Lesson content: Setting the design brief

Lesson 1: page 1

Homework:To work on / complete questionnaire for the site visit

Key words: Design brief, mood board, specifications

Learning Objectives:• Understand a design brief• Recognise the importance of a mood board in the creative / design

process• Understand market research as an opportunity to hone designs

Lesson activity

Starter Introduce the lesson and subsequent three week project to the students

Explain that they will be responding to a design brief set by The London Eye and that in order to respond properly to the brief, the project will require a trip to The London Eye in week 2

Explain and discuss the key objectives of this lesson:

• To understand the design brief fully

• To set out a set of specifications for their capsule design

• To understand the background to why the capsules need updating

• To create a questionnaire which is encompassing enough to extract key details from visitors to The London Eye which students can use to inform their design process

• To understand what a mood board is, and why it is a useful creative tool

Q+A to clarify any issues with starter questions

Task 1:Understanding the design brief

• Refer students to Worksheet 2: Design brief and specifications

• In small groups, students should analyse the design brief and then discuss it with their group

• Students should then pull out the key points of the brief and write them on the worksheet

Task 2:Specifications

• Using Worksheet 2: Design brief and specifications, students should draw up a list of specifications for their design

• Remind students that these should be a list of things for them to remember and follow as they are designing

Lesson content: Setting the design brief

Lesson 1: page 2

Lesson activity

Task 3: Mood board

• Introduce students to images of The London Eye capsules (as they currently look). Plus photography of the capsules as they have previously been themed before. These are displayed in slides 2-5

• Explain that the significance of the 32 capsules is that they are reflective of the number of boroughs there are in London• Students should be assigned groups for this project, and each group asked to select a borough. For the purposes

of fairness, the boroughs (as presented on Information sheet: Choose a London borough) can be cut up, folded and placed inside a box so that groups can select these blind

• Using your ICT suite, students can create a mood board to reflect their chosen London borough. They should be encouraged to select as many images as possible to assist them with their design ideas

If timing is an issue, this task can be left out – although ensure that groups are assigned a London borough by the close of this lesson

Task 4:Questionnaire

• Students should now be encouraged to create a questionnaire for use at The London Eye in week 2• Highlight the opportunity this affords for students to fine tune their specifications and extract key learnings from their

target market• Students should think about the type of information they need carefully as they are forming their questions. This is

not necessarily an opportunity to flesh out feedback about the types of things they can include from their chosen borough, but can be a chance to understand some of the more functional preferences such as seating, ventilation, communication systems, sustainability, visual and audio displays etc within the capsule design

• Use this as an opportunity to discuss open and closed questions / quantitative and qualitative methods and which is best for the type of information they require

Q+A to clarify

Task 2:Specifications

• Recap aims and design brief• Prep for lesson / week 2 – explaining this will be at The London Eye• Reminder that students will need multiple copies of their questionnaires for the trip (plus other stationery, clipboards etc)• Logistical information relating to the site visitQ+A to clarify

Information sheet: Choose a London borough

Barking and Dagenham

Bromley

Enfield

Haringey

Hounslow

Lambeth

Redbridge

Tower Hamlets

Barnet

Camden

Greenwich

Harrow

Islington

Lewisham

Richmond upon Thames

Waltham Forest

Bexley

Croydon

Hackney

Havering

Kensington and Chelsea

Merton

Southwark

Wandsworth

Brent

Ealing

Hammersmith and Fulham

Hillingdon

Kingston upon Thames

Newham

Sutton

Westminster

Worksheet 2: Design brief and specifications

Brief Specifications

The London Eye has been operational for more than 10 years. In spite of its success, the client (The London Eye / Merlin Entertainments) would like to refresh the design of the capsules. The new capsule designs must be based on one of the 32 London boroughs and reflective of the cultural make-up of the borough. Designs will be judged not only on their creativity but functionality and sustainability too.

Below are questions which will help you focus on different areas of your design.1. How will your design reflect your chosen London borough?2. How will your design be sustainable?3. How will you ensure that your design is functional?

