Ben Cook Product Design Portfolio
Hello, I’m Ben A second year Product Design BSc (Hons) student at Loughborough University looking for a 12 month placement.
contents
01 02 03 04 05
body armour sensor smart city flatmate finder design week injection moulding project perfume bottle
01
body armour sensor Brief Produce an embedded control system with the use of microcontrollers, a form of resistive sensor and or a display/actuator. Create a set of electronic schematics using design spark and function code in C language on MPLAB IDE.
Project Duration: 6 Weeks
15,000
The aim of the project was to create a range of body armour that was able to react to a crash situation. The body armour, through the use of force sensors would be able to tell you the force received in the accident and whether it was severe enough to need medical attention or possibly not use the body armour again.
mountain bikers injured each year in the USA.
1
in 4 injuries involving the spinal cord.
majority suffered
upper body damage.
between 1992-2002 injury rate in mountain bikers
tripled. 52%
of riders wouldn’t know if their armour was damaged beyond safety limits unless obvious.
We carried out research into both Force Sensitive Resistors (FSR’s) and Strain gauges. We decided a Strain gauge would be best suited for our application since an FSR is normally used under small forces e.g. human touch control. Using a Strain gauge will allow both stress and strain to be measured upon an impact and these values can be relayed back to the user warning them if the armour is unsafe to use.
initial sketches
Initial sketches showing potential ideas.
the market
Sensing body armour for extreme sports
02
smart city flatmate finder Brief Based on key findings from first hand primary research, design an app for a mobile phone that solves a problem or aims to enhance an experience in a smart city. As a group of five we carried out research and concept generation as well as individual prototyping, development and testing. Project Duration: 10 Weeks
User mapping helped us understand what the user would feel when going through the process of finding flatmates and finding a property.
Easy to find his ideal accommodation.
Experience Goals
Needs an easy non-time consuming way to find accommodation and occupants.
Wants to find people to socialise and go out with.
mapping of user needs
Would like to live with people of a similar age.
Pain points
The address on the website wasn’t very accurate so he struggled to find the apartment.
Robbie isn’t used to London prices and is worried about what sort of accommodation he’ll get with his budget.
Not living in a central location. Not finding like minded people.
Robbie Parker 24 Years Old Accountancy Graduate Grew up in Devon
With the combination of the groups research we were able to come up with a persona. Robbie wants from our app: To find people to share with, ideally people who know London and can introduce him to the city. To know about them before moving in as Robbie likes going out and so would like to live with similar people. An app with a simple interface and something that he could use on the move. Wants the awkwardness of meeting new people removed from the situation. A feature that can filter out people who aren’t like minded is necessary.
Storyboard
1
Robbie has secured a new job at PwC in London. H e is on the search to find accommodation nearby.
of messing 3 Instead around with out-of-date has no family or friends 2 He in the area and is aiming to find accommodation with like-minded individuals.
6 decide to met in person before 5 They making any viewings. They chat and instantly get on having interests in local football teams and music groups.
housing websites he registers with Haven and creates a personal profile.
They all view the flats together and were pleased with what they saw. They all had read the contract which had been sent earlier by the tenant and signed it.
connects 4 Robbie individuals who
with are similar to him and they chat to get to know each other.
The sketched wireframes show the user pathway through the app from creating a profile, searching for possible occupants to sharing potential properties. After researching our persona’s as a group, we then individually paper prototyped using the key features from our research.
sketch wireframes
high fidelity screens
These screens were produced using Axure RP software, which allow users to test the app interactively on mobile devices or computers. The screens featured are the high fidelity prototyped screens which were produced using user testing. Feedback from user testing resulted in changes being made to make the app more accessible.
A page showing the app rendered in Photoshop mock-ups to visualise the prototype in a realistic setting. Link to prototype: https://yy67uz.axshare.com/#p=browser_options
final app render
03
design week Brief Using a live hinge or hinges design a homeware product for student accommodation that must be capable of compact storage. The product must be made predominantly from Polypropylene with the exception of fasteners and/or special purpose componentry. The product must not exceed 500mm square and 300mm high. Project Duration: 1 Week
In student homes the majority of students will leave their shoes and belongings piled up by the doorway mainly due to laziness and lack of adequate storage. I felt there was the need for a product which was able to store multiple pairs of shoes for either members of the house or for guests. The product would also need to have a double purpose and act as additional storage for other items.
research
storyboard storyboard
1
The user enters their house after a long day at work.
