The AQA Design Technology Product Design qualification will require you to develop skills and understanding in both making and designing: Making products involves working with a range of materials. Only by experiencing working with materials first-hand can you start to understand their properties and the ways in which those materials can be used for a variety of purposes. You will need to know different methods of working with materials in order to understand the right method of production for your product. When designing, you will need to understand what the user or client requires, and then go on to provide them with a functional prototype, which can be tested so you and your user or client can judge how successful it is.