Who is involved in designing and making a commercial product, and how is its design protected?
The people who influence design and intellectual property rights: the roles and responsibilities of the design team, communication between members, in-house and sub-contracted teams, and the four intellectual property rights and their features.
An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on the people who influence design and intellectual property, covering the roles and responsibilities of the design team, in-house and sub-contracted teams, communication, and the four intellectual property rights (copyright, design rights, patents, trademarks) and their features.
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What this key area is asking
The SQA wants you to know who influences the design of a commercial product and how a design is legally protected. This covers the roles and responsibilities of the people in a design team, communication between them, in-house versus sub-contracted teams, and the four intellectual property rights and their features. These appear in Section 2 and connect design to the commercial world.
The people who influence design
Their responsibilities interlock: the market researcher and ergonomist inform what to design; the designer develops it; the production engineer and materials technologist make it makeable; the lawyer protects it; and the project manager keeps it on time and on budget. A product fails if any role is ignored, for example a beautiful design that the production engineer cannot make affordably.
Communication and team structure
Good communication keeps the whole team aligned: a change the designer makes must reach the production engineer and the materials technologist, or the product will not be makeable as drawn. Drawings, CAD models and the specification are the shared language that carries decisions between members.
Intellectual property rights
Intellectual property rights matter commercially: they stop competitors copying the product, and they give the company time to recover its development costs before others can imitate it. A designer chooses the right protection for what is valuable, for example a patent for a novel mechanism, a design right for a distinctive shape, and a trademark for the brand.
Where this fits in the course
This key area connects design to the commercial world. The roles run the production and planning systems, intellectual property links to branding and the market, and the team applies the design factors from defining a design opportunity onward.
Try this
Q1. Describe the responsibility of a production engineer in a design team. [2 marks]
- Cue. To plan how the product will be made, advising the designer on processes, tooling and designing for manufacture and assembly.
Q2. Explain what a patent protects and the trade-off involved. [3 marks]
- Cue. A patent protects a new invention or how something works; in exchange the inventor must publish how it works, and the patent is costly and time-limited.
Q3. Explain the difference between an in-house and a sub-contracted design team. [3 marks]
- Cue. In-house teams are employed within the company, giving control and shared knowledge; sub-contracted teams are outside specialists brought in for expertise or capacity.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Advanced Higher6 marksDescribe the roles of three people who influence the design of a commercial product.Show worked answer →
Worth about 6 marks, so the marker wants three named roles, each with a
developed responsibility.
Designer. The designer generates and develops the proposal, balancing the
design factors and producing the drawings and models the rest of the team
work from.
Ergonomist. The ergonomist advises on fitting the product to the user,
supplying and interpreting anthropometric data so the product is
comfortable and safe.
Production engineer. The production engineer plans how the product will be
made, advising the designer on processes, tooling and how to design for
manufacture and assembly.
Others. A strong answer may add a market researcher (who the users are and
what they want) or a materials technologist (which material suits), and
notes that good communication between them is essential to a successful
product.
SQA Advanced Higher6 marksExplain the four types of intellectual property right and what each protects.Show worked answer →
Worth about 6 marks, so the marker wants the four rights named and what
each protects, ideally with a feature such as length or cost.
Copyright. Protects original creative work (drawings, text, software)
automatically, with no registration, for a long period.
Design rights. Protect the appearance of a product, its shape and
configuration, stopping others copying how it looks.
Patents. Protect a new invention or how something works, in exchange for
publishing how it works; they are costly and must be applied for, and last
a fixed term.
Trademarks. Protect a brand sign such as a logo or name, can be renewed
indefinitely, and distinguish the product in the market. A strong answer
notes the rights differ in the property covered, the length of cover and
the cost, and that they let a company recover development costs and stop
copying.
Related dot points
- Production and planning systems: one-off, batch and mass production, commercial production methods (automation, CAD/CAM, CNC, standard components, standardisation, just-in-time, flexible manufacturing, sub-contracting, Gantt and flow charts) and quality assurance.
An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on production and planning systems, covering one-off, batch and mass production, commercial methods such as automation, CAD/CAM, CNC, just-in-time and flexible manufacturing, planning with Gantt and flow charts, and quality assurance.
- The market as a design factor: the product lifecycle (introduction, growth, maturity, decline), the influences on it, and product redesign, including incremental and radical change, branding, diversification and the reasons for commercial success or failure.
An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on the market as a design factor, covering the product lifecycle and its stages, the influences on it such as market trends, branding and technology push and market pull, and product redesign through incremental and radical change and diversification.
- The design factors of function, performance and safety: primary and secondary function, fitness for purpose, planned obsolescence, maintenance, value for money, and ensuring safety through certification, British Standards and kitemarks.
An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on the design factors of function, performance and safety, covering primary and secondary function, fitness for purpose, planned obsolescence, maintenance, value for money, and ensuring safety through certification, British Standards and kitemarks.
- The impact of design and manufacturing technologies on society, the environment and the workforce: methods to limit a product's environmental impact, the effects of traditional and new technologies, and the economic and environmental sustainability of products.
An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on the impact of design and manufacturing technologies, covering the methods designers and manufacturers use to limit a product's environmental impact, the effects of traditional and new technologies on society and the workforce, and the economic and environmental sustainability of products.
- Defining a design opportunity: the purpose of the design brief, why design opportunities occur, the purpose and effective use of primary and secondary research and its techniques, and the purpose and content of the product design, performance and technical specifications.
An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on defining a design opportunity, covering the purpose of the design brief, why opportunities occur, primary and secondary research and its techniques, and the product design, performance and technical specifications that turn research into testable requirements.