How this is scored
The same design process as every project in this course — but this mini project stops before the build. Four stages, all scored on you alone.
What's different on this one
Everything is individual. Your notebook, your drawing, your presentation, your score.
The prototype is on paper. Your scale drawing takes the place of a built model. It's scored as the Prototype stage.
There's no Iterate stage. Nothing gets built or tested, so there's nothing to iterate on yet.
Your daily work — effort, organization, being on task — isn't scored here. That lives in the daily standards.
Define the Problem
Do you understand what the client actually needs?
States the problem in your own words — who gets hurt, when, and why. Sets clear goals for a finished design. Names the constraints and picks out the one that makes this hard: blades stay in when it's upside down, with no moving parts.
Repeats the brief accurately but without interpretation. Constraints are listed, not weighed. Goals are vague.
The problem is stated vaguely or wrong. Key constraints are missing — often the one-piece rule or the upside-down test.
Research and Brainstorm
Did you look at what exists, and come up with real options?
Research notes on materials, manufacturing, and existing products, each with a note on why it matters. Measurements of all four blades. At least three genuinely different concepts, sketched and labeled, that answer the design questions. Says which concept was picked and why.
Some research, but thin or without notes. Three sketches, but they're variations on one idea, or unlabeled. The choice of final design isn't explained.
Little or no research. Fewer than three sketches, or sketches drawn after the final drawing was done.
Prototype: Pick and Draw a Solution
Could someone make your container from your drawing?
Front, top, and right side views, lined up correctly, with hidden lines showing the inside. An isometric view with no hidden lines. Drawn to a stated scale, with dimensions for anything that doesn't land on the grid. Title block filled in. The drawing makes it obvious how the blades get in and what stops them getting out.
All views are there, but some don't line up, hidden lines are missing or wrong, or the scale isn't stated. Some key dimensions are missing. You have to be told how it keeps blades in.
Views missing or not to scale. No hidden lines. The design breaks a constraint — moving parts, more than one piece, or blades that fall out when it's flipped.
Communicate
A 2–4 minute presentation to the class.
Skips the research and the project overview — we all know it. Explains the design and why it was chosen over the other concepts. Names a challenge and how it was solved. Says what was learned and what would change. Uses the drawings and sketches as visuals. Stays in 2–4 minutes.
Explains the design but not why it beat the other ideas. Challenges or lessons are general. Spends time retelling the brief. Runs short or long.
Describes the drawing without explaining it. No reasons, no challenges, no reflection. Drawings not used.
What "explains why" sounds like
This is the line between a 3 and a 5 on Communicate, so here it is out loud.
A 3: "I picked this one because it was the best idea and it looks cool."
A 5: "My first idea used a flap, but that's a moving part, so it was out. I went with a funnel that sticks down inside the box. Flip it over and the blades land in the corners around the funnel, not in the opening. The hard part was making the slot wide enough for the biggest blade — I had to redraw the top view twice."