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NEA General Tips & Tricks Guide

Follow these tips and tricks to scoring maximum marks in your design portfolio!

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Twin Theory's Top Tips & Tricks for NEA success!

1

Correct portfolio size & total pages

Why is this important?

  • A3 landscape is best

  • Planned margins and borders

  • Respecting the maximum page limit

Working in A3 landscape

The ideal size for your coursework portfolio is A3 and landscape orientation is best. Using Google Slides is highly recommended as the app saves your progress automatically and it can be easily accessed for comments and feedback. In conjunction with the preferred text size mentioned in a later tip, A3 gives you a lot of room to fill more content and writing, therefore showing more effort and comprehensiveness. 

Planned margins and borders

As you work on your pages, it is important to note that the portfolio may be physically printed and bound together. This means there will be a side of your portfolio that has binding. Prepare a small area for the binding as you may risk your content being punched through. In addition, take note of the margins of your pages so that written content does not go all the way to the edge of the page. The printer may cut off any content in the margins. 

Maximum page limits

The recommended maximum page limit is 20 pages. There are cases where 22-23 pages is acceptable but if you go over the page limit by a lot, you may lose marks from the exam board for not following the scope of the brief.  Having too much content is always better than not having enough, but prepare to condense and edit your content to fit into the page limit while you are progressing through the portfolio. This saves a lot of time having to edit and cut out content before submission.

2

Page numbers

Why is this important?

  • Guiding the journey effectively

  • Table of contents

  • In-page redirects and referencing 
    other pages

Primary Research

Guiding the journey effectively

It may seem like a small thing, but page numbers are incredibly important for the grader to understand and travel around your coursework portfolio. Coupled with a nice and clear Table of Contents at the beginning of the portfolio, the grader will greatly appreciate the ease of moving through your pages and finding certain sections using page numbers. 

Creating a table of contents

A table of contents can be added to the beginning of the portfolio. This page is not counted as content to be graded, but does allow a very clear understanding of the structure of your coursework portfolio. Add a table of contents for easy location of the different sections in your portfolio. The Table of Contents can also be used to detail the sections of your portfolio on the Candidate Record Form (CRF) you must submit alongside your portfolio file.

In-page redirects and referencing other pages

There may be times within in your coursework portfolio where you want the reader to jump to a different page. This is particularly useful when a design change has happened and you would like the reader to jump back to the Specifications page for more information on the design update. In-page directions to other pages is very helpful in an iterative coursework portfolio and therefore page numbers become even more important.

3

High-res everything!

Why is this important?

  • Avoiding pixelated images and photos

  • Avoiding distorted images and photos

  • .pngs tactics for superior design

  • Shape cropping images

The problem with pixels

As you are a professional designer, you must be careful to source only high resolution images from secondary sources or from your photographs. Ensure that all images in your portfolio are of the highest quality. Use the Tools menu in Google Images to refine your search to larger images only. This will prevent unexpected pixellation or blurriness in your images. 

Distorted or confusing images

When resizing images, be extra careful not to squash or distort the images. These distorted images could appear confusing or hard to understand. When resizing, hold the shift key if the app does not automatically keep image proportions locked during the resize action.

The power or the .png

PNG images are an amazing way to enhance the visual appeal of your pages. Instead of inserting images with square backgrounds, you can remove the backgrounds altogether. This allows products and images to blend on to your pages in a much more visually appealing way. This also allows text to be closer to images and even wrap around an important image on the page. When possible, use .png images. There are a variety ways to remove backgrounds automatically using online resources and CAD programs.

Cropping images with shapes for added interest

Another way to avoid boxy images is to crop an image using a shape. This is easily done in design apps such as Google Slides using the shape crop tool. Add more flair and interest to your pages by shape cropping certain images to get a unique and professional look to your pages.

4

Font size 10pts

Why is this important?

  • Forcing more writing and effort

  • Allowing more space for page
    layout design

  • Comprehensive analysis in writing

Primary Research

Restricting to size 8-10pt font size in writing

This is Twin Theory's best piece of advice. Apart from titles and headers, all written paragraphs and text should be limited to size 8-10pts. This will encourage you to analyse and write more. If you struggle to write a lot, this tip will also encourage you to add more annotated research images, mindmaps or mini-moodboards to fill the space. Coupled with the A3 size paper, each page in your coursework will look high-effort and extremely professional!

The advantage of smaller font size for layout design

Students who use large font size for written content tend to struggle adding more content to each page like visuals. A smaller font size will give you the room to insert large and small images and other interesting content.

