Designing for Our Community

You need: audit checklist · tape measure · spirit level or phone level app · camera for spaces only · clipboard

1. Choose one route, e.g. from the gate to the library.
2. Measure door clear widths, path widths, steps and ramp slopes (rise ÷ length).
3. Check handles, signs, lighting, seating, noise and places to rest.
4. Record each barrier with a measurement or photo, and who it affects.
5. Compare with the NZ standard guide: ramps no steeper than 1:12, doorways at least 760 mm clear.

How you'll know: Every barrier you list has evidence, and you can say who it affects.

Safety: Work in pairs, stay out of car parks and driveways, and ask before measuring in classrooms or offices.

Go further: Invite someone who uses a wheelchair, pushchair or cane to walk the route with you, if they want to, and compare their experience with your checklist.

You need: stakeholder notes · spec template · constraint list from the partner

1. Turn each need into a measurable 'must', e.g. 'must hold 100 kg without bending more than 5 mm'.
2. Add 'should' items (important but not essential) and 'could' items (nice extras).
3. Write the test beside each 'must'.
4. Add at least one sustainability spec, e.g. 'at least 70% reused material'.
5. Check each 'must' with the partner: is it realistic?

How you'll know: Every 'must' has a number or a clear yes/no test.

Go further: Add tolerances: how far off the target can a measurement be and still pass?

You need: planks or stiff card · books to make a 'step' · ruler · toy car or small trolley · spring scale or rubber band

1. Measure the height of your step (the rise).
2. Build ramps with slopes of 1:6, 1:8 and 1:12 (length = rise × 6, 8 or 12).
3. Pull a loaded toy trolley up each ramp and measure the force with a spring scale or how far a rubber band stretches.
4. Record three trials for each ramp and find the median.
5. Work out how long a 1:12 ramp would need to be for a real 150 mm step.

How you'll know: Your data shows that gentler slopes need less force but more length, and you can calculate a real ramp length.

Go further: Graph force against slope and explain the trade-off between space and effort.

You need: shared spreadsheet · test results · device

1. Set up columns: spec, target, trial 1, trial 2, trial 3, median, met?
2. Enter every trial, even the odd ones.
3. Use a formula to find the median, and an IF formula to show 'met' or 'not met'.
4. Add round two in the next columns and make a side-by-side bar graph.

How you'll know: Anyone could read your spreadsheet and see which specs are met, with a graph comparing both rounds.

Go further: Find the range for each test. Which test was least consistent, and why?

You need: an existing product like yours (a bench, bin, sign) · life-cycle template · coloured pens

1. Map six stages: raw materials, making, transport, use, repair, end of life.
2. At each stage note energy, waste, cost and who does the work.
3. Mark the stage with the biggest environmental impact.
4. Suggest one change that shrinks that impact.
5. Spot any planned obsolescence: parts designed to wear out or be impossible to fix.

How you'll know: Your change targets the biggest impact, with a reason.

Go further: Compare two products that do the same job, e.g. a plastic bench and a timber bench.

You need: recycled timber, card or corrugated plastic · hand saw, clamps, drill with adult supervision · safety goggles · screws, cable ties, tape

1. Pick the one 'must' that matters most.
2. Decide: full size, part full size (just the seat, just the handle) or scale model.
3. Mark out from your technical drawing and check measurements twice.
4. Cut and join, then check it against the drawing.
5. Label which spec each part is meant to meet.

How you'll know: The prototype lets you run a real test on your most important spec.

Safety: Safety goggles for all cutting and drilling; work clamped to a bench; adult supervision for saws and drills; check recycled timber for nails and splinters; no treated-timber sawdust inhaled (cut outside or with a mask).

Go further: Build a second prototype with one change and test both the same way.

You need: improved prototype · feedback sheet based on the spec · timer

1. Invite at least three different stakeholders.
2. Ask each to do a real task with the design while you watch.
3. Ask them to rate each 'must' and 'should' as met, partly met or not met, and why.
4. Record quotes and anything they struggled with.

How you'll know: You have views from at least three different stakeholders, linked to your spec.

Go further: Find one piece of feedback that contradicts another, and explain how you'd balance them.