The document discusses the initial stages of the design process: 1) Identifying a design situation by determining the needs, problems, or wants of users based on scenarios. 2) Writing a design brief that clearly states the identified need or problem in the form of "Design and make a (product) that can...". 3) Developing a design specification that provides detailed requirements for the design to meet the goals of the brief, stated as "It should/must be able to...". Considerations are made for what is critical versus important.