Lesson 4.11

The Client Brief

Unit: Unit 4: Spaces We Live In
Topic: 4.3 Design a Room project
Grade: 6 to 8 (written at grade 7; see Differentiation for the grade 6 support and grade 8 stretch)
Days: 1 class period of 40 minutes (day 106 of the year, the first day of Project 04)
Room: classroom or FACS lab, tables for pairs

Lesson markdown PDF Word

For this lessonHandout Client Cards and Needs and Wants List Slides The Client Brief

Standards

NYS module line

EDM 2. Environment and Interior Design a)Design shared environments and living space zones (for home, school, work, and/or community) which show respect for individual privacy needs and appreciation of large group social needs
EDM 1. Healthy, Safe, Sustainable Living Spaces a)Recognize that family, school, work, and community settings are all part of the individual's broader living space

CTE theme line

CTE PSI 2. Design Process (Proactive) a)Implement a formal design process to solve a given problem by a. Defining the problem being addressed; b. Defining criteria that must be met through the finished design; c. Defining constraints that must be adhered to

NYS FACS learning standard

NYS FACS Learning Standard 2 (Intermediate)Key Idea: Students will know the basic principles of home and community safety. They can demonstrate the skills necessary to maintain their homes and workplaces in a safe and comfortable condition. They can provide a safe and nurturing environment for themselves and others.
Performance Indicator: Students know the basics of managing a safe and healthy home.

CDOS

CDOS Standard 3aThinking Skills

National FCS 3.0

National FCS 3.0 11.6.5Defend design choices in terms of the client's needs, including diversity and culture, and the design process.
National FCS 3.0 11.2.4Design housing, interiors, and furnishings around how people behave, move, and measure.

Enduring understanding and essential question

Big idea: A designer does not design for themselves. A designer reads what the client needs, separates it from what the client wants, and works inside the limits of the room and the money.
Essential question: How do you design a room for somebody who is not you?

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

(Low) Given a client card, identify the client, the room, the dimensions, the budget, and the one rule that cannot be broken.
(Mid) Sort every line on the client card into a need (the design fails without it) or a want (nice if the money and the space allow), and add two needs the card did not say out loud.
(High) Write a one-sentence design problem for the client in the form "___ needs a room that ___ within ___," and defend it to a partner.

Vocabulary

Tier 2 (general academic): client, brief, criteria, constraint, need, want
Tier 3 (FACS): design brief, universal design, accessible, zone (from Lesson 4.10), traffic path (previewed; taught in Lesson 4.12). See the unit vocabulary list (Vocabulary 04.md) for Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Materials and setup

Handout 04.11 - Client Cards and Needs and Wants List.md: the six client cards printed on card stock, one set per table of six plus one extra set; the Needs and Wants List, one per student
Project 04 - Design a Room.md, the student project sheet, one per student, and Rubric 04 - Design a Room.md, one per student (hand both out today so nothing on the rubric is a surprise)
Quarter-inch graph paper, one sheet per student for the do now
The do-now floor plan folder each student started in Lesson 4.10 (the stack is collected with the project in Lesson 4.15)
Slides: Slides 04.11 - The Client Brief
A visible timer
Setup notes: cut the client cards the day before. Decide before class whether teams of two are chosen by students or by you; the project sheet says students choose, with your veto. [Sal: if a class has a student who uses a walker, a wheelchair, or has a family member who does, read the cards yourself first and decide whether to say so out loud. The cards are meant to be respectful and real, not a joke.]

Pre-assessment

The do now is the pre-assessment for scale and symbols (Lesson 4.10). The hand vote in the hook ("who has ever been asked to help pick something for someone else's room?") tells you how many students already think of design as a job done for another person.

Do now and hook (Time: 5 min)

Floor plan do now (day 5 of the daily stack). On the board: "A room is 10 feet by 12 feet. Draw it at 1/4 inch = 1 foot. Put a door on a short wall and a window on a long wall, using the symbols from Lesson 4.10. Label the scale." Two minutes to draw, one minute to check with a neighbor (does the door symbol show the swing?). Sheets go in the stack.

Hook: "Every room you have ever seen was designed for somebody. Today you find out who your somebody is. You will not be designing your dream room. You will be designing theirs." Hand vote: who has ever picked out something for another person's room and got it wrong? Take one story in twenty seconds.

