DESIGN FOR COMPACT OPEN-PLAN LIVING
JEREMY S I U SMART AND INTERACTIVE FURNITURE DESIGN
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PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE
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SOLIDWORKS Educational Product. For Instructional Use Only
Cabinet 1 Rotate
PRESENTATION 3D CAD
MANUFACTURING
CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION RESEARCH IDEATION DEVELOPMENT LAUNCH & CONCLUSION APPENDIX
OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTATIONS
After rigorous process of trial and error in searching for a placement. I have been to numerous interviews, some has been successful, and some hasn’t. Through this journey, the idea of my strengths and weaknesses in the field of Design has become clearer in my head. Thus, my objectives for this placement year were to apply my strengths to the industry to gain experiences and improve my weaknesses by confronting it. I have also tried to lower my expectations by avoiding early fixations to certain ideas no matter in the design process or navigating my value and talent in Product Design. My journey of searching for a placement has taught me that my strengths lie in product development, my weaknesses are my visual and verbal communication skills.
ACTIVITY SUMMARY
My placement year has split into two parts. I have joined the Erasmus program to study in Milan, Italy that lasted slightly over six months. The period overlaps with my role as a Product Developer and CAD Draughtsman at a bike company which has started in June 2017 to present. During my study at Politecnico di Milano, I have visited various exhibitions and taken four courses. Courses include Smart and Interactive Furniture Design, Basics of Interaction Design, Visual Storytelling and Photography in Design, Laboratory of Digital Representation.
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PRODUCT DEVELOPER AND CAD DRAUGHTSMAN
I have been working for United bike co. based in Hastings. My role involves communicating with staffs and sponsored bike riders to come up with new ideas for bike components. I also helped them to visualise their ideas through sketching and using CAD programme Solidworks, and then create detailed CAD model and technical drawings for manufacturers overseas to get prototype made.
SMART AND INTERACTIVE FURNITURE DESIGN (Msc)
The lecturer has taught lectures about several design movements, from ancient Greeks designing the first ever chair with a seat pan, back support and four legs to Crystal palace in 1851 where marketing of furniture design was born to 1958 when the first ever computer numeric control machine was invented and opened the doors for mass production. Several other external lecturers have also demonstrated us how smart technologies can be applied to design, for example the 8 sensors that an iPhone contains. Through his guidance I have completed an individual assignment that involves developing an open-plan urban studio flat by implementing smart technologies.
They have taught us about how a designer should understand the potential user of their designs by using various methods such as design ethnography, observations, interviews with close and open-ended questions. Afterwards, gather collected information and take them through process of empathy, define, ideate, prototype. Lecturers has also guided us to identify existing products that were developed from the approach of ‘user-centred’, ‘activity-centred’, ‘system focused’, ‘genius-design’. In the lectures, students have also been introduced to the use of neuroscience technology in design research.
LABORATORY OF DIGITAL REPRESENTATION (Bsc)
VISUAL STORYTELLING AND PHOTOGRAPHY IN DESIGN (BA)
The class of students including myself were split into groups to complete a project. In the lectures, various products that are being sold at the sporting equipment store ‘Decathlon’ were shown to us. We were asked to reverse engineer one of them and produce a replica CAD model on software Autodesk Alias, Keyshot renders, studio standard photographs and decal graphics with no dimensions provided. We had to measure the entire existing product to work out the dimensions. Grades are judged by the accuracy of the replication and the clarity of visual communication. Relevant tutorials were given.
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BASICS OF INTERACTION DESIGN (Msc)
I have been taught several techniques in how to adjust the focal point and lighting while taking photos in the studio and how to edit photographs considering ethics and morals. In the lectures, we have been introduced works from a few iconic photographers such as Walker Evans, Obert Coppa, Eddie Adams...etc.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE - RESEARCH INTERVIEWER’S TIPS
CREATIVE INTERVIEWS
Personal Artefacts Necessary Needs
Present
Behaviours and Interactions Displayed
Vision and Ideas
Social Cultural
Methods and Tools
Ergonomical Practical Narrative
HumanCentred
Future
USER STUDY
Product Opportunity
In interaction design, it is essential for researchers to empathise target users and define their needs by interpreting their situation and context. Conventional methods can be asking direct and indirect, closed and opened questions in an one to one interview. Researcher could also host a brainstorm session with two to three participants at a time, starting with asking what their favourite object is and eventually get to know their wants and desires. The framework is presented.
