France Terminale STD2A (design and applied arts) — Terminale specialties
Chapters: 2
1. Analysis and methods in design
Resources and information · Analysis, investigation, synthesis · Communication and argument · Representations, forms and references · Timeline and founding texts · Production and distribution · Contemporary landmarks
- Research Skills: From a Question to a Finished Project – Research is a careful way of finding an answer. You ask a clear, focused question, plan how to answer it, find information and check that each source can be trusted, collect and analyse your own data, draw a conclusion that the evidence supports, and share it while crediting every source you used.
- The Design Process: From Problem to Product – The design process is a loop of steps designers use to solve a real problem for real people: investigate the need, define it in a brief and a measurable specification, generate many ideas, build a prototype, then test and evaluate it against the specification. Whatever fails sends you back round the loop. This repeating is called iteration, and it is how almost every product, app, building and artwork is improved.
- Graphic Design – Graphic design is planning pictures, words and shapes so that a message is clear, useful and attractive. Designers use elements (line, shape, colour, type, image, space) and principles (alignment and grid, hierarchy, contrast, proximity, repetition, balance and white space). They follow a process: brief, research, ideas, sketches, digital drafts, feedback and final artwork. Graphic design is used in posters, logos, book covers, packaging, signs, websites and apps.
- Art History: From Cave Walls to Today – People have made art for at least 40,000 years. Prehistoric art shows animals and hands on cave walls. Ancient civilisations made art for rulers, gods and the afterlife. Classical traditions arose in Greece and Rome, India, China, Africa and the Americas. The Renaissance brought perspective and realism; modern art (from about 1860) broke those rules; contemporary art uses any material. To appreciate any artwork, describe it, analyse its elements, interpret its meaning in its context, and judge why it works.
- Design History: How Movements and Designers Shaped Everyday Things – Designs change over time because of new materials, new technology and new ideas about people and society. Arts and Crafts rejected cheap factory goods and valued hand-made work. Art Nouveau used flowing curves from nature. Bauhaus and Modernism said form follows function and designed for mass production. Mid-century designers used moulded plywood and plastic for affordable furniture. Postmodernism and Memphis broke the rules with colour and fun. Today's designers focus on sustainability and digital making. Studying the work of others helps us analyse, get inspired and design better.
2. Design and craft creation
Setting the project context · Creating and designing · Formalising and presenting the project · Visual arts practice · Materials · Making processes and impact · Innovation and foresight
- The Design Process: From Problem to Product – The design process is a loop of steps designers use to solve a real problem for real people: investigate the need, define it in a brief and a measurable specification, generate many ideas, build a prototype, then test and evaluate it against the specification. Whatever fails sends you back round the loop. This repeating is called iteration, and it is how almost every product, app, building and artwork is improved.
- Prototyping: Make It, Test It, Make It Better – A prototype is an early, testable version of a product or idea. Low-fidelity prototypes (sketches, paper, cardboard) are fast and cheap and test the idea; high-fidelity prototypes (3D prints, working models) look and work like the real thing. Rapid prototyping uses machines such as 3D printers (additive: build layer by layer), laser cutters and CNC mills (subtractive: cut material away). Each prototype is tested with a clear goal and fair method, results are recorded, and the design is improved in a loop: build, test, learn, improve. Finally the project is documented and presented.
- Visual Representation in Art and Images – To represent something is to make an image that stands for it. A picture has only two dimensions, so artists use depth cues (size, height, overlap, light, perspective) to suggest space. Frames in a sequence show movement and time. An artwork does not have to copy reality: it can be realistic, simplified or abstract. The same image can work as a document, an artwork or an advert, and its meaning depends on its frame, words and where it is shown. Making a work includes research, tools, producing and sharing.
- Materials and Their Properties: Why Things Are Made of What They Are – Every product is made from materials chosen for their properties. The main families are papers and boards, timbers, metals, polymers (plastics) and textiles. Physical properties describe what a material is like (density, conductivity, how it reacts to heat and water). Working properties describe how it behaves when we use or shape it (strength, hardness, toughness, elasticity, plasticity, malleability, ductility). Materials come from natural sources such as trees, ores and crude oil, and are sold in standard stock forms like sheets, bars, tubes and planks. A designer picks a material by matching its properties to the job, and also thinks about cost, availability, looks and the environment.
- Manufacturing Technology: From Raw Material to Finished Product – Manufacturing turns raw materials into useful products. Primary industry makes standard stock; secondary industry makes finished goods. Material is converted by forming, separating, combining and conditioning. Good parts need the right material, a clear technical drawing and process plan, careful measurement against tolerances, and machines run by control systems, all done safely.