Design Key Concepts descriptors

Communities are groups that exist in proximity defined by space, time or relationship such as, groups of people sharing particular characteristics, beliefs or values. They could be the client or target audience that have the ‘design need or the problem to solve.  Through inquiry questions and research strategies, students consider; 

● “What is a community”? 

● “What are the communities am I member of”? 

Students consider similarities of members in terms of ideals and beliefs of the community group. Then design ‘solutions’ to celebrate or help champion or promote those groups (CAS service groups, cultural, school or even global). 

Communication is the exchange or transfer of ideas in Design. It requires a sender (designer), a message and an intended receiver (client/target audience). Communication involves the activity of conveying information or meaning. Effective communication requires a common ‘language’ which in Design is usually in visual form.Communication is the driving force for invention to become innovation.  When developing ideas, student learn a range of forms of communication such as;, using design sketches, storyboards, CAD designs and models to think through the feasibility of their ideas. More importantly those ideas are communicated ‘to others’, in particular to their chosen client, target audience and peers.

Development is the act or process of growth, progress or evolution, sometimes through iterative improvements. It is a very natural concept with MYP Design and should considered throughout the entire programme. Development occurs at every stage of the design process as the design cycle itself is not linear but iterative. All ideas need refinement, through development, to become successful, appropriate and feasible. The development of solutions allows problems to be solved with greater success.Students constantly adapt and change their plans when creating the solution, dependent on the thoroughness of their planning and, when evaluating, students develop testing methods to assess the success of the solution.

While exploring the concept of systems, students develop an awareness and understanding that everything is connected to a single system or multiple systems. Products and solutions are systems of components combined to carry out a specific function. Systems also structure processes: the design cycle is an example of a system. Students then consider all ‘systems’ with; Input-Process(control)-Output.