End of 2nd Year – Personal Critique

During my second year at university I think I have improved my skills as a product designer in many ways, from my CAD skills to my layout and prestation design. I think this was due to the range of products I undertook this year. However I do still have areas which still need work, such as sketching and hand rendering.

CAD Skills – Solidworks

The design for manufacture (DFM) and brand alignmnet project which we had at the start of this year, where were had to choose a mechanical or electronic product and replicate its internals in solidworks and then deisgn a new casing for it, helped me to improve my Solidworks skills significantly. I was introduced to features which I had not used before and all round gain more experience with using the software. The storage project later on in the year also helped me to further my CAD skills, as I was again using features I had not used before and doing new things, such a creating moulds for my products.

Rendering Skills – Keyshot

Along with improving my CAD literacy I also think my Keyshot product renders have improved from what they were at start of the year to now, for example my DFM boards. The first set of boards that I subitted for the DFM project were very basic and not very realistic, however the revised versions of these boards which I submitted recently are far more realistic and of a higher quality.

Ideation Skills – Hand Sketching

For idea and concepet generation I do think my sketching has improved, however I still think I have way to go, as somethimes my proportions and perspective can be off. This needs work as sketching is a key way of communicating ideas.

Presentation – Layout Design

Spending more time on layouts, has helped make my work a bit more professional, but I do still need to work on this area greatly, as a clear layout will guide someone through my work and idea process.

Virtual Show

24 Hour Projects 2nd Year

This year we had two 24 hour projects, one with the airline seat manufacturer Safran and the other with packaging company DS Smith, each working with a mixture of students from different years.

24 Hour Project – Safran

For this porject we had to design a set of buisness class seats suitable to be used inside an Airbus. This was an intersting breif as it was in an area which I had not designed for or though about in great detail. In our group we came up with a set of modular pods, with adjustable seats.

24 Hour Project – DS Smith

For this 24 Design task we had to come up with a way of collecting and disposing waste card boxes, we end up designing a program which large shops could facilitate and small shops could sign up to. Here they would become a drop off point for waste card, where lorries would then at the end of a week or so collect the dropped off card.

Working collabertaively on 24 hour briefs is something which has allowed me to better my teamworking skills, which will be usefull when I go out into a job, as I am able to now work better within a team.

Design For Manufacture – Storage

Processes

After being informed on other types of manufacturing processes and their constraints we then were told about our next brief. We had to design a new storage device each week using a material specific process, such as die casting or injection moulding.

Week 1 – Metal Casting – Storage device

The first week we were given metal casting, i.e. sand, die, ect. I started by thinking of household items which could be cast, such as desk tidy’s, plant pots, paper trays and waste paper bins. After playing around with differnt forms, I decided on some sort of pot, which lter became a plant pot. The process which would be best suited for this would either be investment casting or sand casting, I decided to choose sand casting as the sand would give the design a little bit of surface texture, making the plant pot more aestheically intersting, and not look too perfect.

Week 2 – Metal Forming – Storage Device

This week we were able to choose bewteen serveral metal forming processes, such as extrusion and piercing. Again my inital thought was to create some sort of office tidy or waste paper bin, as I could cut metal sheets to make geometric shapes. I ended up going for a square based desk tidy which had a curved cut on each side. I also included a divider, which could be extruded, which would help to seperate things in the desk tidy, such as pens and pencils. This would then be secured in place by a set of rivets, which could either stick out the sides or be flush.

Week 3 – Plastic Forming – Storage Device

Here I deced to look into PET water and drinks bottles, as this was something wich I have wanted to design, so see how the form could be altered that the typical cylinder with lid. I opted for a mixture of a cylinder with a top and bottom of a square with rounded edges. This differnt bottle shape, would allow for a distinct brand identity as it is different from the norm in terms of water botle design.

Week 4 – Choose your Own Processes – Injection Moulding

I chose enjection moulding and made a cultelry storge box for oudoor recreation use as there are a lack of products like this on the market a the moment, people often resort to using old ice cream tubs.

