Critical Evaluation of Technology in Design Decisions

Weigh it up first

A good designer never just picks the first idea. They critically evaluate it first, weighing the factors that will make or break the design. Critical evaluation means judging an idea against real constraints and asking hard questions before committing. We will run one brief through the whole module.

The design-decision factors

Before committing, a designer weighs several factors. Each one is really a question, and a decision is only evaluated once all of them have been asked:

Read the brief

A school asks for 200 identical desk tidies, made in the school workshop, ready for September. "No more than £3 each" is a question about _____. "Ready for September" is about _____. "200 identical ones, in the school workshop" is a question about _____ capability. And "students will keep pens and rulers in it" tells you about the _____.

When the factors disagree

Same brief: 200 desk tidies, £3 each, ready for September. The best-looking material would cost £7 a unit and takes six weeks to arrive. What does a critical evaluation do here?

• Weigh the factors against each other, and choose a material that meets the budget and the deadline even though it is not the most attractive
• Use the best-looking material anyway, because appearance is what users notice first
• Abandon the project, because the brief cannot be met exactly as written
• Choose the cheapest material available, whatever it is like to use

Scenarios that drive new tech

New and emerging technologies usually answer a real need. Five drivers the specification names: - Natural disasters: rapidly deployable shelters, water purification. - Medical advances: prosthetics, monitoring devices. - Travel: cleaner, faster transport. - Global warming: renewable energy, low-carbon materials. - Communication: faster, wider connection. A warning worth having early: how a product WORKS is not the same as what DROVE it. A monitor that sends data over a network is not a communication technology; it is a medical one that happens to use a network.

Which driver?

A hospital develops a wearable band that monitors a patient's heart rhythm continuously and alerts staff over the ward network the moment it changes. Which scenario is mainly driving this design?

• Medical advances: it exists to detect a health problem sooner than a nurse could
• Communication: the band sends data across a network
• Travel: it lets the patient move around the ward while monitored
• Natural disasters: hospitals are needed most in emergencies

What evaluation actually looks like

Everybody writes something in the evaluation box. The difference between a weak one and a strong one is visible in a single sentence:

Which are evaluations?

Five sentences from a design folder. Tap the TWO that are NOT critical evaluation.

• This material is strong enough, but at £7 a unit against a £3 budget we need an alternative.
• I chose this shape because I like the way it looks.
• Injection moulding would give us 200 identical parts, but the mould alone would take eight weeks.
• This is the best design because it is the one I thought of first.
• The supplier is fair-trade certified, which matters because the charity funding this asked about worker conditions.

The ethical questions

A critical evaluation is not finished when the budget balances. Four questions belong in every one: - Where and by whom was it made, and in what conditions? - Who benefits, and who might be harmed or left out? - Is it fair trade: are the workers paid properly and treated safely? - Is it sustainable: will it still be doing more good than harm in twenty years? These are not a box to tick at the end. A design that is cheap, fast and unethical has not passed the evaluation; it has failed a question nobody asked.

Name the concern

Asking whether the people who made a product were paid properly and worked in safe conditions is a question about _____ trade. Asking whether it will still be doing more good than harm in twenty years is a question about _____. Asking who gains from a product, and who might be worse off because of it, is asking who _____. And asking where and by _____ it was made is usually the question that opens all the others.

Weigh the decision

A charity needs 10,000 low-cost water filters for a disaster zone, and it needs them fast. Work through the design decision.

• On BUDGET, you should...
• On TIMESCALE, you should...
• On ETHICS, you should...

Write the evaluation

A company is deciding whether to switch its packaging from plastic to a plant-based alternative. The new material costs 40% more, and cannot yet be produced fast enough for their busiest season. Critically evaluate the decision.

• Name at least TWO factors that pull in different directions here
• Give the ethical question this decision raises, and say who it affects
• Say what you would need to find out before deciding
• Reach a judgement, and say what your answer depends on

Evaluation frame

Critically evaluating a design means weighing factors like _____, timescale and the _____ it is for, and being able to say which of them gave way. New technologies often respond to scenarios such as natural disasters or _____ warming. A designer should also ask _____ questions, like whether a product is made under fair-trade conditions.