT, STOP SKETCHING AND DRAW A FLOW CHART. A process has an order and usually a decision in it, and no pictorial drawing can carry either. ⚠️ THREE HABITS THAT COST MARKS HERE. ⚠️ THE FIRST IS REACHING FOR THE SAME TECHNIQUE EVERY TIME. Most candidates default to one kind of drawing and use it whatever is asked, which means they answer perhaps one question in three with the right tool. ⚠️ THE SECOND IS WRITING PROSE WHEN THE COMMAND WORD SAID PRODUCE. ⭐ A PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING WHAT YOU WOULD DRAW IS NOT THE THING THAT WAS ASKED FOR, AND IT IS SLOWER THAN DRAWING IT. ⚠️ AND THE THIRD IS LABELLING INSTEAD OF EXPLAINING. Labels name; notes justify. The specification wants the second. One last thing. If you genuinely cannot decide between two techniques, ask which one the receiver could act on without asking you a follow-up question. That is usually the answer.

One sketch, and the notes that saved it

A candidate is asked to communicate an idea for a device that holds a book open on a desk, to somebody choosing between three designs. Nothing here is a real product and no dimensions are given, because the point does not need them. They draw the thing flat, from the side, in about a minute. It is a rough drawing. Lines are not straight and two of them do not quite meet. ⚠️ AND IT SCORES WELL, WHICH SURPRISES PEOPLE. Here is why. Around the drawing they have written four short things. Beside the base: wide and heavy so it does not tip when the book is opened at the far edge. Beside the arm: bends rather than hinges, so there is no joint to wear out or trap a page. Beside the surface that touches the page: soft material, so it holds without marking the paper. And at the top, one line: intended to work with a paperback as well as a hardback, which is why the arm is adjustable rather than fixed. ⭐⭐ NOW LOOK AT WHAT THOSE FOUR NOTES HAVE IN COMMON. NOT ONE OF THEM NAMES A PART. EVERY ONE OF THEM GIVES A REASON. ⚠️ A NOTE SAYING BASE WOULD HAVE BEEN WORTH NOTHING. THE DRAWING ALREADY SHOWED A BASE. ⭐ AND EVERY ONE OF THOSE REASONS IS SOMETHING THE PERSON CHOOSING BETWEEN THE THREE DESIGNS ACTUALLY NEEDS. They are not admiring it. They are deciding, and a reason is what a decision runs on. Now imagine the same candidate had spent the whole time on the drawing instead: careful lines, shading, a bit of perspective, and no writing at all. ⚠️⚠️ THE PERSON CHOOSING WOULD HAVE A PICTURE OF SOMETHING AND NOT ONE REASON TO PREFER IT, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY CAME FOR. ⭐ THE GENERAL POINT IS WORTH MORE THAN THE EXAMPLE: THE DRAWING SHOWS WHAT IT IS, AND THE WRITING SHOWS WHY. THE SECOND IS THE PART A DRAWING CANNOT DO, WHICH IS PRECISELY WHY IT IS WHERE THE MARKS ARE.

Order the way to answer

Put these six moves into the order that turns a produce question into a good response.

• Find who the drawing is for, named or implied in the question
• Work out what they have to be able to do afterwards
• Choose the technique that answers that, rather than your usual one
• Draw it quickly, without spending time on shading
• Annotate with reasons rather than with the names of parts
• Check that the receiver could act on it without asking you a follow-up question

Assemble the note that earns a mark

This is the shape of an annotation worth writing. Assemble it.

Check it before it is built

A shelf is to be supported by brackets. The question tells you the shelf must carry a load of 24 kilograms spread evenly, and that each bracket is rated to carry 10 kilograms. Using those figures only, how many brackets are needed at minimum?

The communication run

Five questions on choosing the right technique. Three lives.

Complete the communication facts

A drawing with the parts separated along the lines they come apart on, showing how they fit together, is an _____. Making a rough physical version in cheap material to test an idea by handling it is _____. Using calculation to check whether a design will work before anything is made is _____. A diagram of a process in order, able to show a decision point, is a _____.

Three briefs, three choices

Three questions, each naming somebody who will receive your work. Choose what to produce for each, and say why.

• A manufacturer will assemble your product from a box of parts and has asked how it goes together. What do you produce?
• A client cannot decide between your three ideas and wants to know why they should pick one. What do you produce?
• A candidate says that whatever the question asks, a detailed 3D sketch is always the safest answer because it shows the most. Is that right?

Justify what you would produce

You have designed a folding stand for a tablet. Three different people need to be told about it: a client choosing between your ideas, a manufacturer who will assemble it, and an operator running the making process. Explain what you would produce for each and why, referring to what each person has to be able to do.

• State the question that decides which technique to use, in one sentence
• Say what you would produce for the client, and what they have to be able to do with it
• Explain why notes matter more than the quality of that drawing
• Say what you would produce for the manufacturer, and why a pictorial view would not serve them
• Say what you would produce for the operator, and name the thing only that technique can show
• Explain why none of the three techniques is better than the others
• Finish with one check you would run on any of them before handing it over, and give no dimensions the question has not supplied