14. Choose a single product and prepare to give a brief product review.

Y our product review should include: • a description of the product • the way the product is used • the cost of the product • a comparison with other, similar products • a recommendation to buy or not buy the product • a reason for your recommendation • a rating on a scale of 1-5

1D Design and Specifications

1. In small groups, discuss the following:

1. What is design?

2. Design is all about appearance.

3. Designers are the same as scientists and engineers.

4. The secret of good design is to be new and different.

5. Which objects in your home are particularly well-designed?

2. Read the text and correct wrong statements:

1. Design is something related to fashion and style.

2. A good design begins with a good idea.

3. Design is not connected with people’s quality of life.

4. Designers try to realize only sensible ideas.

5. Scientists and manufacturers don’t have anything in common with designers.

What is design?

Design is everywhere. The word “design” means different things to different people. One definition given by designer Richard Seymour is ‘making things better for people’. The design activity is focused first and foremost on human behaviour and quality of life. It transfers any idea into a blueprint for something useful, whether it's a car, a building, a graphic, a service or a process.

Scientists can invent technologies, manufacturers can make products, engineers can make them function and marketers can sell them, but only designers can combine insight into all these things and turn a concept into something that's desirable, viable, commercially successful and adds value to people's lives.

A good design begins with the needs of the user. No design, no matter how beautiful and ingenious, is any good if it doesn't fulfill a user need. Finding out what the customer wants is the first stage of what designers do. The designer then builds on the results of that inquiry with a mixture of creativity and commercial insight. Different designers use different methods-combining market research, user testing, prototyping and trend analysis. These methods lead to innovative products and services. Designers learn that ideas that may seem strange are worth exploring and that the 'common-sense' solution is not always the right one.

3. Look at the pictures and describe these products and their designs using adjectives and useful phrases from the boxes:

elegant functional futuristic handmade innovative retro stylish simple mass-produced traditional up-to-date streamlined ergonomic durable easy to use
Visual appeal	It looks like (a design from the 2010s)
Material	It has a metal/wooden/golden (top/side/base)
Features	It has several (qualities / special features).... It has a unique feature... One of its weak/strong points is...(that it is very difficult/easy to use because...)
Use	It is designed for (opening/keeping)... It is used for.......