The design process - Different approaches to designing, including: iterative design, intuitive design.

Design principles - The influence of the following design movements on the design of products: Art Deco, Arts and Crafts, Bauhaus, Scandinavian, Minimalism, Modernism, Postmodernism.

Communication - Enhancement techniques, including: the use of tone and colour, material representation, the use of shadows.

Communication - Developments (nets), including glue tabs and mechanical joining methods, required to form: prisms, cones, cylinders, pyramids.

Communication - First and third angle orthographic working drawings, including: use of scales, dimensioning, symbols and conventions, e.g. BS 308 or BS 8888, part drawings, sectional views.

Communication - Planning drawings, including: flowcharts, Gantt charts, materials or cutting lists.

Communication - The use of digital technology to communicate, including: common software packages, e.g. Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe® Acrobat Pro, email, collaboration software, e.g. Microsoft Teams and Miro, video conferencing.

Design and technology in society - The impact design and technology activities have on: individuals, groups of people, e.g. by geographic location, religion or ethnicity, society and culture.

Sustainable design - The responsibilities of designers and manufacturers in ensuring products and packaging are made from sustainable materials and components.

Sustainable design - Factors that are considered when designing products to have minimum impact on the environment: raw material extraction, energy consumption, ease of repair and maintenance, disposal at the end of life.

Health and safety - Standard risk assessment procedures in product design and manufacture.

Health and safety - Safe working practices, including identifying hazards and making risk assessments.

Health and safety - Action to be taken when hazards are identified or when accidents occur in a school workshop or practical area.

Aesthetics and ergonomics - How aesthetics is concerned with the visual appearance of a product.

Aesthetics and ergonomics - The use of line, colour, shape, proportion and form to improve visual appearance.

Aesthetics and ergonomics - The appreciation of the effects of light and shade on solid forms and of different surface finishes on visual and tactile senses.

Aesthetics and ergonomics - The balance of form and function.

Aesthetics and ergonomics - How ergonomics is concerned with understanding how humans interact with environments, products and systems.

Aesthetics and ergonomics - The common anthropometric measurements, including weight, height, knee height, sitting height, body mass index (BMI), body circumference (arm, waist, hip and calf) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).

Aesthetics and ergonomics - The interpretation and application of anthropometric data to design development.

Materials and components - The working properties, stock forms and sizes, common uses and environmental impact of the following papers and boards: copier paper, card, corrugated card, bleached card, mount board, duplex card, moulded paper pulp.

Materials and components - The working properties, stock forms and sizes, common uses and environmental impact of the following modelling materials: extruded polystyrene foam, e.g. Styrofoam™, balsa wood, polymorph, plaster of Paris.

Materials and components - The working properties, stock forms and sizes, common uses and environmental impact of the following woods: softwoods (pine, cedar, fir, spruce or equivalent local softwood), hardwoods (beech, oak, ash, teak or equivalent local hardwood).

Materials and components - The working properties, common uses and environmental impact of the following modern materials: nanomaterials (oleophobic coatings, hydrophobic materials), metal foams, super alloys, bioplastics (starch-based, sugar-based, cellulose-based).

Materials and components - The working properties, common uses and environmental impact of the following biodegradable materials: polylactide (PLA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), e.g. BIOPOL®, plastic made from corn/potato starch.

Materials and components - Electronic components and symbols used in control systems.

Stages in materials processing - Measuring and/or marking out from working drawings and using tools and methods appropriate to the materials.

Stages in materials processing - Cutting, shaping and forming of materials using appropriate tools and methods.

Stages in materials processing - Joining and assembling materials using a range of temporary and permanent methods.

Stages in materials processing - Selecting and applying a finish which is appropriate for the material used and the product design.

Energy and control systems - Main sources of energy: fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal (finite), water, wind and solar (renewable).

Energy and control systems - Comparison of the main sources of energy.

Energy and control systems - Different forms of energy, including: kinetic, potential, thermal, electrical, chemical.

Energy and control systems - Practical and efficient methods of conversion and transmission of energy through simple mechanisms, machines, engines, turbines and electric motors.

Energy and control systems - Basic principles of manual, semi-automatic and automatic control using input, output, feedback and amplification.

Technology - Technological developments and how they can affect the design and manufacture of products.

Technology - The terms invention, innovation and evolution.

Technology - The use of CAD (computer-aided design) for the storage and retrieval of data and the manipulation of images to aid design, production and management.

Technology - The principal features of CAM (computer-aided manufacture), particularly in the control/operation of machines.

Technology - The impact of the following emerging technologies on designing and making: rapid prototyping, including 3D printing, rapid manufacture, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR).

Industrial practices - The range of service sectors in design and manufacturing industries, including: extraction of raw materials, design and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales, repair and maintenance.

