ELA Addative Seating 🪑
Furniture Design
2.5 weeksGroup Research // Individual Design
Project Overview
My Goals...Based on the needs of users, create a product that not only provides more comfortable seating but that also takes into consideration storage, cost, and aesthetics.
Research Findings
Key issues and insights...1. Commonly used studio stools cause neck and back pain, general fatigue, and encourage poor posture.
3. Any additional seating must be easily stored.
2. The height, footrest, and general stability of the stools are good
3. Any additional seating must be easily stored.
Process
I worked from sketches to paper prototypes to find solutions that met my research findings. The solution needed to be easily integrated into the existing infrastructure as well as comfortable.
I focused on developing a single sheet flat-pack design that used snaps and folds for structure. As I got closer to my final concept, I increased my fidelity levels and the started building full-scale prototypes. To validate my final design, I built a physical prototype and tested it with my classmates.
Basics
What is ELA...
Utilizing existing infrastructure for structural support, allows ELA to have a thin flat pack design for shipping and storage. This drives down cost while also allowing stools to be reused rather than thrown out.
ELA Poster set
Reflection
By considering both the positive and negative opinions about studio seating, I was able to design a solution that not only addressed the issues faced by the users but that also retained the positive aspects of the original infrastructure. This made the solution cost efficient for facilities as well as avoided a solution that would require large quantities of existing seating to be thrown away.