Procedure

Step	Teacher will	Students will	Time
1. Direct instruction: what a client is, what a brief is	Slides 2 to 5. A client is the person who pays for and lives with the design. A brief is what the client tells the designer: who, the room, the money, the must-haves, the nice-to-haves, and the rules. Show one card on the slide (the Okafor card) and read it as a designer would: circle the numbers, underline the word "must," put a star on anything about safety. Tell a story from business: "I have sat across from a client who said 'I want everything.' My job was to find out which three things they actually needed." Give the sorting rule: a need is something the design fails without; a want is something the design is better with.	Follow on their own copy of the Okafor card. Circle, underline, star as the teacher does.	7 min
2. Learning activity: meet the six clients	Slide 6. Each table gets the six cards. Read them aloud, one per student, thirty seconds each. After each card, one sentence from the reader: "This client's biggest need is ___." Then the choice: each student (or pair) picks a client. Two students at a table may not pick the same card unless they are a team. The tiny house is the harder path and has a bigger budget; say so.	Read a card aloud. Listen to the other five. Choose a client and a path (Design Your Own Bedroom for a client, or Tiny House). Choose to work alone or in a team of two. Write the client name and the path on the project sheet.	8 min
3. The Needs and Wants List	Slide 7. Model the first three lines of the list for the Okafor card on the board (need: a 36-inch path from the door to the bed; need: a chair with arms; want: a TV). Then release. Circulate with the clipboard check (below). Push on the hidden needs: "The card says he uses a walker. What does that mean for the floor? For the rug? For the height of the bed?"	Fill the Needs and Wants List for their client: every line of the card sorted, plus two hidden needs the card did not say. Write the design problem sentence at the bottom: "___ needs a room that ___ within ___."	12 min
4. Share and defend	Slide 8. Pairs swap lists with a pair who has a different client. Each reads the other's problem sentence and asks one question: "What happens to the design if you ignore that need?" Take two problem sentences aloud, one bedroom path and one tiny house. Preview tomorrow: the scale plan starts, and the room dimensions on the card are the outline.	Read a partner's sentence. Ask the question. Revise the sentence if the question showed a hole.	5 min

Questions to ask

Monitor understanding:

What is the difference between a need and a want on your card? Give me one of each.
What are the room dimensions on your card? What is the budget? What is the one rule?
Which line on your card is about safety?

Deepen learning:

The Okafor card says Grandpa likes blue. Is that a need or a want? Could it ever become a need? (If blue is the only thing that makes the room feel like his, the designer has to take it seriously.)
The Rivera card says every path is 36 inches. Why is that number not up for discussion?
Your family's home was designed for the family that lived there before. What in your home is a leftover from somebody else's needs?

Check for understanding

Clipboard check during Step 3: for each student or pair, a yes or no on "sorted every card line," "found at least one hidden need," and "problem sentence names the client, the need, and the limit." A pair with three yeses is ready to draw tomorrow. A pair with a no on "hidden need" gets the walker or crib question at their table before the period ends.

Closure (Time: 3 min)

Exit slip on the bottom of the Needs and Wants List, torn off: "My client is ___. The one thing this room fails without is ___. The one thing I am not sure how to fit is ___." Two students read theirs aloud. Sort the slips by client so you can see tomorrow which client cards drew the most students; the "not sure how to fit" line tells you what to model at the board in Lesson 4.12.

Differentiation and supports

ELL: the six client cards have a picture line at the top (a walker, a desk, a coat hook, a crib, a tiny house, a wheelchair) so the client can be identified before the text is read; the Needs and Wants List has the sentence frame "___ needs ___ because ___" and the words need, want, client, budget, rule in Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish (see Vocabulary 04.md); pair an ELL student with a partner who reads the card aloud slowly; the problem sentence may be written in the home language first and translated with the partner.
IEP and 504 (general): choice of working alone or with a partner is built in; the Okafor card is the shortest and most concrete if a student needs a simpler brief; the card can be read to the student; the list can be filled with a highlighter (green for need, yellow for want) instead of rewriting; extended time: the list can be finished in the first five minutes of Lesson 4.12.
Grade 6 support: sort only the lines printed on the card (skip the hidden needs) and use the printed problem sentence frame with blanks.
Grade 8 stretch: write a second problem sentence from the point of view of a family member who is not the main client (Luz, the eight-year-old sister; the parents of the baby) and note where the two sentences pull against each other. This previews EDM 2. a): shared space, private needs.
UDL checkpoint used: multiple means of engagement (choice of client, path, and partner) and multiple means of representation (the card in text, the picture line, and the teacher reading the Okafor card aloud with marks).
No-kitchen or no-machine alternative: not a lab; no alternative needed.

