General advice about the Major Design Project HSC Outcome H4.1 identifies a need or opportunity and researches and explores ideas for design development and production of the MDP

The following advice gives suggestions only and is not prescriptive. Suggestions may prove useful in the planning, development and documentation of Major Design Projects.

The Major Design Project should be approached in a manner suggested by its name, that is a Design project.
The student should decide upon a broad area of interest and identify a need, a want, or a desire, and, using a design process, develop clear specification of this need or want and develop, through research the desired end result.

The SUCCESS of a design process approach depends on the effective use of evaluation throughout the project. It starts with evaluating research data, continues throughout design development and project realisation and concludes with a final evaluation of the project. Where possible, 'keep it simple'. A complicated project is not necessarily a better project.

The QUALITY and appropriateness of the design solution is relative to the identified needs.

Teacher - student negotiation of a suitable Major Design Project is imperative. Students should be encouraged to develop a SELF-MOTIVATED, independent and responsible approach to developing all Design Projects. Many people will eventually be involved, in some way, in the project development. These include the student who will do the project, the parents who will support and generally fund the project, the teacher who will help facilitate the project, the experts who may assist with and evaluate the project and finally the HSC examiners who will mark the project. They will all contribute in their own way to the success of the Major Design Project.

Usually Major Design Projects will use GRAPHICS throughout the process of designing and producing. It will be usual for students to include some form of graphics in their folios. Making graphical representations is an important way for students to visualise their ideas and to develop concepts. When preparing graphics to convey information to others, it is important that the form of graphics is tailored to the audience and suits the intended purpose, eg communicate detail, present a design concept, or explain a sequence of operations. Styles, conventions or standards should be used where they are meaningful and where they are appropriate to the audience.

The Syllabus can accommodate students who wish to develop Major Design Projects to the stage of making drawings and/or models. In this case, the REALISATION of the project will be the drawings and/or models. For instance, few students will be able to produce structures that are part of the built environment. Bridges, multilevel structures, schools, parklands for example would be beyond the scope of production expected from students. These students may present their projects as a series of scale drawings that conform to recognised standards in addition to models, real or virtual. In developing projects to the stage of drawings, students must recognise that they need to demonstrate their capacity to use drawings to design and communicate the concept and the detail of the product, system or environment. In most instances this will require a range of drawing types or forms.
The FOLIO is the means by which a Design Project can be successfully managed. The development of the folio should occur throughout the designing and producing of the end result and not be something that is created as an afterthought, once the end result is realised. A wellplanned project allows a student to work independently.

To assist in the development of their folios, students should keep a DIARY that will help provide evidence of the designing and producing of their Major Design Project. A diary allows for forward planning and provides a means of documenting accurate and specific details in the order in which they take place (not broad and vague statements like 'I continued working on my project'). Students should keep all working documents in a folder, no matter how rough or unsuitable they may seem at the time. This will provide information for use in the folio presentation. This document should tell the whole story of the designing and producing of the Major Design Project, from an initial sketchy concept through all steps of trialling and production to the evaluation of the end result.

WORD PROCESSING can be a great time saving activity when used in the development of a design folio. Data is put in once only, and grammar and spelling are easier to correct. Data can be moved around for final formatting and final presentation can be greatly enhanced. It is not mandatory to word process folios, but those students with such skills should make use of them. Photographs tell a story by visual means.

Students should not be blinkered in selection of traditional projects and presentation techniques. They should try to be ORIGINAL in their approach to their Design Project even if they are modifying an already existing design. Teachers should not stifle student innovation and creativity with their own pre-conceived ideas. Early on in the development of a project divergent thinking is paramount. Students should be allowed to investigate concepts and draw their own conclusions. Student - teacher negotiation will always be necessary.

The CASE STUDY can be carried out in areas that have particular relevance to each student's Major Design Project. This gives them an insight into the relevant area of investigation, contacts in the related area who may be able to help with identification of resources, and access to specialised skills, materials and equipment and enable an evaluation of the industrial and commercial practices.

Some Design Examples: