Furniture of the Future

Hello readers! Welcome back! Sorry that I haven't been posting in a while! So, in tech class, we have been working on orthographic sketches! Orthographic is a method of graphing or sketching something in scale! You show all six sides, the top (plan), bottom, side A, side B, front, and back! The best way to do this, is to draw it on graph paper so that you line up your drawings with the squares, and so that it helps you with the scale! On the left is an example of an orthographic sketch, except that it is missing the back view! An ideal way to draw this, is to write the scale (1 square on your graph paper=2 inches...) and then line up your drawing with the squares on the paper. Once you do that, you can label on the sides, what the actual length is of the sides.

Okay, enough talk about orthographic designs. If my explanation doesn't really make sense check out our teacher's blog on the "Draw like an engineer" page: Click Here
I have made 5 orthographic designs, complete with labels and measurements, colors, and descriptions of the design! Sadly, one design, is not completely in scale, because it was too hard to draw! But I will still share it with you, dear reader! Before I show you the designs, I must explain something to you!
I must narrow down these designs to one design to actually build! YES! You heard (well... he he, read) dear reader! I must build one of these designs out of cardboard, in the exact proportions and measurements! I have certain design specifications to narrow down these designs, and choose the best! Okay, here are the specifications!

Aesthetic	Size	Needs to be an appropriate size and should be as close to a universal size as possible.	I can see if a few different people can fit comfortably in the chair and ask them it they think the size is right.
Sustainability	Environmental Impact	It must be decompose easily and quickly and shouldn’t harm the plants around it.	I can leave a piece of the material I think I could use might be able to use, outside, in dirt, and see if it decomposes and how long it would take.
Cost	Production/ Manufacture	The materials need to be cost effective. We can’t spend too much money.	I can see how much the amount of cardboard or material I am going to use is. Then, I can calculate how much I would spend and see if that is smart, or too much for the amount I am buying.
Aesthetics	Weight	The chair needs to hold a person, up to at least 200 pounds and must not crumple or break apart after only a few sittings. The sitter must also be able to move around and change positions without the chair falling apart.	We could test this by letting several people of different weights sit on the chair and every now and then, change positions. Then we can see what parts of the chair can’t hold as much weight, and what parts don’t seem as strong.
Aesthetics	Visual Appeal	The chair needs to look good and be neat so that people will buy it. It should also include some extra things like cup holders or a messaging mechanism. (I doubt that I can do that)	We can ask different people how they like it, if they would buy it, and how it could possibly look better.
Ergonomics	Mobility	The chair needs to be able to move around and can’t be an odd shape or too heavy to lift or move.	We can test that by getting people to move the chair around and asking them if it was easy to do it.
Ergonomics	Ease/comfort of use	Have the chair be comfortable. We could include some pillows.	We can test it by having people sit in it and asking them if it is comfortable.

If you are wondering why the design needs to decompose, please comment! 
Okay, the first design:

This is a chest of drawers. It is blue, with pink handles, and the bottom has small pink rubber strips to prevent it from scratching on the floor. Here is the description! "This chest of drawers has 3 compartments to store things in, all about 11 inches tall and 14 inches with, with a 1 inch thick separator board in the middle. It has pink handles, and on the bottom, has pink strips of rubber to avoid scratching."

So, what specifications does this design have? 
Size- This design is the right size and can store things easily.  It is not too big and bulky, or too small so that you can't fit anything inside.
Environmental Impact- All designs will be made out of cardboard so they will have minimal environmental impact.
Production/manufacture- We wouldn't need too much money anyway if all of the designs are made out of cardboard.
Weight- Again, this design will be constructed out of cardboard, and will not weigh that much.
Visual Appeal- The chest of drawers is a nice light blue, but could look better! It is a matter of opinion on if you think that this design looks good. I think the color goes nicely, and the design is simple, but good looking, and appealing.
Mobility- You could easily move this chest of drawers
Ease/comfort of use- This design is easy to put things in the compartments, and is the right size, so it is comfortable and feels right when you are using it...

Is it a universal design, something that everyone can use no matter, age, gender, or anything else? 
Oui oui! Any one can use it, it's easy to pull out the handles, but if someone is really short, they might not be able to open the top drawer!

