Design and Technology (Product Design) (9DT0)

8 sections available · 38 chapters available

Free Design and Technology (Product Design) (9DT0) study notes for Pearson Edexcel A Level students. Each chapter breaks down a key concept with examples and practice prompts you can turn into AI drills in the thinka app.

Materials and their properties

Processes, techniques and specialist tools

  • Heat treatments and alloying

  • Casting, moulding and machining

  • Printing, lamination and paper/board finishing

  • Marking out, measuring tools and precision

  • Joining: adhesives, mechanical, heat and wood joints

  • Finishes, preservation and preventing degradation

Digital technologies and graphical communication

  • Computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D modelling

  • CAM, CNC machines and rapid prototyping

  • Pictorial drawing: isometric and 2-point perspective

  • Working drawings, 3rd angle projection and nets

Design influences and design theory

  • User centred design and fitness for purpose

  • Anthropometrics and ergonomics

  • Aesthetics: form over function, form follows function

  • Design movements and key figures

  • Effects of technological developments

Manufacturing industries and quality

  • Scales of production: one-off, batch, high-volume

  • Quality control, quality assurance and TQM

  • Modern manufacturing systems: FMS, JIT, robotics

  • Production scheduling, logistics and data integration

Safety, legislation and standards

  • Safe working practices, hazards and risk assessment

  • Health and safety legislation: HASAWA and COSHH

  • Consumer rights legislation

  • Standards and marks: BSI, CEN/CE, ISO

  • Intellectual property: patents, copyright, design rights, trademarks

Sustainability and the product life cycle

  • Cleaner design across the product life cycle

  • Designing for maintenance, repair and disassembly

  • End of life, recycling and energy recovery

  • Circular economy and systems thinking

Managing design, cost and production

  • Information handling, marketing analysis and feasibility

  • Budgets, costing and planning for production

  • Project management: critical path analysis, scrum, Six Sigma

  • Product life cycle stages and market implications

  • Maths and science skills in design calculations

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