The first step of the design process involves thinking about the big picture – the Overview. It’s where you define and state the problem you are trying to solve.
You’ll need to really understand the problem that exits before chasing after solutions. How is your school's cafeteria designed now? Start by making notes about what’s working and what isn’t working with the existing design.
Next, write and post a statement about out who are the people that have the need for a new design? How long has this situation been a problem? Have others tried to solve this design problem before you? What was the result?
Then write and post a short, but clear, success statement. How will you know if you have a successful solution when you’re done? When you’re nearly finished with your design project, you can go back to this success statement to see if your design has met the criteria you first proposed.