Exercise – Bring in alternative designs for a product with which the students will be familiar.

We tend to use food products for this because they are cheap and easily recognized. For example, bring in two or three boxes of chocolate assortments and prompt a discussion on the design choices that need to be made. Use the three criteria of aesthetics, usability and producibility.

The other advantage, of course, is that the chocolates can be consumed!

Teaching hint – There are plenty of opportunities to use video clips in this subject. In fact, there are several programme broadcasts on the design process itself, but, even if these are not available find a video clip that shows a product or service and then base an exercise around that.