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.