This assignment was that involved with the module 'Design Management and Personal Development Planning' and was a company sponsored module.
In a group we designed an educational development product which targets 3-7 year olds.
The concept that we developed works by rolling a ball from a height then catching it at the bottom. Then the child can insert the product in the plastic tub and pull the role to allow the product to be transported to the top.
The concept develops the childrens' physical development and ability to work in a team, whilst uses natural and up-cycled material as the wood used is available and a lunchbox and rope would be used which would be up-cycled.
Below shows the concepts which we produced for the project, initially after undertaking a concept scoring process we chose to take forward concepts C,D, E and H.
However upon consideration of the context of the company and their style we decided that concepts A and H were the 2 which proved to be the most innovative, natural, creative and had the most development potential to meet the brief.
Below are the developed concepts combing concept A and H together.
After undertaking a concept screening chart, as shown below, concept AH3 proved to be the most innovative and met the brief the most so we took this forward as the final design.
How does the product work?
The product is designed at an angle so that a child can roll balls down the channels in the table from which the ball then falls to the bottom where another child can catch it.
The product would have the option to be modular as the centre of the channels can be removed on a tongue and groove system flipped around then can be filled with sand for the child to make their own paths.
Once the ball has fallen to the bottom, the child can add it to the basket and, using the rope, pull until the basket reaches the top then take the ball out and continue the cycle.
This product would aid each child's physical and emotional development and would use natural materials and upcycled products to gage their interest.
