Contents

VEssels: - Introduction - Ideation - Permutations - Iterations - Focused models - Final Model

Vessel Stand: - Introduction - Ideation - scale Permutations - iterations - Final Model

Introduction

Objectives:

The objective of this assignment will be to design a pair of vessels to hold fragrances. The design direction will focus on the relationship between the contents of each vessel. It is important to consider the history of perfume and cologne; why it exists and how they are used. It is important to consider the "flavor" of the scent it self. Form, human interaction, tactility, and scale should all be considered.

Material Constraints:

Models will be developed in 3D using blue foam techniques. the final models will be hard models in Renshape, poplar, and aluminum. The final model must be moldable utilizing standard aluminum sand casting methods.

Ideationideation began by choosing three unconventional attributes to use as a design intent for the vessels. I chose athletic, pompous, and swelter as my attributes. I researched what visually communicated each of these, and created inspirational art boards with images that helped represent each. The image boards arepopulated with images that do not pertain to a preexisting fragrense vessel such as cologne or perfume.

Swelter:to suffer from opressive heat

pompous:characterized by an ostentatious display of dignity or importance

Athletic:Physically active and strong. good at athletics or sports

Athletic

Athletic:

Definitions

Physically active and strong. good at athletics or sports

of, like, or befitting an athlete

of or relating to athletes; involving the use of physical skills or capabilities , as strength, agility, or stamina

Acronyms:

- active - Energetic - muscular - Powerful - robust - strong - vigorous

Design intent:

My design intent is to visually communicate the idea of athleticism through my pair of fragrence vessels. The formal qualities I derived from my inspiration boards were an upward force or motion, representing the drive that pushes athletes; reaching the peak or summit of a physically challenging task; and the element of a physical barrier.

concepts

To prompt ideas, one hundred concept sketches were the first task assigned. These concept level sketches were intended to both literally and abstractly represent my researched attributes. the inspiration image boards help ideate physcial formal qualities.

after sketching ideating thumbnails, I chose the four strongest, and proceded to develop them into concepts. these four concepts will then be realized in 3d using blue foam.

my design quickly focused on two curvilinear pieces. when together one would wrap around the top of the other. to emulate one muscle wrapping around the other. the forms of each would draw the eye through out the pieces into and upwards point, implying and upward force.

iterating

After concepting several vessels I produced various permutations for each. The permutations were made of Expanded polystyrene or "blue foam." The hot wire cutter, in conjunction with spray mounted templates formed early shapes while rasps and sandpaper finished the models.

after picking the strongest permutation I iterated it several times to refine the model. Things such as scale, proportion, and vessel iteration were considered.

The process for modeling the blue foam started with orthographic cad drawings. these orthographic views were then laser cut of bristol paper and spray mounted to the sides of the squared blue foam. these templates acted as guides to get a uniform, straight cut from the hot wire cutter. once the orthographic views were cut from the blue foam the models were hand shaped first using files and rasps, and later sand paper.

After finalizing our design in blue foam, I began to reiterate the model, first in Ren shape. this process was similar to the blue foam modeling. templates were traced onto the sides of the Ren, then cut on the band saw rather than the hot wire cutter.

ONE DIFFICULTY IN REALIZING MY DESIGN WAS PRODUCING A HAND SHAPED PIECE THAT SEATS PERFECTLY OVER ANOTHER HAND SHAPED PIECE. TO ACHEIVE THIS I USED A OVEN CURE MODELING CLAY TO PRODUCE A NEGATIVE OF THE PIECE NEEDING TO BE OVERLAPPED. THIS ALLOWED ME TO REFERENCE THE NEGATIVE SPACE I WAS TRYING TO RECREATE IN THE THE SECOND PIECE.

after iterating in renshape, I had to model my design in poplar wood to be sent to the foundry and sand cast in aluminum. The modeling process for the poplar models was similar to the process for the blue foam and ren models. first I cut and glued a board of poplar together into two blocks, the templates used to create the ren models were then traced onto the wood and it was cut on the band saw. After being cut on the band saw the wood models were hand shapen to match the previous two iterations.

issues began to arise with my first pair of wooden vessels. through incorrect hand forming one of the models did not match the previous models, consequently they did not represent my design. the pointed end became shorter and stubbier which did not coincide with my design intent of an upward motion.To correct this another block of poplar was glued together and cut on the band saw. This put me behind schedule, but yeilded a much better model.

after finishing the poplar models we sent them to a foundry to be sand cast in aluminum. Before starting our designs we attended a sand casting demo in the wentworth manufacturing lab. we were able to first hand expierience sand casting and firmiliarize ourselves with the terminology and limitations of sand casting. this allowed us to keep parting lines and draft angles in mind while creating our designs.

after taking receipt of our cast vessels it was appartent that there were many dimpples and craters in the surface to be removed. Rasps, files, and very low grit sand paper were used to remove the marks from casting. Once the casting marks were removed i progressed through through sandpaper grits until 2000 grit. once i finished sanding i used the buffing wheel and hand polished the models.

from start to I finish totaled nearly 20 hours of manual work, including buffing and polishing. It was neccisary to restart one piece from 100 grit sandpaper after it was dropped while being buffed on the buffing wheel. The drop resuleted in a large flat spot and multiple abrasions. it was neccisary to reform and sand the piece adding time to the total time of labor.

Introduction

Objectives:

The objective of the second part of this assignment was to expieriment with the structural capabilities of cardboard to create a stand for our vessels. the stand should compliment the design intent and forms of the vessels as well as display branding created specifically for the pair of vessels.

Material Constraints:

the stand can be created from no more than a 4'x8' sheet of cardboard and can feature no adhesives. The stand must hold the weight of the aluminum vessels without collapsing.

Ideationideation for the carboard vessel stands began by creating 3d "sketch models" accompanied by concept level sketches.

AFTER exploring permutations through sketching and 3d models I narrowed my design intent to a precarious piece that utilized two forms that folded each from a single piece of cardboard. The concept for the stand became two overlapping pieces that wrapped together and precariously transfered the weight of the aluminum to create visual tension.

one of the key elements became how the two pieces interacted. from one side the stand would look like one piece piercing another, while on the opposite side it apeared to be a single piece that complexly interacted with itself. similar to the interaction between my two vessels.

Branding was a big part of the stand design. To compliment my design intent of overcoming a challenge and an upward force I chose a brand name "ascent." it both literally means to ascend, but is also a pun and sounds similar to "a scent", which the vessels are designed to contain.

While developing the logo for "ascent" to compliment the design intent; an upward force. to create a clean and self contained word form i used the "a" in ascent as an arow that point upwards. my logo concept was derived from the deceptively simple One plus logo that contains itself, but easily conveys its message.