Designing

For

Designers

For a collaborative group studio project, I along with two groupmates were tasked with designing for the program success and well-being of the incoming second year students in the Industrial Design program.

Start With Reflection

Before diving straight into research, we each reflected upon our own experiences, noting tendencies, successes, and problems with the program.

Creating a Design Criteria

Moving onto research, we interviewed students, professors, and faculty to figure out the main pain points, organizing our findings onto an idea board. 

We created design criteria through this research to hone in our product iterations to solve specific needs.

Resources

Students would benefit from an easier way to find design resources, such as color pallettes and previous student work, or physical resources such as markers, rulers, and pens.

Security

Students require a way to keep there items safe, since most tools are kept in the building at all times.

Collaboration

Students would benefit from a way to connect and collaborate with professors, TAs, and their peers. 

Comfort

Students would benefit from making there workspace more comfortable, since the students spend large quantities of time inside the building.

Mix and Match

After our research, we developed four design criteria and used them to generate ideas for potential solutions, ranging from app interfaces to communal relaxation spaces.

I also created low fidelity prototypes for use-case testing. This is where our group began to expirement with the use of an attachment to the metal frame of the desk. 

A Large Shift

Eventually, our group collected our individual ideas and combined them into a family of products, based off of one cohesive concept:

A System to Build On

This concept aimed to create modular, custom fit 3d printed brackets, on top of which various desk-side products could be slotted in. Therefore, students would be able to design and print their own products as their skills improve, tailored for each student's needs and wants.

In other words, this is a working project to be built upon-- perfect for design students.

On top of the bracket system, we decided to create our own "Desk Buddies" tool holder starter kits, aimed to act as fun 'cheerleaders' that would act as a way to store items outside of the desk space. 

Resources

The desk-side attachments provide ways to easily access design tools.

Security

The desk buddies provide a designated spot for tools-- meaning that it is a lot more noticeable when the tools are missing.

Collaboration

The 'working project' idea provides an avenue for students to collaborate and create their own solutions to problems they may face.

Comfort

The 'desk buddies' act as cute and friendly desk-side cheerleaders, and can be customized to every students' desires. 

My own contribution was the "Pen-Head", a cute and compact marker and pen holder for writing and drawing essentials.

I noticed that there is rarely ever a need for more drawing utensils than the very basics, so I decided to declutter the desk for more space so students can focus on their design process.