TDJ2O_industrial_design

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=Industrial Design=

Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production. The role of an industrial designer is to create and execute design solutions for problems of form, usability, physical ergonomics, marketing, brand development, and sales. //[[|wikipedia]]// An industrial designer takes a look at a need and seeks solutions to that need. If there are already solutions, an industrial designer tries to pinpoint fault in those products and design new solutions. Examples of designers are [|Philippe Starck], [|Jonathan Ive].

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Five critical goals that ID:s can help a team to achieve when developing new products:

 * 1) Utility: The product’s human interfaces should be safe, easy to use, and intuitive. Each feature should be shaped so that it communicates its function to the user.
 * 2) Appearance: Form, line proportion, and color are used to integrate the product into a pleasing whole.
 * 3) Ease of maintenance: Products must also be designed to communicate how they are to be maintained and repaired.
 * 4) Low costs: Form and features have a large impact on tooling and production costs, so these must be considered jointly by the team
 * 5) Communication: Product designs should communicate the corporate design philosophy and mission through the visual qualities of the products.

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1. Who will buy your product?
You must make sure that there is a market for your new product, and that it is not ‘a solution looking for a problem’. To do this, protect your idea (see 5) and then discuss it with your personal contacts and people involved in the industry that your product is relevant to.

2. How many potential customers are there?
First, you need to find out the total size of the market that might buy your product (cyclists, plumbers, whatever). Then, you need to estimate the percentage of that market that might be interested in your product. Finding out the number of sales for similar products can help make the figures more realistic.

3. Who will you be competing with?
All products have competitors. Thoroughly examine yours, both the obvious ones and those that provide a similar solution to the problem that you are trying to address. When you have done that, work out the strengths and weaknesses of your new product compared to the competition and look for the areas of competitive advantage. This will lead on to asking…

4. What will make your product the best choice?
You will need to identify clear benefits or qualities that differentiate your product from the competition. Examples of positive differentiators are better appearance, higher quality, ease of use, durability and environmental benefits. Avoid using low cost as the only means of differentiation – it just makes your business look cheap. Go on Wikipedia and search for ‘product differentiation’ for more information on this topic.

5. Can your product idea be protected?
Making sure your idea is protected is essential. During your initial discussions, you can prepare a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that binds the signatories to keep your ideas secret. You can then explore patents and design registration. Be aware that good patent advice and searches can cost several thousand pounds.

6. Which standards will your product need to meet?
All products sold in the EU need to be CE marked, and some must comply with stringent safety, environmental and performance criteria. Some of these involve detailed testing routines that have to be carried out on prototype parts by specialists. The British Standards website is a good starting point to see which standards will apply to your product.

7. How will your product be manufactured and sold?
Will you make the product yourself or will you sub-contract production to someone in the UK or Asia? How much are you prepared to investing tooling and production set-up? Will you sell the product direct to the public, sell through retail outlets, or sell the idea to another company? These issues need to be considered at the outset, as they will have a significant impact on commercial success.

8. How much will all this cost?
In addition to patent advice (see 5), the design and development of a product, including the data needed for manufacture, can cost anywhere from several thousand to many tens of thousands of pounds. Prototyping and testing to meet standards, etc., can also cost several thousand pounds. Production tooling for a simple one piece moulding may be a couple of thousand pounds, whilst a large complex product may cost hundreds of thousands to tool up for. Promotion and marketing also requires significant investment if it is to be effective. The important thing to recognize is that very few products can be developed, produced and launched for less than a six figure sum.

9. How will you pay for it?
If your funds are limited, it is essential to phase the work so that your risks are minimized. The first phase will be protecting your intellectual property. The second phase will be developing a ‘proof of concept’ model that you can use to demonstrate your basic idea. You should be prepared to spend several thousand pounds to achieve this. With this model and a good plan (see below) you will then be able to approach investors to gain funding for full commercial development.

10. Do you have a plan?
All the issues above – and other essentials like how you will survive financially while you are working on your idea – need to be written up in to a detailed business plan. This will make your business idea more credible to investors, but will also enable you to minimize your risks.

