Development
This section of my portfolio will demonstrate areas that I have developed over time during this module. Some of these processes have determined and shaped the outcome of my final product and have been crucial factors that have contributed to the development of my work.
Questionnaire
As part of my research and development I decided to put together a quick questionnaire asking people which design or concept they preferred. I tried to ask an array of people from different age groups and sexes. Below are the results.
The designs that I asked people to compare can be seen below. Design A which has been made out of balsa wood, and design B which has been modeled using foam board.
Design A
Design B
One of the people that I asked was Reverend Martin Poole (pictured to the left) he belongs to St Luke's church in Brighton which is a Church of England congregation.
He gave me some really good feedback and said that he preferred the wooden concept or Design A because it seems much more practical for the congregation and the activities that go on within it. He said...
"We have a playgroup in the mornings and in the afternoon we have to re-arrange the chairs for the evening service often it can be a bit of a nightmare. The chairs we use really need to be light and practical, at the moment the chairs we have are not really easy to move about because they link together at the legs"
He also told me that there is only two or three of them that tend to move the chairs around so really Design B would not be appropriate because it would take too long to disassemble and put together for a whole congregation.
I found Rev Pooles feedback most useful because not only did he belong to the church in which I was designing the chair for but also he had experiences the needs that were identified within the brief. It reinstate how important all of the needs were and how they needed to be addressed.
Even though Design A needs more developing it helped me to decide that it was a good idea to put forward.
He gave me some really good feedback and said that he preferred the wooden concept or Design A because it seems much more practical for the congregation and the activities that go on within it. He said...
"We have a playgroup in the mornings and in the afternoon we have to re-arrange the chairs for the evening service often it can be a bit of a nightmare. The chairs we use really need to be light and practical, at the moment the chairs we have are not really easy to move about because they link together at the legs"
He also told me that there is only two or three of them that tend to move the chairs around so really Design B would not be appropriate because it would take too long to disassemble and put together for a whole congregation.
I found Rev Pooles feedback most useful because not only did he belong to the church in which I was designing the chair for but also he had experiences the needs that were identified within the brief. It reinstate how important all of the needs were and how they needed to be addressed.
Even though Design A needs more developing it helped me to decide that it was a good idea to put forward.
Mechanisms
The back part of my design needs to have some sort of mechanism or component so that when the inner section lifts up to create the back of the chair it does not then full or break from the weight of the person.
Therefore I have tried to sketch a few ideas of how I can get round this. Below are some sketches showing my initial ideas.
Therefore I have tried to sketch a few ideas of how I can get round this. Below are some sketches showing my initial ideas.
The first idea is merely drilling some holes and using dowel to support the chair.
First of all there will need to be four holes in the same place. Two going through the chair legs and two going though the inner section of the chair.
The dowel will go through the hole of the chair legs and through a hole in the inner section which in turn will support it.
When the chair is folded down the dowel will be in the bottom holes so that they are not lost.
These holes could be at the back of the chair so that they can not be seen and potential ruin the look and feel of the design.
This idea again uses dowel and holes but this time they can be adjustable and the dowel is put on a chain or a piece of string so that when it is not folded it can just hang by the sides. This insures that the piece of dowel do not get lost.
This idea is very similar to how crutches work. In the inner leg there will be a few holes to adjust the height of the back part of the chair. You can then press a button which would allow you to adjust the height.
Later on I decided to go with the first idea. As you can see the images display this concept.
Sequence of making
Although I did not stick to a sequence of making during the manufacturing of my working model I felt that it would be a good idea to include one within my portfolio to illustrate the processes in which I would have taken.
Although I did not stick to a sequence of making during the manufacturing of my working model I felt that it would be a good idea to include one within my portfolio to illustrate the processes in which I would have taken.
- Mark out legs
- Mark out seat x2
- Cut legs
- Construct and glue legs
- Leave four legs to dry
- Cut and mark out inner chair leg for mechanism to work
- Cut out the seat
- Cut out the back piece of the chair and shape as a curve
- Mark out finger joints
- Construct finger joints
- Assemble pieces together
- Drill holes in legs and inner chair
- Sand down
- Mark out and draw crucifix
Joint choices
Although I know that joining methods are fundamentally for fixing materials together they can also be selected for aesthetics reasons. During my development stages I researched the most common joints and felt that a simple dowel joint as well as a finger joint gave a nice effect. The finger joint won in the end because I felt that it was a stronger hold and more appropriate for the job.