MIAD Industrial Design
Rethinking Mr. Veierstahler's Desks
Digital Manipulation
50cmx76cm December 2019 Exhibition Text
My main intention of this design was to design a better desk that lets teachers as well as students get through in-class labs and evidence faster. My Biology teacher as well as a few of my friends gave me some good points of inspiration. I have digitally drawn most of these sketches to make it easier to follow.
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Planning
Inspiration
This piece was inspired by the need of new and improved desks in the science rooms. The drawers are mostly broken and hard to clean, as well as being at an uncomfortable height for the average student with back pain to endure for our 85 minute blocks. I had noticed that the desks were quite run down and, with this project in mind, asked my Biology teacher Mr.Veierstahler about it! So this desk design is very influenced by a student point of view, with a few details from my teacher. My teacher wanted me to include a way to have dividers and appropriate spacing of students for tests because he was tired of passing out dividers and coordinating students. These points of inquiry he provided are also useful for the student because we then have more time to take the actual test.
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(Click on pictures for larger viewing and Citations)
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Planning Sketches
My first planning sketch was my very first brainstorming sketch page. As you can see I wrote about the ideas of how I was going to design the dividers, as well as the spacing of students. The spacing of the students stayed basically the same, because there isn't that much thought needed for that part. I first thought of using strong mechanisms to keep the dividers up for a long time, while being bummed into. I also thought of magnets to hold them up, which this is the feature I chose to bring onto my final sketches.
In the second panning sketch I was trying to visualize how students would be at a comfortable distance away from each other while still being able to do group work. I was also seeing how and where the needed sink and gas would fit with the dividers and all. This is where I decided to bring the dividers to only the left of the student and placed a little closer to the student. In this sketch I tried to visualize it looking more dimensional, as well as to show people who I ask to critique my design a little. This made it easier to just show people rather than trying to explain what I was designing. |
(Click on pictures for larger viewing and Citations)
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Drawer blow-up |
One section model |
Process
Process
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Experimentation
I experimented by sketching out idea after idea and doing brainstorming sessions with myself and my sloppy handwriting. I sketched whatever came to mind just in case I could add it to my design to make it even better. For example, I accidentally made a mark when drawing drawers and it kind of looked like a lock, and so I realized that a lock would be super useful. By doing brainstorms I came up with the idea of customizable drawers that can be changed to organize well and make everyones lives easier in class when trying to do something.
Critique
I feel as though I could have done a better job designing the desks overall. I just think the ones I designed are pretty plain, I probably could have made them look better or even could have designed seats for them as well. Designing seats as well might have made the project more whole in the grand scheme of things. Maybe it would have been too much, too much to even do in the time span maybe. Designing seats as well probably would have been too much work for this project and my schedule to handle anyways. I think my desk design is a little too bland and pretty common, but at the same time I wanted to follow most if not all of Mr.V's requests. Overall, I feel like I did well on this.
Reflection
I believe the process of my desk design was pretty much a straight line. No twists or wild turns to my process or even final design. I’m grateful that my friends are so patient with me because I probably asked “do you get what’s going on here” about ten times for each of them. I could tell by the end of the project they were getting pretty annoyed with me. I like the aspect of the collapsible test dividers on each desk, this would save so much time before a test. I should have included outlets by each seat, I totally spaced on that. Anyways, I feel as though I did a good job designing nice, useful, and efficient desks for my biology teacher. He said he liked the design too so that’s good, I was pretty scared that he wouldn’t like it.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
I was directly influenced by how ugly and in poor condition the science desks are, so I was strongly pushed to use them as my subjects with this project.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I wanted to make it more comfortable for everyone interacting with these desks on a daily basis, so mostly from a student point of view.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have come to a realization that all teenagers nowadays have back pain and like to complain about it a lot.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea is to make school a little less 'miserable' and 'uncomfortable'.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I have found out that people care way more about their desks than I thought they would.
I was directly influenced by how ugly and in poor condition the science desks are, so I was strongly pushed to use them as my subjects with this project.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I wanted to make it more comfortable for everyone interacting with these desks on a daily basis, so mostly from a student point of view.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have come to a realization that all teenagers nowadays have back pain and like to complain about it a lot.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea is to make school a little less 'miserable' and 'uncomfortable'.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I have found out that people care way more about their desks than I thought they would.