1. Design and market influences: investigating design opportunities
Chapter 6
Design and market influences: investigating design opportunities

2. Investigating design opportunities
Learning objectives
To develop a knowledge and understanding of how to:
find out customer views and preferences for a range of different products
identify physical, nutritional and sensory characteristics in existing products in order to develop design criteria and generate your own ideas
use product analysis to compare a range of existing products to determine how the types, proportions and functions of ingredients have contributed to a product’s overall characteristics and its ability to meet a specific need.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

3. You must identify your user group
Products should be developed according to what people want.
A group of people will become your target market. Food products are developed specifically for markets, e.g.:
people on a special diet
weight watchers
people living on their own
single-portion products
specific age group, such as children.
Your first step is to carry out market research to identify a need for a new product.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

4. Factors affecting people’s choice of food
Current dietary trends – low in fat, sugar and salt, high in fibre.
Social issues – cost remains the top priority. Some people have more money to spend on luxury products, others have very little.
Environmental issues – using locally grown ingredients, using recycled materials for packaging.
Ethical issues – deciding whether to use genetically modified foods, organic foods.
Cultural issues – religious beliefs prevent some people eating certain products.
Media influence – advertising is very powerful in encouraging consumers to try new products.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

5. Initial research
You will need to carry out some initial market research to gain as much information as possible to help you to develop your design criteria.
Primary research material is your own information which you have obtained from interviews, questionnaires and observations or from sensory testing.
Secondary research material is information which has been collected by other people, for instance in books or newspapers.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

6. finishing techniques/ ingredients/components
Mind map example
Range of equipment
Time of year/season
Storage: temperature
control;
health and safety
Sweet or savoury
Type
of product
Choose
a target group
Celebrations
Skills;
finishing techniques/
appearance
Sensory
qualities
Portion size
Hot or cold?
Which celebration
will you choose?
If possible link to own
circumstance e.g. Mum’s
40th birthday
Use of
ingredients/components
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

7. Questionnaires and interviews
A questionnaire and/or interview should be designed so that it helps you to extract specific information from people about the qualities they would like to see in a new product.
Start with an introduction.
The questions need to be clear and easy to understand and answer.
It should be easy for you to collate the results using graphs, tables, tally charts, pie charts etc, before analysing the results and coming to your conclusions.
The questionnaire/interview must not be too long.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

8. Example of a questionnaire
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

9. Different types of questions
Closed – can be a very quick way of finding out specific information, e.g.
Do you like the flavour of chocolate? Yes □ No □
Multiple choice – offers a range of responses to choose from, e.g.
Which flavour do you prefer?
Chocolate □ Lemon □ Coffee □ Ginger □
Ordered choice – ranking a set of options by numbering them in order, e.g.
Place in order of preference the following flavourings. Indicate by numbering from 1–4 in order, where 1 is the most preferred.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

10. Different types of questions
Open-ended questions – these produce a wide variety of responses that take a long time to interpret and put into categories. They are useful for finding out about attitudes and opinions, e.g.
1. What do you like about __________________________?
2 What flavour would you like the biscuit to be and why? _______________________
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11. Recording results
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12. Evaluation of existing products
Evaluating existing products allows you to see what products are already available and to identify how these meet identified needs, i.e. the qualities identified from the analysis of results from your questionnaire/interview.
You could taste some products and carry out sensory analysis in order to evaluate how existing products meet identified sensory qualities, such as texture, taste and appearance. Sensory analysis is part of product analysis.
The products you choose to evaluate should be relevant to your consumer group.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

13. Sensory analysis
Sensory analysis is used to gather information on food products to establish their most important characteristics; it allows the qualities to be monitored and recorded during the design and production of a new product. This:
enables modifications (changes) to be made at each stage of the development of the product so that the end result is successful
prevents money from being wasted
allows a food manufacturer to check that the product matches the specification and has the required shelf life
means checks can be made throughout production to maintain consistently high standards
Means products can be compared with those of competitors.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

14. Carrying out sensory analysis
Ratings test – Testers give their opinion of one or more samples of food from ‘extreme like’ to ‘extreme dislike’.
Difference testing – These tests are used to see whether people can tell the difference between samples, for instance when an ingredient or quantity of ingredient is changed and when manufacturers are copying another brand, e.g. brands of cheese and onion crisps or a vegeburger and a beefburger.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

15. Carrying out sensory analysis
Triangle test – Three samples are given to the tester. Two samples are the same and the tester is asked to identify the ‘odd one out’. This test is useful if you have made small changes to a product, for instance made a lasagne low in fat or used more economical ingredients.
Ranking test – This is used to sort a variety of foods into order (e.g. different flavoured crisps made by one manufacturer). A set of coded samples is presented to the tester. The tester has to rank the samples in order of either a specific attribute, e.g. sweetness, saltiness etc, or a preference on a hedonic scale or ranking.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

16. Profiling tests
These kinds of tests can be used to find out what people particularly like about a food product to help build up a profile of it according to a range of sensory qualities, such as saltiness, smoothness, crispness, flavour.
Star profile – This type of test gets testers to describe the appearance, taste and texture of a food product on a star chart.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

17. Carrying out sensory analysis
This will involve you:
looking at the product, e.g. appearance
smelling the product, e.g. aroma
tasting the product, e.g. saltiness
feeling the product, e.g. mouth feel
hearing the sound it makes, e.g. crunchiness.
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18. Correct procedures for sensory analysis testing
Set up a quiet area where people will not be disturbed.
Give the testers a drink of water to clear the palate.
Use small quantities of food on plain plates/dishes.
Serve at the correct temperature for the product.
Use clean spoons or forks each time.
Use codes for the products.
Have any charts ready before you begin.
Make sure the testers know how to fill in the charts you are using.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

19. Product analysis Guidelines for carrying out product analysis
Who is the product aimed at and why?
When, where, why and how will it be eaten?
What ingredients, components, additives have been used?
What processes have been used in making it?
How has it been made safe to eat?
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

20. Product analysis How does it fit into the Eatwell Plate?
Does it meet the nutritional needs of the target group?
Does it meet the identified needs of the target group?
How does the product compare with similar ones available?
Has the manufacturer considered the environment?
Are there any moral, cultural and sustainability issues related to the product?
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology

21. Remember!
You need to have a target group and know their needs to be able to decide on a product’s suitability.
Product analysis is examining a food product to find out the ingredients, packaging characteristics and properties. This will help you to develop design criteria.
AQA GCSE Design and Technology: food technology