Reflection essay
Lloyd Groff Copeman
Mr Lloyd was an American inventor. He invented many products that we still use today they include toaster, refrigerators and electric stove etc. electricity is really what he specialised in, most of his inventions are electricity related. But, one of the most successful products he had ever made was the flexible ice tray, it had earned him millions of dollars.
He inspires me. This is because the products that he has created, despite all the electrical work that had gone into some of the products, they are not the most complicated ideas, but none the less, they are proven to be popular and successful. This to me goes to show that complication is not always the way to go. Therefore, he has inspired me to make something easy for the user to use, something simple while fulfils it’s designed functionality.
Marc Newson
Marc Newson is a design that inspired me not so much in my design style. More so to do with what kind of designer I want to be. He fully embraces and uses to his advantage of modern technology. But the thing that I most aspire to be is to have a wide variety of design area. Marc Newson has designed I fashion, aircraft, motorsports and many more. And that’s one of the greatest things of being a product designer, you get to do a lot more than just one area of designing.
What went well?
At the beginning of the project, I found that research really helped me drive the rest of the project. As I was doing research, ideas are popping into my head and I make a note of them as I went along. This made the initial ideas stage seems easy. When it came to modelling, it was a slow start, but when I eventually go into the swing of making quick models, it was just the case of finding the right material for what I want to make. I wanted to experiment with different materials to see how well they can form into the shapes I wanted, and through this project I found that thing cardboard and foam board was the best for bending, and thin cardboard is also great for making the structures of the model.
One of the areas that I feel that I defiantly have improved on is 3D drawing, especially 3D drawing with curves. At the start of the project, I try to avoid drawing them, but throughout the project I learned how to draw them using framing technique, where I will draw out the basic frame or a “box” that my product drawing is going to sit in, then out line one plain of the product, then just practice the curves. This method really helped me to gain perspective on how to draw 3D shapes in proportion and accurately.
What didn’t go as planned?
At the very beginning of the project, I was a bit lost to what to research. Subsequently, I started to look at current environmental problems and try to come up with a way to solve them. I struggled to come up with ideas, and then I realised that the brief state to make a product that “reconnect” people with nature. That’s when I realised that I have been trying to “save” the planet. Then I started to research in relevant area and design ideas became easy after that.
During the brief, it was said that we are encouraged to use found objects when modelling, or even in out final prototype. I manage to find an old car radio and took that apart. I was able to use some knobs from the radio, but I couldn’t find or use any more found parts. So, I thought that next time, by having a larger collection of found object may help me when it comes to modelling.
One of the most disappointing things during all my modelling for the radio is that I wasn’t able to get the channel knob to work with the slider. This was due to my design flaw for the mechanism, it didn’t work in my developed models. I was then again trying to make a functionable slider in my final prototype, but the knob I was using, I could not find a solution to how to incorporate the functionable slider. So next time when I need to design a mechanism, I will invest more time and maybe a wilder source of materials to help me, this way I can make an even better final model that truly express and show how the product should work.
Over all, I have learned a lot during this project, there has been times where it was very frustrating when something don’t work as you expected, but through this experience I was able to over come some of the issues I had, and with more practice I will become better at it.
