Developing a design for a sign holder

Iterative design development

This design exercise will develop your iterative designing capability.

Iterative design development is the process of analysing, evaluating and modifying designs, then repeating the process until a suitable design is found.

You will start with a hazy idea for a sign and sign holder and develop the idea into a clear and detailed design.

Click on the screenshot above to view the "Sign Holder" animation by Laszlo Lipot

An image showing the Flash animation logo is a link to a Flash animation.

Flash animations are embedded into the pages of all my D&T Modules but there are pictorial links to the animations on this web site so that devices that cannot play Flash animations will at least show a jpeg screenshot of the animation.

If your PC or personal digital assistant (PDA) can play Flash animations you may click on an image showing the Flash animation logo to view the animation in a new window.
(Your browser may require you to click "Allow Blocked Content" to view the animation). See info about viewing Flash animations.

Design Development

An idea for a sign and sign holder is illustrated above.

The design is still only a "hazy impression" of what could be because there are lots of things about the design that are still uncertain, e.g.

the size of the sign
the size of the holder
how the holder will be made
which materials could be used to make the sign and the sign holder
how parts of the sign holder could be fixed together
whether the sign holder will be fixed to a wall, hung from the ceiling, stood on the floor or a piece of furniture, etc
how the sign and sign holder will be finished
the features that will make it safe to use
the features that will ensure that it will be robust enough for constant use.

These are some of the questions that need to be answered. There will be others.

What you have to do

Draw the design of the sign and sign holder shown in the animation above.

Develop the design so that all problems are solved and you have a design that could be made. Use notes and sketches to record your ideas as they develop. Your modified design must have sufficient detail and information on it for someone to be able to make the sign and sign holder without needing extra information from you.

Your final design must be drawn to scale using orthographic projection.

Design development directory

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