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Make general conversation and drop a few sudden questions to guide the direction of the interview.
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Trigger another topic to discuss from the answers. Develop an understanding of what interests the interviewee. Tell interviewees that there are no right or wrong answers. Always make interviewees comfortable. Don’t be afraid of the silence. Give interviewees time to think, don’t move on too quick. Don’t suggest answer. Voice recorder is useful as we can only write so fast. Never structure the interviewee as the subject of the question. E.g. : Do you understand the device? (Wrong) Did the device communicate well? (Better)
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE - RESEARCH USER-CENTRED DESIGN
The philosophy behind user-centred design is simply this: users know best. The people who will be using a product service know what their needs, goals, and preferences are, and it is up to the designer to find out those things and design for them.
ACTIVITY-CENTRED DESIGN
Activity-centred design doesn’t focus on the goals and preferences of users, but instead on activities. Activities can be loosely defined as a cluster of actions and decisions that are done for a purpose. Activities can be brief and simple (making a sandwich) or time consuming and involved (learning a foreign language).
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH - BIOLOGICAL
A lecturer has been introducing different methods and benefits of ‘Neurodesign’ at Politecnico di Milano. Neurodesign has been playing a huge part in design research. It provides scientific insights and suggests testable hypothesis about consumers. Especially in finding patterns and predicting behavioural change from consumers. Modern technology has enabled researchers to analyse brain activities of participants. Companies such as McDonalds, Durex and Unilever are experts for this approach. However, neurodesign is really expensive and time consuming, which makes it unavailable for mid to low budget businesses.
SYSTEM DESIGN
Systems design is a structured, rigorous design methodology that is excellent for tackling complex problems and that offers a holistic approach to designing. Systems design doesn’t discount user goals and needs—they can be used to set the goal of the system. But in this approach, users are de-emphasized in favour of context.
GENIUS DESIGN
Genius design relies almost solely on the wisdom and experience of the designer to make design decisions. Designers use their best judgment as to what users want and then design the product based on that judgment. User involvement, if it occurs at all, comes at the end of the process, when users test what the designers have made to make sure it really works as the designer has predicted.
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MARKET RESEARCH - COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
At United Bike Co. , employees would trace sales records from distributors and rival companies to look for similarities and patterns in style, colour, material used, special features...etc, within the best-selling products in the market. They also speak to athletes they are sponsoring about their opinions on the idea of those products. After they have addressed what the market favours, they will use the qualitative data collected as guidelines to draw up a design specification.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE - IDEATION IDEATION IN THE INDUSTRY
In the industry designers never ideate on their own, that’s why communication skills and skills to help other people visualising their or your ideas are important as a designer. Tools that are used to discuss ideas with can range from a digital illustration, a book of colour samples, a quick hand render, an expressive mood-board, a similar existing product or a quick screenshot of a CAD model that explains everything. After all this, stake holders can still have uncertainties about the potential new product and that is when a working prototype will come in handy. Manufacturers often charge a little or nothing at all for that as long as the company are willing to commit partnership with the manufacturer and agree to the Minimum Order Quantity once it’s developed to satisfaction.