Do you think that this design is the right one to build based on the specifications, if it is a universal design, and if it won't be too hard to build? 
The design specs show that this is a pretty good design. It is also a universal design, but it might be hard to build. I would need to build all of the drawers (well... only 3 but whatever), and get the right size/measurement for each one! If all other designs turn out harder than this one, then I will make this one, but so far, I think this is not very probable of me building it!
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Here is the second design! It is a shoe rack! The scale is, 1 square on the graph paper = 2 inches. It's brown, with small 1 inch high legs to keep it elevated a little bit off of the ground! Here is the description if you can't see it on the picture, "This design I made, is a place to put shoes up to 10 feet long, even though a shoe is usually shorter than that. It has small legs to keep it 1 inch off of the ground, and two levels to put shoes."

So, what specifications does this design have? 
Size- This shoe rack is a good size for shoes, but is a bit short if you want to be comfortable putting shoes away. It is 18 inches high… Is that too short?
Environmental Impact- Like I said before, this will have minimal impact on the environment because all designs will be made out of cardboard, including this one!
Production/manufacture- Since this design is also made out of cardboard, we wouldn't need too much money to buy materials and make it!
Weight- Same as before, it won't weigh too much because it is made out of cardboard!
Visual Appeal- The colors are kind of dull, but I think overall, the design looks good, and it is practical. Since the shoe rack is a bit short, it could look odd or out of place around many other pieces of furniture or any place around a house… it really depends!
Mobility- Since it doesn't weigh much, the shoe rack is able to be move around.
Ease/comfort of use- This design is a bit too short for most people, so it might feel/be a bit awkward using it, bending down and all. It all depends on opinion. Is an 18 inch high shoe rack too low?

Is it a universal design, something that everyone can use no matter, age, gender, or anything else? 
Oui oui! Short people, tall people, anyone can use it. Young short people can use the bottom shelves, while taller people can use the higher ones.

Do you think that this design is the right one to build based on the specifications, if it is a universal design, and if it won't be too hard to build? 
This design is probably the easiest design out of all of them! It's easy to build and is also a universal ensign, meaning that basically everyone can use it! The only questionable thing is, the height. I don't exactly know if this is too low, unless I build it. And, why can't I? I mean, why can't I build something that I am not exactly sure if it will be perfect? It doesn't matter if this is trial and error, it will be fun to make, and I will learn something from making it, if it doesn't work out.

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The next design is a chair, which I named the, "Random Chair".  The scale is, 1 square on the graph paper = 1 inch. Here is the description: "This chair comes in all different colors, but the most common is green. There are also a few designs  to choose from. This sketch has the red and green striped design, with al of the other colors, green."

So, what specifications does this design have? 

Size- This design is the right size for a chair, and will probably work on a standard table.
Environmental Impact- All designs will be made out of cardboard so they will have minimal environmental impact.
Production/manufacture- We wouldn't need too much money anyway if all of the designs are made out of cardboard.
Weight- Again, this design will be constructed out of cardboard, and will not weigh that much.
Visual Appeal- The design is an appealing green with nice, eye-catching designs. It also comes in these color schemes: Yellow, Orange, and purple, blue, pink, and magenta-ish, and red, light green, and slightly darker green. 
Mobility- You could easily move this chair somewhere else if you wanted to.
Ease/comfort of use- This chair is the right size, and is probably comfortable to sit in. It is a bit lower than standard chairs, the legs are 12 inches high, but I think it is going to be pretty comfortable if I make it, and it will be nice to have a shortish chair like this!!!


Is it a universal design, something that everyone can use no matter, age, gender, or anything else? 
Yes. Pretty much everyone can use this chair, can sit in it, and get comfortable. But, if someone is really tall, or small and short, it might be hard for them.


Do you think that this design is the right one to build based on the specifications, if it is a universal design, and if it won't be too hard to build? 
This design is a bit big and might require a lot of cardboard to build. Other then that, it will be fun to build and easy. It is just a problem that this design could take a lot of time, and use up more cardboard then I can get. I don't think I will build this design. But, I have second thoughts because it seems really cool. Once I finish my chair, it will be awesome! I could sit on it and have other people sit on it if it is strong enough! That will be awesome!! The colors and designs on the chair are also really cool!
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This is the second to last design, a piano stool. Here is the description that I wrote on the paper. "I designed this piano stool, because our piano teacher has been saying, that the proper way to play piano and the way to sound the best is to have a high stool so that I can curve my fingers properly. This bench is not only high (well, the right height), enough, but has a compartment to store music, and a cool pattern on the front!". This design is pretty complicated to make, because, just like the Chest of Drawers, it might be hard to make the compartment.

