The most complicated project when it comes to identifying the design problems is the design thesis course at the final year of an M Arch education or the fifth year final project. The students will need to choose a topic and a site, for the issues-driven project or building type project where inevitably the site issues are less addressed and the design is more to do with justifying the architecture programmes. This is an introduction to the topic inspired by my chat with a student who needed clarification on his design thesis at the halfway point.© 2022 Talk Architecture, Author: Naziaty Mohd YaacobPhoto (artwork): "Pavement tiles in Raub" by Naziaty Mohd Yaacob