Designing and making principles
What's covered
Key facts
BS 8888 is the British Standard specifying technical product documentation conventions (drawing standards) in the UK.
Design fixation is the tendency to stick with the first idea and ignore alternatives; avoiding fixation means deliberately staying open to other solutions.
Recycling aluminium uses around 5% of the energy required to extract it from bauxite ore; recycling is therefore far less energy-intensive than primary extraction.
Anthropometric data is the systematic measurement of human body sizes (height, reach, grip width, seated height, etc.). Not cultural preferences, not material costs.
Buying materials in larger volumes typically lowers the price per unit because of supplier discounts and reduced per-order overhead.
User feedback on a prototype should be gathered before refining the design — feedback informs the next iteration, not the other way around.
Aluminium is chosen over mild steel for aircraft body panels because it is lighter and naturally corrosion-resistant (forms a passive oxide layer), reducing fuel burn and maintenance.
Brazing joins metals at a lower temperature than welding — brazing melts only the filler metal, while welding melts both base metals together at much higher temperatures.
A bandsaw is not the safest tool for cutting internal curves — the blade runs continuously between two wheels and can't enter a hole; a coping saw or scroll saw is used for internal cut-outs.
Alessi is an Italian company associated with playful, designer-led kitchen products (kettles, utensils, the Juicy Salif).
Sample questions
A taste of the 194 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What is one advantage of freehand sketching over CAD early in designing?
- •It exports straight to a CNC machine
- ✓It is fast and explores many ideas quickly
- •It produces accurate, dimensioned drawings
- •It renders realistic materials and lighting
Which design strategy starts by understanding the people who will use the product?
- •Cost-down design
- •Iterative tooling design
- •Manufacturing-led design
- ✓User-centred design
Why should designers avoid combining different polymer types in one moulded part?
- •Mixed polymers always shrink unpredictably
- ✓Mixed polymers are hard to separate for recycling
- •Mixed polymers are illegal to manufacture
- •Mixed polymers cost more than the raw resin
Which of these is an example of primary research for a new product?
- ✓A face-to-face interview with potential users
- •Consulting a textbook chapter about ergonomics
- •Reading a product review on a magazine website
- •Watching a competitor's promotional video online
What is "nesting" in a CAD/CAM workflow?
- ✓Arranging shapes on a sheet to minimise waste
- •Building a wireframe model inside a solid model
- •Combining several drawings onto a single page
- •Stacking finished parts in a packaging crate
Why might a designer build an early low-fidelity prototype from card and foam rather than the final material?
- •Card and foam are the strongest mock-up materials
- •Examiners require all prototypes to use card and foam
- •Final materials are illegal to use before final approval
- ✓It is quick and cheap to test form and proportion
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