The development of assessment criteria for undergraduate project work in engineering design is perceived as a difficult task. The activity of design is often seen as irrational and proposed design solutions frequently lie outside the fixed domain covered by the curriculum. Nevertheless, such criteria remain absolutely essential to the objective and fair assessment of all undergraduate project-based learning. This paper begins with a brief statement of the design activity and then goes on to describe an innovative course that has been developed at undergraduate level. The course places a strong emphasis on visual and oral communication skills during the first semester, which are complemented by more technical engineering design material in the second semester. A positive feature of the course is the regular contact between course director and students, which helps to maintain feedback on project progress and level of performance. The final part of the paper describes detailed assessment criteria which have been developed for all aspects of the course. Assessment is entirely through oral and written presentations in which a balance is struck between marks awarded for presentation and for content based on the overall course objectives. Students are provided with a clear description of what is expected of them and given a summary of the marking scheme adopted.