Industrial Design Portfolio Frankie Hildrick 2020/21
Hello... I am currently in my 4th year of University, studying Design for Industry at Northumbria. I have experience in a range of design disciplines, with an ever growing interest for industrial design. I like to take an experimental approach to my design projects, striving to find the right balance between form and function, always with the users needs in focus. Much of my work is driven by trying to find solutions with intuitive user interactions, products designed with intent. This portfolio showcases the work I have completed during my time at university, showing a vast development in design, and ultimately allowing me to pick up many new key skills along the way.
Education Northumbria University
2017 - present
BA Design for Industry Grade?
Easingwold Sixth Form
2015 - 2017
Product Design - A English Literature - B English Language - B
Easingwold Secondary School
2013 -2015
10 GCSE’s A-B
E-mail | frankie.hildrick@northumbria.ac.uk
Skills & Experience
Experience & Additional info
Live projects in collaboration with P&G, Howden’s, Wilko, Cottam, and John Lewis’ Room Y. Winner of the Howden’s design competition ‘The Dynamic Kitchen’. ‘Rumble’ project recently shortlisted to be used in the promotion for the Northumbria DFI x Room Y collaboration, to be published through Room Y press channels. Confident with Adobe CC applications InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom and Premiere Pro. Experience with XD and After effects in addition. Comfortable with CAD and visualisation software such as Solidworks, Fusion 360 and Keyshot.
Technical skills
Personal & Practical skills Sketching Communication
Rippl maquettes | 2nd year interaction project
Modelling
Video Prototyping
Time management
Presentation
Organisation
Teamwork
Photography
Selected Design Works
01. SHAK+R 02. Rumble Animation
Video Prototyping
Design for play Furniture Design
Rumble Visualisation | 02
Sustainability
Interaction
03. Mantle
Speculative Design
04. Bodi Bear
Spatial Awareness
Lighting Design
05. Additional skills
01. SHAK+R A modular unit system that gives users a more flexible kitchen, allowing them to create a work flow that suits them.
Furniture Design
Spatial Awareness
Howden’s Competition | Winner
Brief: The Dynamic Kitchen
‘With the upcoming ‘nomadic lifestyle’ trend, our homes need to be flexible and adapt to differing needs throughout the day, and even throughout its own lifetime. Design a kitchen component for a new generation of young adults, who are constantly renting and moving on’
Re-inventing the kitchen Over the years, the kitchen has been seen as a fixed set of units and fitments. In rented property, it can be difficult to make any drastic changes to the kitchen, making it a space where little time is spent. Kitchens should be more personal to users and allow for changes to be made easily, without high costs.
Insights By 2025, 90% of 18-34 yearolds will be confined to renting in the UK Homes in the UK are getting smaller, with the average kitchen in new built homes being just 13.44m2
Time for a change? Looking at how people in other countries use their kitchen helped me to discover new ways of maximising user experience in rented spaces. I found that in Germany, renting is extremely popular, and many residents choose to take their kitchens with them when they move into new properties. Most rental properties have bare kitchens, with no fitted units. This means that they can choose and change their kitchen, rather than having to stick with the usual tired, overused fitted units that landlords have built in.
The Original Shaker Taking inspiration from the pared back simplicity of traditional 18th century shaker kitchens, and combined with a New Nordic aesthetic found in various modular furniture solutions provided a balance between form and function.
Development
Configuring the models in different ways to suit different users needs helped me to see what features and functions my design might benefit from.
Experimenting with physical models at an early stage allowed me to question the way my own kitchen was laid out and explore how it could be adapted to use space more efficiently, changing my own perspective on how we use a kitchen space.
A kitchen of change Kitchens are getting smaller. In the past the kitchen was seen as the heart of the home but now it is more of a tool that should be maximised for functionality and efficiency. SHAK+R has been designed to give users the freedom to change their kitchen, whenever they want.
Behind the design The final piece to the puzzle. I always wanted to give users an alternative to traditional cupboard doors, something versatile that offered an unconventional, but intuitive way of accessing unit contents.
Frame
Exploring unique ways to cover units led me to design the SHAK+R SoftCover; a flexible, one-piece cover made from compression molded foam. The segmented form creates a space-saving solution for the kitchen, allowing for easy access to unit contents.
Surfaces SoftCover
SHAK+R | SoftCover
Options Not custom designed, but designed to customise. The modular, reconfigurable nature of SHAK+R gives users the freedom to swap out components and add appliances with ease, making it the perfect kitchen for the modern nomad. Unit frame/Hanging rail
Steel with polyester powder coating
Shelf/Utensil rack
MDF with oak veneer or PU lacquer
Sink fitting
Stainless steel sink with polished chrome tap
Worktop
Laminate or with various colours/finishes or Stainless steel
Softcover
Compression molded foam with fabric covering
02. Rumble Rumble is a smart dose aid that blends into everyday life, using familiar interactions to provide a more relatable form of reassurance for users who take medication regularly.
Interaction
Speculative Design
Room Y Live Project | Shortlisted for publication
Brief: Somewhere else
‘Screens have a privileged place in our lives, they require our complete attention, they yearn for absolute dedication. In contrast with the habit we have formed around constantly checking our phone, design a real world solution that has the ability to communicate one or more pieces of information using a novel format.’
Medicine Memory Everyone who takes medication struggles to remember if they’ve taken it or not, from time to time - but some people can be reluctant to use current products that try to solve this problem, often because they are too user reliant.
