Assembly Required
This project was completed in a team of 4 as the Final Year Engineering Project at the University of Waterloo. It won the award for "Best Entrepreneurial Project" out of all the other projects in the program.
Design Problem
Many people, specifically students or young professionals, have trouble moving furniture. A good desk is imperative for students, but is one of the most difficult items to move.
INITIAL OBJECTIVES
- Desk functions as a well-designed, ergonomic workspace
- Desk requires no tools to assemble/disassemble
- Desk collapses into a manageable and moveable system
- All parts of system must fit in an average size car/vehicle
- Desk is durable, affordable and aesthetically pleasing
USER SURVEY
A survey was conducted to learn about the users and determine their needs.
COMPEtitive Analysis
Competitive analysis was performed to understand the existing product landscape of furniture built for easy moving.
Brainstorming
The team had a brainstorming session involving sketching independently, sharing ideas and sketching more. The top 6 brainstormed ideas were built into cardstock models as a method of communication and spatial analysis.
Low- Fidelity prototype
A decision matrix was used to choose the best designed legs, desktop and drawers. The winning design was prototyped life-size in cardboard.
Usability Testing - Round 1
User testing was performed on the cardboard prototype to assess visual and physical reactions.
The users scored the desk higher once they began using it. This is positive, however the desk must look like it satisfies a users needs to encourage sales. Note that performing visual testing with a cardboard prototype is valuable for dimensions, but not aesthetics.
CAD MODELING
The CAD model created included all design changes from the first round of user testing. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was performed to verify strength.
High-Fidelity PROTOTYPE
A material analysis determined the materials that would be ideal in the final product. A high-fidelity prototype was built with these materials.
Usability testing - round 2
User testing was performed on the wooden high-fidelity prototype to assess visual and physical reactions.
The users rated the high-fidelity prototype much higher in both the visual and physical assessment. The biggest issue in this round of user testing was unsteady legs, which were therefore redesigned.
final Design
New legs were designed and built to solve the issues found in usability testing. A stain and drawer handles were chosen as finished touches to produce the final desk.
