Benjamin Burton Product Design Portfolio

design Benjamin John Burton Product Design Portfolio

hello I’m Benjamin Burton, a 2nd year Product Design & Technology student at Loughborough University.

I am currently seeking a year-long placement opportunity for the 2018-19 academic year.

00 contents trainr wave pod kutsu element pivot

01 02 03 04 05 06

01 trainr Design an ‘internet of things’ deviceanything that connects to the internet.

Oct 17 - Dec 17

Ideation After deciding upon designing a sports, personal training device, I generated several pages of initial concepts. After generating a large pool of ideas, I selected the three designs with the most potential and drew them out on a presentation page. I used this to gain valuable feedback over which idea to take forward and develop.

User testing The design was selected and developed through further development drawings and sketch models, with feedback from the user group throughout.

Storyboard

Turn the product on, and select the desired function on the now-raised screen

The trainr encourages greater fitness in society, by providing the opportunity to learn new sports, or improve on others, in a competitive, online environment- without paying regularly for a personal trainer.

Carry the device to a suitable location for the sport

Learn- scan your body, and any equipment, then follow the chosen tutorial

Track- choose between tracking the accuracy of shooting, your health data or your progress

Connect- go online to compete with others or share tips and techniques

02 wave Design and develop a CAD model of a mobile speaker using surface modelling techniques.

Oct 17 - Dec 17

The brand is core to this project. It is named wave as it produces sound waves, the form will take the shape of a swept, wave-like shape and it would be manufactured from recycled, ocean plastic.

Of the plastic the world produces, around 10% of it ends up in the earth’s oceans.

This litters the planet and is clearly not a sustainable method of disposal, and so this brands promotes greater awareness of sustainable living.

It also has an adverse effect on the underwater wildlife, and it has been predicted that by the year 2050, there will be as much plastic in the world’s oceans as there are fish.

Ideation I experimented with designing slightly wave-inspired forms on a graphics tablet, so that once I had decided on a form I could easily import this to Solidworks to generate the surface model.

Solidworks Next, I imported the required drawings into Solidworks to generate the surface model. Using the ‘Zebra Stripes’ tool, I was able to ensure surface continuity in the desired areas. Then this was split and developed into a realistic assembly.

03 pod Design a product for DofE participants that improves an aspect of the expedition phase.

Sep 15 - May 16

Brief The chosen client for the project was Capt. Grant, who leads the Duke of Edinburgh award in my area. He has requested a device designed for DofE participants, therefore this is my target user group.

Upon interviewing the client, it was clear that cooking on DofE expeditions was an area in which many participants struggled- due to time pressure, transportation issues and ease of use.

The design solution must be suitable for use on these expeditions- providing efficient cooking from a reliable product. Size and weight restrictions must also be taken into account.

04 kutsu Design a homeware product, involving a living hinge, for student accommodation.

26 Jan 17 - 2 Feb 17

User

Task

Environment

As the brief states, it is to be designed for students.

I have decided to design a shoe tidy, as students don’t often have enough storage to contain them.

The product is for use in student accommodation, which tends to be very messy and in need of organisation.

Development Once I had decided to design a shoe tidy, I was inspired by origami to achieve the desired function whilst incorporating the living hinge innovatively.

After exploring different patterns, I reached a design solution which I then modelled in corrugated cardboard.

Kutsu comes as a flat sheet, allowing for easy transportation to and from university.

There is insufficient room for a normal shoe storage unit in student accommodation, so shoes are normally cluttered into piles.

Next, the product can be assembled by bunching up the sheet and allowing the origami folds to form the shape.

Now it can be pushed up against the wall and loaded with shoes.

To clean, just open the product back up and wipe/brush clean.

The user then lays out the product in a suitable location- up against a wall, often in a corner.

To ensure the product retains its form, the magnets on the corners pull the panels together, and the slot at the back must be pushed in.

Storyboard

05 element Design and prototype an electronic circuit which incorporates a sensor, microcontroller and actuator with an LCD display.

Feb 18 - Mar 18

Development The idea for the circuit was a temperature sensing, origami lamp, named ‘element’. I generated some initial design ideas along with a block diagram, coding flowchart and schematic diagram.

06 pivot Design a consumer toy to eliminate waste, using circular economy practices.

Feb 18 - Mar 18

Who?

What?

Where?

Why?

How?

The target market is primary school aged children. It is at this age they begin to get a lot more competitive and social at this age which the toy should look to develop further.

The majority of parents require toys due to their ability to extend the time that they can entertain their children for, without resorting to TV and video games too often.

Despite the rise of online shopping, many parents still prefer to buy toys in person due to the in-store experience. Toys can offer this through interesting packaging, varying colour options, etc.

The stated purpose in the brief is to reduce waste, which is mainly driven by the cheap plastic toys currently swarming the market and not offering parents much choice.

There are several circular economy practices that aim to reduce waste, including design for attachment, durability, repair and upgradability.

“By the time they are pre-teens, ages 8-12 ... they may be into collectible toys they can use to compete in games with friends.” Keriann Wilmot, industry expert.

“Kids use their imaginations but this only lasts for a limited amount of time; using toys can extend this.” Teaching assistant and mother of three.

“Personally (I prefer shopping) in store unless I am after a specific item.” Teaching assistant and mother of two.

“I usually find that sometimes the plastic toys don’t last as long as the wooden toys as they tend to break if stepped on or thrown.” Looks after children at church and mother of one.

“...we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life” WRAP UK Circular Economy Definition.

Solution Upon conclusion of the research, several designs were generated in an attempt to provide a solution.

Of these, each were critiqued using the Life Cycle Analysis tool and evaluated against each other using the Design Abacus tool. This, coupled with further user feedback on each idea, the following design was selected.

The concept for this toy revolves around a spinning top. The launcher for the spinner requires kinetic energy to be imparted on it to generate the power for launch. Once ready for use, the spinner is accelerated within the launcher and released, with the magnetic-tipped stylus used for control in battle against friends.

Form After deciding on the concept, form development was undertaken to generate an intriguing and appropriate shape for the desired purpose and its manufacture.

Life Cycle Analysis Materials Sustainably-sourced oak wood is the main material used as it is entirely renewable. The plastic colour band is made from rubber, which is similarly renewable. The metal is recycled steel to provide the magnetic components.

Disposal

Manufacture

The durable materials selected ensure the product has a long life span and is often safe to pass on to the next generation after use. All three materials selected are recyclable, and the technology inside can be reused in other products.

The simple geometries for the oak components can easily be machined on the lathe. Otherwise, the remaining geometries are similarly simple to injection mould.

Use Due to the launcher requiring kinetic energy, children are encouraged to exercise and are made aware of renewable technologies. Via competing against friends, they also develop social skills, tactical awareness and improve their pen control.

thank you Please feel free to contact me via the following.

B.J.Burton-16@student.lboro.ac.uk www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-burton