Society tends to reject new technologies when they substitute for, rather than augment our humanity
77% of adults with a long standing condition reported taking one or more prescribed medicines More than 50% of prescribed medications are not taken as directed
Unlearned Tech Creating a more humble smart device that uses actions and responses learnt previously in the physical world, and transferring them to the digital world, can result in a solution that is less overwhelming for users.
Concept
Initial ideas were based on the subconscious action of shaking a pill bottle. Early concepts focused on user interactions and pill storage, before scaling down to a more portable size. The design language of the device was constructed to be playful, but able to blend into the background of daily life.
Intuitive interactions How it works
User sets up the device by placing pills in the correct sections of the Rumble Case
User cannot remember if they took their morning dose or not
User shakes Rumble Pod for reassurance. Haptic feedback simulates pills inside a bottle
LED indicators on Rumble Case show which medication and dose needs to be taken
User safely takes the correct dose of their required medication
Pill sensor recognises that medication has been taken correctly
Quiet Tech Rumble is a smart device that hides its technological sophistication. Qi wireless charging is used to create a seamless, simplified user experience. The concept also works with smart pills that contain ingestible sensors, used to inform the device when a user has taken their medication.
Haptic feedback Rumble makes use of the latest technology through Linear Resonant Actuators - haptic motors used in products such as smart watches, phones and games controllers - to provide a highly accurate simulation of pills being shaken inside a bottle, giving users a more relatable form of reassurance.
A gentle reminder Technology can be used to make our everyday lives easier. However, it shouldn’t be intrusive or overwhelming. A gentle yet playful aesthetic helps Rumble to blend into everyday life, offering users a helping hand whenever they need it.
03. Mantle Mantle is an indoor lantern that integrates plants into the home, allowing for users who live in urban areas to interact with nature more frequently.
Interaction
Lighting Design
Wilko Live Project
Brief: Indoor Garden
A concrete jungle The lack of greenery in city centres means that when people move to urban areas they often miss being surrounded by green spaces, which also means they miss out on the mental and physical benefits of plants. ‘Indoor gardening is making a big comeback, with 30% of all households buying at least one house plant. Design a product or product range that solves a problem that they may experience whilst gardening indoors’
Because of this, many residents in urban areas are looking for new ways to incorporate plants into their homes. Integrating plants and elements of nature into our living spaces is one way of encouraging regular interactions with nature.
Iteration Turning sketches to models and adjusting the form of the lamp allowed me to test various user interaction points. An elongated base means that the lantern can be placed on either side, prompting users to move the lantern around the plants when watering, whilst also providing space to store essential items.
Mantle Mantle is an indoor lantern that integrates plants into the home, allowing for users who live in urban areas to interact with nature more frequently. Having plants in the home can provide various health benefits such as relieving stress, boosting creativity & productivity, as well as cleaning the air, which can be highly beneficial in urban areas.
Features
Mantle was designed to be portable. The lantern can be moved to either side of the base to allow for frequent interactions with the plant, resulting in physical and mental health benefits for users. Using cold light as opposed to warm means that the plants can benefit from the lantern being in close proximity to them. The blue-white hue can also have positive effects on humans, increasing productivity and alertness.
04. Bodi Bear Elevating natural resources from being used for firewood, to becoming a lifetime friend for children. The perfect gift that promotes woodland management through simple, sustainable design.
Design for play
Sustainability
Brief: Branching Out
Reducing our waste ‘How might we harness broad-leaved woodlands and their resources to increase their local economic, social and environmental value?’
Currently, hardwood thinnings are mainly used for firewood, which does not provide enough income to support forest maintenance in the UK. Nearly 40% of UK woodlands go unmanaged because there is no economic incentive.
90% of toys manufactured today are made from plastic or plastic components that make them virtually impossible to recycle.
Insights Many toys today have short lives. Children quickly lose interest in them and they are often not durable enough, break and are thrown away. I found an opportunity to use hardwood thinnings to create a more durable, sustainable children’s toy - an attempt to tackle today’s throw away culture.
Finding form After ideation I landed on the concept of a range of small, modular characters. I wanted to design a product that related back the raw materials from the beginning, so a collection of woodland characters was a fitting concept. Using a modular design adds longevity to the products, with one body shape catering for all three characters. The parts have also been designed to facilitate traditional manufacturing methods, giving the final product a ‘hand-crafted’ feel.
A toy with a story Each Bodi product has its own story, including the forest that it came from, and what type of trees were used to make it. Due to the use of natural materials and traditional manufacturing techniques, no two Bodi Bears are the same. The modular woodland characters are made entirely from hardwood thinnings, sourced from a wide range of broad-leaf woodlands in the UK.
How it works
All for one, One for all Three woodland characters form the Bodi Bear range. A turned hardwood body has been designed to be paired with a range of wooden components, creating a bear, bird and bunny. The modular nature of Bodi Bear adds longevity to the life of a children’s toy, whilst the simplicity of the design makes for a product that can become much more. Use of integrated magnets allows for a simple, enjoyable play experience, suitable for a wide range of ages.
05. Additional skills A range of additional material created during my time at University. Please scan the QR codes to access the videos on YouTube.
CAD showcase
Time & Place
Rumble Adcept
A short animation fulfilling a 3rd year CAD brief. Created using Keyshot and Premiere Pro.
A short adcept for a 2 week video prototyping project. This brief was completed in collaboration with two other students.
A video prototype for my final year live project ‘Rumble’, showcasing skills in videography, Premiere Pro and After effects.
Video Prototyping
Video Prototyping
Animation
Thank you Frankie Hildrick Industrial Design Student Email | frankie.hildrick@northumbria.ac.uk