Course syllabus

PPU101 Form and manufacturing case studies lp4 VT20 (7.5 hp)

(7,5 hp = 200h, 70 class hours=53 h, expected time for self studies 147h) 

Course is offered by the department of Industrial and Materials Science

Contact details

Examiner: Johan Heinerud, M.Sc. in Industrial Design Engineering,  heinerud@chalmers.se, 031-772 36 59, 0761-74 60 32

Course coordinator: Maral Babapour, Ph.D. Human-Technology-Design, maral@chalmers.se, 072-982 00 71

Supervisor: Ralf Rosenberg, Industrial Designer, ralf@designkonsulterna.se

Course purpose

This course focuses on the creative development of form at an advanced level from a functional and technical point of view. It provides opportunities to apply technical and functional requirements from engineering-driven courses and aims at giving the student knowledge in how different types of manufacturing techniques and materials can alternate and cross-fertilize each other in the design process. An explorative process of transformation from abstract form to a more concrete product design will offer a chance to work with visual quality, aesthetics, functionality as well as technical aspects. The course also aims to provide a deeper understanding of the connection between form intent and wording of a specific idiom.

Schedule

See the schedule provided under modules -> course info.

Course design

The course revolves around a number of case studies that brings up various aspects of the interrelationship between form, material and manufacturing techniques 

The course consists of lectures, creative exercises, practical exercises, seminars and scheduled time for reflection.

Besides the above-mentioned activities a User insights handbook and  a Material handbook(individually) is to be produced for each case study. The User insight handbook gives the student the opportunity to clearly describe user insights, and presents design recommendations for meeting users’ needs when sharing products in a given context. The Material handbook will instead focus  on describing the insights on form development process, in relation to material and manufacturing techniques. The student have to relate to form and product longevity, bringing up different aspects of visual quality, aesthetics, functionality as well as technical aspects.

 A tip is to write continuously on the paper to note when specific actions/happenings/decisions take place!

Furthermore each student is to present their work in seminars coupled with the case studies and assignments.

Learning objectives and syllabus

A. Connect possible form geometries/variants with different materials and manufacturing techniques by analysing a given product area.
B. Categorize identified form variants in groups of possible applications.
C. Interpret selected form variations with respect to the technical and functional form drivers (requirements/opportunities).
D. Develop a great variety and spread of new form design ideas and geometries for a given product area with function, manufacturing and materials technology as a base.
E. Structure the new form ideas in variation matrixes according to possible solution types.
F. Reflect on form results seen both to the overall structure and on a detailed level and iterate using appropriate methods, and by alternating between both physical and digital media to reach a desired result.
G. Describe, analyse and discuss the final results with regard to form intent, technical and functional aspects, process and choice of method.

Examination form

Grading   will   be   based   on:   

• Case study process and result, 50% of grade 
• User insights and Material handbook, 30% of grade
• Seminar presentations 20%

and will be given in accordance with the principle F, 3, 4, 5

Actively working with exercises/tasks in the classroom. Take advantage of tutoring sessions. Actively participating in seminars. Report clear results for each of the case studies in the form of visual mappings/matrixes, schematic overview of the form development, sketches and models (physical and/or digital).