Data and Objects redesigned

Using an object in the studio, evaluate and analyse its success and attributes. Then use the evidence gathered to either redesign it or use aspects of it. This was a 2-hour team project.

The beginning of the analysis was to find something of interest and come together with my team mate Kennedy to start to analyse or assess the product.

There was the option of a glass decanter or a fairy washing up bottle. We decided that with a clear use the washing up bottle was our choice.

We firstly did a visual analysis of the shape, materials, textures and colours. We then did a practical analysis, with a video of Kennedy using the bottle.

From this we started to redesign the bottle, with the view that we could build a bottle of a better shape. After trial and error with card, we decided to abandon this effort, as the important features of the bottle were more important to capture then recreating a curved object from paper, as we were running out of time.

We had found a surrogate object to be the basis of our bottle, and used a blister pack to create grooved for our finger to rest in. we ensured that these were placed so that the bottle didn’t have a left to right hand preference and that the grooves were significant enough to prevent the hand from slipping so much.

We also had the addition of string to create extra texture and grip, as we found his to be one of the more problematic issues.

Result: this project had some successes in it, but an area I would improve was time management. We spent maybe too long picking an item, so that when it came to making our way through the analysis, we were short on time before we had started to make. I think understanding the limitations for the outcome based on materials and time would also have been a benefit.

However, I think we were able to make a prototype that highlighted the area we would have improved, from a smaller prototype being easier to hold, more grip for you hands an no bias toward right-handed people.

From working as a team, it was interesting to see the different approaches to the task – Kennedy approached the list of questions in a methodical manner form start to finish, where I have a tendency to pick one that I know I can talk about and then move on from there. This difference of approach slowed us down at the beginning as we were use to working in our set styles, but once we established a working routine, we were able to make progress.