Demonstrating superior comprehensiveness

The best result of limiting your font size is the amount of writing it encourages. Being highly detailed and specific in your analysis, research, annotations and evaluations will no doubt gain you high marks. Writing more only encourages the grader to favour awarding you a higher mark so avoid using large font sizes which show less effort and detail.

5

3D modelling is a must

Why is this important?

  • Variety of visual communications

  • Automated processes later on

  • 3D printing prototypes

Variety of communications

To achieve high marks for your coursework portfolio, you must demonstrate a variety of visual communication methods that show your ideas and development. 3D modelling is a fantastic way to visualise a product idea from multiple angles quickly once modelled. Learn the basics of Onshape early on in the course through video tutorials. It will save you massive amounts of time and effort being able to 3D model.

Automated processes later on

The earlier your digital 3D model is created, the easier it becomes to create more views and technical drawings of your product ideas. For example, Onshape can automatically create Orthographic views, Sectional Views, Isometric Views and many more. In addition, all parts that are 3D modelled can be sent to various CAM machines like the laser cutter or CNC machine, saving a lot of time compared to hand-cutting or measuring patterns to cut.

3D printing prototypes

If you have access to 3D printers, this is a no-brainer. Once you have modelled a few prototype design ideas, you can send your 3D models for 3D printing. You can scale down your prototypes to save time and plastic while printing. As a result, you can take photos of your 3D printed variations and add them to your design development. 

6

Major Design Revision Page

Why is this important?

  • Iterative design

  • Constant evaluation & customer needs

Primary Research

Iterative design

As shown in the NEA Portfolio Breakdown section of this website, one major page for scoring higher marks is Twin Theory's Major Design Revision or MDR. This page becomes increasingly important if your product journey is appearing too smooth with no hiccups or problems discovered. The MDR page forces you to analyse and discover a key aspect of your design that needs changing or redesigning to meet consumer needs better. Take time to detail the problem in your design, how you aim to solve it and what specifications of your design idea need to be updated. This page can happen anywhere in the later stages of your portfolio and it adds more marks for your design development section.

Constant evaluation & customer needs

The MDR is a great opportunity to remind the reader/grader that you are constantly checking if your design is meeting consumer needs. For example, perhaps a major health and safety issue was overlooked in your design that could result in customer injury. Redesigning an element of your idea to be more safe is a typical industrial and professional action for a product designer and will impress the grader.

7

Write naturally

Why is this important?

  • This is a design journal

  • Avoiding writer's block

  • Say it out loud!

This is a design journal

While creating the content for your portfolio, it is important to remember this is your design journal. This means you should avoid trying to be someone you are not or trying to sound overly formal. As this is your personal journey, it is perfectly fine to express your personal thoughts and even your style of thinking and writing. This makes your journal more authentic to you, therefore being much more enjoyable and interesting to read.

Avoiding writer's block

A common issue when creating a journal is writer's block. Not knowing what to write next can be a big issue, but the biggest hurdle is trying to sound overly professional and using complicated vocabulary at every step of the way. This can cause you to procrastinate or not enjoy the journalling aspect of your portfolio. When thinking of what to write next, think freely and more relaxed. Write out your thoughts as they sound in your head. There is no need to filter your thoughts to sound more professional or complicated. As long as you are using key terms in the theory that are relevant to your points, writing more naturally will get through writer's block!

Say it out loud

Very commonly, students who are struggling with writing are in their own head too much. Twin Theory's powerful piece of advice is to actually talk out loud what you are thinking. Ask a friend to listen to you speak about the next piece of writing you are on and allow them to ask questions. As you speak, record your voice using your device. Re-write what you have said out loud exactly. This process creates written content much more quickly and naturally.

8

The bible of ACCESSFMM

Why is this important?

  • Filling in the gaps

  • Analysing products effectively

Primary Research

Filling in the gaps

Filling up the pages in your portfolio requires a lot of writing. At several points in your journalling, you will be staring at a blank section of the page wondering what you can fill in the space. This is where ACCESSFMM can be used to talk about a specific topic. ACCESSFMM is a method for systematically talking about a product, concept or idea in a way that is structured and specific. If you are not sure what to write next, maybe you can write about the aesthetics of a similar product, or the manufacturing process behind an idea you are exploring.

Analysing products effectively

ACCESSFMM not only helps you write more, but it is a fundamental way to analyse products and services in more detail for written exam answers too. Instead of saying a product "looks nice and appealing", you can specifically analyse the aesthetics of a product in terms of its colour, shape, lines, geometry, textures, contrast etc. Now you are much more specific on the reasons and design of the product being "nice". This makes your analysis much more effective and professional.

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