In the absence of an answer to one, or more, of the questions above, a novel solution has arisen with crowd-sourcing a product. In the past the only solution if you lacked the ability to get a product to market was to seek help in the form of either venture-capital and/or selling a share of your product control to an individual/group who could then help bring your product to market. With crowd-sourcing, a designer can either raise funds from a community, or even pare off tasks to the community. Often there's an inherent loss of control in the product much like in established venture capital structures, but the margins are far better for the modern designer.

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Assignment # 10 - I've got an Ikea!

 * Description**: A lamp is an object that holds focus in a room, while at the same time being uniformly useful as a tool in a modern home. You are to build a reading lamp that can stand freely, can be made out of any material 1 and maintains the standard principles of industrial design. You must follow an existing product line and expand on it with your design.


 * General Rules**: The lamp must be able to stand by itself without falling over. The material you choose must also be able to withstand temperatures present for both CF bulbs, and regular incandescent bulbs. The light must be directional. You must use the socket and electrical cable/plug that I provide.


 * Materials**: Any, provided they would be approved by the CSA and approved for general use in a home in an electrical device 2


 * Construction**: As much as possible, construction will take place in class. If you need to use tools you have not yet been certified on, please inform me and I’ll certify your safety on them (e.g. table saw, mitre saw etc…)

1 – the materials used must not be flammable in the region surrounding the bulb. 2 – do a search for lampshades material and CSA and you’ll find materials you may and may not use for the lampshade.


 * Evaluation**:


 * **CATEGORY** || **4** || **3** || **2** || **1** ||
 * **Three pencil sketches of different lamp ideas //idea vetting//**
 * ////** || The optimum lamp idea is clear. All sketches are clear and pullouts on the sketches reflect any design points critical to the solution. || Generally optimum lamp idea is clear. Overall, sketches are clear and pullouts on the sketches reflect any design points critical to the solution. || The winning lamp idea is generally clear. Some sketches are unclear due to lack of pullouts or explanation. || There is no obvious winning design sketch. Many areas are unclear due to lack of pullouts or explanation ||
 * **Sketchup File (of the winning design idea)**
 * ** || Logical steps are followed and resulting design is exemplary. || Generally all steps are followed, there are small errors in lines. || Generally the product is as it should be, though there are enough errors in replication that final product is flawed. || Large errors in generation of the design. ||
 * **Lamp Aesthetics**
 * ** || The lamp lines and form are both exemplary. It is immediately obvious which product line the lamp comes from. || Overall the lamp is well designed and form follows function, but there are small flaws. || The lamp is designed so that form follows function, but there are larger flaws which lead the overall product to be flawed. || There are enough flaws in the design that the line the product should fit in is difficult to see. ||
 * **Lamp Usability**
 * ** || The lamp is fully functional and would likely pass CSA approval. It is easy to use and lights an area well. || Generally the lamp is completely functional and would likely pass CSA approval. It is generally easy to use and lights an area well. || The lamp is functional and would likely pass CSA approval. It is fairly easy to use and lights an area reasonably well. || The lamp is difficult to use and/or would not pass CSA approval. ||
 * **Technical Report**
 * ////** || All aspects of the report are present and exemplary || All aspects of the report are present, though may require some work || There are aspects missing and work is required || There are many flaws in the report ||
 * **Use of Time**
 * ** || Used time well during each class period (as shown by observation by teacher, and documentation of progress in journal) with no reminders. || Used time well during most class periods (as shown by observation by teacher, and documentation of progress in journal) with no reminders. || Used time well (as shown by observation by teacher and documentation of progress in journal), but required reminders on one or more occasions to do so. || Used time poorly (as shown by observation by teacher and/or documentation of progress in journal) in spite of several reminders to do so. ||
 * **Product**
 * ** || Final product is exemplary || Final product meets expectations, with some minor flaws || Final product is presentable, but contains some flaws || Final product is inferior ||