How should you present a specification ?

Every page of a coursework project should look as good as you can possibly make it.. If you or your teacher would be happy for any single sheet to be taken from a project and framed then you are pretty close to getting things right !  Obviously some people can draw better than others, some have a gift for making things look slick and well-designed and others are good at using computers or using colour to emphasise work.  Whatever your talent use it to make your work look good.

Who needs a specification?

The designer certainly has a list of priorities for the way the design will go - but so too will the manufacturer, the distributor, the retailer and the owner of the brand-name. All of these should find their way into a final specification - but to begin with identify features that you as the designer want to include. There are two presentation examples here.

The designer  has checked out a variety of research areas.  Areas such as who the product might be used by, how long it might be expected to last and what materials it could be made from.  These features will eventually determine whether the product sells well, is easy to make and even sells for a long time.   Should the product be made to last forever ?  If you owned a company making light bulbs what would be the specification for how long you wanted the bulb to last before burning out ?   'Repeat sales' matter !

Perhaps 1 or 2 days ? ...that way customers would need to buy another bulb…. But would they buy your bulbs that only lasted 2 days ?  Or should you make them last 50 years...the customer would certainly be pleased with that...but how much would they cost to make if they were so well made they lasted that long ?  "Built-in-redundancy" is a feature of many products - fashion items
especially… Should yours include features such as this ?   Remember too… the designer has a list
of features that they would like included, whilst the manufacturer has a different set of priorities; the retailer will be more concerned with appearance and the wholesaler concerned with storage and transportation… Is one simple specification enough ?? There should be at least two specifications drawn up including; the point of view of the manufacturer -the "Product Design Specification" - the PDS - and the Designers version - the "Design specification".  Now do them for your project...