Assessment

Objective	Standards met	Learning task	Assessment (formative or summative; tool)
1. Identify the client, room, budget, and rule	EDM 1. a); PSI 2. a) a. and c.	Reading the cards, Step 2; the header of the Needs and Wants List	Formative; clipboard check, list header complete
2. Sort needs and wants and find hidden needs	EDM 2. a); PSI 2. a) b.; Std 2 PI B; National FCS 11.2.4	Needs and Wants List, Step 3	Formative; clipboard check; the list is turned in with the project and read against Rubric 04 criterion 1
3. Write and defend the design problem	PSI 2. a) a.; CDOS 3a Thinking Skills; National FCS 11.6.5	Problem sentence, Steps 3 and 4	Formative today; summative in Lesson 4.15 when the pitch opens with this sentence (Rubric 04 criteria 1 and 5)

Homework

None. Optional: measure one piece of furniture at home (a bed, a desk, a dresser) in feet and inches and bring the numbers. They will be useful when you cut furniture to scale tomorrow.

Connections

Math: needs versus wants and constraints are the same idea as a word problem's givens. Special education and the school's occupational therapist, if there is one: five minutes on why 36 inches and a 60-inch turning circle are the numbers for a wheelchair, and what a walker user actually needs from a floor. FACS gets a real expert; the therapist gets a class of students who will see the building with new eyes.

Sources

NYS Middle Level CTE FACS Content Module 04, Environmental Design and Management (nyctecenter.org, June 2018), lines 1. a) and 2. a). Copy in 02 Standards/NYS Module PDFs/. The state's Health, Safety, and Wellness illustrative activity for this module (a floor plan revised for a family member who uses a walker or wheelchair) is the seed of the six client cards.
NYS Middle Level CTE Theme Module, Problem Solving and Innovation, line 2. a) sub-lines a., b., c. Same folder.
NYS Learning Standards for Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Sciences (1996), Standard 2, Intermediate, FACS strand. Wording per 02 Standards/STANDARDS SOURCES - web research.md, section 2. [Sal: confirm against the NYSED PDF.]
National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education 3.0 (LEAD FCS Education, 2018), competencies 11.6.5 and 11.2.4, per 02 Standards/STANDARDS SOURCES - web research.md, section 4.11.
Sal's own materials: Lesson Dups/Unit_1_Interior_Design/education_teachingwork_dream_home_challenge_2026_04.docx (the synthesis idea, the "client needs" vocabulary entry, and the budget line). The client, the budget, and the model are new.
Turning circle and path widths: the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (ada.gov), sections 304 (60-inch turning space) and 403 (36-inch clear width). The 30-inch general path is a common residential planning guideline, not a code line.

Teacher notes

If the period runs short, cut Step 4 to the two read-alouds and skip the swap. Never cut the hidden-needs push in Step 3; the hidden needs are what separate a design from a decoration.
Common mistake: a student picks the tiny house because it sounds fun and then discovers the bathroom and kitchen. Say on Day 1 that the tiny house is the harder path, and let a student switch cards up to the end of Lesson 4.12 Day 1 with no penalty.
Common mistake: every want gets sorted as a need. Use the test out loud: "If the room does not have this, does the client's life get worse, or just less fun?"
Teams of two: the project sheet lets students choose. In a class that cannot handle choosing, assign by client card. A team of two turns in one plan, one budget, one model, and two do-now stacks.
[Sal: your own client story from Oracle or Orangetheory, the one where the customer said they wanted one thing and needed another, is the best two minutes of this lesson. Put it in Step 1.]
Keep the exit slips. The "not sure how to fit" answers are your board examples for Lesson 4.12.