Through my PDI studio, product design and innovation, I worked with a teammate to design the "Children's Kitchen Series". This project followed a unique design process. We were given a variety of parameters that guided us to creating a design series specifically for children. Taking inspiration from the designer Ron Arad, we concluded he loves exposed, shiny, silver metal and has no regard for cost. He works with curves in a unique way, trying to make each object appear as if it has a single, interesting, continuous flow. He uses bold block sections of, often primary, colors. These were some of the key stylistic and characteristic takeaways we made sure to keep in mind while brainstorming our design project. As we began to brainstorm, we had to identify who the user would be and keep in mind our given problem statement: "make me want to make breakfast." We had to incorporate the stylistic design elements and features of Arad while designing for a very specific user group. Through research, problem definition, and ideation, we decided to reframe and refine our problem statement to, “How can we make cooking more accessible, clean, and fun so that children and their parents want to make breakfast together?”

With continued brainstorming and concept selection, we decided to move forward with a compost bin, mixing bowls, and a step stool. All objects would be made of a shiny metal with large color accents in gloss paint to match Arad’s aesthetic and help unify the series. Each object would be fun and engaging to attract children to use them and assist in making breakfast! Through prototyping and building we were able to perform user testing with the products and receive useful feedback. At this point in our project, COVID-19 had shut down the world and neither of us were able to go back to campus and work on the prototypes/builds. So, we adapted and put our CAD and rendering knowledge to the test to continue developing this project. We transitioned to making CAD models, in Rhino, of the prototypes and completed user testing once again to make iterations based on the feedback. Bringing the models into Unreal brought the products to life by applying materials and creating a light room to take beauty shots. 

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To learn more about this project and the design process, click on the PDF icon above to view the design report.