How to learn: Rapid Prototype Design | Project

Overview:

This course was not so much about making things for me. Rather, it was how I THOUGHT about making things. Tina Fey would say that when improvising, always agree...and. I learned that in building anything, once you've built your initial design, agree that it is correct and make something more onto it. This page is an insight into my thoughts about the course Rapid Prototyping Design and what I learned over the semester.

Ultimately, I learned how to learn in this class.

Problem Solving:

The most important lesson I learned about the design process, is to stick to your client's desires. For the first assignment, we had to make a box that could hold 6 cans of coke out cardboard with no adhesive/tape. I didn't read carefully and did not see that we were to minimize material usage. The design below had individual stabilizers for each can of coke and was a tremendous waste.

Therefore, I was forced to improvise to complete the assignment. I thought that if I had failed on this task, I could take that failure and get creative with it. The first iteration of this exercise did not say anything about how the box had to be held. Everyone in class used handles and I knew that I could palm the box. By removing the handles and just having a sealed cube, I could hold the cans with a low bill of material.

Design Process:

Before this class if I was told to design a toy for kids, my mind would immediately revert to what I would want as a kid - how dangerous, throwable, explodeable can I make this? However, I quickly learned that dangerous toys do not work well for kids because they are likely to get hurt. This seems obvious, but as adult designers, you cannot give something to kids you know is dangerous.

So, when we were asked to design SAFE toys for 10 years old to play with, I had to also consider feasibility of making a product, and this was not so much a challenge; when you add long-term use goals to the process, some design go out the window right away. My design for a bouncy ball on a tether that returns to you is a major strangulation hazard and could potentially damage the user or objects if it hits them.

Mo0nboots allow a user to bounce like they are on a trampoline anywhere. This sounds like a great idea, but trampolines are generally confined and safe areas built with durable material. A plastic case with springs and tethers is not only a major tripping hazard, but not durable. A finished product's longevity is only as long as its weakest essential part. For this reason, the bunjee cords and tethers in the design below would cause the product to fail and I learned to always consider this.

Communication/Teamwork:

I took this class at a much more advanced age than its intended student. Because of this, I learned how to deal with younger students as peers. Even though I don't necessarily know more than them, they still looked to me as a mentor figure and this responsibility effected how I communicated with them. When your circumstances put you in a situation like this, you have to learn to capitalize on them. This may just be doing outside research to stay one step ahead, doing what you can to help, and using experience you have working on projects and dealing with people in general to make their life a little easier.

Because I have only a few years of experience, I know myself a little better. I learned to accept what I know I have to do on a project and to let others make mistakes. This is such a cliche, but letting people make controlled mistakes is the best thing for them to learn. I was excited to make plenty of my own in this class, and I was excited to watch others make preventable mistakes that wouldn't jeopardize anything major. I learned to agree with group ideas and go with the flow, even if I had doubts about their success or feasibility. If I was right to doubt, no problem; if I was wrong, surprise victory. This is a useful mentality going forward, I think.

Team Design:

Our primary task this semester was the toy design. By learning to accept moderating influences from team members, we created a toy that kids (and adults) loved. Angry birds is beloved by children and adults the world over, but real life versions of this game leave something to be desired because the typically plastic towers collapse far too easily. We wanted to try something new and make a process whereby players could design their own towers. In order to do this, we initially attached magnets to 2x4's and thought it would be a good idea to let kids run wild with this. Again, safety forced us to improvise in a good way....

We learned that redesigning can be very fun and rewarding. By trying designs and failing at them, we learned that accepting that something doesn't work and moving in a new direction can be a very good thing. Our final design was safe for kids and met all of our original design intent. If we didn't learn to fail and move on, we never would have gotten here:

We also learned that you can never stop improving a good thing. If kids liked our toy before, as long as we stayed true to what makes it fun, we can add to it and achieve more positive results. Because we included magnets and velcro in our blocks, they weren't so easy to knock down, had surprises for player's opponents, and adhered more closely to the actual game. We learned that kids and adults alike both enjoy challenges. Knocking our 3D printed pigs over was fun, but knowing they had to split them in half made the game a lot more challenging and fun. By adding lights, we realized that there is always more work to be done.

Summary:

From all of our time together in Rapid Prototyping Design, I learned:

Never stop improvising
Never stop improving
Failure is not the end
Time moves quicker than you think
Even when having fun, people enjoy challenges
I enjoy challenges
Having to start over is not always bad
Dream big and know it won't work, but try anyway
Accept your role and learn from it
Ready directions carefully and manage time effectively
Never apologize for failing
You never know how something will work until you actually try it

So, if we read down this list, it really just boils down to: I learned how to learn.

I also learned to share. Our ready-to-print Angry Pigs are available in .stl format. I can't upload them on this page, but if you'd like them, please email me.

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This project documents how I learned how to learned in Rapid Prototype Design