UCD FINAL STORY BOARD AND CAD DESIGN

We made a basic story board to clarify the mechanism of the product.

-Ahana Kothari

Shown below is the the 3D model done via Solidworks.

-Jack Connery

For the final Presentation and a video format of the story board please visit our facebook page.

UCD- BASIC MODEL

UCD MODEL

After looking at the sketches and ideas we came up with a basic model made from blue-tack. This was done in order to show the client how the product would fit on the headphones and how it would look before actually making the final 3D model.

Done By Andrew Sutherland

UCD- SKETCHES

BASIC SKETCHES OF THE PRODUCT

Each member in Group 3 came up with different deigns and sketches, sticking to the theme of Jaguar Lamborghini. Below are all the sketches that we came up with.

 - Jack Connery

-Ahana Kothari

-Ahana Kothari

-Ahana Kothari

-James Fulton

-James Fulton

-Rhob Edwards

-Rhob Edwards

UCD MOOD BOARD

UCD MOOD BOARD DESIGN STYLE

As a group, we decided to take up Jaguar and Lamborghini as they have very distinctive designs. Jaguar portrays sleek elegance through curves and Lamborghini represents strength and style through sharp and angular designs. Here are some mood boards representing the two different styles that we plan on designing our product to.

LAMBORGHINI

JAGUAR

UCD- INITIAL SPECIFICATION

INITIAL SPECIFICATION

Problem I.D: Over time the casing of chargers and headphones wears out and starts to tear exposing the internal wires making it dangerous and less useful. The main cause of this is that the wire gets bent extremely often and this leads to the tearing of the external casing.

Therefore the aim of the project is to create a product to eliminate this problem, this means creating a solution that will sustain the wire to allow it to have a longer product lifecycle. This in our opinion will be a product such as a casing.

Initial Specification:

This is the initial specification of the user centered design. This will act as a first draft of the specification before focused primary and secondary research. This will be created from group discussions we have had, therefore these will be the hopes that the group has for the solution for the problem to create a form of guide for a product.

Prospective Customers -

The product that will be created from the problem will be aimed towards people that experience the problem I.D. The people that experience this will have technology such as phones, media player and so on. This can be an age range from the age of 12 to above. But generally the people that will purchase a product that covers the problem I.D will be around 12 - 24. But can also cater to people above this age also. But as 12 - 24 will be the age range that will commonly buy/use this product, the product will be centered on this age range.

Hopefully some individuals over the threshold would be able to use the product but the item will not be made with them in mind as they are not my target audience. This in effect means that the product would be easy of use/ergonomically fitting for a wide age range above the specified age range. Even though this could be a problem, elderly and young people are similar in strength so this feat isn’t hard to accommodate for, as it will be an ease of use product from the start. But the feat that will not be easy to accommodate is the aesthetics of the product to fit a wide age range, as what a person of the age of 12 - 24 may find aesthetically pleasing will not be the same a person of 30 and above. Although this factor will have to be thought out more when concepts have been made, only then we will know what affect the aesthetics will have on the product.

Knowing that the prospective customer is a very large percentage of the country that own a phone, media player or a piece of technology that requires a wire for activities such as charging or listening to music through headphones, there could be a lot of research done to know more into the aesthetics and other factors on the product.

Deliverables -

·         Brief - Firstly a brief for a problem will be used to find a gap in the market to create and develop a new product that will be a solution for the problem.

·         Milestones - These will be discussed about with the lecturer so that a schedule for the project will be developed.

·         Gantt chart - From the milestones a Gantt chart will be made for the project. To keep in schedule for the project the group will revise on the Gantt chart every fortnight or weekly basis.

·         Initial Specification - An initial specification will be created to set out the basic specification of the design and also set out the primary and secondary research.

·         Research/Investigation - Primary and secondary research will be carried out to create a final specification.

·         Final Specification - When the group has finished the primary and secondary research the group will use the gained knowledge to create the final specification, so that the design guidance for the conceptual sketches and designs is perfectly outlined. Too little detail could lead to doing more than is asked for so it is extremely important that spec is as detailed as possible.

·         Concept Sketches - After the final specification has been made, the group will have the right guidance to create sketches suitable for the project.

·         Models - Models of the concept sketches will need to be produced to see the potential of the sketches. If the models do not meet the standards needed then another concept will be needed and modeled again.

·         Detailed Drawings - After modelling and the group have a suitable design, the detailed drawings must be made, also engineers drawing and visual renderings to create a finalized product.

·         Prototype - After creating the drawings of the finalized design, prototypes will have to be made to try out different materials and processes.

·         Testing - After prototypes have been created, testing of the product will have to be carried out such as the different materials which is best. But also carry out group sessions of the target audience for feedback, to get opinion to see what could be made better and what the issues are with the product to move onto the development stage.

·         Development - This will be where small changes will be made to the final design to create a design that has been revised to fix and better the issues from the testing stage. Also in this stage the product will be evaluated to on its time constraints, did it meet its specification, Quality, and if the target audience is happy with the product (customer satisfaction).

·         Final Product - This stage is where the final design and product that is a solution for the problem has been created and finalized.

Functionality -

·         Protect wire: The functionality of the casing will be to protect the wire of the chargers and headphones from the wear that occurs over the time from the use of the user.

·         One of the main functions of the product will be to increase headphone wire lifespan.

·         Thickness: The thickness of the casing that will go over the wire to protect it will be no larger than 4mm in thickness, +/- 2mm. If the thickness is too thin then the casing will be at minimum durability and won’t be very functional to what the brief requires. Also if the thickness is too thick then the product won’t be flexible enough to protect and will most likely cause damage to the wiring. And also be too bulky and unnecessary thick. But a lot of this can depend on the material.

