Computer controlled cutting
Design and produce a laser cutting file for A 2D or 3D everyday object that would fit in your bag
- Your laser-cut file must fit on a 150mm x 300mm size sheet of material
- You must specify one of the following materials/ size limitations:
- MDF/ 150 x 300 x 3mm
- Acrylic/ 125 x 250 x 2.8mm
- Card/ 600 x 300 x 1.1mm
- Your file must comply with the laser cutting guidelines
After I had done my brainstorming/planning, which involved the possible ideas I had in mind which I wanted to create. These were not all the possible ideas, they were just the ones I felt like I could achieve.
Next, I created a visual mood-board. I just a had quick search on Pinterest/google and pasted the images onto this page (with organisation :) )
After researching, I began on concept sketches. I focused on sketching just puzzle cubes because that was the idea I chose from my brainstorming.
I then went through some processes to develop my sketches. Not all of it was visually present. However, I did come to a stage where I could form a prototype. (below) The material I will be using is MDF/ 150 x 300 x 3mm
Finally, after combining my favourite aspects from ideation and prototypes. I drew a final design to hopefully laser cut my design. The final design is fairly complicated compared to my prototype, as it involves many puzzle pieces. Which will make creating the cube much harder. The design fits my specifications as it fits in my bag. It is also very interactive. I drew my final design on Adobe Illustrator, the process was very easy. Because I was very familiar with the software.
The design itself was not complicated, I only had to draw red lines at 0.001pt because I only needed to cut my pieces. The only trouble I had was measuring the pieces so that when laser cut, they could form a cube. If I had not done this it could result in an uneven cube.
My final presentation was produced through rendering. I was not able to laser cut my design, because the bookings were full on the day I was available. So instead, I used "Autodesk 3dsMax" and created my final design.
In my opinion, I think these turned out better than if I were to laser cut the design. Just because of the perfect lights and environment, I had full control of the scene.
Next time, I would have definitely simplified my puzzle. only because behind the scenes, it was a definite struggle to form the correct dimensions. However, making the puzzle too simple is not always interesting to the user. Next time I will definitely find the balance.
Also, next time I could look into research on the materials I am working with. In this process, I made no indication as to what materials were available and what I was going to use. So, next time I will dedicate a page to material research, to help my process.
Communication is everything.
The biggest lesson I learned from this assignment is communication.
Throughout this assignment, I feel I have undervalued the importance of communication. It can be seen on every page, there is not much visual and written communication. I have learnt designers must be able to explain their ideas, thought processes, and work clearly and convincingly. Every design element should be thoughtful, but if there is no discussion surrounding the information in every phase of the design process, projects can quickly start to deteriorate.As seen in my process, I did not explain my decisions convincingly. However, I did represent my ideas visually quite well (I feel)
You should communicate every step of the way with your team, organization, and end-users.
