AQA A-Level Design and Technology: Product Design core content: a complete overview of sustainability, ergonomics, health and safety and intellectual property
A deep-dive AQA A-Level Design and Technology Product Design guide to the core technical and designing and making content that cuts across the whole course. Covers sustainability and life cycle assessment, ergonomics and anthropometrics, health and safety and standards, and protecting designs and intellectual property, with the knowledge and exam patterns the written papers reward.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What the core content demands
This core technical and designing and making content is the cross-cutting knowledge that applies to every product and every design decision in AQA A-Level Design and Technology Product Design. It is not examined as a separate paper; instead it runs through both written papers and is applied throughout the non-exam assessment, where you must show sustainable, ergonomic, safe and legally aware design.
This guide walks through the four areas, then sets out the exam patterns the written papers repeat. Each area has a matching dot-point page with practice questions; this overview ties them together.
Sustainability and life cycle assessment
The first area is sustainable design, built on the six Rs (rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle) as a hierarchy, and the life cycle assessment (LCA) that measures a product's environmental impact at every stage from raw material extraction to disposal. It covers the impact of manufacture and strategies such as design for disassembly, the circular economy and ethical sourcing. The key idea is that preventing waste (rethinking and refusing) ranks above managing it (recycling).
Ergonomics and anthropometrics
The second area keeps the human at the centre. Ergonomics is the study of the relationship between people and the products they use, while anthropometrics is the body-measurement data used to size them. Designers use percentiles, usually the 5th to 95th percentile range covering 90% of users, plus adjustability, so that products fit, suit and are comfortable for the widest sensible range of people.
Health, safety, standards and IP
The final areas cover obligation and protection. Health and safety and standards covers risk assessment, legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act and COSHH, and the safety and quality marks (BSI Kitemark, CE, UKCA and ISO) products must meet. Protecting designs and intellectual property covers the four forms of protection (patents for function, registered designs for appearance, copyright for creative work and trademarks for brand identity) and why they matter commercially.
How the core content is examined
A typical profile across both written papers:
- Short-answer recall. The six Rs, percentiles, safety marks and the forms of IP.
- Applied analysis. Evaluating the sustainability, ergonomics or safety of a given product.
- Extended response. Weighing the environmental, ethical and commercial trade-offs of a design decision.
- Justification in the non-exam assessment. Evidencing sustainable, inclusive, safe and legally aware choices in your own product.
Check your knowledge
A mix of recall and applied questions covering the core content. Attempt them under timed conditions, then check against the solutions.
- List the six Rs of sustainable design. (3 marks)
- State the five stages an LCA considers. (2 marks)
- Explain what is meant by the 95th percentile. (2 marks)
- Explain why an office chair is made adjustable. (3 marks)
- State the three main stages of a risk assessment. (3 marks)
- Explain the difference between the BSI Kitemark and the UKCA mark. (2 marks)
- State what a patent protects and how long it lasts. (2 marks)
- Explain why protecting intellectual property is commercially important. (3 marks)