INDN 211: INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROJECT ONE: Composing with Form, Surface, Material and Texture Due
Part A Part B
2 weeks: 2 weeks:
due 11th March due 29th March
15% 15%
“and the greater part of all manufacture now is mass-production; in which, although there is some bad workmanship, much is excellent. Much of it has never been surpassed and some never equalled. The deterioration comes not because of bad workmanship in mass-production but because the range of qualities which mass-production is capable of is so dismally restricted: because each is so uniform and because nearly all lack depth, subtlety, overtones, variegation, diversity, or whatever you choose to call that which distinguishes the workmanship of a Stradivarius violin, or something much rougher like a modern ring-neck boat. The workmanship of the motorcar is something to marvel at, but a street full of parked cars is jejune and depressing; as if the same short tune of clear un-modulated notes were being endlessly repeated. A harbour full of fishing-boats is another matter. Why do we accept this as inevitable? We made it so and we can unmake it. Unless workmanship comes to be understood and appreciated as the art it is, our environment will lose much of the quality it still retains.� David Pye, The Nature and Art of Workmanship, 1968, p.5
INTRODUCTION
This project explores the translation of basic ideas and practices of compositional aesthetics into the visual language of industrial design. To develop comprehension and fluency with this language you must understand how to use the basic design elements of form, surface, materials and textures (these by definition implicate composition, proportion, balance, scale, colour, light and shadow, contrast, transparency and reflectivity). Through the use of these elements you will be able to articulate ideas and meaning in your 3D designs. You could convey how the objects are physically held and used, or their social or cultural value and function. However it is critical that you as the designer are clear in the potential for these elements to impart meaning and that the product you design clearly expresses your design intent. If you look at a product that is made of gold with a polished surface there is inherent perception of expense, however this perception is tempered with a more complex comprehension that gold can be considered obvious and ostentatious (it is in fact one of the cheapest forms of plating, there are seven layers of gold used to tint the windscreens of the Concorde aircraft). So it is critical that our comprehension of these design elements goes beyond the obvious to explore their potential to express complex and challenging aesthetic meanings, to allow the creation of objects that have multiple meanings and to reinterpret these elements in non-traditional ways that give new meaning. As your design palette evolves you will develop an intuitive comprehension of how these design elements combine. Because of the potential diversity and subtlety of these elements this is a process that will continue throughout your design career.
CHALLENGE You are to create a simple tool, a pen that uses the fundamental design elements of form, surface, material and texture to express the design significance one of the following:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Writing Number 31, 39, 80 or 99 in Peter Greenaway’s Drowning by Numbers Writing your family’s new DNA to order a child, Gattaca by Andrew Niccol Nicki Minaj penning a hit single The pen used to authorize McMurphy lobotomy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Used in the signing of the Electoral Bill that gave women the right to vote1893
Your design must communicate explicitly which theme it relates too, however you should be careful to not create a simplistic or stereo-typical object. The selection of actual material(s) will help to add specificity and depth to your interpretation. The pen must also express notions of preciousness and portability (by scale and weight). Inherently, your pen should be exact, exceptional and exquisite to articulate and harmonize the ideas of your particular topic. The construction principle that will form the basis for your design composition is the idea of a concentric design. This means that your design will be fundamentally circular in cross section and will follow a given axis. However you have the opportunity to explore the form of the profile along the axis. This could include an organic or fluid profile that would contrast with the geometric section or you could explore a continuation of the given geometric section. You are also able to cut your design in one plane (This could be used to give indexing in the hand or to reveal the form more explicitly). You are free to select and use any materials that you can justify as an expression of your given scenario and that you can physically model.
