Personal Development Plan 2

Luke Anthony Firth 1011091

December 2012 Not displaying correctly? If so please view online at: bit.ly/lukefirthpdp2

Involved With Since Last PDP

In Work
Developing a new product as an offshoot from an existing product. Producing technical drawings to be sent off for quotation by manufacturers. Producing assembly and installation instruction sheets for clients and manufacturers. Conducting heat tests on prototypes and returned fittings under different conditions. Presenting concepts at different stages of development during meetings with the senior designer and MD.

Over the recent weeks at Aktiva I have been involved with working on the roll out of a new fitting that was designed by one of last years placement students. Although the product has been designed and the first large batch of parts have arrived, no assembly manuals (for the assemblers at Aktiva) or installation guides (for people on site) had been drawn up and so I have been tasked with learning the product inside out as well as making up the first few sample products and recording things like difficulties or any easier ways of assembling. Along side this I have been working on developing my own design - a sister product to the one mentioned above, for desk and bookcase applications but at a lower price point with a different aesthetic. The majority of the work for this is based around developing an adequate heatsink that can be extruded with the tab ratio of (1:4) that also fits within the general form of the design as well as working on low cost / high strength fixings for desk applications. It is this that I have had the opportunity to present and receive feedback from the senior designer and the MD.

Outside Of Work
Joining the iED as a student member. Joined the ILP as a student member. 100+ Renders in Keyshot of different product ideas for portfolio projects. Number of Illustrator tutorials. Helping out with some graphic design for family members.

Due to spending so much time working in 2D with technical and line drawings dealing with more tightly controlled and restrained work, anything that is undertaken outside of work often takes the form of more visually stimulating aesthetic designs in order to maintain a balance. Along with recently purchasing the student version of the rendering program Keyshot 3 this has caused me to go back through a number of my old projects and create a selection of images of each one, quickly trying different components in different materials and seeing them new once again. Coupling this with the skills gradually being learnt through the Illustrator tutorials Ive been able to finally be prepared to start to create concept boards of the more professional standard I hope to achieve.

Goals From PDP 1 Results So Far

How far have I come towards reaching my goals? What do I do next in order to progress?

Goals

Next Steps

As set in my previous PDP

Better time management.

Completion:

Not many so far, im no closer to being able to plan ahead what I want to do on a particular day, however by the start of the week usually now I have in mind what I want to get done within that week. At work most of my sketching is 2D problem solving I have deImprove my sketching veloped that kind of sketching to a level where I can present it in (Especially organic forms). meetings with people within the company with confidence, but not Completion: yet with clients. In and out of work I have started to draw up deadline dates for Learn how to manage my certain aspects of projects (complete the switching assembly for workflow. Completion: Merged with Time Management Lamp1 project by the 14th for instance). However as the work deadlines have been going so much better than those at home.

Keep up my newly formed healthy routine.

Completion:

Im not arriving to work half asleep anymore. Meaning I can properly use those first few hours productively rather than just fighting to stay focussed.

Start to use time management devices more appropriately, in short - write things down properly. Buy a diary to keep track of deadlines. Get some better tools, - mechanical pencils and paper etc so that the idea of practicing is much more palatable. A good idea might be to work in some 3D sketching at work (Product view perhaps). Same as Better Time Management really. Stop making more work for myself when theres no need. So in the spirit of that. This and the Better Time Management goal will be merged into one for the next PDP. Completed thus far. Will be relegated from table for next PDP but brought back if I fall out of it.

Form my brand and self promote.

Unfortunately very little. Ive done some logo work and a batch of project images that need processing into pages. Also found Squarespace - a possible site to base them from. Completion: Finish my side projects and start Finished one project - Lamp1, but still need to form some presentation pages of it to be able to display it. new ones.

Completion:

Get some work featured in a design blog.

Nothing yet.

Completion:

Develop the existing batch of product images into presentable pages that can be put up on my website or sent to others. Finish the presentation pages 2x A3 + 1 webshot should be plenty. Locate a wood lathe to build the proof of concept prototype. Merge with Form my brand and self promote goal as this is a hopeful side effect of that. More precisely however this goal requires liaison with editors.

Improve my Illustrator skill.

Completion:

Completed a number of illustrator tutorials Spend a number of hours a day with line drawings at work for concept review pages. Installation guides have also meant a lot of 3d drawings.

Utilise illustrator to quickly create more Concept Review pages at work. Have found it builds up properly scaled 2D concepts quickly that can be judged for plausibility easily.

Be ready and waiting to get a bespoke project if one comes in.

Completion:

Myself and Tom, were tasked with producing over 26 technical drawings to be sent for quotation by manufacturers of a new section to fit within a desk fitting for a bespoke project for Bristol university.

Due to the rarity of projects like this, its possible I may get to be in on a project at all the different particular stages separately but its very unlikely that I will take on a major bespoke project and see it through from conception to delivery.

Learn about engineering drawings so that I can better communicate with manufacturers.

Completion:

The first round of drawings produced for the project mentioned above required a large amount of retouching and editing in order to be up to standard. The process of reciting these mistakes taught me a lot about technical drawings.

Get hold of some to standards engineering drawings and try to learn the important parts such as layout. I understand there are a number of nuances with this.

Cultivate new contacts for the future.

Completion:

Made a number of contacts recently in a professional sense through Keep up with making an effort to go to social work and housemates in the form of small time manufacturers and events to do with design and talking to people. larger design consultancies as well as joining the iED.

