Product design is a solution-focused approach that engages with the diverse needs and opportunities of individuals, society and the environment in which we live. Product designers aim to improve welfare, which includes quality of life, by designing innovative and ethical solutions. Product design is enhanced through knowledge of social, technological, economic, historical, ethical, legal, environmental and cultural factors. These factors influence the form, function and aesthetics of products.
Central to VCE Product Design and Technologies is a design process that encourages divergent and convergent thinking while engaging with a problem. The design brief identifies a real need or opportunity and provides scope for designing, making and evaluating. Investigation and research inform and aid the development of designed solutions that take the form of physical, three-dimensional products.
In VCE Product Design and Technologies students are designer-makers who design solutions that are innovative and ethical. As designer-makers, they learn about the design industry, teamwork and the collaborative nature of teams, entrepreneurial activities, innovative technologies and enterprise. The development of designed solutions requires speculative, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, numeracy, literacy, and technacy. Students participate in problem-based design approaches that trial, test, evaluate, critique and iterate product solutions. Students prototype and test using a variety of materials, tools and processes. Throughout the process of designing and testing, students learn that innovative and ethical solutions come from constructive failure and intentional evaluation.
Knowledge and use of technological resources are integral to product design. Designers safely and sustainably transform materials into products using a range of materials, tools and processes. In this study, students gain an understanding of both traditional and new and emerging materials, tools and processes. They study and experience a variety of design specialisations and use a range of materials, tools and processes as they demonstrate technacy.
VCE Product Design and Technologies is a Study which aims to:
understand sustainability and other ethical responsibilities that a designer addresses to embed social, environmental, economic and worldview considerations when designing and creating for identified needs and opportunities with the end users
use design thinking strategies - critical, creative and speculative - in the process of product development
employ a design process to generate and communicate multiple creative ideas, concepts and product design options, using a range of visual techniques and prototypes to develop viable solutions to needs and opportunities
explore, test and use a wide range of materials, as well as explore the characteristics and properties that inform their use in a variety of contexts
practise methods of sourcing, processing, producing and assembling materials, and acknowledge their environmental, social, economic and psychological implications
develop, document and follow safe methods of working with technologies, across a range of materials, tools and processes
apply project management techniques to ensure production is delivered according to budget and timelines
analyse, evaluate and critique the appropriateness of designed products.
The structure of the study is made up of four units.
Unit 1: Design practices
Unit 2: Positive impacts for end users
Unit 3: Ethical product design and development
Unit 4: Ethical production and evaluation
Product designers respond to current and future social, economic, environmental or other ethical considerations. This unit focuses on the analysis of available materials in relation to sustainable practices, tensions between manufacturing and production, modern industrial and commercial practices, and the lifecycles of products from sustainability or worldview perspectives.
Students plan to develop an ethical product through a problem-based design approach, starting with a need or opportunity and using a design process and testing to problem-solve. The design brief, product concepts and the final proof of concept are developed through the Double Diamond design approach, using design thinking. Students undertake the role of a designer to generate, analyse and critique product concepts, with the chosen product concept becoming the final proof of concept. Throughout a design process, the product concepts and the final proof of concept are evaluated using relevant factors that influence product design, and shaped using design thinking. Students learn about ethical research methods when investigating and defining their design need and/or opportunity and generating and designing their product concepts.
In Area of Study 1, students examine a range of factors that influence the design, development and production of products within industrial settings. Students research and investigate designs across a range of specialisations that include historical iconic designs that have stood the test of time; designs with inbuilt obsolescence; products that are fast to the market; products that are designed to last its lifetime; products that have a second life through disassembly and reuse and/or designs in and with nature. They consider influences on product design when addressing ethical considerations for end users.
In Area of Study 2, students use design thinking to formulate a design brief that addresses a need or opportunity related to ethical product design, and conduct research to explore current market needs and/or opportunities. Students generate, evaluate and critique graphical product concepts (visualisations, design options and working drawings) related to ethical product design.
In Area of Study 3, students explore the physicality of product concepts through developing prototypes to select and justify the chosen product concept and a final proof of concept. Students develop a scheduled production plan to manage the resources in a design process and implement this scheduled production plan to make their product safely.
In Area of Study 1, students continue to make the product designed in Unit 3, using materials, tools and processes safely and responsibly. Throughout the production process, they monitor and record their progress during implementation of their scheduled production plan and justify decisions and modifications, if and when necessary.
In Area of Study 2, students evaluate their product and a range of existing products using criteria, data and feedback. They speculate on how designers can be future-focused, innovative and entrepreneurial by suggesting and justifying possible product enhancements and/or improvements based on this evaluation.
The student’s level of achievement in Units 3 and 4 will be determined by School-assessed Coursework (SACs) and a School-assessed Task (SAT) as specified in the VCE study design, and external assessment.
Units 3 and 4 School-assessed Task SAT: 50 per cent
Unit 3 and 4 School-assessed Coursework: 20 per cent
End-of-year examination: 30 per cent.
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Material Charges
Students will incur additional costs based on the choice of materials to be used in their individual projects.