DesignJournalSOSEST.2007Design & Technology · Singapore
Making design
teachable.
Personal insights into how design really happens—drawn from teaching and practice, and documented first-hand since 2007.
Enter the design process ↘Support the journal
Help keep the archive open.
These ideas, guides, classroom resources, and original insights are shaped by years of teaching and design experience—and remain free to access. If they have helped you, you can support the continued work behind DesignJournalSOS with a coffee. Every contribution helps cover the cost of maintaining this website and keeps the archive free and growing.
Buy me a coffee ↗The provenance of this archive
An archive built through experience.
DesignJournalSOS is a living archive of original, first-hand documentation created since 2007. It brings together my personal insights into the design process and its workings, developed through years of teaching, observing, experimenting, and practising design.
The archive records not only finished outcomes, but the thinking, decisions, difficulties, revisions, and discoveries that shape the journey from an initial problem to a realised solution. These perspectives were documented through experience as the journey unfolded—not reconstructed retrospectively.
DesignJournalSOS began on Blogspot in 2007. The original blog remains the primary source archive, preserving this journey in its original published form. Visit the original archive ↗
A guided learning pathway
Explore by
design stage.
The blog’s design-journal guidance, reorganised into an ordered journey—from first exploration to a realised outcome. Choose where you need help.
How to use this map
Follow it from left to right as a learning pathway, or enter at any stage. Design itself remains iterative—you can return, rethink, and improve as evidence emerges.
Sketching pathways
Sketch for two different purposes.
Sketching runs through the process, so these sit alongside the stages as focused skill tracks.
All stages
The complete journal
Showing 18 of 218 relevant notes
From Sketch to Print: Designing a Custom 3D-Printed Clipboard Pen Holder
Critical Dimensions · Tinkercad
3D Printed Pencil Extenders: A Simple Lesson in Design Thinking, Sustainability, and Iterative Problem Solving
3D Design · Design Opportunities
How to Avoid Sizing Mistakes in 3D Design: Model Accessories First
Critical Dimensions · Tinkercad
D&T
Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Intellect?
Ai
Isometric Drawings Basics and Applications
Basic Isometric · Isometric Drawing
Wooden Metatron Standing Clock - Adobe Illustrator and Laser Cut
Adobe Illustrator · Laser Cutting
Tinkercad 3D Design & Print - Pencil Extender
3D Design · 3D Printing
Dog Note and Pencil Holder – From Sketch to 3D Print with Tinkercad
3D Modeling · 3D Printing
Design a Snail Cup Coaster with Tinkercad with the "Sketch" Tool
3D Design · 3D Modeling
How to Design & Print a Clipboard & Pencil Holder with Tinkercad
3D Design · 3D Printing
3D Printing in Design & Technology: Simple Classroom Projects That Work
3D drawing · 3D Printing
LATEST Gantt Chart 2025 | Comprehensive Planning Tool for D&T Teachers & Students
Design practice
Setting a Design Direction: Avoid Redundant Work and Maximize Efficiency
Design Process · Ultimate Quick Tips
Start Solving Any Problem with Any Entry Point
Design Process · Stuck
Getting “Unstuck”: A Simple Way to Keep Moving Forward in Design & Technology
Design Education · Stuck
Elon Musk’s 5-Step Design Process in D&T Teaching
Design Process · Elon Musk
Rapid Modeling: A Step-by-Step Guide for Design & Technology Students
Idea Generation · Modeling
Enhancing Ideation in Design and Technology Classes: A Practical Guide for Teachers
Concept Borrowing · Ideation Techniques
The Journal
Latest thinking
218 field notes since 2007
From Sketch to Print: Designing a Custom 3D-Printed Clipboard Pen Holder
Read note ↗3D Printed Pencil Extenders: A Simple Lesson in Design Thinking, Sustainability, and Iterative Problem Solving
Read note ↗How to Avoid Sizing Mistakes in 3D Design: Model Accessories First
Read note ↗Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Intellect?
Read note ↗Isometric Drawings Basics and Applications
Read note ↗Wooden Metatron Standing Clock - Adobe Illustrator and Laser Cut
Read note ↗From the original archive
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Work with me
Focused guidance.
Your work, made clearer.
Practical, encouraging support built on classroom experience. Every session develops your own thinking and skills—the work remains yours.
Coursework Journal Consultation
A focused review of your existing coursework journal. We identify gaps, strengthen the design reasoning, and clarify how research, ideation, development, testing, and presentation connect as one convincing process.
Best for students who need direction, structure, or an informed second pair of eyes.Sketching for Ideation & Development
Learn to use sketching as a thinking tool—not merely to make attractive drawings. Sessions develop faster idea generation, purposeful variation, comparison, annotation, refinement, and the visual evolution of a concept.
Best for students who feel stuck, repeat similar ideas, or struggle to show development.Design Sketching Skills
Build confident visual-communication skills through line control, proportion, construction, isometric and perspective drawing, curves and ellipses, annotation, form, and simple rendering techniques.
Best for learners who want clearer, more accurate, and more convincing design sketches.Tell me where you need help.
Share a short description of your goals, current stage, and the kind of guidance you are looking for. I’ll reply with the most suitable next step.
contact@designjournalsos.com ↗