Improve my solidworks assembly skill.

Completion:

Work - for providing hole centers to cabinet makers and installers. Home - for producing renders to help display product aesthetic ideas to others to help review.

Use the existing contacts such as metal platers to aid in development of my own lamp project.

Completion:

Start trying to get assemblies to have accurate mates by the dimensions. Start trying to model mechanisms that actually work when moved in solidworks. Hit roadblock - need a wooden lathe as using wood on metal lathe Get together a number of items that might want damages lathe (newly learnt). Learnt platers have minimum order of plating (Even if not all are related to anything in 500mm2 so cant send just the lamp parts without a surcharge. particular). See if anyone else wants to get anything plated.

Get in shape.

Doing better, feeling like I have more energy throughout the day Completion: Merged with Keep Healthy Life now rather than slumping at lunch.

Tied in with the Keep a healthy lifestyle goal, thusly this will also be relegated from this table for the next pdp. With the fitting B-line LED beginning its large roll Make changes to existing products Countersinking on a product to reduce wire stress, Clear rubber grommet to protect wires being gripped by a metal grub screw in out now, theres lots of opportunities to improve that make things better overall. Completion: another until correct size nylon grub screws can be sourced. little parts of it all the time as part of the teething process. Understand the nuances and legali- Found Docracy.com an open source website full of legal documents Start speaking with other designers who work ties associated with consultancies. and example contracts - lots for designers. Been a very informative within or have previously worked within consulCompletion: start with looking at whats included in design freelancer contracts. tancies. Brunel alumni maybe?

New Goals Added In PDP 2 Achievement Realisation

What Im going to do to achieve these goals.

New Goals

Action Plan

Reasoning and Implementation

How will I implement what Ive learnt in the future?

What do I want to achieve?

How to recognise when the goal is met?

Work on rendering - Learn more about Keyshot materials.

Create a number of new materials using the keyshot material editor for more accurate renders. Find more useful tutorials online.

When I can produce a batch of renders in a quality I feel comfortable sending to clients and putting directly in my portfolio.

(Medium Term)

Start doing some graphic design. When I have a folder of 10+ template Trawl through websites like behance

(Medium Term)

designs I have created in InDesign that for inspiration and tutorials in order to I can use as a starting point for general learn more about the trends and common styles used by graphic designers. documents.

Presentation practice.

(Short - Long Term)

This goal will be considered complete after I have given multiple prepared presentations to my peers at work confidently.

Take any opportunity to pitch any small scale presentation to both work peers and at home. Also as with the graphic design goal, produce a number of templates ready for adapting to any situation.

Learn more about thermodynamics Especially that associated with heatsinking LED lighting.

(Long Term)

Design and get some business cards printed.

(Short Term)

When I am able to accurately estimate the temperature that a fitting will reach as well as estimating the optimum mass and surface area required from a heatsink when using a specific LED board and desired temperature. When I can hand over my Business cards to potential clients and employers with the knowledge it properly represents me.

Keep looking online for tutorials that explain the formulae and processes required as well as more trial and error with settings on solidworks on thermal analysis of existing fittings to try and recreate results. Work on illustrator to design a logo that Im happy with over the Christmas break and contact printers in the new year.

In most cases prototypes and models are the best way of communicating a design, but its not always possible to do this especially with intricate designs whereas I can use renders to quickly produce a range of aesthetically correct images for critique. Using good graphic design will support my brand and improve how my work is perceived by other as a whole. Especially if I plan to do any freelance work, having this skill will help draw clients. At work its not uncommon to have a presentation crop up at short notice and being able to say that I have something that I can work from to make something up for this as well as a confident and concise approach is of great value. Being able to do this will help greatly whilst working at Aktiva, but also as a good expansion of my currently limited engineering knowledge. Hopefully this will help me learn how better to communicate with engineers. Once they are done, keep a number of them on me - especially when visiting exhibitions and shows.

Action Planning
At work: Start blending in skills learnt outside of Aktiva into work produced for them. (Render prospective products and when time allow create review pages using new illustrator techniques). Realise more that work is a much more independent place and actively search out things to do if I have nothing rather than wasting time on unimportant little tasks. Create a folder for miscellaneous tutorials related to what I have to do often at work so that I dont have to keep relying on the help of my superiors as much. At home: Properly form a brand identity with a structure under which all of the skills I am trying to learn can develop and be practiced under. Buy some tools for design to have pride in and enjoy using to encourage the idea of design as a real interest and not just work. Rest and enjoy the Christmas break before returning to work again.

Notes Since PDP 1

One thing I had massively underestimated is the degree of flexibility that a designer working in a small company has to have. Often going from a day or so of very little to do to all of a sudden a number of very different tasks from testing to technical draws of another design to development of yet another all at once and this is something I aim to use the Christmas break to think about approaching in a different way. I have discovered that one of the biggest challenges I have to overcome is a lack of structure into which to focus any efforts and so my goals in this PDP have been mainly focusing on working less, but more efficiently. At work now, most jobs are based around development finishing up designs created last year by previous students on placement. So most of my work until February - March time will be focused on these, after that however I will be mainly concerned with trying to develop my own project to hopefully be produced before I leave in late summer.

LUKE ANTHONY FIRTH

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Business Card Design Concept

Keyshot Render For Work

Thermal Analysis Work For Projects

Thank you