ANIMATION
An external lecturer from University of Cincinnati has taught furniture design at Politecnico di Milano. He emphasised the aspects of storytelling in an idea presentation . In order to achieve that, there are a few elements to consider. Firstly, presentation must show the functionality, ways of interaction and context of use. Sometimes the design interface cannot be captured in words or pictures. A good example is when Toyota used an animation to propose the idea of applying a tangible interface touch-screen to their rear passenger window for children’s entertainment. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PZzFsM-rjM)
Sometimes ideation and development can occur within the same time frame, they don’t always go in a linear pattern. Sometimes, issues aren’t found until the development process has started and designers will have to go back to the ideation phase.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE - IDEATION PRESENTING CONCEPTUAL IDEAS - INTERACTION DESIGN
The movable cabinet idea has been proven possible by new generation of remote controlled toy cars with Arduino, smart-phone app and Bluetooth technology. Through Bluetooth and specific computer coding, smart-phone can send signals to Arduino to control motors. Servo motors can be used to drive the rotation and the direction of the wheels. Servo motor consist of a variable resistor and a conventional motor. Job of the variable resistor is to control the speed and revolutions of the motor spinning by varying the electrical current that goes though the motor. This project involves four motors that are responsible to drive the rotation of each wheel and one motor that is responsible to drive the steering mechanism. System can control the variable resistor inside of the motor controller module by connecting it to the Arduino board, and command different motors to perform different roles using specific computer codes.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE - IDEATION
Motor
Arduino
Inputs
Motor controller module Power
Outputs
Ground Transmitter Receiver
Motor
DIAGRAM
A simple diagram I created for my coursework with Adobe illustrator that explains the cable routing and components required from a conceptual idea.
Bluetooth module
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE - DEVELOPMENT
PROBLEM SOLVING
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When I first started placement, I was asked to develop a compression bolt that a rider sponsored by the bike company have been breaking. I was given access to all the old 2D technical drawings of the bolt for design references. I then have come up with a new design by increasing the radius of fillets and thickness of weak points. They have sent my CAD drawings and Solidworks models to manufacturers overseas and had it batch produced. The rider has stopped breaking that part of the bike. During the process, we have experienced a couple of difficulties. Manufacturers did not have existing tooling in the exact size as we intended for my design, so they were trying to charge extra to custom made the right tools. After considering the profit margin of the project and the extra tooling cost, we have decided to settle for a design that could be made with existing tooling that the manufacturer possess with a much lower cost.
ORIGINAL
DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME
DEVELOPMENT - TECHNICAL SKILLS SOLIDWORKS
When coming out of second year of studies at University, Solidworks is the programme that I personally feel comfortable in using. Hence, I have negotiated an opportunity to produce numerous CAD models in an industry environment with United Bike Co. I have also been given the responsibility to double check dimensions on Solidworks drawings produced by manufacturers and myself. There are a few features on the programme that I haven’t mastered but the company expected me to know, so it has created a drive for me to learn in my own time and look for online tutorials. Experience has taught me to do CAD work in an environment where error margin is slim and improved both my strengths and weaknesses on using Solidworks.
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DEVELOPMENT - TECHNICAL SKILLS AUTODESK ALIAS AUTOSTUDIO
It is an advanced surface modelling software commonly used in the automotive industry. In Milan, students and tutors are more familiar with this programme than Solidworks and Rhino, programme that I am more experienced in. During Erasmus, I have learned this programme from scratch and have been able to draw out intermediate level CAD models such as the De stijl chair, gear-shift of a vehicle, rotational moulded beach tennis racket, shell of a portable speaker and a curved shampoo bottle. What makes the programme better at surface modelling than Solidworks is the feature allowing designers to align and adjust the edit points of curved surfaces. This controls the relation between different surfaces on a model. Grid snap feature makes sure curves can be calculated in a metric system so that CNC machines can read the CAD model. Alias is all about continuity and relations between surfaces, so during the theory sessions on the course of Laboratory of Digital Representation, we have been studying the background and basic principles of line G-, G0, G1, G2, G3.
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DEVELOPMENT - TECHNICAL SKILLS KEYSHOT
It is a rendering programme that produces realistic renders. The main practise on Keyshot in Milan was to learn to adjust directions of lighting, colour tone, perspective, angles, texture, background and inserting logos on CAD models to imitate existing photographs of various products as accurately as possible.
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DEVELOPMENT - VISUAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS ADOBE PACKAGE
Since The hosting institute of the Erasmus programme is a polytechnic, courses heavily focus on the crafts and skills in presenting a concept. Assignments are expected to be done with Adobe software same as in Brighton. It came into use when explaining research findings, new interfaces and technologies. It is also useful when communicating ideas with clients and colleagues in the industry. Here are a few examples.
