Product Design

We would expect students to have met the expectations for entry to 6th form and to have a grade 5 in Product Design We welcome conversations with individual students about their suitability for the course.

Teachers details:

Mr D Bibbington - d.bibbington@beverleygrammar.co.uk  

Mrs P Colley - p.colley@beverleyhigh.net

Why study D&T: Product Design?

Everything around us is designed. Think about any product that you own. Someone had to spend a great deal of time thinking about how to make it work, how to manipulate it’s materials to create it’s form and how to communicate it’s function to you, the user.

Good design can improve the way we live our lives and the competitiveness of our economy. Bad design can alienate, exclude and actively harm cultures, people and the environment. It is therefore imperative that the young people of today spend time considering the principles of good design and learn how to apply these principles to their daily lives.

D&T prepares students to participate in tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. Students learn to think creatively and solve problems as individuals and as part of a team. The study of D&T helps students to respond to users' needs by developing a range of design ideas, using digital design tools, manufacturing products and systems, and building up a range of applied technical skills. It is important for creative and manufacturing industries that problem solving skills are developed. D&T is a subject that truly integrates classroom learning with the worlds of industry, digital technology and design.

Design and technology is a practical and valuable subject. It enables students to actively contribute to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of themselves, their community and their nation. It teaches how to take risks and so become more resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable. Students develop a critical understanding of the impact of design and technology on daily life and the wider world. Additionally, it provides excellent opportunities for students to develop and apply value judgments of an aesthetic, economic, moral, social, and technical nature both in their own designing and when evaluating the work of others.

At its core, D&T is about creativity and imagination. Students learn to design and make products that solve genuine, relevant problems within different contexts whilst considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. To do this effectively, they will acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on additional disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art.

Course structure

Taught over both sites of the J6, Year 12 will focus primarily on theory content and practical design projects that develop your understanding of commercial design and creative thinking as well as giving you the opportunity to hone your practical abilities by manufacturing products and prototypes. 

Subject content includes;

  • Topic 1: Materials
  • Topic 2: Performance characteristics of materials
  • Topic 3: Processes and techniques
  • Topic 4: Digital technologies
  • Topic 5: Factors influencing the development of products
  • Topic 6: Effects of technological developments
  • Topic 7: Potential hazards and risk assessment
  • Topic 8: Features of manufacturing industries
  • Topic 9: Designing for maintenance and the cleaner environment
  • Topic 10: Current legislation
  • Topic 11: Information handling, Modelling and forward planning
  • Topic 12: Further processes and techniques.

You will sit an exam assessing your grasp of these topics at the end of the course.

In Year 13 the focus shifts to your major coursework project (The NEA) that makes up the other 50% of your grade. This project is the culmination of all of your skills and knowledge in which you will identify a problem, develop a design solution and manufacture a working prototype of your concept.

Where will D&T: Product Design take me?

D&T builds a foundation in creative thinking and problem solving that will be valuable in any future learning or career especially in the creative, media and manufacturing sectors. There are a large number of higher education options and career paths that lead on from D&T: Product Design including; 

  • Industrial Product Design, 
  • Graphic Design, 
  • Architecture, 
  • Engineering, 
  • Landscape Design, 
  • Furniture Design, 
  • Interior Design, 
  • Product Engineering, 
  • Advertising, Branding & Marketing, 
  • CAD Design,
  • CNC Machine Operator, 
  • Joinery/Carpentry, 
  • Mechanical engineering, 
  • IT and Web design, 
  • Software/Game Development, 
  • Electronics, 
  • Fashion and textiles design