Hat Lab: Design a Sun Hat to a Client's Brief

Before you start: try it once yourself

Meet the brief yourself once before you start, about ten minutes.

1. Open the lesson. Go to mytekdev.com/try/hatlab?lesson=design-a-sun-hat-to-a-brief&ref=fam-hatlab-1. The navy ball cap named Camp hat opens, with Style open. Press Back above the hat: the cap from behind, with nothing shading the neck. The line under the hat says 10.4 cm crown, 72 mm bill, 34.3 cm across.
2. Size first. In Style, pick Bucket hat. Open Shape and drag the size slider under Size to 56 cm. It says US 7, with 56 cm, UK 6 7/8, about M under it. Brim width reads 54 mm.
3. Widen the brim. Drag Brim width until it reads 76 mm or more. The brim number in the line under the hat changes with it.
4. Try two more. Pick Cowboy hat: the size stays at 56 cm, but Crown height reads 12.6 cm, over the limit, so drag it lower. Then pick Sun hat: 90 mm crown and 13.3 cm brim as it comes.
5. Add the name. Open Mark and press + Letters. A mark that says ABC appears; type CAMP SUNRISE in the Letters box, then tap the front of the hat. Press Front to check it.

The Sun hat at 56 cm with the camp's name: the line under the hat is where you read the crown and the brim.

The ideas, in plain words

Designers work for a client, and the client's needs are written down before anyone designs: that is the brief. Each requirement in a good brief can be checked with a yes or no, which usually means it has a number in it. A constraint is a requirement that sets a limit, like no taller than 12 cm. Anything the brief does not mention, such as color or pattern, is the designer's choice.

A design is done when it meets every requirement, not when it looks finished. That is why your child reads the app's numbers instead of judging by eye, and why the order matters: Hat Lab grows the whole hat with the head size, so every other number has to be read after the size is set. The camp's problem is a good example of a requirement ruling out a whole kind of design: a ball cap's bill shades only the front, so no bill length can shade the neck.

Do it together

1. Open mytekdev.com/try/hatlab?lesson=design-a-sun-hat-to-a-brief&ref=fam-hatlab-1 together. Hat Lab opens on the camp's navy ball cap, and a short guide runs along the bottom; follow it together. Do its first step, pressing Back above the hat to see the cap from behind, then stop and read the camp's note: "The caps you sent shade our eyes, but our counselors' necks and ears are burned by lunch." Ask why.

   You'll know it worked when: Your child says the bill shades only the front, so nothing shades the neck.

2. Read the brief together. The hat must fit a head 56 cm around, have a brim of at least 76 mm all the way around, be no taller than 12 cm, and say CAMP SUNRISE on the front. Each one has something you can check. The brief says nothing about color or style: those are your child's choices.

   You'll know it worked when: Your child can say which things the brief decides and which are theirs, and why a longer bill would still not pass: the line under the cap says bill, and a bill only sticks out at the front.

3. Go on with the guide: in Style, pick a hat with a brim all the way around (the Bucket hat is a good start), then open Shape and drag the size slider to 56 cm. Set the size first, because the whole hat grows and shrinks with the head.

   If you get stuck: If the brim was widened before the size was set, it reads 75 mm once the size drops from the starter's 57 cm to 56 cm. Set the size, then read the brim again.

   You'll know it worked when: The size says US 7, with 56 cm under it.

4. On Shape, read Brim width. On the bucket hat it is about 54 mm, not enough. Drag it until it reads 76 mm or more, and watch the brim number in the line under the hat change with it. The app says mm up to 99 mm, then cm: 13.3 cm is 133 mm.

   You'll know it worked when: Brim width reads 76 mm or more, with the size still at 56 cm.

5. Check the height: the crown number in the line under the hat must be 12 cm or less. A few styles fail here. The Cowboy hat's crown is 12.6 cm at this size, and Crown height on Shape has to be dragged lower.

   If you get stuck: Picking a new style puts every Shape slider back to that style's start, so a widened brim or a lowered crown is gone. The size and the name stay. After any style change, read every number again.

   You'll know it worked when: The crown reads 12 cm or less, and the brim still reads 76 mm or more.

6. Add the camp's name: open Mark, press + Letters, type CAMP SUNRISE in the Letters box (up to 12 letters, and spaces count), then tap the front of the hat. Press Front to check it.

   If you get stuck: A new Letters mark says ABC. The camp's name goes in the Letters box, not in the hat's name at the top.

   You'll know it worked when: Seen from the front, the hat says CAMP SUNRISE.

7. Now the hat becomes theirs: colors in Paint, trims in Trim. Then write the number read from the app next to each requirement on the activity sheet, or say them out loud.

   You'll know it worked when: Every requirement has a number next to it that meets it.

8. Trade seats. In a second browser tab, open mytekdev.com/try/hatlab?lesson=design-a-sun-hat-to-a-brief&ref=fam-hatlab-1 again and make a hat of your own: pick the Boater in Style and set the size to 56 cm on Shape. It looks finished. Ask your child: does it meet the brief? How do you know?

   If you get stuck: Dragging a slider while checking changes the hat's numbers. Undo at the top right puts it back.

   You'll know it worked when: Your child reads the numbers instead of trusting the look, and finds two misses: the brim at 69 mm, short of 76 mm, and no CAMP SUNRISE on the front, with a fix for each.

Talk about it

Ask these while you work together. A child who has understood the lesson can answer them without help:

• Which requirements have you met? Show me the number for each.
• Your crown says 90 mm. Is that under 12 cm?
• Why can the ball cap never meet the brief?
• Which parts of your hat are your choice, and which does the brief decide?
• You changed the size and the brim number changed too. Why?
• My hat looks great. Does it meet the brief? How do you know?

Bring it into other subjects

• Math: 1 inch is 2.54 cm. The Skin Cancer Foundation's 3 inches is how many millimeters? (3 x 25.4 = 76.2 mm, which the brief writes as 76 mm.)
• Science: the sun is high at noon and low in the evening. Which part of a counselor does a 76 mm brim shade at noon, and which does it miss in the evening? (At noon the face, ears and neck; in the evening low light comes in under the brim onto the face.)
• English: write the camp a three-sentence letter that explains how your hat meets their brief.
• Hat sizes: what does US 7 measure? (The head's width if it were a perfect circle, in inches.)

Quick check

Name: ______________________________

1. Which hat can never meet a brief that asks for a brim all the way around? (A) a bucket hat, (B) a ball cap, (C) a sun hat.

2. The brief asks for a brim of at least 76 mm. The app says Brim width 68 mm. The hat: (A) meets it, (B) misses it: widen the brim, (C) misses it: make the crown shorter.

3. You change the size from 56 cm to 60 cm, and the brim number gets bigger. Why?

Answers

From the app's own measurements at 56 cm: the Sun hat meets the brim and height requirements as made (13.3 cm brim, 90 mm crown); the Bucket hat's brim reads 54 mm and passes once Brim width reads 76 mm; the Boater reads 69 mm; the Cowboy hat's brim passes (90 mm) but its crown is 12.6 cm, over the limit.