INTERACTION TO FORM
Industrial Design, Form-Giving, Ergonomics
Fall 2024, 6 weeks
Tools: Pink Foam, Gesso
Team: Individual
The physical objects in everyday life shape our behaviors and interactions. Every form tells a story about how we should interact with them.
As industrial designers, we infuse narratives with objects we create. However, nowadays, products with saturated details are widespread, and the connection between the designer’s intent and the form’s lucidity is often lost.
In Interaction to Form, I created two distilled form that contain two motions -- ensuring that every decision I make is meaningful. As such, I preserve the beauty of interactions with perfectly sufficient details.
Result of motion
I embodied the interaction of “rocking” and “flipping” onto a clay form. Note the natural filleted edge and indent created from impact.
Primitives
I thought about how the motion translates to an ellipsoid, a cylinder, and a box.
As the interaction became constrained, I extracted the primitivity of the motion.
For the box -- an form that cannot rock or flip -- the slow rolling process renders as a dramatic drop.
Form synthesis
Light, Hard, and StaticUsing what I learned from the primitive forms, I iterated with pink foam to create a final design that embodies the motion while appearing light, hard, and static.
Anticipation
I wanted the interaction to retain a certain amount of suspense. Thus, I thought through different snapshots of the interaction, and how the form incorporated the emotions.
Similar but different
5 objects that belong together. They are similar but different.
Each looks unique and provides distinct sensations to the touch.
Each has a different feel, fit and allowance of movement.
Each communicate curiosity and anticipation throughout.
Final model
Light, Hard, and StaticA synthesized form that combines primitive qualities to convey the original motion.
The bottom chamfer lifts up the body to evoke a light feeling. In addition, the sides slightly taper inwards to further exaggerate the intent.
A triangular silhouette conveys hardness and stillness.
The top cylindrical cut is carefully angled -- ensuring that the edges created follows the overall balance.
Adding material relationships
Rubber band and woodExploring tension
I designed various sensible object that has device-like characteristics. These devices covey motions such as roll, flick, revolve, and spin.
These devices serve as abstractions of real products.
The interaction I selected is a wall mounted spinning model that resembles a camera. It is separated into a spinning square and a pivoted lock.
Prototype iterations
I explored forms of the “spinning and locking” motion. While these distilled models capture the parts of the device, they convey the function purely through form language.
The motion of spinning instinctively involves curvatures, but can the form incorporate both geometrical and organic form?
Final model
The final model captures the active state. The main body is split into three parts -- the lock, the main body, and the button.
The entire form takes a rounder shape except the button, which is intentionally kept sharp for functional contrast.
The lock’s curve weighs down, signifying the pivot of its rotation. A simple extruded cut communicates the hand placement, and the two part’s joinery is deliberately considered to show how the parts can possibly move.