Industrial practices - The roles of a designer, manufacturer and consumer.

Industrial practices - The roles of different workers within a manufacturing industry.

Industrial practices - The production processes used in a manufacturing industry.

Industrial practices - The advantages/disadvantages of hand and automated production systems used in manufacturing products.

Industrial practices - How technology-based systems are used by designers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

Industrial practices - How digital technology is used in the design and development, manufacturing, marketing and sale of products.

Business and commercial practices - The importance of identifying and satisfying consumer needs, to provide a product that customers will buy.

Business and commercial practices - The stages in a product’s life cycle: research and development, introduction, growth, maturity, decline.

Business and commercial practices - The use of a product extension strategy when a product enters its decline stage.

Business and commercial practices - The advantages and disadvantages of product extension strategies, such as: discounting, updating packaging, adding more features.

Business and commercial practices - The types of market research methods, such as: surveys/questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, customer observation.

Business and commercial practices - The purpose of market research relating to: demand, competition, target market.

Business and commercial practices - How and why businesses target customers by: demographics, socio-economic background.

Business and commercial practices - The elements of the marketing mix (4Ps): price, product, promotion, place.

Business and commercial practices - The relationship between the scale of production and unit cost.

Quantity production - The differences between a: model, prototype, marketable product.

Quantity production - The preparation of a design brief for a marketable product.

Quantity production - The preparation of a manufacturing specification used to make a product in quantity.

Quantity production - The differences between individual (one-off), batch and mass production systems and how each impact on the: product, people involved, resources and costs.

Quantity production - Commercial manufacturing systems, including: concurrent engineering, computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) and computer-integrated engineering (CIE), cell production, in-line assembly, just in time (JIT), logistics.

Quantity production - The design of a manufacturing system, including jigs and formers, to be used to make a product in quantity.

Quantity production - Strategies to evaluate how well a manufacturing system has worked.

Quantity production - Improvements to a manufacturing system, including the use of templates to mark out shapes repeatedly and jigs and formers used to make a product.

Quantity production - Continuous improvement processes, such as Kaizen™.

Materials processing in industry - Shaping: die cutting, creasing and folding, turning (wood and metal lathes), calendering, plasma cutting.

Materials processing in industry - Forming: blow moulding (from a pre-form and extrusion), steam bending, laminating, press forming, spinning.

Materials processing in industry - Redistribution methods: sand, resin and die casting, injection moulding, extrusion, rotational moulding, compression moulding, 3D printing.

Materials processing in industry - Wasting: CNC milling, stamping.

Materials processing in industry - Fabrication.

Materials processing in industry - The different methods of printing and common applications for these methods, including: offset lithography, flexography, gravure, sublimation printing, pad printing.

Materials processing in industry - The CYMK colour separation method.

Materials processing in industry - The advantages and disadvantages of the colour separation method during printing.

Materials processing in industry - The advantages/disadvantages of applying finishes to a material to improve: performance, aesthetics.

Materials processing in industry - Types of finish and methods of application, including: embossing/debossing paper and card, UV varnishing/spot varnishing on paper and card, hot foil blocking on paper and card, paints, sealants, varnishes, anodising, plating, coating.

Materials processing in industry - Physical tests to determine the suitability of materials and components for the application of a finish.

Quality systems - Quality assurance (QA) checks to be used in the production of a product. (Quality assurance checks are made at every stage of the production process to meet the quality standards set.)

Quality systems - Quality control (QC) checks to be used on a made product. (Quality control checks are made to a finished product to see if it meets the quality standards set.)

Quality systems - The benefits of introducing Total Quality Management (TQM) to a production process. (Total Quality Management involves applying quality assurance procedures at every stage of the production process.)

Quality systems - The benefits of quality systems to the manufacturer and the consumer.

Quality systems - Product testing methods that can be used before or during the manufacturing of products, such as: material testing, dimensional checks, joining/assembly checks, visual checks.

Quality systems - The organisations that are responsible for quality standards within the candidate’s country such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Quality systems - The quality standards concerned with testing products, components and materials against external quality standards, e.g. ISO 9013 (thermal cutting) or ISO 34257 (wood adhesives).

Digital technology - The different software programs that are available to designers and manufacturers to design and develop products, including: desktop publishing software, photo manipulation software, technical drawing software, 3D modelling software.

Digital technology - The advantages and disadvantages to a designer or manufacturer of using these types of software programs and the appropriateness of their use.

Digital technology - The different methods of CAM which can be used when constructing products and the common uses for such methods, including: digital printing, vinyl cutting, laser cutting, 3D printing (stereolithography and fused deposition).

Digital technology - The advantages and disadvantages of different methods of CAM production.