·         As we have discussed we would like to create a sustainable and renewable product therefore we are going to try to keep it eco-friendly and sustainable as possible. Therefore research will be used and Soildworks will be used for the sustainability features it has in the program.  Also it can be used to test the stresses of the materials can shapes used.

Aesthetics -

·         The aesthetics is a major factor towards the target market as this can be the factor that is the effect on whether they buy the product or not. Therefore the product must look appealing to the age range that we have chosen, as design a product for a large age range can be a rather difficult problem as people of different age groups have grown up with different design movements. But an issue could be people of the age range chosen could have different appealing styles than other people of the same age. But also a retrospective design could be used as it appeals to the older age range as well as the younger age range but the aesthetic will be target around the age range specified.

·         In the groups opinion we have decided that the product must represent the brand, therefore engraving of the logo of the brand could be done on the product or little stickers attached onto the product of the logo.

·         As the age range chosen can be difficult we have chosen to make the product as customizable as possible, such as the target audience can chose different colour’s or style that is target towards there aesthetic appeal.

Safety -

·         The biggest safety constraint with this product is the factor of the size which can be a choking hazard as it will be a small product. As the product would be commonly accessible around the household when in use as it would commonly be used in communal areas this could cause it to get within the hands of children. Therefore this could be a common issue if children swallow the product. Therefore it is important that if is notified that it is a choking hazard, also that it doesn’t have sharp, pointy parts that would irritate if swallow or cause it to get stunk and cause the person to choke.

·         Also from the issue above, the material if swallowed can be a toxic or irritable to the human system. Therefore, we will research into the material that would be used to create a final safe product.

·         As the casing will act as a support to postpone the wear of the wire, it can also act as an electrical insulation if the wear has happened on the original insulation, but also protecting the wires inside from breaking. Therefore protecting the user from an electrical shock from the damaged insulation.

Environmental Issues -

·         Environmental issues have been thought about and talked about in group conversations and the product is to be as sustainable as possible. It is not certain if the product can reach 100% sustainability at this point in the project as 100% sustainability is a hard feat to achieve with many products. But through research we will try to design the product to be as sustainable as possible. Hopefully through this minimizing as much landfill and pollution as possible.

Quality Control -

·         As BS standards exist from most products this will be one of the biggest constraints on the product but will ensure a good quality product. These standards that the product would have to meet to be used or sold will have to be integrated into the design of the product, but will ensure some quality in the product.

·         As quality depends on many factors, it is hard to determine until more research has been approached and prototypes have been produced.

• Also another factor on quality is the durability and product lifecycle, but also this will be hard to determine at this point without more research into materials and other factors. Until that has been approached the answer will not be available.

Production Methods -

·         The assembly of the product should be simple and cost effective but simple as the product will be required to be ease of use.

·         As the product will hopefully be sustainable, the aim of the production method will need to minimize on waste.

·         Good quality materials, will require research.

·         The production will need to be mass produced as the problem that it is used for is a very common therefore maybe there might be a high demand.

·         As the product would be mass produced, reliability is major factor as there would be a need for a low failure rate at manufacturing stage.

Materials -

·         The materials used in this project will need to a mixture of flexible for the wire as it needs to protect but also flex with the wire. But also be hard for the clasp.

·         The wire also has to be durable as it will need to protect the wire but also keep up to the lifecycle of the wire and hopefully still be usable after the wire becomes obsolete.

·         The material will also have to act as an electrical insulator, so that the material doesn’t conduct electricity so that it could cause a shock. Therefore metal might not be an option but can be sold as a separate item but with warning not to use with the electrical insulation damaged.

Time Constraints -

·         The time constraints will be dealt with be creating and following a Gantt chart which will help put a realistic time frame on the project. The Initial Gantt chart will be followed by a revised/real time Gantt chart to highlight the way the group has used the time in the project, this will highlight how far/behind the group is on the schedule of the project. It will be expected for some parts of the project to fall behind schedule but will be made up as some parts will be completed earlier.

Economic Constraints -

·         The product will be hopefully be as sustainable as can be, but sustainability can be a costly factor on a product, but the hopes of the group is to create a cost effective product not only in the manufacturing but also to the market price. As the problem can be marketed to very large target audience the price will have to be at a reasonable price that would be attractive to the target audience. As we imagine the materials and production combined would be a low price, but a major factor to the price would be the marketing, we could sell the product at a 20 - 40 % profit and the price would still be at a reasonable price for the target market.

·         Even though the factors above the product should cost less than original headphones/chargers.

·         Packaging is also an important factor in the products production as it will keep the product from being damaged while being transported. Hopefully the way that the product will transported will be in a sustainable packaging such as recycled paper or some other sustainable packaging rather than plastic wrapping.

Ergonomics -

·         As ergonomics is an important factor in most designs, but with the product in this project there is not room for many ergonomic developments as it is a small product.

Lifecycle Constraints -

·         The lifecycle of a product mostly depends on the material used, as most materials will be thrown into a rubbish heap in a landfill site at the end of its lifecycle. But also if the product uses recycled plastics then again it will become obsolete after the end of its lifecycle as most can be only recycled once. So hopefully we will acquire material that has not already been recycled but recyclable in the future.

·         But if the product is made from metal there is a major chance that the product can be recycled again after the end of its lifecycle, therefore making it more sustainable than the plastic but the materials will have to be researched and also tested in the prototypes.

Legal Constraints -

·         The legal constraints that we have discussed about is that research into patents, design rights and so on will be needed before we get too far into the project. This can be an extremely important factor.