PROCEDURE The procedure you are to follow in undertaking this project is: 1. Select one of the themes that you have a particular interest in and develop the ideas and meaning that you wish to express through your design. Research your design theme thoroughly establishing precedents. 2. Explore the aesthetic, cultural and physical significance of form, surface, materials and texture to your theme (the form must be concentric, but can be cut in one plane). 3. Using “Solidworks” create a series of at least five substantially different designs. These should individually explore possible design directions and opportunities. The aim of using the computer at this stage is to give you the ability to very quickly produce realistic simulations of your designs. Pay particular attention to how you perceive the object will feel in the hand e.g. balance, grip etc. From this initial series of conceptual models continue to develop these into one final design that expresses your initial designs ideas and meaning. This should be critically resolved and make full use of the computer programs ability to simulate in great detail the aesthetic qualities of form, surface, materials and textures. This is not simply a styling exercise, it is critical that your object conveys your original ideas and meaning. 4. Making your design will utilize both manually controlled and digitally controlled lathes. Part of your final model will be made on the School’s new computer numerically controlled (CNC) Haas lathe and part of your design will be made by you on a traditional manual lathe. You will need to consider in detail which parts are most suitable for each process and maximize these opportunities. From you final computer model you will need to extract dimensional information in order to produce an accurate physical model. For the manual lathes you will need to create a profile/template and for the CNC machine you will create a G code text file. You will be allowed access to the milling machines and metal lathes once you have gained approval from the relevant workshop technician. Explore the potential for the development of your design through the use of these new processes and the qualities a physical model gives including the attributes of touch, feel, balance and scale. Note: “Solidworks” and the machine tools you have been given are both powerful and formidable tools that will require you to think with considerable care and attention to detail. They are however only tools that will serve the purpose of assisting you in the task of designing your product and once you have mastered their use in a conventional sense you should explore further non-conventional options.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS The assessment for this project is split into two equally weighted parts. The minimum submission requirements for Project One are, Part One: due 11th March 15% 1) Five conceptual models (“Solid-works” images 1:1, printed on A4) 2) One critically resolved final design (“Solid-works” images printed in colour and mounted in presentation format) Part Two: due 29th March 3) 1:1 Physical model in proposed materials and approximate weight (Machined) 4) Three digital (300 dpi) images (the format will be announced later)
15%
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA In addition to the criteria listed in the overall Course Outline, you will be assessed in this project on the following: a. Creative approach to the translation of a social or cultural event into a 3D designed object. b. Ability to express specific meaning using the fundamental design elements as a visual vocabulary. c. Competent and effective utilisation of the tools specified. d. Quality of composition and craft in 2D and 3D presentation.
Project One Timetable Venue
Session
9
VS 221
Seminar/Lecture: Project 1 Composing with Form, Surface, Material & Texture Individual instruction: Hand-out and discuss Project 1 Group instruction: Computer Lab 11:00 -12:20 (Tim Miller) Group instruction: Machine Tool demonstration (Technician) Group instruction: Laser cutting (Technician)
Tues 1 March
Book in Book in
10
11
12
Fri 4 March
VS 303
Class design concept review (5 x SolidWorks images) Individual instruction: development of design concept
Tues 8 March
VS 221 VS 303
Seminar/Lecture: Composing with Form, Surface, Material & Texture 2 Individual instruction: development of design concept
Fri 11 March
VS 303
Hand-in and class review of PROJECT 1 Part A 15%
Tues 15 March
VS 221 VS 322 VS 303
Seminar/Lecture: Digital Making Group instruction Computer Lab 10:30 -11:30 (Tim Miller) Individual instruction: design development
Fri 18 March Tues 22 March
VS 303
Individual instruction: final detailing and model making
VS 221 VS 002
Seminar/Lecture: Project 2 Composing with Materials Group instruction Vacuum forming & Laser cutting demonstration (Technician) Individual instruction: model making
Fri 25 March 13
VS 303 VS 322 VS 002 VS 002
VS 303 VS 303
Individual instruction: model making / P2 development of design concept / material tests
Tues 29 March
TBA
Hand-in and class review of PROJECT 1 Part B 15%
Fri 1 April
VS 303
Individual instruction: P2 development of design concept / material tests
The following readings are recommended for this project: Materials for inspirational design. Plastics Mies, Switzerland; M RotoVision,2006
TP1122 L495 P
Droog Design: spirit of the nineties Rotterdam : 010 Publishers, 1998.
NK1454 A1 D786
Droog and Dutch Design
NK1454 A1 D786 D
Sweet, Fa
Frog : form follows emotion
NK1450 Z9 F927 S974 F
Vihma, Susann
Semantic Visions in Design Helsinki, Finland : The University, 1990.
NK1510 S989 S
Iwamiya, Takeji
Katachi Classic Japanese Design San Francisco : Chronicle Books, 1999.
NK1071 I96 K
Pye, David
The Nature and Art of Workmanship London, Studio Vista; New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1971.
NK1510 P995 N2 1971
Castelli, Clinto T
Transitive Design Milan : Electa, c1999.
NK1390 T832 T
Lefteri, Chris
Model making
P 1
Week Date
P 2