Lesson 8 — Design for a User

Summary

Learners design and make something for a specific user and a real need — not for themselves, but for someone they can actually ask. They follow a five-step cycle — ask, imagine, make, try with the user, improve — build a simple prototype, gather the user’s feedback, and revise it. Along the way they discover that good design includes everyone, especially people whose needs are often left out.

Objectives

• Design and make something for a specific user and need, and gather feedback to improve it. (D07.S4.04.01)

Connection

Someone you know has a small problem every day — a grandparent whose hands get tired opening a jar, a younger sibling whose pencil keeps rolling away, a friend who uses a wheelchair and wishes a table were the right height. A designer does not guess; a designer asks. When you make something for a real person and let them try it, they tell you what works and what does not — and your idea gets better. This is how the things you use every day, from a cup to a ramp, were made: someone asked, imagined, made, tried, and improved.

Materials

• Building materials (cardboard, paper, tape, string, fabric scraps, recycled containers)
• Design cycle graphic

Preparation

• Print or display the design cycle graphic.
• Gather building materials and arrange a space for making and testing.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). The design cycle is a skill, so walk through it as a worked example before independent work (Kirschner, Sweller & Clark, 2006): “My user is a grandparent whose hands tire — I’ll make a fatter, softer handle for a pencil; here is my cardboard prototype; now let’s have the grandparent try it and tell me what to change.” Help learners choose a user they can actually interview (a classmate, sibling, or you). Feedback is the heart: schedule a moment when each learner asks their user to try the prototype and say one thing to keep and one thing to change. Emphasize accessibility and fairness — a design that serves someone often serves many (the “curb-cut effect”), and the best designers ask who is being left out. Keep the build simple; the thinking matters more than the finish. A learner with limited fine motor may design by directing a partner, or choose a need they can prototype with large pieces.

Procedure

1. Gather (5 min). You have made art, music, and movement. Today you make something that helps a real person — you become a designer.
2. Meet the design cycle (10 min). Look at the graphic. There are five steps:
   • Ask: who is my user, and what do they need?
   • Imagine: think of two or three ideas.
   • Make: build a first try — a prototype.
   • Try with the user: let the user test it and say what works and what does not.
   • Improve: change one thing and try again.
3. Ask (10 min). Choose your user — someone you can talk to. Ask them: “What is something small that is hard for you?” Listen, and write their need in one sentence.
4. Imagine and make (15 min). Choose one idea and build a quick prototype from the materials. It does not have to be perfect — it has to be testable.
5. Try with the user and improve (15 min). Hand your prototype to the user. Ask: “Try it. What works? What is hard?” Take their feedback, change one thing, and let them try once more.
6. Close (5 min). You did not guess — you asked. A good design serves a real person, and their feedback made it better.

Differentiation

• Support: Offer a need bank (pencil that rolls, bag hard to open, cup hard to grip) and a two-step version: make, then one improvement.
• Extension: Interview two different users and design for both, noting what is the same and what must change.
• Support (fine motor): Direct a partner who builds the prototype, or prototype with large pieces that are easy to handle.

Assessment

• Formative (observation): Does the learner design for a named user and need, build a prototype, and revise it after real feedback?
• Artifact (portfolio): The prototype (or a photo) plus one sentence recording the user’s feedback and the change made.

Home connection

At home, ask someone what small thing is hard for them and make a first try to help, then let them test it and tell you one thing to improve.

Resources

• UNESCO — design and education for sustainable development (a general frame): https://www.unesco.org/en/sustainable-development/education