In November 2017, the standard price per square meter to buy an apartment in city centre has reached $25,992 (USD). In comparison to Italy, standard property price per square meter is $9,931. The project was developed in a flat of a 17story building with 370 identical units built in the 1960s. Each flat is scale approximately 32 square meters, 7.78 meters in length, 3.9 meters in width and with headroom of slightly over 2.4 meters. Mr. Chang has bought the apartment for $45,000 and spent just over $218,000 on renovating it. His main approach to space saving was to create a system that can divide the living space flexibly. There are interactive walls suspended from steel tracks bolted on to the ceiling. Wall units can act as storage cabinets and serve the intermittent function of dividing living space into configurations needed for certain activities. The biggest wall unit scales up to 2500mm x 1400mm x 1000mm. There are 24 configurations that the apartment can transform into, hence the name ‘24 in 1’. Apart from attempting to gain space physically, reflective materials such as tinted glass mirrors and granite were used to cover the interior surfaces in the apartment to create an illusion of a bigger space. Another benefit from this is to increase efficiency when relying on natural light source in the day. My assignment was to develop this idea to make it smarter and more interactive.
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DEVELOPMENT - VISUAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS EXPLODED DIAGRAM
ORTHOGRAPHIC
1175
620 1004
844.01
120
2400 2595
490
1440
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DEVELOPMENT - VISUAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS COLOUR MATCH ANALYSIS
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DEVELOPMENT - VISUAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS This page is showing the extract of an idea proposal I have created for United bike Co. with Adobe illustrator that was to be sent to a bespoke bag maker. Bag was designed to fit a dissembled BMX bike, clothes and personal belongings for flights. The company was pleased with the idea. However the bag manufacturer have set a minimum order quantity to 500 units, which is way out of planned budget. We were forced to terminate the project.
120cmx40cmx40cm
Ribs to ensure bag won’t bend
HDPE hard base
Accessory compartment
Shoulder straps with velcro and foam padded handle
Zipper of main compartment
Shock absorbtion wheels Side handles Divider flap
Straps with velcro
Straps with buckles
Telescopic handle
Double layer reinforcement and thick foam padding
Foam padded pocket with velcro closure Headtube pouch
1000D phthalate-free TPE fabric laminate, 840D Jr. ballistics nylon
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LAUNCH AND CONCLUSION FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN NEGOTIATING A FREELANCE PAY RATE
Charging hourly sounds reasonable because it is common. However, it is hard to gain clients’ trust because they can never be sure how long have the designer actually spent on the project, even though screen-shots are sent regularly. Clients are not familiar with designing, so they wouldn’t know how long each procedure is supposed to take. Charging daily sounded greedy and too profitable for designers because price of every 8 hours ( 9am – 5pm ) remains the same regardless of the actual hours of effort the design outcome is worth. Time and space to ideate are not what normal people would pay for, yet it is the most critical part in the design process. Most people would just take the design outcome, the drawing in to account when investing. It has highlighted an area that I have to work on, which is client relations. The skills of showing client how does my design process work, without giving out too much information that might devalue myself as their designer.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Throughout this year, I have been working on a variety of design projects and I have found out that I am a fast pace worker. I work in short bursts, which brings advantages and disadvantages. Advantages would be deadlines were never a problem and product manager were always pleased with it. However, it also brings disadvantages. I couldn’t seem to give enough time for ideas to simmer. I always analyse my performance after a deadline and I could always think of another solution that I might consider as better. I fixate on certain ideas too early and focus on one aspect of a project too much that I would leave the rest out. It might be how I was always taught that the design process is linear but in the real world it isn’t the case. If I want to be a better designer, I should start to consider all factors at all time, constantly working hard and look at the greater picture.
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FUTURE DIRECTIONS
I had a huge interest in practical manufacturing side of design before, but I have come to an understanding that it is not a best path, it is a process where entrepreneurs would like to cut costs from. After working with a company, I have found out that the quality and functionality does not make a product sell, but the marketing techniques do. To produce in exclusive batch, keeping the profit margin as 70% and keep up with social media when promoting products are techniques that accommodate consumer’s culture today. From now on I would consider further education to gain more skills in business design to scope a better career path.
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