THE DEFINE STAGE

Students use convergent thinking strategies to synthesise and make sense of research data. They review, categorise and summarise new information in order to clarify or reframe the problem at hand. Using these insights, students develop a brief in which they identify a client and their communication need/s, and detail the purpose, context, audience or users as well as a list of constraints. These design criteria are used to evaluate the success of design ideas.

DETAILS

You will need to show evidence of a number of methods and evaluative, convergent thinking strategies for your define stage, this will involve things such as research of existing solutions, empathy mapping, stakeholder mapping, surveys and inspiration and insights which are specific to an area of interest or a specific design field, the purpose of these pages is to create a detailed set of information which will inform a brief.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of the define stage is to boil down, critically evaluate and filter all of the information captured in the discover stage of the design process, to work towards breaking your problem down into specific objectives and measurable goals. The findings of the define stage are to be turned into a design brief.

Visual example

Criteria 1

Criteria 2

Criteria 3

Criteria 4

Criteria 5

Criteria 6

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Criteria 8

THINGS TO CONSIDER