What is Commercial Design?

Commercial Design is concerned with the design of products, services or environments in order to make a profit.

Consider a company like Apple. They design, manufacture, distribute, sell and advertise iPhones, iPads and Macbooks. They do this to make money. In 2016 Apple made USD $1,444 in profit per second, which is equal to $5.2 million per hour, $127 million per day, or $45.7 billion per year.

In Topic 2 you will be involved in a collaborative commercial design project. In order to prepare you for that you need to have a good understanding of the terminology and concepts related to commercial design.

Teacher Presentation!

Commercial Design Task

Present your answers to your teacher as a Word document.

Include images to support your examples. DO NOT use any of the examples your teacher has shown you.

1

Give an example of a product that has been regularly updated or redesigned by a specific company. Show examples of older and newer versions and explain why you think the redesign was needed.

2

Give an example of a product that is cheap to buy but makes a good profit because of how many of them are sold. Explain why you think so many are sold.

3

Provide two examples (a product and a service) - of things that are either completely new on the market or that have 'filled a gap' in the market.

4

Find two different products that have a different version for each of the following: a man, a woman, child. Explain why they need to be different.

5

Explain what Planned Obsolescence means and give an example of a product that demonstrates this concept.

6

Make a list of the ten most important items or products that any person needs. Put them in order of 1 to 10 with 1 being the most important.

7

Explain what Sustainable Design means and provide an example.

8

What is a Carbon Footprint and why do designers need to consider this?

9

Present a product or technology that you believe has caused a Digital Disruption to the market.
Why has this product become popular? What effect has it had on other products or markets?