Higher Design and manufacture

A short summary of how the course will unpack and what it contains. Also highlights the difference between the Higher and National 5 course.

The roles in a product design team. This explains who they are, what they do all day and how they communicate.

As far as the Higher course is concerned this is your bible. You're expected to use the information in these slides in all of your design work.

Basic colour theory to help with aesthetics.

Useful resource: color.adobe.com

How to run a factory efficiently. Course covers production planning, CAD/CAM pipelines, standard components and other tricks to make more money in a factory.

Why is there a "Ghostbusters" picture on a deck about intellectual property? Go and listen to Huey Lewis and The News sing "I want a new drug" then research the inevitable court case.

Wood, plastic, composites and metals. Plus how to answer material questions in an exam.

Descriptions of the following: Blow moulding, compression moulding, die casting, drop forging, extrusion, injection moulding, rotational moulding, sand casting.

Descriptions of common sheet processes: Line bending, blanking and piercing, press forming, vacuum forming, laser cutting

Uses and identifying features of 3D printing. A Nat5 recap of drilling and turning.

A short explanation of chrome plating, galvanising and dip-coating.

Explanations and examples of open and closed design briefs.

Gathering information from primary and secondary sources. Explanation of the different types of design research

Explanations of a Product Design Specification and Technical Specification. Guidance on how to write a high-scoring specification.

Notes about biomimicry, analogy, mood boards, lifestyle boards, brainstorming and morphological analysis. Also contains a couple of idea generation exercises.

What is idea exploration and refinement? A method is explained here where we use the Design Specification to drive exploration.

Descriptions and notes about sketch models, block models, scale models, test rigs, prototypes, computer-generated models and rapid prototyping.

Product part table, working drawings and assembly notes

A worked example of a crucial refinement exercise

This small series of lessons forces us to look at the role of a designer in protecting the environment. Three big concepts are introduced: sustainability, consumerism and the product lifecycle. It also lists some practical steps that designers can take to improve the environmental impact of their designs.