Project Update

So my current university project about Materials and Processes is going really well. I have decided what I want to look into and figured out how im going to compile all of the information I find out.

As I have said before the project is split into 2 halves. Part A – Material and process research and part B – Re-design a steel, plastic or ceramic object with a more sustainable material or process.

Part A – After a long chat with my lecturer and a lot of reading around the subject I have decided to make an App. This app will contain all the information and links I have found about the various materials and processes I have to investigate. This app will also have another function (time permitting) which will be to be linked to a samples chest in our design studio. The idea is that there will be a chest with various samples all of which will have QR codes on them. The user scans the QR code on a mobile device loaded with the app. The QR code will then take them to the relevant material and give them information and maybe links to a supplier.

Part B – After seeing the new Peugeot Onyx on top gear the other week I have been looking into newspaper wood. Peugeot used it as a dashboard material instead of plastic and I’m going to look into the feasibility and viability of using this material for a similar purpose. I’m going to look at how viable it is to put this material into a more mass market and if there is actually enough newspaper out there to make it possible. I have been given till Tuesday next week to figure out if this material is feasible and if not I need to rethink and maybe adjust this part of my project.

So what do you think. Do you think a car dashboard made of old newspapers is a good idea?

Thank you for reading

Student Render.

Project route selection

So today I had a tutorial with my lecturer and we discussed the possible routes for my current communications project. This discussion was based on the two user groups I have identified as being of intrest to me.The two user groups were toddlers and dementia patients/carers. These two groups are very different but both I can see would hold good potential for a communications device.

After a long discussion and a lot of bouncing between the two user groups I have decided to follow the dementia route as I believe this will hold more possibilities.Now that I have decided on a user group I will now start to research into dementia and the way it affects people and their carers and look into possible ways to reduce some of the friction that my occur between families helping a relative with the condition.

I will post some sketches of possible ideas soon

Thank you for reading.

Studentrender.

3D printing

So as part of my yearly University modules I have a Design Culture module which looks at the history of design and how design and art culture has changed over time. For this Module we have to write essays on titles relating to recent lecture and this all leads to a dissertation in the third year. Currently we have been set six one thousand word essays on various topics one of which is titled “Innovation and Technology” so for this I have decided to write about 3D Printing and how it has developed and grown.

The main reason for choosing this is because its something that I have been looking into recently as one day in the future I would like to own my own 3D printer. Researching for this essay has been really interesting especially the RepRap movement which aims to make self-replicating machines that are available to everyone free. I’ve found it really interesting looking at how this movement has developed and to see how they have slowly made this idea more and more realistic.

3D printing has been getting a lot of media coverage recently and has even been featured on programs such as “news night” and have “I got news for you” and even “QI”, some people have even suggested it could be the third industrial revolution.

This is a technology that I believe could one day have a large impact on our lives and yes maybe it might lead a revolution in how we produce but I’m still sceptical. the reason i believe this is because the possibilities that this technology can enable is huge, NASA are talking about using this technology to maintain equipment in space which is a huge leap forward. I will continue to research into this technology and I might put some interesting information I find in another post.

Thank you for reading

User Groups

So Today I had a lecture about User Groups and how to portray them.The reason we are doing this is to try to tie the products we are designing to a real tangible group of people this gives the design more validity and makes the concept more realistic.

The first thing to say about this is that we were told to try to take stereotypes out of the picture and look beyond them. This lead to use looking at the question “Does one size fit all?” to which we concluded the answer was no but variations of the same thing can work for a majority. After a long discussion about user groups and how you could possibly classify them we decided to look at possible way to visualise them. This is where my work for this week begins. I have to select a user group and find a way to describe them and bring them to life.

I will but up my user group work when I have completed it.

Thank you for reading.

New Year New Project

As we start 2013 so starts a new project. This new project is based around communications and developing a product concept to help a generation that is not my own. The briefing for this project is nice and open and i look forward to seeing where it goes. I will try to keep the blog as up to date as i can and i will also try to add more content which is not necessarily related to my university work but that is work i have done in my free time.

Thank you for reading

3 Month Internship

So I’ve been back at University for about 4 days now and already I’m about to leave again for 3 months. Yesterday I had an interview for a 3 month placement at a leading furniture design company (who I shall not name). The interview was very informal and mainly focused on Solidworks Experience and started off like I guess many do by just looking through and discussing my recent work and renders. This seemed to go well but the real test was constructing a simple part from a blueprint as fast as possible. This also went well and I completed the part fairly quickly but as the interviewer nicely showed me I still have a lot of learning to do. After completing the model I was then asked to recreate the drawing I had been given. I managed this fairly well but again he showed me quicker ways and gave me tips for the future. I left the interview feeling more knowledgable then I walked in and felt it had gone well.

Today I received news that they chosen me for the placement and I have to say I’m over the moon. I don’t know I guess finally I feel like I belong on my course. I guess its validation of what others have said. It’s just reassuring to know that after a terrible time at sixth form and working so hard last year that now I am on track to the future I really want. This may just be an internship but for me it’s like someone handing me a set of keys to a Bugatti Veyron. Its something that 2 years ago I wouldn’t have even thought about. I know its going to be challenging and completely different to anything I’ve done before but I cant wait.

I will try to keep updating the blog during the 3 months with my progress. Thank you for reading.

 

Solidworks Tutorial 08/03/2012

This week in my solidworks tutorial we were learning how to use lofts and started looking at surfacing. This is a great way to build up complex shapes or to design cyclidrical objects. We started by making the vase like object from instructions. Then we moved onto making a part using split lines to edit the shape. This model hasnt been finished yet and i will upload an image of this when it is finished next week.