A Level Design and Technology: Product Design (3-D Design) helps students take a broad view of design and technology, and develops their capacity to design and make products and appreciate the complex relations between design, materials, manufacture and marketing. Technical principles They must also be able to provide detailed and justified explanations of why specific materials and combinations of materials are suitable for given applications, with reference to: • Physical and mechanical properties (working characteristics) • Product function • Aesthetics • Cost • Manufacture and disposal Designing and making principles Students should be aware of, and able to explain, different approaches to user-centred design, that in approaching a design challenge there is not a single process, but good design always addresses many issues, including: • Designing to meet needs, wants or values • Investigations to inform the use of primary and secondary data • Market research • Interviews • Human factors • Focus groups • Product analysis and evaluation • The use of anthropometric data and percentiles • The use of ergonomic data • The development of a design proposal • The planning and manufacture of a prototype solution • The evaluation of a prototype solution to inform further development