Tu March 2

Industrial Design

Required Reading:

U&E Chapters 10

Reference Reading:

1934 Forbes article on industrial designers: Forbes-1934-IDarticle.pdf

Draft chapter on aesthetics from Karl's book on design: ulrich-aesthetics.pdf 

"Taste for Makers," Paul Graham's essay on "taste" in design.

Fun stuff (optional):

JobsTalk-Stanford-2005.pdf

Drawing tools: 

A good free vector drawing package is Inkscape, if you do not have Adobe Illustrator or another proprietary package. Many of the engineers will have 2D or 3D CAD skills, but any drawing tools are allowed at this stage (even powerpoint). You may also find this design and production software useful: eMachineShop software which is a free download that lets you design parts using a simple drawing tool and then immediately get a cost estimate for their manufacture. (It will be too expensive to order parts from them, but you can export drawings from the package and the video tutorial for a simple bracket is quite helpful. ) Here is a simplified example of 2D drawings for mock-up parts for the hearing-aid battery holder that I showed last week (done on eMachine drawing package): BatHold-Hex-Allparts.pdf  This happens to be 1:1 scale, otherwise overall dimensions are useful. If your parts are small enough, like these, you can combine them on a few pages.

Assignment Due (completed by your 2Team):

1. Select one of your three concepts to pursue, and write a plan to build a nice functional mock-up (model) of the concept. As we discussed, a functional mock-up is an early prototype that helps teams and customers evaluate the concept. You will need to make accurate 2D drawings of your design as it stands at this point. Each part should be a separate drawing. 
2. The functional mock-up must be something you can make yourself inexpensively using hand tools, or using the Penn workshops and laser cutters. We do have a class prototyping fund ($2400 for the whole class) but we need to reserve most of it for the final projects. If you absolutely must order items in order to make a good mockup (e.g. from McMaster.com or Ponoko.com) you must provide a written estimate and explanation TODAY as these parts should be ordered before the break. Your target budget is $20 per team, but I will make exceptions above that if some teams do not need as much. Even if you can create your mockup by hand with no expenses, you should locate materials and schedule access as needed with Penn or other facilities as appropriate. 
3. Create a file of 10 pages or less including: an overall sketch of your concept, the drawings for your mock-up, and a written plan of how you will construct your functional mockup over the next 3 weeks. Print out this file (b/w or color) and bring to class. During the hands-on half of the class, the instructors will be giving you real-time FEEDBACK on your concept and mock-up plan, and assigning a GRADE to the quality of your preparation. I am replacing one of the quiz grades with this review as a way to ensure you are in good shape before the break and will be ready to present a great mock-up when we get back.

Slides from class:  to be uploaded after class