Product Design and Technologies (Wood focus)

Technologies

VCE

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In VCE Product Design and Technologies students are designer-makers who design solutions that are innovative and ethical. As designer-makers, they learn about the design industry, teamwork and the collaborative nature of teams, entrepreneurial activities, innovative technologies and enterprise. The development of designed solutions requires speculative, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, numeracy, literacy, and technacy. Students participate in problem-based design approaches that trial, test, evaluate, critique and iterate product solutions. Students prototype and test using a variety of materials, tools and processes. Throughout the process of designing and testing, students learn that innovative and ethical solutions come from constructive failure and intentional evaluation.

This study enables students to:

  • understand sustainability and other ethical responsibilities that a designer addresses to embed social, environmental, economic and worldview considerations when designing and creating for identified needs and opportunities with the end users
  • use design thinking strategies – critical, creative and speculative – in the process of product development
  • employ a design process to generate and communicate multiple creative ideas, concepts and product design options, using a range of visual techniques and prototypes to develop viable solutions to needs and opportunities
  • explore, test and use a wide range of materials, as well as explore the characteristics and properties that inform their use in a variety of contexts
  • practise methods of sourcing, processing, producing and assembling materials, and acknowledge their environmental, social, economic and psychological implications
  • develop, document and follow safe methods of working with technologies, across a range of materials, tools and processes
  • apply project management techniques to ensure production is delivered according to budget and timelines
  • analyse, evaluate and critique the appropriateness of designed products.

Assessment activities

  • multimodal records of evidence of research, development and conceptualisation of products as well as a reflection on collaboration, teamwork and ways to improve in the future
  • practical work: demonstrations of graphical and physical product concepts including prototyping and making final proofs of concepts along with finished products
  • records of evidence of research, development and conceptualisation of products
  • case study analyses of designers and end users that explore the influence of culture in product design
  • product evaluations and planning, including design briefs
  • exams.

Selection advice

This study has a Woodwork focus. Students may only select one unit of either Product, Design & Technology per semester.

Links to further pathways

VCE Product Design and Technologies offers students a range of relevant practical and applied experiences that can support future career pathways in design fields. These include industrial design, textiles, jewellery, fashion, interior spaces and exhibitions, engineering, building and construction, furniture, and transport. Future pathways also include careers in specialised areas of arts and design at professional, industrial and vocational levels.