3 Buttons
Push button.
2024, product, affordance, laser cutting, cad, cnc
This project centred around designing for affordance. We were tasked with creating three buttons - such as push, pull, slide, or rotate - that featured strong signifiers and intuitive affordance, all while adhering to a chosen theme.
I like simple and designed so.
I like simple and designed so.
outcome
my 3 buttons
My theme was cuboids and in line with my drive for simplicity, I went for a rustic aesthetic for my final product. I cast the concrete myself and utilised CNC to prioritise precision in each of my 3 buttons.
Perspective view of all 3 buttons.
Rotate.
Push.
-min.jpg)
Slide.
Syntactic Analysis.
Pragmatic Analysis.
closing thoughts
All in all, I loved the the rigour in this project. It was a constant struggle between doing what I wanted vs what was possible at that point in time.
I learned a lot and exposed myself to many new things like CNC and concrete casting. Great takeaways.
I learned a lot and exposed myself to many new things like CNC and concrete casting. Great takeaways.
process
key challenge
I chose "cuboids" after weeks of prototyping and exploration. To further challenge myself, I forced myself to keep the dimensions of the 3 cuboids the same while deliberately designing different part lines and orientations to signify different actions.
How might I signify different affordances through different part lines and orientations of 3 otherwise identical cuboids?
How might I signify different affordances through different part lines and orientations of 3 otherwise identical cuboids?
cadding and physical prototyping
Nothing beats physical prototyping still. Doing the physical prototype helped me iterate more fruitfully. I used materials like blue foam and MDF boards to create my prototypes.
A laser cutter was used to aid in the prototyping process.
A laser cutter was used to aid in the prototyping process.