InSink
Prototyping | Product Design | Project Management
Overview: This project was through a course at UT Austin taught on site at the argodesign studio in Austin, Texas. Our group was assigned the Earth as an element to use for the foundation to build our project off of.
Introduction
Purpose: The goal of the project was to learn how to ideate and iterate a physical product using one of the 4 classical elements.
Task: Draw inspiration from nature, particularly the four classical elements, and transform it into a real-world design solution.
Role & Duration: Project Manager and Strategist (Fall 2022)
Initial Planning
Our group started by deciding on how we were going to interpret our element. We began the course with an activation activity where each team used food products to create an edible diorama centered around our element. This activity helped us to understand our element at a deeper level, which motivated us to think outside the box when ideating for our product.
We decided that we wanted to incorporate wood into our product, as we felt it represented our element and tied into our vision. This eventually led us to focus on modern outdoor furniture inspired by Japanese gardens. We created a corn patch as well as a mind map to further inspire the development of our ideas.
Once we had a general idea of what we wanted our product to be centered around, we started to work on identifying our target market. This was developed more once we created our user persona, where we used the creative freedom that Kevin provided us to make our project fun and engaging.
Mind Map
Corn Patch
Narrowing Down The Idea: Concept Cards
InSink
A retractable outdoor seating space that “sinks” into the ground and doubles as a storage space
InSanity
A self sanitizing tool shed that doubles as a sustainable greenhouse by reusing water
User Persona: Meet Justin
WHO IS HE?
Justin is a 41 year old successful musician
He lives in Los Angeles, CA
Justin is married to his wife, Jessica
Justin and Jessica have 2 young kids, Silas and Phineas
They are an upper-class suburban family
PAIN POINTS
Justin wants to redesign his backyard but worries about having a lack of space for his kids to play
Justin is worried about having outdoor furniture that is visually unpleasant
Justin needs something that is easy to use and family-friendly
So, Why InSink?
Retractable
Dynamic usage of backyard space
Increases durability through lessened exposure to wind and rain
Serves as a safety measure for children
Automated
Maximizes ease of use when retracting
Eliminates the dangerous and tiring effort to use on a daily basis
Remotely controlled and can be integrated into your phone
Aesthetic
Japanese inspired “Zen” curved design
Exclusive teak wood material for maximum luxury
Installation art for improved aesthetic features
Final Prototype
We mocked up our final design using SketchUp and decided to use teak wood as it is scratch resistant, water resistant, and quite durable for outdoor climates, making it an ideal material for luxury outdoor furniture
Takeaways + Conclusion
Our group capitalized on the creative freedom that we were provided by having the Earth as our element by creating an outdoor furniture solution
InSink functioned as a way to effectively save space outdoors by retracting into the ground when it was not being used as seating
It also served as a storage space which allowed it to be a multipurpose product
One issue we came across was the potential damage of the electronic components that allowed InSink to “sink” into the ground
Initially, we saw this as a potential design flaw, but we realized that if we moved all of the electrical components into an indoor area, we could make everything remotely controlled
This helped turn our design flaw into something advantageous and inspired the idea of a mobile app to control the retractable feature
This project was one of my first design projects and was not as in depth as some of my other projects, but it was a great stepping stone in learning about integrated design
