Sunday, November 15, 2009

Branding

I went about the branding of my finished outcome by picturing it in its context, and found that like original concept that it was derived from as a cafe stool, the obvious place it could be found is in a contemporary cafe.

From there I thought of branding it as a concept cafe brand "coffeeME". i went with colours that i felt reflected the feel of a contemporary cafe with two contrasting fonts to reflect the old and new.

I placed the brand name on the stool, and also placed some stools in the context of a cafe, to help create the right feel for the stool.



I am very happy with my final outcome, the design as a whole works well with the concept of a cafe stool as it works well within the context of a contemporary cafe.

Assembly of final outcome







Saturday, November 14, 2009

Further refinement

I further refined the bottom corners where the seat folds leaving no gap as there previously was, gaining more strength to the corners.





I changed the design of the teeth locking system to create a more aesthetically pleasing outcome.


I created the holes to act as handles in the extra piece to help the process of inserting and removing it. I also curved the bottom slots to again create more ease when initially inserting the piece in place.


A major change that I have made to the entire design, I have shortened the sides that are inside the triangle, the length of them are at 160mm so they now only reach roughly the middle of the triangle. This has now reduced the amount of Xanita board whilst still maintaining the support needed for the minimum weight load.

Development / Refinement

I decided the appropriate size for a handle would be 50mm by 90mm. I began to experiment with different styles of handles that would work for this design.

I found that I didn't want to just create a hole for a handle but to create a handle that is both aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing.
With this in mind I thought of creating a handle that curves inside to the shape of the hand once used.

I created the handle design by cutting through the board with the above dimensions along the sides and along the bottom. on the back side of the board I peeled off the skin to the shape.
I then heated the honeycomb till the glue is soft, and then curved the strip to my desired curve shape.







I am very happy with the outcome of the handle, i find it comfortable to use and aesthetically pleasing.

Development / Refinement

I was really happy with the outcome of the scale model as a whole, but I found there were some areas that could be improved.

◘ I found that the stool will need handle.

◘ The teeth locking system could be reduced to two teeth on either side, this would make the stool more aesthetically pleasing whilst still maintaining the strength of the locking system.


◘ The extra piece that locks in the shape can be re-designed to create more ease when slotting the piece in place. The bottom corners will be curved. Two holes will be made for handles to help when removing the piece.


◘ The two corners where the seat folds over will be filled (currently have a void) give added strength.

practice 1:1 scale prototype



Final Dimensions