LED PLANTER
We were briefed to create a functional LED herb planter that is made from ABS plastic. This planter must include a section of LED strip lights with a power cable that acts as a grow light, a curvature as well as 3 pots. Throughout this process we will be learning how to apply the design process to create an original concept and how to work with a new material.
Research
Ideation
These sketches were experimentation of different shapes and configurations of the planters. This process helped to get an idea on how I could introduce unique shapes and configurations in to a planter that had a bit more interest compared to the basic rectangular and square shapes. While I was sketching these ideas down I found it beneficial to research shapes which I could play around with.
From the experimental sketches, I came up with three different designs which I would later prototype out of cardboard. This stage was developed further by the prototyping phase as I found that many of my designs from this first stage of ideation were impractical, too large and didn't meet all the design requirements.
After the first phase of drawings, I found inspiration from unique organic shapes on Pinterest as I felt that many of my first designs were too unresolved to continue as a final prototype. the shape that inspired this planter combined with the lighting stand reminded me of a tree, the stump being the planter and the branches being the lighting stand. I found that this idea still needed some refinement to flourish as my final planter idea.
At first I was going to complete this design with the use of a circular shaped planter but through experimenting with the ABS plastic I found that it would have been vert difficult to make a perfect circle with the material. Therefore, I edited my final concept to include a teardrop shaped plater that can be taken out of the base to water and then be put back in it place, where the base acts as a drainage tray.
Development
In the first phase of prototyping, we needed to make 3 models that translates our ideas from paper into the three dimensional world. Through this process I got to understand scale, balance as well as the practicality of my designs. This stage of development I got too understand that my measurements were too big making the prototypes either too large for a kitchen setting as well as making it hard to stay in-between the size constraints of the project.
After the initial prototyping stage, we has to take our first models and improve them. This improvement was aided by a peers critiquing session. This stage helped to further understand our ideas and better refine them, therefore taking us closer to the final idea. I found that i was making the size of my pots too big which would make them heavy and inefficient in cost of soil. Additionally, I found that my angular design was too unresolved to continue into the final prototyping phase.
Manufacture
Outcome
Throughout the process of this project I found that ABS plastic was a very hard material to work with. Furthermore, I had to change my design during the making process because I realised that the idea I thought about modelling out would have been to hard. Using the methylene chloride was extremely tricky as it was a dangerous chemical and there was a few accidents. I struggled with procrastination and time management on this project, which caused me to cram most of my work into one day. But in the end I found that the result was very successful and I have been displaying it in my own kitchen.
