Design, 11–13 years — 20 topics · MyLeoNes™ Kuks
20 design topics written for 11–13 years — not a older text simplified. In teaching order, each a deck of five cards: the idea, why it exists, a worked example, the common trap and where you meet it.
Design · 11–13 years
The design problem
Good design starts by noticing a real need, not by decorating an object.
Criteria and constraints
A design must meet its purpose while working within limits such as size, cost, safety and materials.
Prototypes
A prototype is a quick, incomplete version made to learn what works before building the final design.
Testing and iteration
Testing reveals what really happens, and iteration means changing the design and trying again.
Designing for user needs
Good design starts by understanding the people who will use something, not by guessing what they want.
Form and function
A design’s appearance and its practical job affect each other; changing one can change how the object works.
Inclusive design
Inclusive design tries to make products and places usable by people with different bodies, senses, languages and ways of thinking.
Designing for a longer life
Sustainable design considers materials, energy, repair, reuse and disposal across an object’s whole life.
Visual hierarchy
Visual hierarchy helps people notice the most important part first. Designers create it by changing size, position, colour, spacing and contrast.
Affordances
An affordance is a clue in an object that suggests how it can be used. Good design makes the possible action easy to notice without a long explanation.
Choosing materials
Material choice links a product’s job to what a material can withstand and how it behaves. Designers compare properties such as strength, flexibility, weight, texture and water resistance.
Modular design
Modular design builds an object from separate parts that connect in a planned way. Parts can then be changed, rearranged or combined without redesigning everything.
Scale and proportion
Learn how designers make parts and objects the right size in relation to one another, whether they are drawing a room, making a model or planning a poster.
Visual balance
Learn how size, position, colour and empty space can make a design feel steady or unsettled, even when nothing is physically moving.
Colour contrast
Learn how differences between colours help words, shapes and warnings stand out, and why more colour is not always more clarity.
Ergonomics
Learn how designers fit objects and spaces to real human bodies, movements and limits, so people can use them safely and comfortably.
Sketching to think
A quick sketch helps a designer explore an idea before spending time making it neat or real.
Typography
Typography is the design of written letters so that words are readable, organised and suited to their purpose.
Icons and symbols
An icon turns an idea or action into a small visual sign that people can recognise quickly.
Grid systems
A grid is an invisible set of lines that helps a designer line up parts of a page or screen.
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