Communication Of Design Ideas

A drawing is not a picture of a product. It is an instruction, an argument or a question, depending on who is going to read it. A sketch shown to a client is asking is this the right idea? An exploded diagram in a flat pack box is saying this part goes here, this way up. A third angle orthographic working drawing is saying make it exactly this size, and it is the only one of the three that could be taken to court. Choosing the wrong kind of drawing is not a matter of taste; it is answering a question nobody asked.

This lesson covers every technique the specification names for developing, communicating, recording and justifying design ideas: freehand sketching, isometric and perspective; two and three dimensional drawings; system and schematic diagrams; annotated drawings; exploded diagrams; working drawings in third angle orthographic projection using conventions, dimensions and drawn to scale; audio and visual recordings; mathematical modelling; computer-based tools; and modelling by working directly with materials and components. This topic was worth sixteen marks on the specimen paper, more than any other, and twelve of those marks were for drawing rather than writing. It is examined in Section C of Paper 1.