IB MYP Design – Criterion B – Developing ideas Study Guide

This study guide teaches the practical skills behind Criterion B (Developing ideas) in IB Middle Years Programme Design. It is aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014, which describes Criterion B as writing a detailed specification that drives the development of a solution, then presenting that solution. MYP has no SL/HL split, and the page suits MYP years 4 and 5, including students preparing the design ePortfolio.

MYP has no prescribed content list – schools design their own units. This page covers a skill that the brief’s assessment criteria name. The exact strands and wording your work is judged against come from your teacher, who will share the task-specific clarifications.

For how Criterion B sits alongside the other criteria, see the four criteria in practice and the design cycle. This guide shows you how to do each Criterion B task on a worked project.

What this unit covers

Area	What you must be able to do	Level
Design specification	Turn a design brief into measurable, testable specification points	MYP years 4-5 (no SL/HL)
Range of ideas	Generate several genuinely different, feasible design ideas	MYP years 4-5
Choosing and justifying	Compare ideas against the specification and explain the choice	MYP years 4-5
Planning drawings and diagrams	Present the chosen design with drawings accurate enough to build from	MYP years 4-5

What the brief tells you

The brief sets out four facts you can rely on:

• There are four equally weighted assessment criteria. Criterion B is Developing ideas.
• Each criterion has eight achievement levels (1-8), divided into four bands with their own descriptors.
• For IB-validated course results, you submit an ePortfolio: a design project presented as a complete design folder that contains a design brief and specification.
• Design courses are formally assessed as product design, digital design, or combined digital and product design.

So the specification is named in the brief as part of the folder, and it drives the rest of Criterion B.

Worked project used in this guide

A fictional client, Ms Adeyemi, lives in a third-floor flat with a small balcony. She wants to grow three kitchen herbs but has no floor space, and her tenancy does not allow drilling. In Criterion A you would have analysed her need, researched existing planters and written a design brief. The brief ends: “Design a planter that holds three herb pots on the balcony railing without drilling.”

1. Writing a design specification

Brief versus specification

A design brief states the problem and the goal in a few sentences. A design specification is a list of requirements the solution must meet. Each point must be something you can later test. That link to testing matters: Criterion D asks you to test the solution, and your tests should come straight from these points.

The shape of a good specification point

Write every point with three parts:

1. Requirement – what the product must do or be.
2. Measurable target – a number with a unit, a range, or a clear yes/no condition.
3. Reason – the research finding from Criterion A that justifies it.

Add a fourth column, How it will be tested, and you have a specification that feeds Criterion D directly.

Categories to check

Work through these so you do not miss an area: function, user and ergonomics, size, materials, weight or load, safety, aesthetics, cost, sustainability and environment, and time to make. Leave a category out only if you can say why.

Weak and strong points compared

Weak point	Why it is weak	Strong version
It must be strong.	No target; cannot be tested.	It must hold 6 kg (three pots of wet soil, with a safety margin) without bending more than 5 mm.
It should look nice.	Opinion with no test.	The client rates its appearance at least 4 out of 5 after choosing from three colour samples.
It must be cheap.	No figure.	Material cost must not exceed £15.
It must fit the balcony.	Which dimension?	It must clamp to a top rail 40-60 mm wide and project no more than 180 mm from the rail.

Worked example: specification for the planter

#	Requirement and target	Reason (from research)	Test
1	Holds three pots of 90 mm diameter	Client’s existing herb pots	Place three pots in it
2	Fixes to a top rail 40-60 mm wide with no drilling	Measured rail is 48 mm; tenancy bans drilling	Fit to rail offcuts of 40 mm and 60 mm
3	Overall length no more than 450 mm; projects no more than 180 mm	Space between railing posts is 500 mm	Measure with a steel rule
4	Holds 6 kg with deflection of 5 mm or less	Three pots of wet soil, plus a safety margin	Load test with weights
5	Shows no rot, rust or peeling after four weeks outdoors	Balcony is exposed to rain	Four-week outdoor trial with photos
6	Material cost £15 or less	Client’s budget	Costed parts list
7	Fitted or removed in under 60 seconds with no tools	Client wants to bring it in during winter	Timed fitting by the client
8	At least half the material by mass is reclaimed or recycled	Client asked for a low-waste product	Weigh components

Every target has a number or a yes/no test, so each idea can be checked against it. That is how a specification drives development.

2. Generating a range of feasible ideas

What “range” means

A range is a set of ideas that solve the problem in different ways – different fixing methods, forms, materials or working principles. Three versions of the same trough in three colours is one idea, not three.

Ways to generate ideas

• Annotated sketching. Quick freehand sketches with notes that link features to specification points (“hooks over rail – spec 2”).
• Mind map. Branch out from the problem into fixing methods, materials and forms, then combine branches.
• Morphological chart. List each function down the side (hold pots, fix to rail, drain water) and several ways of doing each across the row. Pick one option per row to build a concept.
• SCAMPER. Take an existing product and Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate or Reverse part of it.

Feasibility

An idea is feasible if you can actually make it with the skills, tools, materials, time and budget available. Check each idea against these five and say so in your annotations, for example: “Needs sheet-metal folding – school has a folding bar, so feasible.”

Worked example: three ideas for the planter

• Idea A – metal trough. A single aluminium trough, folded from sheet, with two hooks bent over the rail.
• Idea B – clamp-on plywood shelf. A slotted exterior-plywood shelf fixed by two screw clamps that grip the rail.
• Idea C – felt pocket planter. Three stitched pockets of recycled PET felt, hung from a strap looped round the rail.

These differ in material, fixing method and structure, so they form a genuine range.

3. Choosing and justifying the design

Using a weighted decision matrix

Give each specification point a weight (3 = essential, 1 = desirable). Score each idea 1-5 on each point. Multiply score by weight and add. The maximum here is 5 × (3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1) = 5 × 13 = 65.

Criterion (weight)	A	B	C
Holds three pots (3)	5	5	4
Fits 40-60 mm rail, no drilling (3)	3	5	2
Holds 6 kg (2)	5	4	2
Weather resistance (2)	4	3	3
Cost (1)	2	4	5
Fitting time (1)	4	3	5
Sustainability (1)	2	3	5
Weighted total (out of 65)	50	54	43

Working for Idea B: (3 × 5) + (3 × 5) + (2 × 4) + (2 × 3) + (1 × 4) + (1 × 3) + (1 × 3) = 15 + 15 + 8 + 6 + 4 + 3 + 3 = 54.

Writing the justification

The matrix supports your choice; it does not replace your explanation. A strong justification names the specification points, compares with the rejected ideas and includes client feedback:

Idea B is chosen. It scores 54 out of 65, ahead of A (50) and C (43). The screw clamps grip any rail from 40 to 60 mm (spec 2), which A’s fixed hooks cannot, because A’s hook gap suits one rail width only. C scores well on cost and sustainability but its strap lets the pockets swing, and a felt pocket sagged under 2 kg in a quick test, so it would not meet spec 4. Ms Adeyemi preferred B’s appearance and asked for a darker stain. B’s weakness is weather resistance (score 3), so the development will use exterior varnish and stainless screws.

Then show development: how the chosen idea changes in response to feedback and the specification, for example testing a clamp in card, or moving the pot holes to spread the load.

4. Presenting the solution: planning drawings and diagrams

The final design must be presented clearly enough that someone else could make it. Choose drawings to suit the product.

Product design

• Orthographic projection. Front view, plan and end view, drawn to scale and fully dimensioned. In third-angle projection the plan sits above the front view and the right-hand end view sits to the right of it. In first-angle projection the plan sits below the front view and the view from the left sits to the right. Show the projection symbol and state which you used.
• Dimensions in millimetres. Write “All dimensions in mm” once in the title block rather than on each dimension.
• Isometric or 3D CAD view to show the overall form.
• Exploded view to show how parts fit together.
• Parts list (cutting list) giving each part, material, size and quantity.

Digital design

• Wireframes for each screen, showing layout, buttons and navigation.
• Site map or flowchart showing how the user moves between screens.
• Style guide setting fonts, colours and button styles.

Worked example: choosing a scale

The planter measures 450 mm long, 180 mm deep and 120 mm high. You are drawing third-angle views on A4 landscape (297 mm × 210 mm) with a 10 mm border, so the usable area is 277 mm × 190 mm. Leave 20 mm between views.

At a scale of 1:2:

• Width needed = front view length + gap + end view depth = 225 + 20 + 90 = 335 mm. This is more than 277 mm, so 1:2 does not fit.

At a scale of 1:5:

• Width needed = 90 + 20 + 36 = 146 mm, which fits.
• Height needed = front view height + gap + plan depth = 24 + 20 + 36 = 80 mm, which fits.

So use 1:5 and write “Scale 1:5” in the title block. A 90 mm pot hole is drawn 90 ÷ 5 = 18 mm across, but you dimension it as 90.

Worked example: checking cost against the specification

Part	Cost
Exterior plywood offcut, 600 × 250 × 12 mm	£4.50
Screw clamp (× 2 at £3.20)	£6.40
Share of exterior varnish	£2.00
Stainless screws	£0.60
Total	£13.50

£13.50 is within the £15 limit, so specification point 6 is met on paper. Criterion C (planning and making) and Criterion D (testing) then check it for real.

Common errors

• Writing specification points with no number, range or yes/no test (“strong”, “easy to use”).
• Copying the design brief into the specification instead of expanding it into separate requirements.
• Presenting three colour or size variations of one idea as a “range”.
• Including ideas you could never make with the school’s tools or budget, without comment.
• Using a decision matrix and letting the total speak for itself, with no written comparison.
• Choosing an idea that fails an essential point because it scored well on minor ones.
• Planning drawings with no scale, no projection method or missing key dimensions.

Where to go next

Condense this into recall with the Criterion B revision notes, then test yourself with the Criterion B practice questions. For the folder as a whole, see ePortfolio preparation and how MYP Design is assessed. The MYP Design course hub lists every resource, and the printable checklist helps you track progress.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014.