5 Skills that I feel I have developed throughout the process of my IGCSE DT project:

• Analytical thinking + innovation 
• Creativity, originality + initiative
• Critical thinking + analysis
• Complex problem-solving
• Reasoning, problem-solving + ideation

The project I have made during the 2 year course of IGCSE in United World College of South East Asia is a Multi-Purpose Laptop Stand- Which I will be applying for a Patent in August after the IGCSE results come out. I can apply for one, as this has 100% originality with the use of a bell lever mechanism to operate the base platform.

My design conclusion: 

Samh Jain Resistant Materials Multi-purpose laptop stand  Materials: Teak, Aluminum, Frosted Acrylic, Black Acrylic, Polyurethane.

The solution that I designed & manufactured is aimed at the requirements of my client & solves my client’s problem of a low writing desk, and organisation of book & stationary. The solution can hold a 13″ laptop & store various items inside. These items are used daily, therefore, the product will be used by my client daily for office work & other work. Thus, the product is used friendly & ergonomic to efficiently organise materials, & the side plates are ergonomically adjustable to switch between the positions easily. The product also fits in well with the simplistic, modern & mostly wooden surroundings of the intended environments.

THE SITUATION / BACKGROUND INFORMATION – My client is Ajay Jaiswal, who is a resident in Singapore, and works at Deutsche Bank in Singapore. My client regularly has to work at home for his office, and is generally always sitting down. My Client’s home study desk is currently very messy, with things like stationary, religious books and laptops strewn everywhere. The room, where the desk is located in the study, more of a minimalistic environment, with the main material of wood. The product can also be used on his office desk, which is much bigger; also a minimalistic environment. The wood the desk is made of is a dark, brown colour with veneer like grain lines across the wood.

THE NEED – A product of which can store a book, laptop, pens, post-it notes and other stationary. Which can also provide as a slanted stand for his laptop and a flat stand for when writing in a book, he also would like the product to have lights to illuminate the base, where laptop or books can be placed. The product should match the environment, and should be aesthetically pleasing, and scratch resistant.

THE PROBLEM– My Client’s back hurts while writing in a diary, exercise book or on his laptop due to the desk being very low for his height. His books, cards, stationary and other various items also have no space to be organised into. The desk is also very old, and is a dull, unfinished colour, causing an aesthetic displeasing.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE PROBLEM – Having such a low home desk causes my client to sometime have back problems such as a stiff back, this can cause slower writing and typing as a consequence of having such a low flat desk. The desk is also small, and quite old causing a huge disorganisation factor, the drawers are filled with stationary and cards causing a huge mess. My client sometimes is not able to find items in the drawers, as items are strewn everywhere.

Throughout the process of planning, I envisioned the product in my head. Constantly thought about it and imagined how it would end up looking like. There was an intricate amount of time and effort put into the planning and making of prototypes. From the start, however, I knew around what my prototype would look like, and how I envisioned it in my head. I first went on to websites like amazon- to search for possible existing products. However, none of them met my design brief. I did a full analysis of multiple products, listing out the positives and negatives. I then proceeded to draw 4 different prototypes that fit most of the design brief points- however, I was still fixated with the one prototype, the drawing can be seen on the left. I also then went on to analyze & evaluate all 5 of my prototypes, score them and see whether they fit my design brief.

Criterion 3 in the major project

This stage is criterion 4 in the major project

This is the innovation & prototyping stage. For my complex product, this was a key stage in developing the mechanism, forming prototypes, and thinking of small changes that could be made to attempt and strive to improve the final product.

In this Criterion, I used skills in the fields of researching, prototyping, evaluation + testing, creativity, problem-solving, design thinking, flexibility/adaptability.

During this stage, I produced multiple prototypes from corrugated cardboard, and put painstaking hours into figuring out how the side flaps would be able to hold a flat position, and pivot a full 90. Through lots of thinking, problem-solving, researching and talking with experienced designers, I came upon the bell lever/bell crank mechanism. Figuring out the exact dimensions took lots and lots of time. Hours into producing working models of the bell lever to figure out correct dimensions, and ensure that the lever extends far enough to support the side flaps.

Many problems arose with this idea of using a bell lever, how to operate the lever, using a separate handle, where to place, whether to recess it or not, whether it can be guaranteed and put in place properly, whether it would be able to even support the side flaps and retract completely.

This took a lot of time to think, plan out, and figure out.

Criterion 5 of the Major project

During this stage, I input my design into Autodesk’s Fusion 360 application. This utilised the skill of computer-aided research and manufacture (CAD/CAM) This allowed me to carefully & intricately build my project online, and allow. This stage of the Design Thinking Process is where we need to communicate the parts, assembly, and technical details using the correct type of drawing of the provisionary proposal. The type of drawings selected here is crucial for a third-party in all design and engineering fields to be able to interpret the details in order to produce your product.

Building the design in Fusion 360, took some time, nevertheless, this proved highly effective as this could be used to see this project virtually in real dimensions, from all angles. In Fusion 360 you can turn your product 360 degrees both ways.  From building this design on Fusion CAD, it was straightforward to create an exploded view and write a full provisional cutting list along with dimensions for the bell lever mechanism. 

Construction using Fusion 360 allowed me to see through the product, showing construction and thread lines as well. This enabled me to easily see where everything is placed, the joints, hinges, and locations of certain parts.

Exploded view of the product, where I could then take this, and point out every part of the product, with it’s dimensions and material. This will help to identify all the parts & dimensions during assembly.

Doing this allowed me to sort production into 6 specific component stages, this will help in the assembly of the product in Criterion 6.

Orthographic views for easy view and assembly can be created effortlessly using Fusion 360’s drawing tool.

 Provisional cutting list, and exploded view

This phase is portrayed in Criterion 6 in the major project. This is where the practical work occurs, during this phase, I spent lots of hours in the workshop in order to safely, carefully, and precisely produce a high-quality intricately crafted product.

During this phase, I used skills such as problem-solving, design thinking, quality assurance, flexibility/adaptability, safetiness, resilience (even when/if things went wrong), creativity to develop while producing. 

Below, you can view a sample of workshop processes I carried out within my production- however, you can see my full major project criterion 6, with a detailed explanation of all processes carried out within the production.

After production processes, within criterion 6 I created 4 pages of pictures (page 30-33)

This included Pictures of the final product (in a white background, in it’s intended environment 1 {home office}, in it’s intended environment 2 {client’s office}, and a mix of the best quality photos. Below is a sample of some of the finished pictures.

This is criterion 7 in the Major project

During this phase, it was time to formally present my product, evaluation of the product in it’s intended environments, test the product against specifications, receive client evaluation upon the product, write my own reflection and explore ideas for improving the product even further if I was to make it again (future developments and propositions), which I could definitely do.

Product on display in the UWC East campus

An example of 1 of the testing and evaluation tables in criterion 7

Future developments and propositions using Autodesk’s FUSION 360 (CAD)

I completed various other projects alongside my major project over the last 2 years, a few of them I regularly use in my household. I put this at the back of my project, to show that I am passionate towards design & technology, enjoyed the process, and learned a lot even though unfortunately, I am not doing design & technology in IB.