⏰ Do Now — Start Here
Think of a school app or sign you use every day. Do you think anyone tested it with real users before it launched? How can you tell?
You Started This in 9th Grade
Being able to explain your design process -- what you made, why you made the choices you did, what problem it solved -- is the same skill introduced back in Grade 9's "Communicating Like a Professional." It matters more than ever now: your PBAT presentation this year IS that skill, formalized, in front of a panel. Keep practicing it on every portfolio caption between now and then, not just the week before.
🎯 Today's Big Question
- What are the repeatable steps every designer uses, no matter the project?
📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To
- Name and define the 5 stages of the design process: Discover, Define, Ideate, Design, Test & Deliver.
- Map a familiar everyday object (like a bus shelter or a phone app icon) onto the 5 stages.
- Explain why skipping a stage (especially Discover or Test) causes problems later.
🧰 What You'll Need
- Chart paper for a 5-stage process poster
- Markers
- A familiar object or app icon (image, teacher-provided)
📋 Your Plan for Today
Day 1: Learning the 5 Stages
- Do Now (5 min): name one step of a design process you already know, from any class.
- Mini-lesson (20 min): the 5-stage design process (Discover, Define, Ideate, Design, Test & Deliver) with a real example walked through start to finish.
- Guided build (15 min): as a class, build a shared reference poster of the 5 stages.
- Preview (5 min): tomorrow you'll map your own example.
Day 2: Applying the Process
- Do Now (5 min): put the 5 stages in order from memory.
- Small groups (20 min): map a familiar object/app onto the 5 stages.
- Prepare & present (15 min): present your mapping and defend one place you think the designer might have skipped a step.
- Wrap-up discussion (5 min).
📚 Key Words
- Discover
- The research stage: understanding the client, audience, and problem before designing anything.
- Define
- Narrowing research into a clear problem statement and goals.
- Ideate
- Generating many possible solutions before picking one.
- Iterate
- Testing a design, getting feedback, and revising -- often more than once.
- Deliver
- Finalizing and publishing the design in the format the client needs.
✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include
Process poster + group mapping checked for accurate use of all 5 stages.
Exit Ticket: Which stage of the design process do you think is easiest to skip by accident, and why is that risky?
📊 Before You Leave
Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.
🎓 ACP Exam Prep
This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 1: Working in the Design Industry
🔗 Want to Learn More?
🚀 The Extra Mile
Cross-Class Connection: The same iterative process (research, draft, test, revise) the Scientific Method uses in a Science class.
Career Connection: This exact process is the backbone of every career page on the Careers hub, spelled out step-by-step in each one's portfolio plan.
Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:
- Apply the full process to a real problem in your own life (organizing a space, planning an event) and document each stage. Start here: pick a problem small enough to finish in one class period — "organize my desk drawer," not "organize my whole room" — and write down just the research stage before touching anything else.
- Design a one-page "design process" poster explaining the steps — real onboarding material for next year's students. Start here: list your actual named stages down the left side of the page in a text tool before you design any visuals around them.