Loading subject…
Client
The named person or organisation who asks for the solution, sets the constraints and decides whether the finished product is acceptable.
Design brief
A short written statement of what will be designed, for whom, and why, agreed before any testable specification points are set.
Design problem
A single sentence naming who is affected, what they cannot currently do, and why that matters, written so it does not name a solution.
Design situation
The real context a design task starts from: a place, a group of people and something going wrong or going unmet, described before any problem has been named.
Primary research
Data you gather yourself and first hand, by asking, watching, measuring or testing, so nobody has interpreted it before you.
Product analysis
Examining an existing product against set headings such as materials, cost, size and function to work out which of its decisions you should copy, change or avoid.
Secondary research
Information someone else collected, published and interpreted first, which you find, judge and cite rather than generate yourself.
Target audience
The wider group of people who will actually use the product, described by shared traits such as age, ability, setting and habits rather than by name.