What If? - Design Studio 2
Research
In Design Studio 2, we went over a number of problem-solving techniques and procedures related to product design. We studied public companies and manufactures to create prototypes and models of a new product for their lineup. We are to use the design process, target public analysis, manufacturer analysis, product analysis, and multi-process prototypes to simulate product creation in the workplace. This is an upper division class which I was super excited to take.
The problem we were dealing with was the company of our choosing was thinking of a new product to create for their product lineup. We had to create that product from scratch, while making sure it looked real and fit their current existing products. This would be completed through prototyping, mood boards, company research, CAD models, and final renders. Something that made this project really interesting to me was having a physical product to work off of. This made the final project look and feel more realistic, which as a designer you want in order to get your ideas across.
CAD
Renders
The prompt we received was creating not only the product but doing expansive research on the company and making sure it fits with the companies’ values and mission. This made the project a little harder, but I feel like it made it more well-rounded. It also informed a lot of my design choices for the final product, to make it more like the existing products.
During the research phase, I was looking at graphs, charts, numbers, colors, finishes, forms, anything that was important to the company became my inspiration for the new product. I also looked at and created my own target analysis, manufacturer analysis, and product analysis. These are in the presentation on Behance. These analyses helped me understand the company and brought everything I needed to know into 3 easy-to-read documents I was able to look at. I also learned about gaps in the industry and what kind of products would sell.
For the actual product, I landed on making hair clippers. The reason was two-fold. One, I love working with my hands, so I picked up barbering in 2020 during COVID. I cut hair on a weekly basis and thought it would be cool to see what the company I chose would make. Second, the barber industry has been growing steadily since 2020, and this would be the perfect time for the company to join the barber world. The design choices and features I picked out were in an attempt to make this the best clipper on the market. Design wise, I used an existing clipper as a base and moved on using design choices from my company. I made sure to use a unique shape for the clipper, since in the industry sticking out from the rest is important, while also keeping an ergonomic feel to the machine. Once I got some sketches down, I was able to begin modeling using OnShape and Rhino to create each component for my clipper. Ultimately using Keyshot for my final renders.
