Design Diaries
One challenge that design teachers have long struggled
with is to get design students to record their design
work as it progresses. This can involve keeping track
of different design iterations, tests conducted on prototypes,
or discussions among teammates. Some teachers assign
one team member the role of Scribe or Reporter, who
writes down ideas and makes sketches as designing proceeds.
The Learning By Design™ curriculum produced a
series of nine 1-page sheets (see below) that students
could use to capture key moments in their design work.
These include:
- Problem Understanding - Students
write out their understanding of the Criteria &
Constrains of the design task, and the learning issues
they must face while designing.
- Messing About Observations - Students
record observations from early prototype tests or
investigations of existing products, and supports
them writing about a product's structure, behavior
and mechanisms.
- My Experiments - Students have
a place to record sketches of prototypes, testing
procedures and results.
- Pip-Up Session Notes - Students
record ideas from other teams during a "pin-up
session" using a structured chart.
- Testing My Design - Second version
of a data sheet for recording ideas and results from
tests.
- Decision Grid - Groups wanting
help in deciding the competing strengths and tradeoffs
of different design ideas can use this chart to help
make a design decision.
- My Rules of Thumb - LBD has students
take experimental results and translate them into
suggestions for other designers that link a design
variable to a prediction of the impact of varying
it on the product's performance.
- Gallery Walk Notes - This table
helps students collect ideas from different team presentations
in a single place.
LBD™
Design Diary (9 pages) Students use these single-page
sheets to do some of the LBD™ rituals.
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