Higher Design and Manufacture

Open and closed design briefs, research and evaluation techniques, the three specification types, four named idea-generation techniques, modelling in the design process, and graphic techniques.

Primary and secondary function, fitness for purpose, planned obsolescence, and safety standards.

Technology push and market pull, the product lifecycle, niche marketing and branding, and the three components of ergonomics.

The properties and uses of named thermoplastics, thermosetting plastics, elastomers, metals, woods, manufactured boards, and composite materials.

Fourteen named manufacturing processes with their identifying features, and three named surface finishes.

Named assembly and joining methods, one-off/batch/mass production and methods to improve it, people who influence design, and intellectual property rights.