Introducing Design Fabrication - Assessment 1

26/2/2025 - 28/3/2025
Week 1 - Week 5
Jia Ern Ng n12332208
DYB 121
Introducing Design Fabrication
Assessment 1

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INSTRUCTIONS

Assessment 1: Design Fabrication Documentation

Task overview

This assessment requires the creation of a 7-page A3 digital workbook that documents the design process, material explorations, iterations, fabrication specifications, and reflections for three hands-on design fabrication challenges. The purpose is to demonstrate an understanding of the iterative design process, material behaviour, and the ability to communicate design outcomes clearly and professionally.

Although the challenges are carried out collaboratively in studio workshops, the workbook must be completed and submitted individually.

Fabrication Challenges

The following challenges are completed during scheduled workshops using pre-assigned materials:

Challenge 1: Paper

• Material: 80gsm paper
• Task: Design and build a functional floatation vessel
• Explores lightweight structural integrity and water resistance

Challenge 2: Cloth and Foam

• Materials: Repurposed cloth garments and polystyrene foam
• Task: Design a functional accessory (e.g. bottle or cup holder) and incorporate tactile qualities
• Focus on combining soft and sculptable materials and testing with users (blindfold test)

Challenge 3: Sheet Material=

• Materials: Cardboard and foamcore
• Task: Create a protective case for a fragile object
• Focus on precise construction, structural support, and drop testing

Length

The digital workbook must be 10 x A3 pages in length, comprising of a combination of written and visual content. This includes: 

• 1 x A3 title page 
• 2 x A3 pages for each of the four design fabrication challenges
• 1 x A3 with your reference list (APA formatting)

Refer to Task Instructions and Submission Information for further details.

Assessment details and deliverables

What you need to do

Design Fabrication Challenges in studio:

You must complete four unique design fabrication challenges over four studio workshops. The challenges must be completed in your assigned groups during your allocated studio workshop time. You will be limited to using a pre-determined material to complete each challenge.

1. Paper

When: Week 2 workshop

What: Material explorations + floatation vessel + ‘functional test’

Materials: 80gsm paper

2. Cloth

When: Week 3 workshop

What: Material explorations + ‘accessory’ for water bottle or cup + ‘user test’

Materials: Repurposed cloth

3. Sheet Material

When: Week 4 workshop

What: Material explorations + fragile object case + ‘drop test’

Materials: Cardboard and foamcore

4. Subtractive Material

When: Week 5 workshop

What: Material explorations + tactile form + ‘blindfold test’

Materials: Polystyrene foam

Designers use a variety of virgin and repurposed material to prototype and test ideas. To reflect this, virgin material will be used for some challenges while in others you will source repurposed material. A variety of tools will also be required to complete the design fabrication challenges. Please see the ‘Materials and Equipment Needs’ list in the Unit Overview Module on Canvas for all the required materials and tools. Additionally you will also need to provide your own sketching material (e.g. pencils, pens, plain A3 white paper) and scanner (phone camera with appropriate app) for developing and documenting your ideas. Refer to Canvas for further details about each fabrication challenge.

What needs to be documented for your Digital Workbook submission:

Your digital workbook documents the process and outcome of each design fabrication challenge done by your group in the workshop. This is to be completed individually (i.e. each student creates their own unique workbook) outside of workshop time, but document the work of all group members. A combination of visual and written content should be used to produce your workbook (e.g. augmented photographs, digital and/or analogue sketches, annotations, diagrams, explanations, etc.). Each page should be clearly presented containing relevant title/subtitles, your name and page number. The software used to create the digital workbook should be InDesign (preferred) or PowerPoint/Keynote (for non-design students), NOT Photoshop or Word or Canvas or any other software. Your document must be submitted as a single 10 page PDF with all text highlightable and readable by our plagiarism software, Turnitin (refer to Submission Information for details). 

 It must be 10 x A3 pages in length (1 x A3 title page + 2 x A3 pages per challenge + 1 x A3 reference list page). 

Submission:  

Complete Exercise Sketchbook. Note that each progression to be drawn on 2000 X 3000 pixels 150 dpi 16:9 ratio landscape for weekly practice.  

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SUBMISSION: