IB MYP Design – Key and related concepts in design Study Guide

This study guide teaches the key and related concepts of IB MYP Design, and how to turn them into statements of inquiry and inquiry questions. It is aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014, and suits MYP years 4 and 5, including students preparing the design ePortfolio. There is no SL/HL split in the MYP.

MYP has no prescribed content list: schools design their own units. This page covers a part of the course the IB’s brief does list – the key concepts and the related-concept examples it gives for design. Your school’s units may use other concepts or examples; your teacher will share the task-specific clarifications for any assessed work.

Use this guide with the key and related concepts revision notes and the key and related concepts practice questions. The course hub is at /boards/ib/ib-myp/myp-design/ and the printable checklist is at /checklists/ib/ib-myp/myp-design/.

What this unit covers

Area	What you should be able to do	Where it shows up in your work
Key concepts	Explain communication, communities, development and systems with a design example of each	Framing a unit; criterion A research focus
Related concepts	Explain adaptation, ergonomics, sustainability and innovation, and use them to analyse a product	Criteria A, B and D
Ergonomics in numbers	Use anthropometric percentile data to set a design size	Specification (criterion B)
Statements of inquiry	Write one that links a key concept, related concept(s) and a global context	Unit planning; design brief
Inquiry questions	Write factual, conceptual and debatable questions and say which is which	Research plan (criterion A)

Why MYP Design uses concepts

The brief says the MYP promotes inquiry in design by building conceptual understanding within global contexts. Key concepts broadly frame the whole MYP curriculum. Related concepts are narrower and grounded in the subject – they are the ideas a designer actually uses when making decisions.

A concept is not a topic. “Chairs” is a topic. “Ergonomics” is a concept: it applies to chairs, keyboards, door handles and phone apps alike. Concepts let you transfer what you learn in one project to the next. This is why the brief asks you to explore factual, conceptual and debatable questions, not just facts about one product.

The brief names four key concepts for design and gives four related-concept examples:

• Key concepts: communication, communities, development, systems.
• Related concepts (examples): adaptation, ergonomics, sustainability, innovation.

Your school may frame a unit with a different MYP key concept or related concept. The method on this page works for any of them.

The four key concepts

Communication

Communication is the exchange of information between people, or between a product and its user. In design it works at two levels.

• The product communicates. A kettle’s light shows it is on. A loading bar tells an app user to wait. Airport signs use pictograms so travellers who do not share a language can still find the exit.
• The designer communicates. Your design folder, sketches, specification and presentation to a client are all communication. If a client cannot follow your drawings, the idea has not been communicated, however good it is.

Ask what a product must tell the user, when, and through which sense. A microwave that beeps and shows “END” serves users with low vision and users with hearing loss.

Communities

A community is a group of people who share something – a place, a need, an interest or an identity. Designers often design for a community rather than for one person.

• A seating area in a park must serve older visitors, parents with pushchairs and teenagers at once.
• A timetable app for a school must suit students, staff and parents, who need different information.

The concept pushes you to ask who is included and who is left out. A bus stop shelter with a high step excludes wheelchair users; that is a community-level design failure, not just a detail.

Development

Development means growth, progress or change over time. In design it has two meanings.

• Development of a product over generations. The mobile phone moved from a device for calls only to a pocket computer with a camera and maps. Each generation kept what worked and changed what did not.
• Development of your own solution. Your first idea is rarely your best. Sketches become models, models become prototypes, and each round is tested and improved. The design cycle is itself a development process.

When you write about development, show what changed and why: “The second prototype moved the hinge 20 mm lower because three of the five testers could not reach it.”

Systems

A system is a set of parts that work together to perform a function. You can describe most systems as input → process → output, often with feedback.

Worked example – a plant-watering system for a school garden:

Input:    soil moisture sensor reading
Process:  microcontroller compares reading with a set level
Output:   valve opens and water flows
Feedback: sensor reading rises; valve closes when level is reached

Websites and bike-sharing schemes are also systems. Systems thinking shows how one failed part (a flat sensor battery) stops the whole thing.

The four related concepts

Adaptation

Adaptation is changing an existing design, or an idea from another field, so it works for a new user, purpose or environment.

• Cutlery with thick, soft handles is an adaptation for users with limited grip.
• A website that rearranges its layout for a small screen has been adapted for mobile use.
• Hook-and-loop fastening was adapted from the way plant burrs cling to fur.

Name the original design, the new need, and the change made.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics is designing products, tasks and environments to fit the people who use them. It covers three kinds of factor:

• Physical (anthropometric): body sizes – height, reach, hand width.
• Physiological: strength, stamina, comfort, temperature.
• Psychological: how users feel and perceive – colour, noise, clarity of controls.

Anthropometric data are measurements of human bodies, usually given as percentiles. The 5th percentile value is the size that 5% of the group are at or below; the 95th percentile value is the size that 95% are at or below. Designers commonly design for the range from the 5th to the 95th percentile, which fits the middle 90% of users.

The rule for which end to use:

• Clearance (something must fit around the user – a doorway, a handle opening): design for the large user, 95th percentile.
• Reach (the user must reach something – a shelf, a switch): design for the small user, 5th percentile.
• Adjustable products (office chairs): cover the full 5th to 95th range.

Worked example. A fictional study of students aged 14–16 gives popliteal height (floor to the back of the knee, seated) as 380 mm at the 5th percentile and 460 mm at the 95th. Shoes add about 25 mm. Find the seat-height range for an adjustable stool.

Lowest setting  = 380 + 25 = 405 mm
Highest setting = 460 + 25 = 485 mm
Adjustment needed = 485 − 405 = 80 mm

The stool should adjust from 405 mm to 485 mm, a travel of 80 mm, which fits the middle 90% of that group.

Second example. The same fictional data give hand breadth as 88 mm at the 95th percentile. A handle is a clearance problem, so add a 10 mm allowance to the large hand: grip length = 88 + 10 = 98 mm.

Sustainability

Sustainability means meeting present needs without damaging the ability of future generations to meet theirs. In design it covers environmental, social and economic effects across a product’s life, from raw materials to disposal.

Examples you can use: a phone with screws instead of glue so the battery can be replaced; packaging made from one material so it is easier to recycle; furniture sold flat-packed so more fits in each lorry. A fuller treatment of life-cycle thinking belongs in a separate unit on sustainable design; here you need to use the concept to frame questions and judge choices.

Innovation

Innovation is putting a new idea, or a new combination of existing ideas, into successful use. It is different from invention, which is creating something new that may never be adopted.

• Incremental innovation improves an existing product step by step – adding wheels and a pull handle to a suitcase.
• Radical innovation changes how a task is done – touchscreens replacing physical keypads on phones.

Say what was new, what problem it solved, and why people adopted it.

Statements of inquiry

The brief itself does not print a format for statements of inquiry, so treat what follows as the common school approach – your teacher’s unit planner is the version that counts.

A statement of inquiry is one sentence (sometimes two) that states a big idea the unit explores. It usually links:

1. one key concept,
2. one or two related concepts,
3. one global context (the brief lists six, such as scientific and technical innovation, and fairness and development).

A good statement of inquiry:

• is a statement, not a question;
• is conceptual and transferable – it would still be true for other products;
• is specific enough to guide research;
• does not name one product or brand.

Worked example – building a statement of inquiry.

Context chosen: a unit on redesigning a school’s lunch-queue system.

Key concept:       systems
Related concepts:  ergonomics, sustainability
Global context:    globalization and sustainability

Weak: “We will design a better lunch queue.” (No concept; not transferable.)

Stronger: “Systems designed around how people actually move and wait use space, time and resources more efficiently.”

Check it: “systems” is present; ergonomics is present as “how people actually move and wait”; sustainability as “resources”; the idea would hold for a hospital waiting room or a train station, so it transfers.

More examples:

• Communication; ergonomics; identities and relationships: “Clear visual communication lets products be used safely by people of different ages and abilities.”
• Development; innovation; scientific and technical innovation: “Innovations develop through repeated testing, and each version responds to evidence from users.”
• Communities; adaptation; fairness and development: “Adapting a design to the needs of a community can widen who is able to take part in daily life.”

Inquiry questions

The brief says the course explores factual, conceptual and debatable questions. Each type does a different job.

Type	What it asks	Example (seating unit)
Factual	Something with a checkable answer	What is popliteal height? What is the 95th percentile of hand breadth for my users?
Conceptual	How or why an idea works; links concepts	How does ergonomic data change who can use a product?
Debatable	Something reasonable people disagree about	Should a public bench be designed for comfort or to stop people lying down on it?

Write two or three of each type for a unit. Factual questions feed your research plan in criterion A; conceptual and debatable questions give your analysis and evaluation depth.

Test for a debatable question: could two well-informed people give different answers and both support them with evidence? “Is plastic bad?” is too vague. “Should single-use cutlery be banned from school canteens?” can be argued both ways.

Common errors

• Naming a concept without applying it: “This product shows sustainability” with no reason.
• Treating a topic as a concept (“the key concept is furniture”).
• Using the 50th percentile for everything. Designing for the average fits almost no one well.
• Mixing up clearance and reach: using the 5th percentile for a doorway width.
• Writing a statement of inquiry as a question, or naming one brand in it.
• Using invention and innovation as if they mean the same.

Where next

• Condensed recall: key and related concepts revision notes
• Test yourself: key and related concepts practice questions
• How concepts feed each stage: the design cycle
• What each criterion rewards: the four assessment criteria in practice
• The whole framework: MYP Design syllabus guide
• Course hub: /boards/ib/ib-myp/myp-design/

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014. The brief names communication, communities, development and systems as key concepts, gives adaptation, ergonomics, sustainability and innovation as examples of related concepts, and lists the six global contexts. All anthropometric data on this page are fictional.