Introduction
Have you ever looked at a product that has been well-designed? Do you find yourself asking questions such as, “How did the designer think of that idea?” or “What is involved in the creation of that product?” The more you study and learn about design and how designers create items, you begin to learn certain skills and knowledge that you can only acquire through experience. Design challenges provide opportunities to apply skills and knowledge in unique and creative ways.
Taking an idea you have and transferring it from a concept to a sketch, to working drawings, to models, and then to a working prototype is exciting and fun. It also entails several steps. When you are a one-person design and build team, the task of effective communication is rather simple. However, what happens when you must communicate your ideas to others, or when the responsibility for building a team’s solution falls on someone else’s shoulders? This increases the level of responsibility significantly and requires the development of a complete set of design documentation in order to communicate effectively.
This project will provide you the opportunity to exercise your creativity and develop your sketching and modeling skills, as well as your ability to use the computer as an efficient communication tool.
Puzzle Design Challenge Brief
Client Fine Office Furniture, Inc.
Target Consumer Ages: High school aged
Designer _____________________________________
Problem Statement
A local office furniture manufacturing company throws away tens of thousands of scrap ¾” hardwood cubes that result from its furniture construction processes. The material is expensive, and the scrap represents a sizeable loss of profit.
Design Statement
Fine Office Furniture, Inc. would like to return value to its waste product by using it as the raw material for desktop novelty items that will be sold on the showroom floor. Design, build, test, document, and present a three-dimensional puzzle system that is made from the scrap hardwood cubes. The puzzle system must provide an appropriate degree of challenge to high school students.
Criteria
1. The puzzle must be fabricated from 27 – ¾″ hardwood cubes.
2. The puzzle system must contain exactly five puzzle parts.
3. Each individual puzzle part must consist of at least four, but no more than six hardwood cubes that are permanently attached to each other.
4. No two puzzle parts can be the same.
5. The five puzzle parts must assemble to form a 2 ¼″ cube.
6. Some puzzle parts should interlock.
7. The puzzle should require high school students an average of ______ minutes/seconds to solve. (Fill in your target solution time.)
Submittal
View the Portfolio presentation. Create a project portfolio to include the following:
· Design Process Description. Summarize your work during each step of the design process. Include documentation (written work, sketches, CAD drawings, images, etc.) to support your discussion. Your documentation must include the following information located in the appropriate Design Process step:
o Title page
o Brief autobiography and your picture
o Puzzle Design Challenge Brief
o Brainstorming Possible Part Combinations (Activity 4.1a Puzzle Part Combinations)
o Isometric sketches of two possible complete Puzzle Cube designs
o Justification of your chosen Puzzle Cube design solution
o Multi-view sketch, fully dimensioned of each of the five puzzle parts in your chosen design (Activity 4.1b Graphical Modeling)
o CAD drawing(s) displaying a fully dimensioned multi-view of each puzzle part and two different isometric views of the assembled puzzle.
o Drawing review comments from a classmate.
o Image(s) of your building process and puzzle prototype.
o Physical model of your puzzle.
o Statistics related to the solution time of your puzzle as required above.
o A written summary of your puzzle test results and a discussion of the validity of your design. Does your design meet the design criteria? Does your design “provide an appropriate degree of challenge to high school students” (as stated in the design statement)?
o A discussion of possible changes to your puzzle cube that would improve the design.
Have you ever looked at a product that has been well-designed? Do you find yourself asking questions such as, “How did the designer think of that idea?” or “What is involved in the creation of that product?” The more you study and learn about design and how designers create items, you begin to learn certain skills and knowledge that you can only acquire through experience. Design challenges provide opportunities to apply skills and knowledge in unique and creative ways.
Taking an idea you have and transferring it from a concept to a sketch, to working drawings, to models, and then to a working prototype is exciting and fun. It also entails several steps. When you are a one-person design and build team, the task of effective communication is rather simple. However, what happens when you must communicate your ideas to others, or when the responsibility for building a team’s solution falls on someone else’s shoulders? This increases the level of responsibility significantly and requires the development of a complete set of design documentation in order to communicate effectively.
This project will provide you the opportunity to exercise your creativity and develop your sketching and modeling skills, as well as your ability to use the computer as an efficient communication tool.
Puzzle Design Challenge Brief
Client Fine Office Furniture, Inc.
Target Consumer Ages: High school aged
Designer _____________________________________
Problem Statement
A local office furniture manufacturing company throws away tens of thousands of scrap ¾” hardwood cubes that result from its furniture construction processes. The material is expensive, and the scrap represents a sizeable loss of profit.
Design Statement
Fine Office Furniture, Inc. would like to return value to its waste product by using it as the raw material for desktop novelty items that will be sold on the showroom floor. Design, build, test, document, and present a three-dimensional puzzle system that is made from the scrap hardwood cubes. The puzzle system must provide an appropriate degree of challenge to high school students.
Criteria
1. The puzzle must be fabricated from 27 – ¾″ hardwood cubes.
2. The puzzle system must contain exactly five puzzle parts.
3. Each individual puzzle part must consist of at least four, but no more than six hardwood cubes that are permanently attached to each other.
4. No two puzzle parts can be the same.
5. The five puzzle parts must assemble to form a 2 ¼″ cube.
6. Some puzzle parts should interlock.
7. The puzzle should require high school students an average of ______ minutes/seconds to solve. (Fill in your target solution time.)
Submittal
View the Portfolio presentation. Create a project portfolio to include the following:
· Design Process Description. Summarize your work during each step of the design process. Include documentation (written work, sketches, CAD drawings, images, etc.) to support your discussion. Your documentation must include the following information located in the appropriate Design Process step:
o Title page
o Brief autobiography and your picture
o Puzzle Design Challenge Brief
o Brainstorming Possible Part Combinations (Activity 4.1a Puzzle Part Combinations)
o Isometric sketches of two possible complete Puzzle Cube designs
o Justification of your chosen Puzzle Cube design solution
o Multi-view sketch, fully dimensioned of each of the five puzzle parts in your chosen design (Activity 4.1b Graphical Modeling)
o CAD drawing(s) displaying a fully dimensioned multi-view of each puzzle part and two different isometric views of the assembled puzzle.
o Drawing review comments from a classmate.
o Image(s) of your building process and puzzle prototype.
o Physical model of your puzzle.
o Statistics related to the solution time of your puzzle as required above.
o A written summary of your puzzle test results and a discussion of the validity of your design. Does your design meet the design criteria? Does your design “provide an appropriate degree of challenge to high school students” (as stated in the design statement)?
o A discussion of possible changes to your puzzle cube that would improve the design.