So, what specifications does this design have? 

Size- The Piano stool is the perfect size, because, like I said, the whole reason that I built this, or hee hee, designed this, was because I wanted the right size of a stool.
Environmental Impact- This will have minimal impact on the environment because all designs will be made out of cardboard, including this one!
Production/manufacture- Since this design is also made out of cardboard, we wouldn't need too much money to buy materials and make it!
Weight- Same as before, it won't weigh too much because it is made out of cardboard!
Visual Appeal- The colors are appealing, and on the front (sorry, I don't have the front design there yet...), the blue-ish and the purple go very well with the main color, orange. I really like this color scheme and, the design, like the way the compartment is situated, I think, makes the stool look nice. It all looks very compact and nice in my opinion.
Mobility- The stool is a bit bulky I guess, since it is kinda big-ish compared to the other designs, but, I think, since it doesn't way much because it is made out of cardboard, it is pretty mobile and easy to carry and all.
Ease/comfort of use- This design is probably going to be really comfortable and easy to play the piano on since it is designed to be the right size! Also, the cushion/pillow-thingy will make it comfortable. But, the question is, where would I get the materials for that.

Is it a universal design, something that everyone can use no matter, age, gender, or anything else? 
Yes, pretty much... anyone can use it.

Do you think that this design is the right one to build based on the specifications, if it is a universal design, and if it won't be too hard to build? 
It will be kind of hard to build, just like the chest of drawers because of the compartment. Also, I might need a bit more cardboard then I could get. The pillow serves a problem too because of this question, "Where would I get the materials?" The stuffing, the outer-black cloth, and the needles and thread to sew it all together. Also, it might be kind of hard to sew it, but I do have a sewing machine. Well, maybe I don't need to include the pillow, because after all, this is just a thing that we are doing in class. Anyway, it is too hard to do it, and it will take too much time I think. Plus, securing the pillow onto the actual cardboard top will be a challenge. Overall, this design is probably too complicated for me to build in the amount of time we have, and with the materials that we are using.

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Finally, the LAST DESIGN!!! After this, you will be able to shut off your computer, and take a break from this horrible torture-post!!
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Okay, this design isn't really a design. I mean, it kinda won't be 'submitted' into the choosing of which design I should use! The reason is, it is DEFINITELY too hard to build, even though I lve this design, we already have a "cat condo" and, besides, I couldn't really build this out of cardboard.  Okay, so, here we go! I don't have the description from the paper now, sorry... but yah know... I'll get back to you later. We will skip directly to the design specs and stuff... HERE WE GO!!

So, what specifications does this design have? 

Size- It is a good size for a cat condo, but it will be way to big to build... Also, it is too big and ambitious of a project and it will take too much time.
Environmental Impact- I can't really make this out of cardboard, but if I do, yah know, it will have minimal environmental impact.
Production/manufacture- Well, since I couldn't make this out of cardboard, if I did make it at least, it would be expensive to get all the materials, the paint, the wood or what ever else I need. Plus, the pillows, blankets, and cat toys.
Weight- Well, you wouldn't really move it, but... if the wood parts to get up are on the wall, then I would need to make sure that it is not too heavy, so that the wall can support it.
Visual Appeal- The colors are appealing, and it looks nice.
Mobility- You wouldn't really move it, so I don't really need to worry about this one!

Is it a universal design, something that everyone can use no matter, age, gender, or anything else? 
Well, humans can't use it, but pretty much any cat (or small, not~too~heavy dog) who wants to go up, could go up. But, a hurt cat, or a baby that can't really jump or something, might have trouble getting up.

Do you think that this design is the right one to build based on the specifications, if it is a universal design, and if it won't be too hard to build? 
Like I said, I won't make this because it would be WAY TOO HARD, and a WAY TOO ambitious project. I mean, I bet I could do it with help from parents, a long time, and the right materials, but I don't really have any of that, except for help from parents... So, I am definitely not going to build this design!

COME BACK NEXT TIME FOR THE DESIGN ELIMINATION!!! HOPE TO SEE YAH THERE!

-Clara

Picture credits:
Thanks to Easybib.com, I can site all of the pictures I have used, correctly!
Orthographic example pic from "Graphics TG201." Course: TG 201. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.