Progress – Skills Obtained

Progression

Taking the field module Designing Monocoque Furniture allowed me to develop a new range of skills and introduced me to a new style and new method of designing. Designing with sheet metal was something which I hadn’t done before, and it proved to be a lot harder than I’d expected. I had to space efficiency within every design change I made, this was quite limiting, however it did result in some interesting forms for the legs of the table. Using card to make some initial models as a form of ideation was useful as it allowed me to visualise the tables in a three dimensional form, which can prove to be quite difficult to do on paper.

Working in a group with someone from a different discipline introduced me to a new set of skills and programs as our environment was made on Sketchup, which we then used as backplate when we rendered our design in Keyshot.

Doing this project meant I had to use the sheet metal part within Solidworks, which was something that I hadn’t used before so I was able to pick up a new set of skills, which I will be able to transfer over to my subject area and potentially use in future projects. I was also shown how to use the stress test feature in Solidworks, which I only had briefly looked at before. This was interesting to look at as I was able to see which parts were vulnerable to bending and so I could make changes to my designs. The sustainability study was a feature that I also used to see the environmental impact of my designs, I don’t even know this existed, so I will now be bale to use this for my products which I make or design in subject, as it will give a more real world perspective of products in terms of sustainability.

Working together to tackle a task like this was a challenge but was good as we were able to pull in different skills and combine everyone’s individual strengths. Overall I did enjoy this project as it let me develop a new set of skills and experiment with different forms of design. Presenting our work in front of my peers enabled me to see what design they had come up with and see how they approached this challenge. There was a wide range of different forms, some simplistic and other more intricate.

If I was to do this project again I would try and experiment with more exciting forms and shapes a you are able to achieve moderately complex designs with this process, it would have been nice if we were able to engrave, patterns or motifs to the surface of the table or its legs to add more design detailing.

Working with a real client proved difficult as getting hold of them to discuss design decisions was difficult, as well as having preferences change over the design process.

This project was interesting as I hadn’t designed a monocoque table before.

Teamwork Evaluation

Teamwork Blog

We started off this project by individually coming up with table concepts, following the information we gained from our target market interview, the keywords I kept in mind when coming up with concepts were: organic, natural, flowing and clean. This proved to be difficult as we could only fold straight edges and were restricted by not being able to use other manufacturing methods, such as rolling or welding. I tried to minimalize was the amount of waste from each design, however any offcuts would be able to be recycled.

After each group member had selected four of their initial designs, we each made CAD models of them in Solidworks, and then each laser cut four 1:4 scale models of our designs. After discussing which designs would be more suited for the purpose of the table, to hold cups and magazines in the centre of a social space. Then one design was chosen from each of our four which we went on to make in full scale our of corrugated card. I also made some adaptations to the shape, so that it was slightly less of teardrop and so it flowed more. I also made the legs have feet on the bottom for added stability and to prevent damage to the user’s flooring or carpet. I also made the legs go down to the feet in a triangle like shape, which added a bit more to the lower part of the table. We then each showed our full scale card models to Clara and explained the features and design influences of each design, my design being influenced by various Zara Hadid architectural pieces and other group members designs being influenced by Ross Lovegrove’s organic forms. In this feedback session Clara selected Oriana’s table design.

To create our group persona boards, we all took our initial mood boards and combined them to make a persona board summarising what Clara wants in a table and what is important to her, and what response we could try to get from the table. This information was all gathered from our interview with Clara at the start of this project, where she outlined her preferences and what her colour scheme is in her house at the moment.

After we had finalised our final design, by making minor adaptions, we went about creating a heroboard. The background environment of a grey and white living room, where the actual coffee table would be situated was created within SketchUp, then rendered and saved to be used as a backplate. I then created a set of books, one open and one closed to be used in the heroboard to clearly demonstrate the function of the table. Other group members also made a set of Coffee mugs to further show this.

Once our Solidworks CAD file was ready we then sent it to Huw for him to send it to Dragon laser for it to be cut out. It turned out to look like the CAD model.

