Practice IB Design Technology (First Exam 2027) Topic C1.1 Responsibility of the Designer with authentic exam-style questions for both SL and HL students. This question bank focuses on the exact syllabus content for C1.1 Responsibility of the Designer and mirrors Paper 1, 2 style where relevant.
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As part of a university sustainability initiative, a team of product designers were invited to review three consumer items, analysing how each design reflects the ethical responsibilities of the designer including environmental impact, user safety, and potential obsolescence.
Figure 1: Children’s toys made from non-recyclable plastic with limited safety features
Outline two design choices in Figure 1 that raise safety concerns.
Figure 2: A smartphone with soldered battery, frequent software updates, and annual model releases
Discuss two ways that product obsolescence is intentionally designed in Figure 2.
Figure 3: A reusable stainless steel water bottle produced with a carbon-neutral supply chain
Explain how the product in Figure 3 reflects positive impact on the environment and community.
Identify which figure shows a product that demonstrates environmental responsibility.
Compare how the products in Figure 2 and Figure 3 align with the triple bottom line (TBL).
Evaluate the ethical responsibilities of designers when balancing innovation with environmental and user safety concerns across all three figures.
Datakeep once sold the floppy disks shown in Figure 1 for storing computer files. Each disk holds about 1.4 megabytes. The company stopped selling them once cheap USB flash drives, which store thousands of times more data in a smaller device, became widely available, even though a floppy disk still works.
Figure 1: A pack of 3.5 inch floppy disks.
State the type of obsolescence that the floppy disk in Figure 1 has undergone.
Outline why the floppy disk became technologically obsolete.
Discuss how the technological obsolescence of consumer electronics challenges sustainable design.
Meridian Mobile is designing a new flagship smartphone. In developing the product, the design team must balance the sometimes competing interests of the client, that is the company, with those of the community and the environment, ensure the product is safe to use, and decide how to handle the way the phone will become out of date.
(a) Figure 1: The new smartphone in use.
State one party, other than the client, to whom the designer of the phone in Figure 1 has a responsibility.
Outline how the designer could apply Kaizen to the ongoing development of the phone in Figure 1.
Explain how adherence to safety standards protects the well-being, health and safety of the phone's users.
Figure 2: Old mobile phones taken apart at the end of their life.
Referring to Figure 2, describe one negative environmental impact of discarded phones like the one in Figure 1.
Figure 3: A phone-recycling collection point.
Justify one design decision Meridian Mobile could make so that the phone better supports the recycling route shown in Figure 3.
Discuss how planned obsolescence in the phone would affect the triple bottom line (TBL).
What is the impact of neglecting user safety in product design?
What does “product stewardship” imply for a designer?