Basic Formgiving Skills

Transcription

1 Basic Formgiving Skills B.F.L.C van Straaten Preface In this annotated portfolio I describe and show all my delivered work and feedback for the Basic Formgiving Skills assignment during the second and third quartile of the academic year Acknowledgements I would like to thank dr.ir. Bart Hengeveld, dr.ir. Miguel Bruns Alonso and dr.ir. Joep Frens for their interesting lessons and helpful feedback.

2 Week 1-2: Observing and Sketching The start of this course consisted of an introduction into sketching, where we had to sketch several objects we saw during a walk. This proved to be very difficult for me, since I had no experience with sketching objects. Luckily we received some feedback and helpful tips, which helped me preparing for the first real assignment: Sketch three different objects found in your house in different views. I chose to sketch an ipod, remote control and a little flashlight. Although still not perfect, after applying the feedback and watching some helpful YouTube videos, the results were definitely improved compared to my first sketches. General feedback: Hengeveld, B: Start by drawing frameworks (e.g. guidelines for dimensions/ perspective fields) Hengeveld, B: Try to break down the object in multiple primitive shapes (rectangles, circles...). If that is not possible, start sketching the object in 2D views and combine them into one 3D sketch.

3 Week 3: Recreate a Power Socket The second assignment was to make an exact copy of an old power outlet. After measuring the exact dimensions with a calliper, I started making the power outlet with PVC foam and MDF. Both materials had its advantages and disadvantages: The PVC foam was really easy to shape and sand, but getting a perfect paint finish was nearly impossible due the open material structure of foam. Also MDF proved to be challenging in the painting stage. To solve these problems, I used a lot of putty and multiple coats of primer. Although it helped a lot, there are still many spots with irregularities in the surface, as can be seen in the pictures. Hence, my first learning point: Try picking the most suitable material for the object right from the start. It will save a lot of time and unnecessary work in the end. Frens, J: The surface transition on the inside of the rings and the base component is a bit rough.

4 Week 4: Material Study The third assignment was based around a material study: make a given object out of three different materials. In the end I choose to make the object out of four materials: Wood, PVC Foam, Clay and Polycarbonate. What I really liked about this assignment, is that it gave me the chance to work with less familiar materials to me, such as the clay and polycarbonate. Especially those two materials reacted very distinctly to the electrical/ hand tools compared with regular wood. General feedback: Frens, J: A material study is to find out which and when certain materials work the best. Therefore, it would have been wise to, for example, experiment with different woods or wood grains. Hengeveld, B: The sharp edges on the polycarbonate object could have been a bit sharper.

5 Week 5-6: Form Integration The fourth assignment was to design and make an object with a form transition between a round and square object. After some inspiring feedback from Miguel, I ended up placing a rectangle inside a 45 angled cylinder. To integrate a form transition between the objects, I rounded of some hard corners with a fillet of the same radius as the cylinder. Due to a personal situation, I really wanted to finish this model near to perfection. As a result, it took around 5 stages of primer - putty - sanding, before applying 4 coats of steel blue paint and 3 clear coats. To top it off, I hand-polished the object close to a mirror like finish. In particular, I m really proud of the finished paint job of this object and the form transition between the square and cylinder. I took my quite some time and sandpaper to get everything near perfection, but it was all worth it. Frens, J: In some areas, the paint is leaning on the edge of being to thick.

6 Week 7-8: Form Family The fifth and last assignment was to design and make a power strip with two power sockets and a switch, which all shared a common form family. After sketching a lot of ideas and concepts, which none of them really seemed to stand out, I ended up going on an other route, namely by making quick prototypes and feeding the gained insights back into SolidWorks, to improve upon the design and adjust the dimensions of the base component. The building process of the power strip was particularly challenging, since the power sockets first needed to be painted, masked with tape and glued into the front plane, before this whole section could be glued into the slightly curved opening of the box. After that is was a matter of filling all the gaps with putty, before finalizing the power strip with a high gloss coat of black spray paint. Frens, J: The finish is very nice and shiny, although there are some dust marks here and there. Frens, J: The transition between the cable and case/ plug could be improved on. Frens, J: There are some minor details that could be improved on. Hengeveld, B: The positioning of the sockets could be vertical instead of horizontal. This would have made it easier to insert the plug in all three sockets.

7 Reflection This reflection focuses on the learning points of the course Basic Formgiving Skills during the second and third semester of the academic year One of my biggest learning points and improvements concerns the things I have learned about sketching and marker rendering during the first half of the course. During the first lecture, I felt very uncomfortable with the sketching exercises, due to my lack of experience and proper sketching tools. But after a few weeks into the course, some helpful feedback and tips (E.g. perspective, line weight, color) from both the teachers and a ton of YouTube videos, I noticed that the quality of my sketches and my attitude towards sketching greatly improved. I now feel much more confident in observing and sketching objects and making marker renderings (three pictures below as an example). Also the different approach towards the design process, which happened during the last assignment, was an interesting learning point for me. I used to be a person that wanted to think it all through before making something. But during the last assignment I noticed that this process did not work for me anymore. Instead, I started with making multiple mid-fidelity prototypes and used the gained insights to further improve my design. At the end, this design process really worked out and delivered me a good result. Also, from the gained experiences during the assignments, I have learned how different materials react to (power)tools and paint, which helped me to reduce mistakes during the last assignment. I learned that is a must to plan and prepare for the building and painting process and I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge in the finishing process of the product, namely how to prepare the object for a good paint surface and how to achieve a perfect paint finish. During the last assignment, I experienced that it s sometimes faster to start all over again, rather than trying to fix your mistakes. One of the biggest fall back of this course happened during the fourth assignment, the form integration exercise. Due to some unluckiness I had an accident with a belt-sander. It was only after this event that I realized why safety at the working space is such an important thing. From this experience I have learned a life lesson that it is really important to and be extra careful when working with high power electrical tools and machines. A new goal which I derived from this course, is to learn how to make good pictures and set up a good light environment. Due to some time restrictions, I did not have sufficient time to experiment in the photo studio and take some high quality images of my work. Furthermore, I would like to gain more experience with spray painting and polishing to be able to deliver a perfect paint finish in the future. From this course it became clear that the finish of a product is a really important factor, since, generally speaking, the prototypes with the best finish ended up at the first place. Concluding, following this course was a very good choice for my development as a designer and prototyping making. I can clearly notice a big improvement in the level of detail and paint finish between the objects from the first weeks and the last ones. I am able to observe, sketch and render objects and ideas at a much higher level of confidence. And I am really looking forward to build more prototypes for my next projects and experiment (safely) with a lot of different materials and power tools!