Design requirements (often called success criteria) are one of the most important scoring tools in the IB Design Technology IA — yet they are often written poorly. Many students treat requirements as a checklist they rush through, without realising that design requirements control testing, evaluation, and final marks.
Strong design requirements make the IA easier to write and much easier to score highly.
What Are Design Requirements in IB Design Technology?
Design requirements are clear statements that describe what a successful solution must achieve.
They are used to:
- Guide design decisions
- Structure testing
- Judge success in evaluation
Examiners rely heavily on requirements when deciding whether a solution actually meets the problem.
If requirements are weak or vague, evaluation becomes meaningless — and marks suffer.
The Most Common Design Requirements Mistake
The biggest mistake students make is writing generic or untestable requirements.
Weak examples:
- “The product should be easy to use.”
- “The solution should be durable.”
These sound reasonable, but they cannot be tested properly. If something cannot be tested, it cannot be evaluated — and IB does not award marks for assumptions.
Where Strong Design Requirements Come From
Strong requirements are not invented randomly. They should come directly from:
- The problem statement
- User needs
- Research findings
