Design for all – Sviat
Design for All is a Unit in the Year 11 design class with a very simple premise – anyone can do design. Our task was to approach children in the Year 1 class and ask if they could draw something that we could then make. For me, that student was Agasthya, who drew a colorful sports car. His idea was overall pretty simple, although simultaneously left enough room for creativity where I was able to improve and add functionality to the design. His fantastic idea made me inspired to make a toy that he would truly enjoy and appreciate.
However for the car to come true, I still needed to make some adjustments to his design. Considering Agasthya’s enjoyment of cars, I decided to model the car after a very famous Porsche 911. Despite that, I also wanted to maintain the overall spirit of his idea and preserve many of the elements he drew, which is why I adjusted some aspects of the original Porsche 911 design which my sketches captured.
Wanting to make the car feel like a real toy, I decided to create a digital 3D model and later print it using the school’s 3D printer. This required me to learn some aspects of 3D modeling to create my design. However, soon enough the constraints of time became apparent, leaving me with no time to fully learn everything there is to such a sophisticated skill. Therefore I decided to take an existing 3D model and make some adjustments to it to fit with mine and Agasthya’s idea. It is important to mention that in pursuit of this, I went through a trial and error process as I wanted to test out different models and in the end create a successful product. This resulted in the following 3D model ready to be printed.
After the model was printed, the next step was to assemble and paint the car. This was quite a time-consuming process, as I had to be very delicate when painting all of the intricate pieces. However, it was important when aiming to create something that would be aesthetically pleasing, and hopefully enjoyed by Agasthya.
Overall, this project was a great learning experience for me, which allowed me to acquire a lot of new knowledge and skills that will be beneficial in my future, and improve me as a learner and designer. It taught me that anyone, regardless of age or background, can have brilliant ideas and that listening to someone younger, even as we grow older, can lead to truly remarkable outcomes.
