Material

I contacted Kronospan directly to tell them about this project, and to request some samples for prototyping, they arrived a couple of days ago so I now have a fair idea of which wood panels i want to use. Model making will begin tomorrow!

Kronospan Concept

As part of my research for this brief, I spent a lot of time looking into how people actually learn. I found there are a few different methods, one of which is the holistic method.
Holistic learning is all about the way your brain accesses and stores information. Most people nowadays own a computer, which will keep all of their files and documents neatly stored in different folders, so that when needed, they can be easily found. This is not how your brain works, instead of separating subjects into folders, everything is woven together so that each subject is linked and memory’s spread through different areas of your brain. For this reason, I decided to base my concept around helping students remember and link their work in a way that comes natural to them.

Above are a few initial sketches of how my concept could look. The desk will have a clear screen over the top with just enough space underneath for students to place their notes/working/example papers etc. Once their work is under the screen, students will work on their desk as usual, with everything in plane sight. Each desk will come with marker pens which can be used to highlight and link up important information from under the screen. The concept is that the students will be able to work on top of a desk sized mind-map, helping them to follow example problems, check their notes and develop their own system of learning which suits them best.

Remember these are initial sketches and there is a lot of development in the design still to come!

Idea Generation

After receiving the brief from D&AD I began to fill my sketch book with 100 ideas! 100 concepts might seem a bit much, but it helps to cover all areas of the design and each different insight.

This is a small selection of my initial sketches.

Kronospan Brief

I’ve been given the task of designing a working table, surface, desk or tablet-like scenario for young students aged between seven and seventeen years old.
The brief involves addressing contemporary issues, such as new 21st century ways of learning and teaching and ethically intelligent design. Comfort and style are very important, while making sure that the design is commercially viable as the target audiences are; education authorities, schools, students and parents.
While this is a relatively open brief, the final product must incorporate a minimum of 80% Kronospan wood based materials.