Investigating an existing product
Design & Technology · Key Stage 2 · The School
Every part is a decision
Look at any everyday object and ask, of each part: why is it that shape, that material, that size, joined that way? A drinks bottle’s ridges stiffen thin plastic. Its cap is a different, harder plastic. Its neck is wider than the liquid needs so it can be filled fast. None of that is accidental — somebody chose it, usually for a reason you can work out.
Judge it against its own job
A product is not good or bad in the abstract; it is good or bad AT SOMETHING. A cheap disposable pen judged as a gift is terrible and judged as a cheap reliable pen is excellent. Work out what it was trying to be — who for, what price, how long it was meant to last — and judge it against that. Otherwise you are just saying what you like.
What would you change?
The useful end of an investigation is a specific change with a reason and a cost. "Make it nicer" is not one. "Move the grip 2 cm lower so a smaller hand reaches it, which needs a longer moulding" is. Every change costs something — money, weight, complexity — and naming that cost is what separates a designer from a critic.
A cheap plastic kettle has a visible seam down the side and a slightly rough handle. EASY CRITICISM: it looks cheap. BETTER: the seam is where two halves of an injection mould met, which is what makes it cost £12 instead of £60. Now ask what was traded away, and whether the trade was right FOR THIS USER. Then say what you would change and what that change would cost.