AS Product design

Memphis inspired furniture design.

3rd and last and major part of the course. Good luck.

Portfolio of design

The portfolio needs to address 5 main areas. Evidence is required for all these areas. A portfolio approach which requires students to consider several smaller projects is how we will hit these areas.

The areas are;

1 Investigation and clarification of the problem 7

2 DEVELOPMENT OF A DESIGN PROPOSAL 23

3 COMMUNICATION AND MODELLING 11

4 Making and Manufacturing 23

5 EVALUATION AND TESTING. 11

SPG 5 = 80 marks total

Project

Brief

Memphis inspired item of furniture

Absolute deadline

ALL folder work should be presented – this includes work relating to previous topics ( chess set and Jewellery etc.)

There is a need to design an interesting item of furniture which is inspired by the Memphis design movement approach.

The item could be a small child’s chair, stand, support, storage facility and should be finished to a high standard. It must be made of 600mm square, 12mm MDF or possibly plywood. It can be flat packed or fixed together.

Students should aim to make a quality item with a good paint finish in the style of Memphis. ( Tip – links with Allessi could be explored )

Additional information

Consider using slots to assemble work.
Think about other joining methods – investigate fittings ( knock down fittings ).
Remember MDF is structurally limited and may need reinforcing.
Produce a portfolio which includes a response to all sections – I have provided guidelines attached to this outline.
DEVELOP some designs. Rough drawings, mock ups in card. Photograph models for folio.
Students should consider ProDesktop CAD to produce good, accurate final designs.
This minor project will impact all sections.

There are 5 areas.

Investigation and clarification of the problem

This is the first section.

Things to do.

Get some pictures of existing designs of the thing you want to design for your portfolio. Pictures from catalogues, magazines, photographs, sketches, etc. Get evidence and present it on A3 paper. Add notes about each picture, don’t leave pictures simply glued onto the pages consider saying something obvious like, “ I think the colour is inappropriate” or “ I think the design could be difficult to use “ or “ It is too big, or too small etc etc.”

Comment on materials used.

Comment on the target clientele.

SECTION 1 7 marks RESEARCH aim for 2 pages minimum – more like 4 if possible.

We need to produce the specification in this section also. So make a list of features or properties of your design. How big? Indicate maximum / minimum sizes. MATERIAL needs to be specified.

4 pages approx.

The next section relate to

· DEVELOPMENT OF A DESIGN PROPOSAL

It’s a BIG section 23 marks

· Produce lots of sketches of rough ideas. Even if you went straight into a design be creative and invent some rough ideas. These should have notes added – try putting down your thoughts as you sketch. Don’t need to be brilliant sketches but DO add colour as soon as you can.

· Try shading the background at least. Try to add shadows.

· Don’t EVER use FELT TIPS. Gradually begin to show that you are getting towards a final design that you are FOCUSSING down. Produce good detailed sketches of you final designs. These need to address ORTHOGRAPHIC drawing, some sort of 3D drawing such as ISOMETRIC, again try to make the pages colourful and, of course, BUSY. By this I mean you must not have lots of spaces on the paper.

· DID you use MOCK-UPS or MODELS ?– this could be important.

· HOW would your design be made? Give some account of how it could be made in industry. Think about Materials – try to give a reason for using a particular material.

· Any chance of using a clever system or TECHNOLOGY to assemble or cut or shape or whatever should be noted.

Rough drgs. Possibly 2 / 4 pages

1 page – photos of mock-ups.

Orthographic drg. CAD possibly.

3D drawing. Watercolour

SECTION 3

COMMUNICATION AND MODELLING

11 MARKS FOR THIS SECTION

The criteria mentioned are, presentation, modelling and communication skills, showing sensitivity and a high degree of accuracy. Okay well this section is about communication but it is also really about presenting information about materials, techniques, and about the media you have used. SO, a lot of information is in your portfolio already.

Try to VARY your methods of presenting ideas on paper.

Check that you have some evidence of modelling. The photographs of previous projects could help here as a (separate) discrete element we can use. However modelling – simple card models or paper models of, for example, your work should be included when we cover this project.

THIS IS IMPORTANT

If another person (manufacturer) were to make your design they need to know details of materials, sizes, finishes etc. Make sure you put these down. If you can specify a PROCESS such as CAD, painting, assembling, then this would be VERY beneficial for you when I mark the portfolio.

ALSO,

To aid marking you need to talk about your design to the group. I can give you marks for this. This will take the form of you preparing a presentation which may include all sorts of stuff, i.e., OHPs, tape.

Prepare a 2 minute maximum presentation of one of your minor projects.

SECTION 4

Making and Manufacturing

This section is worth 23 marks.

( Guide about 4 -10 pages I think )

This section talks about a VERY DETAILED PLAN for ALL the stages of designing and making. YOU must try to recall ALL the problems you have had with the making of the object. If you used dowels anywhere record problems you encountered and HOW you SOLVED them. This indicates your ability to ADAPT, we need evidence.

Which tools were used? Which machines were used?

DID YOU INFACT, alter your DESIGN? Did it need modifying? IF you changed ANYTHING - record it, explain why you changed it.

Throughout all this try to USE ILLUSTRATIONS to reinforce your comments.

QUALITY CONTROL is a bit of a BUZZWORD.

In industry we constantly check and have systems for quality control. For us, at school, things are different. We can, however use simple checks, measuring, visual examination of defective finishing / material failure / ability to function or DO THE JOB.

It would help to indicate how IN THE WORLD of MANUFACTURE, you could check things. (Inspection areas can be provided where product integrity can be checked, gauges to measure quickly any failure of dimensional tolerance etc.)

How I made it include illustrations

Give a detailed account of how it was made.