There are many projects I have worked on over the years, many of which relate to either the watch, military or space industry. The importance of effective innovation design and research & development can be seen from the products people use like smartphones to rockets that can send rovers into space.
Above is a quick sketch of my concept, the 'Watchlight' which is a wristwatch powered by solar energy which is stored in a battery; solar energy is received by the dial or 'face' of the watch which then is converted into energy that is stored in the watch's battery, powering LED lights which can be activated through turning and pushing the crown. Since LED is a energy-efficient and long-life light source, the choice was the best for my concept since other light sources such as fluorescent and incandescent bulbs were not natural enough nor as long-lasting.
This article will briefly educate you on the first steps to effective design. If you are looking to design products, services, or systems relating to space living, travel or business etc. this will help you take the first steps into designing effective concepts.
1.
First
step is to have an intention or goal; what do you want to achieve with your concept? Do you want to make payment and exchange easier for consumers? Make space suits less cumbersome and space-consuming? Allow people to gather at a central location for efficient exchange of information? etc.
You have to think carefully and critically about what you want to achieve or create first before you set out to actually develop something, whether that be a product, service or system.
2.
Second
step is to find out why your goal is worth achieving; is it important to yourself or someone else? Will it be beneficial to people and/or humanity in general? Why would people want to use this? etc.
Why is your goal important? This question needs to be answered in order to allow yourself to commit to the project.
3.
Third
step is to start doing research, both primary and secondary research. A good way to start is to use Google Scholar or your university libraries and search for research relating to what you want to design. For instance, if you want to design a spacesuit, start researching zero gravity effects on the human body, ways to reduce these effects and the materials that will help with that. In addition, researching materials that protect the wearer from micro-meteoroids, particulates, gases and radiation is also highly recommended when researching on designing a spacesuit. You will need to do more than this but these are just examples of what to look for.
When designing a product concept, key areas of research relate to past studies done on that category of product, e.g. how people have used it and what previous faults it had which can be improved, materials research is also vital to help give you an idea on what you product will be made from, new technologies which can be incorporated into your concept like artificial intelligence, holography, biotechnologies etc.
When designing a service concept, key areas of research relate to past studies done on human behaviours, emotions and thinking, e.g. how people have acted towards this thing or why people hate or love this thing and design a concept that people will use and love, new ways of management can be explored and studied to allow you to make the service more efficient for users and make it appealing and enjoyable to use etc.
A system can be a combination of the two, therefore look into all the above areas and topics and more to make sure your system concept can be as efficient as possible.
4.
Next
, you will need to start brainstorming. Use mind maps, flowcharts and cue notes to start writing down random ideas from your mind, by flushing out ideas from your head and onto a page, you can piece together different ideas to help develop your design.
5.
Now
start drawing concept sketches, do simple rough drawings of what your product or service could look like and do it all over your page until you have at least 10 different concept sketches on your page. Make sure these 10 ideas are not too similar and have their own unique traits, also annotate and label the parts and functionality of these sketches so others know what you have drawn. After you have at least 30 different concepts, start selecting the good ones and eliminate the bad ones until you are left with 4 or less concepts.
6.
Create
functional mock-up prototypes of your chosen concepts, these prototypes should be quick, simple to make and cost little to nothing for the materials. Even getting random objects and sticking them together to look and work like your concept counts as a prototype, you will now roughly understand the form and functionality of your concept.
7.
Evaluate
your prototypes, show it to a friend or family member and get their opinions and feedback on how your concept works and what it's designed for. Once you have done that, take the negative feedback and use it to make a better prototype with better materials and more complexity.
8.
Resume
your concept drawings and start drawing refined and more detailed sketches of your chosen 4 prototype concepts. Use colour if needed to give contrast and detail, especially if your concept will have lighting capabilities or uses special materials. Again, label and annotate your drawings and even colours to let other people know what you have drawn.
9.
Start
working on final presentation drawings and renderings of your product or service. Use neat lines, shadows and shading to illustrate your concept to others in an easy to understand format, with minimal text and emphasis on your drawings and concept features.
10.
Finalise
a more realistic functional prototype of your concept to show others, make a slideshow presentation to go along with that and then showcase it along with your drawings to those who are interested. Make sure that you rehearse your presentation before actually presenting in front of a group, even in a digital conference, a well-practiced presentation is vital to gaining the trust of those who want to invest or support your concepts and ideas.
These are the first steps to creating and designing your concepts effectively. If you want to contribute to Asgardia's development in the best way then it is advised that you follow the steps I have shown. Of course, these steps are merely fundamental ideas in the practice of innovative thinking and design, thus, no advanced processes are shown here.
Working in groups and using this process allows for faster development of projects and concepts, each group member can be assigned a role and leaders can elect project managers to help keep everyone set on their goals towards the completion of the project. In addition, the ideas of all group members must be expressed and cannot be shouted down, but rather discussed openly to create new ideas, and build a sense of equality among all members of the group.
Research and design is my area of expertise, my Global Point Average scores of 4.0 for my university research and innovation design subjects consolidate my knowledge in this area of design processes.
We need to get more people taking action to contribute their knowledge and skills to Asgardia's development, only then will we truly be united as one humanity in one unity. I hope others can use resources and tutorials from my Asgardia Education Initiative to learn and help them contribute to Asgardia.
Cognitio et innovatio do nos potentia
Steven "Edrick" Wang.
BA
- Innovation and Design;
ELECTIVES
- International Politics (2017), Business Law (2018), Business Information Systems (2018), Integrated Marketing Communication (2018).
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.
