Interplay of two elements

Water bottle and screw cap, knife and fork, scoop and broom, staircase and handrail, salt and pepper and many other products, product systems or product groups consist of two elements that interact formally and functionally. Define a product area via a compact search, in which you want to see and design an element pair. The product pair must consist of only 6 parts in total, must be separable by type, and must be suitable for assembly and disassembly using the usual tools available at home.

Design and develop an emotionally touching product pair which fascinates the user and motivates them to use it for a lifetime. In all areas of private or commercial use, aspects such as user-centricity, speed, cost, safety, comfort, ease, material efficiency and an emotional approach are factors which convince the user and are of societal relevance.

The concepts may be developed for both private and commercial use. Your product pair should meet all daily requirements and be pioneering and sustainable as regards its production, user-friendliness, material efficiency and emotionality. The product pair should be able to convince the user of having made a reasonable decision by buying it, and should be more than merely a necessary everyday product or additional accessory. It should integrate seamlessly and positively into its own environment, give its users the opportunity to identify with it, take account of the areas and time periods before and after use and become a reasonable and valued daily product taken for granted.

Key Criteria
The objective of the course is for students to work through all the phases of a design project. These will cover deadline and content aspects as if it were a real project as required in a customer-service provider relationship. During the process all the necessary steps should be followed and presented in such a way that the customer has an emotional response, is comprehensively informed about the concept and can then make long-term commercial decisions based on this information.

Deadline compliance, focus on the student’s written brief, the creative approach itself, consumer focus, societal relevance, visualisation, functional preparation, technical feasibility, design details and a convincing presentation.

Assessment
The following project steps will be assessed on specified deadlines. The deadlines are defined in a project calendar which will be explained in detail in the first meeting of the semester.

01 First meeting to review the topic and to answer questions

02 Creative sprint
Based on your knowledge and experience, create at least 15 ideas and concepts in various media (sketch, mock ups, moods…) chose a topic to be followed

03 Becoming and expert
Present an overview of the existing products in the chosen product range
Clasify the different systems into functional or conceptional groups
Clarify where you want to position your product for you further development

04 Evaluate
Present an overview how good or bad these products are based on their functional goods or bads

05 Conception
Ideation process with sketches, moods, mockups to develop concepts with a strong focus on uniqueness, sensefull functionality and it integration target to interplay

06 Presentation of your chosen Concept with a clear argumentation why your Concept has been chosen

07 Design detailing process with CAD, ergonomics, Mockups to define the Concept and the styling in various ways

08 Design detailing process with CAD, ergonomics, Mockups to define the Concept and the styling in various ways

09 Presentation of your detailed concept and design, this is the design freeze

10 CAD, Prototyping, colour and trim, final presentation preparation

11 CAD, Prototyping, colour and trim, final presentation preparation

12 CAD, Prototyping, colour and trim, final presentation preparation

13 Final presentation

Please make sure you have your work documentation for the weekly meetings prepared on paper or as PDF to be shown in our personal meetings or via ZOOM in a clear and understandable way. Make sure that all informations are provided and emotional aspects are visually presented.