Typography 101 Evaluation

I chose typography 101 as I wanted to get better at the various digital packages and get better at laying out my portfolio pages, so that they would look more professional and clearer. At the start of this project I had not used many Adobe Creative Cloud applications, as I had only used Illustrator and Photoshop, however during this field option I was able to learn how to do bits InDesign, such as setting up grid patterns in order to alight text, creating text warps, so text can surround an image. These were all things which I had wished to learn as now I should be able to apply these to my subject area, whether it be creating a portfolio or creating a set of hero and benefits boards.

Being informed on different letter forms, features and elements of type has made me more aware of how the typeface that I choose can really make a significant difference to if a person reads my piece of my work or not and how they can interpret it. Expressive type is another type form which I found interesting as you are able to express an emotion or accent purely through letter forms.

When producing work in the future I will try to consider the elements which I have learnt from this field module. Working in a different discipline has shown me the different fundamental things in a different subject. Also working with people from different subject areas, allow me to converse and find out what in their practice is seen as most important in terms of design, I was also able to see the different ways in which people go about solving and doing things. I was able to see a wide variety of skills from each subject, as well as being informed on what some subjects do in their practice.

Studying this option showed me there are actually a lot more ways to do some things than you realise, as when I was designing, I started to forget about the manual processes, such a screen printing ect. and just focused on the digital aspect of this field choice. When designing and creating in the future I will try to see how I can incorporate these more traditional processes, as they could be valuable for my skill set and may better my design work.

I would recommend this field option as it has helped me to broaden my understanding of layouts, type, visual language and impressions given off from a piece of text.

Typography 101 – Final Design

Week 5 – w/c – 9/12/19

Digital Piece – Box Net

This week I started to finalise my box net on Adobe Illustrator, here I started off with a basic set of shapes, then added the tabs and started adding colour. I started to add some colour gradients aswell as I wanted the box graphics to look more than just 2D blocks of colour. Net Screenshot final

Digital Piece – Poster

For the poster I went onto InDesign and set up a page with grid systems, which allowed me to organise the page features, such as the text. Here I wrote about the screwdriver itself and commented on it’s features and aesthetics. I then drew round the screwdriver and wrapped the text around it, bringing the text closer to the image, making the words seem almost more valued/relevent. Poster D Screenshot final

Typography 101 – Box net Concepts

Week 4 – w/c 2/12/19

Initial Net Idea

Originally I was just thinking of having a square/cube box, which would be pretty typical for a box of a power tool, until I spoke to one of the lecturers, who suggested and showed me some more complex nets, which were not all made up of right angles.

Idea Chosen to Take forward

I decided to go with the less traditional option of making a box with different angles. Part of my decision for a having box with unusual angles came from looking at cardboard boxes that had been squished, kicked or damaged, as I wanted to implement this kind of style into my design.

Experimentation with Different Forms

Here I sketched several box shapes, which all had multiple different angles on and within them.

Choosing a Shape

I went and choose a shape which had a large cutoff corner at the base of it and as a result of this the top part of the box would slightly overhang. Later I then decided that the top left corner could do with another angle on it and so I cut the corner off it.

Promotional Poster

After being shown how to wrap text around an image in InDesign, I wanted to somehow implement this into my own work within a poster as I feel that having text right up against an image, not only is aesthetically pleasing, but it causes the user/receiver to look at the image/product first (making it the focal point) and then read parts of the text. I also wanted the poster to have the same colour scheme and a similar style to the box net.

Typography 101 – Initial Idea Generation

Week 3 – w/c 25/11/19

Initial Idea Generation

After being given the brief, which was relatively broad, my initial thought was to go down a route related to how products are presented in packaging, since I am a Product Design student. This area is something which in my subject we don’t fully delve into into, we do however make presentation boards and various diagrams to illustrate what a product is made up of but not specifically packaging, so I am going to design a form of packaging for a product, as I believe this will allow me to showcase my skills with digital apps and help me produce something for my portfolio.

Some products which I have previously designed and made, either in physical or digital form include, a portable gaming device, a set of ergonomically design cutlery and a brand aligned speaker. These are all potential products which I could design packaging for, however I have decided that I am going to use my most recent subject product, an electric screwdriver to design a set of packaging for.