2
The user removes their shoes and looks for a place to put them.
are already several 3 There shoes in the hallway and the user doesnt want to add to the mess.
is where Shoeganise comes in 4 This as it is a shoe rack for up to eight pairs of shoes.
5
Shoeganise can be arranged into four varying shapes to fit differing spaces.
can also be wall 6 Shoeganise mounted to further increase floor space. With it being wall mounted it can be used to store other items such as keys, hats and stationary.
model making Model making was completed to show the functionality of the product and had to represent the product in three different angles. All modelling was completed using foam board as it aided rapid modelling.
final render
Shoeganise in alternative use storing stationary.
04
injection moulding tool Brief To design and manufacture a promotional giveaway “widget�, which is suitable for injection moulding. As a group, manufacture the finalised mould and inject with polymer to create the widget. Initially we created our own individual widget and mould concepts. We then manufactured an injection moulding tool selected from a possible six and injected the final widget in LDPE. Project Duration: 12 Weeks
The initial stages of the project involved creating our own individual widget concepts and portfolios to show development of the mould tool and inserts. On completion of these, as a group we collaborated to choose our final widget to take forward to production. This widget we believed had the best combination of complexity and feasibility. The widget is a bike tyre level produced for Deliveroo as shown on the right.
3D Printed rapid prototype of the widget.
A full set of engineering drawings were completed to detail each insert and the mould to aid with production. All engineering drawings were created to BSI8888 standards.
We produced a CAD file of the top and bottom mould blocks by removing material from the widget in the two blocks. This left us with two negative imprints of the widget in the blocks. Using the CAD files of the mould blocks, we created tool paths for the CNC Mill using HSM Works inside Solidworks. Using HSM Works we selected the necessary cutters for each section of the mould and set the depths for the cutters. These cutting paths were then exported as HTML files and cutting sheets were produced.
We ran trial runs for production of the mould blocks in blue foam. This allowed us to check any errors in the tool paths and tools used. After we were satisfied with the blue foam moulds, cutting the aluminium mould blocks could commence.
exploded Explodedview viewof mould including inserts, line up pins and donor part.
water jet cutting donor part.
the
CNC milling the blocks.
surface inserts.
As this was a group task and with the manufacturing part of the project being one of the largest sections, work had to be split between all members of the group. To ensure I gained experience in all areas of manufacture, I assisted other members with their individual tasks. This included outputting HTML files and running them in the CNC Mills, using the vertical mill to create inserts and use the surface grinder to guarantee all inserts sat flush in the mould.
grinding
the
the completed mould block with inserts and final widget.
radial injection fill Our injection mould block needed to be suitable for mass production and capable of producing 3,000,000 widgets in 3 months. Using Solidworks data we came up with the figures listed below. The radial fill shows the layout of our mould if we were to mass produce it.
3
months
160
hours
7,488,000 27.7
seconds
g of plastic per injection
3,103,832 widgets 64,663
injections per
258,652
widgets per
1,034,611
widgets per month
cycle time 1
fill time: 0.96s
2
hold time: 2.87s
3
cooling time: 3.1s
4
opening time: 0.9s
5
ejection time: 0.54s
6
mould close: 1.28s
05
perfume bottle Brief To create a fully developed model of a perfume bottle, based on the diffuser model provided. At all stages you need to show an awareness of product functionality and common manufacturing forms and processes. The submission needs to demonstrate an understanding of 3D modelling of complex forms, which will require proficiency in surface modelling. Project Duration: 10 Weeks
I took inspiration from flower buds to get the overall shape. Using this shape would allow me to make the perfume bottle feel feminine.
inspiration
Using the ribs from this 1960’s Italian glass vase helped me keep the vintage styling as I wanted to use a puffer feature on the top of the bottle.
The petals on a flower are also replicated through the use of ribs.
Ideation sketches for potential perfume bottle ideas.
curvature In Solidworks we used zebra strips to evaluate the continuity of our curves. The brief had stated that we needed to have minimum G0 continuity and maximum G2.
final renders
The final render’s were created using Keyshot to produce visually realistic products.
Bell’Odore my perfume bottle advertised with a logo and slogan. The idea was to create a luxury perfume bottle, so I kept the branding simple and elegant by using one colour and simple typefaces.
branding
about me
Thank you Feel free to contact me at b.cook-16@student.lboro.ac.uk +44 (0)7758 277718