The Design, Development Cycle

The design, development cycle is split into several stages which are outlined below:

Stage 1

The brief. Establish a time plan for your project. How long should each area of the project take? You do no want to draw for 5 weeks and have no ideas before you make a final piece. So make sure the timing is appropriate. Also, make sure you understand the brief. Identify what you can and cannot do with the specified time frame.

Stage 2

Investigating your project tittle. A mind map can help with this. Research visually and into artists. Look into historical and contemporary art pieces and see what the differences are. Research and investigating is also about taking from observation. Primary research can be from photos and drawings. All this investigation takes up an important aspect of an art project.

Stage 3

Ideas. Realistic ideas that develop through drawings and maquettes. You can create mind maps and mood boards from these. Rough sketches can aid this process. Remember to relate back to the design brief and check that you are answering what you have been asked to do.

Stage 4

Evaluating. Choosing which idea(s) to develop is very important. This choice is up to you and realisation of works and perhaps what does not work so is key to developing your project. Here there is time to review and modify your ideas.

Stage 5

Developing. Model your idea - does it work now it comes to actually making the piece? A drawing is difficult to turn into an actual piece and this needs to be addressed whilst there are times for alterations.

Stage 6

Realisation. Draw out the final design with note on how it will work and function in reality.

Stage 7

Make the final piece and review this. Photos of the piece can help here.

Stage 8

Evaluation. How does the piece meet the brief? How can it be improved? How did you over any problems? Also think about your time management and the strengths and weaknesses of the your project.