Design Notebook

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Design Notebook

• Professional Documentation

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Design Notebook

• This PowerPoint covers the following
• Justifications
• Dos and Donts
• Guidelines
• Project Requirements

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Justification

• Temptation to blow off the design notebook
• They provide relevant and usable documentation
  about your work
• The better the notebook the better the project
  down the road
• The more useful the notebook is to you the more
  likely it is to be a good design notebook

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Justification

• The process serves as professional development
• Such notebooks are also used in patent disputes
  as evidence
• Design notebooks are evidence to your employer of
  the work you have done
• They can also improve communication with clients
  by offering a specific focal point

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Design Notebook Donts

• Dont just fill it with illegible scribbles and
  bulleted lists
• Dont leave out important information
• Dont just recount what you did without providing
  some future direction
• Dont write it for right now

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Design Notebook Dos

• Do use the notebook for inventive brainstorming
• Do provide reliable documentation
• Do focus on relevant information
• Do create usable notations that allow for future
  action

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Invention

• Collect your ideas about the clients needs and
  constraints
• Interpret your experiences with the client in
  order to assess their situation and your
  communication
• Develop project ideas based on your reflections
  about client needs

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Reliability

• Be consistent in format, dating and terminology
• Draw on credible sources and include references
  which allow for future retrieval
• Provide enough information to prove that you are
  doing good work
• Reference specifics about interactions with
  clients to support your interpretations

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Relevance

• Write with an eye on how information fits in with
  the larger project and clients needs
• Include conclusions and recommendations dont
  let the information speak for itself
• Reflect on how your work could contribute to the
  larger project

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Usability

• Write the document for yourself, your group and
  your client in the future
• Be consistent in format, organization, dating and
  terminology
• Write legibly so that you and others can read the
  document later
• Focus on the action that your work should produce
• Compile notebook to aid in composing the project
  charter

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Guidelines

• Use the notebook for inventive brainstorming
• Provide reliable documentation
• Focus on relevant information
• Create usable notations that allow for future
  action

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Exercise

• Take 15 minutes to create a design notebook entry
  detailing how this presentation will impact your
  work this summer. Consider the Dos and Donts
  and follow the guidelines of successful design
  notebooks.

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The End