Design Opportunity
A semester long furniture design course where the only limit was your capabilities constrained within the four pillars of furniture design.
Form
The visual element of the design and what makes it compelling within its intended space..
Function
The ergonomics, weight, and practical elements within the design.
Sustainability
The material usage is both sustainable and suitable for the products lifecycle and environment.
Material Usage
The design requires minimal waste of materials.
My Role
Jerry Anglin - Product Designer
Timeframe
August 2022 - December 2022
Final Design
Yep that’s me!
Process
Like with most design it starts with a sketch. Furniture design along side CNC furniture design requires that the piece of furniture is well suited to the constraints of that approach to manufacturing.
Once settled on a sketch you go into modeling, where you design your sketch in a 3D software and also generating the toolpath for the CNC router to understand your design specs.
Before you get into your actual final design you have to make multiple tests and iterations with scaling and practice materials to ensure your actual cut is not wasting material.
Full Scale Prototype (secretly I also wanted to have to chairs)
From prototyping you go into processing the wood, which in case was walnut roughly 3 inches thick. From there I processed(various tools and machinery to prepare the wood for CNC cutting) the wood.
Sander
Jointer
Miter Saw
Planer
After creating the prototype, I did some rough sizing over my actual walnut boards before embarking on making the final piece.
Reflection
This was my first time ever designing something this hands on before. We as UX Designers I feel often think of the field as looking at screens and user journeys; however, I know that some part of me has always be fascinated about designing physical things. This experience has showed me that designing something physical might be what I enjoy the most within design. UX means User Experience, and to me that encompasses everything around us.