List below the key points from the brief

Make notes around the following points and how you will consider these areas in your design:

Ergonomics Inclusive for all

Aesthetics Matching borough

Client Target market

Lesson content: Visit to The London Eye

Lesson 2

Homework:To write up key findings in bar chart / pie chart and conclude questions from the questionnaires

Key words: Questionnaire, market research, sustainability

Learning Objectives:• Be able to analyse information gained from research• Understand the 6Rs (Re-think, Re-use, Recycle, Repair, Reduce,

Refuse) and be able to apply them to real life products

Lesson activity

On-site briefing • Reiterate that students will take their trip on The London Eye and be given some information regarding the capsules which they should listen carefully to

• The talk content will look at some of the hurdles the design team had to overcome when building the capsules and will also touch on some of the more recent sustainable developments that have been made

• Explain that following the trip on The London Eye, students will be asked to complete their questionnaires with members of the public. It should be clarified that students should complete questionnaires with their respondents away from the exit of The London Eye (for safety reasons). The area around the tension base of The London Eye is the preferred location for this exercise

• Safety briefing / meeting point in the event of being lost and Q+A to ensure instructions understood

London Eye trip and 4D experience

• Students can be encouraged to take photographs inside the capsule to help inform their designs when they are back in the classroom

Short activity: The 6Rs

• While students are taking a break, ask them to work in small groups and attempt to match the 6Rs to their correct definition using Worksheet 1: The 6Rs

• Students should then be encouraged to consider why they think this is relevant in the 21st century

Main activity: Research

• Working in small groups in the area around the tension base of The London Eye, students should attempt to run through their questionnaires with c. 10 respondents that have just exited The London Eye

Worksheet 1: The 6Rs

Re-Think

Re-Use

Recycle

Repair

Reduce

Refuse

Match the word to its correct definition

When a product breaks down or doesn’t function properly, try to fix it

Take an existing product that has become waste and reprocess the material to use in a new product

Don’t use a material or buy a product if you think you don’t need it or if it’s unsustainable

Ask whether we can sustain our current way of life and the way we design and make

Take an existing product that’s become waste, and use the material or parts for another purpose without processing it

Minimise the amount of material and energy you use

Lesson content: Design your capsule

Lesson 3

Homework:Students should finish their designs if not completed during the lesson

Key words: Client, model, objectives

Learning Objectives:• Develop teamwork and communication skills through collaborative work• Develop design skills and use these to present your work in a well

communicated manner• Be able to reflect on research to create a suitable design

Lesson activity

Starter • Re-cap on the brief set in Lesson / Week 1

• Discuss the trip to The London Eye and talk about the information students have gathered for their project

• Introduce the task for the day and the equipment / safety information students will need to understand prior to commencement

• Q+A to clarify any issues

Task 1:Design a capsule

• Working in their appointed groups from lesson 1 students should work together to design their capsule based on the brief and informed by the research they have gathered using Worksheet 1: Design a capsule

• Students should convert their 2D sketches to isometric drawings if they have time

• If resources are available and students are able, design can be undertaken as a CAD task

Q+A to clarify

(For kinesthetic learners, this task can be delivered as a modelling activity)

Plenary • Discuss why modelling is a beneficial part of the design process. Explain that during the process of designing The London Eye, architects commissioned the construction of a 1:1000 scale model, incorporating the stretch of London from Buckingham Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral. This model helped to visualise how The London Eye would look as part of the London skyline

Q+A to clarify

Worksheet 1: Design a capsule

Draw a side view of your capsule here Draw an aerial view of your capsule here

Lesson content: Presenting your design to the client

Lesson 4

Homework:n/a

Key words: Evaluation, presentation, critique

Learning Objectives:• Understand the importance of evaluating and how obtaining other

peoples’ opinions can improve design work• Develop teamwork and use these skills to organise a presentation• Improve communication skills by delivering a presentation to an audience

Lesson activity

Starter • Discuss how this lesson will run and outline the scoring and learning objectives

• Working in their small groups, students should be given five minutes to discuss their presentations. Any ICT support should be arranged at this stage if students are using a laptop to deliver their presentations

Task 1:Client presentation

This activity can be conducted in one of two ways:

1. Groups should be given a five minute slot to deliver their presentations to the rest of the class (ensuring that each student be allocated a section to present)

2. Groups could be paired up so that they are feeding back to smaller groups of students (and each group only has to listen to one presentation). At the end of the presentation they are listening to, students have to give feedback

• In either scenario, the ‘audience’ group should play the role of the client

• Presentations should be marked using the sheet provided (Worksheet 1: Scoring sheet) and scored according to whether the team successfully met and answered the brief

Task 2: Self evaluation

• Following feedback from their classmates, encourage students to compare their final designs to their design brief and specifications – thinking about the project outcomes, strengths and weaknesses

• Students should suggest areas for improvement

• Students can use Worksheet 2: Self evaluation to complete this

Plenary • Discuss learning outcomes

• What have students learnt from this project?

Worksheet 1: Scoring sheet

Group name Creativity Relevance to London borough

Presentation skills Total

Mark the presentation out of 10 0 = poor 10 = excellent

Worksheet 2: Self evaluation

Can you list three skills you have progressed during this project?

Make a list of things you think went well

What has been the most enjoyable aspect of this project?

In the space below sketch any improvements you would like to make to your design

1.

2.

3.

List any suggestions for things that could have been improved?