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FANGYI LIU
Industrial Design
PLAYCORE Playground Design Project
PLAYCORE, a playground designing and manufacturing company sponsored this project. During the project, we were trying to create a playing experience for parents and kids.
"When a parent and child's eye meet, something special happens."
RESEARCH - Color
Competitors' Color Analysis
- 6 to 23 mon., primary color.
- 2 to 5 yd., nature color & grey scale color.
- 5 to 12 yd., mature color, maroon, lagoon, vanilla, and etc.
Color Harmony
Yellow : Orange : Red : Violet : Blue : Green
3 : 4 : 6 : 9 : 8 : 6
Color Proportion
Dominant Color; Subdominant Color; Accent Color
RESEARCH - Children
Observation Evan & little Avett
@ Auburn Town Creek Park
Evan would love to play with his little boy Avett but he was struggling to fit in the Bubble Bee Rocker. So he always kicks the back of the rocker to help Avett play the rocker instead.
Observation @ Auburn-Opelika Korean Church
• Most of the parents are standing besides the playground and watching their children playing.
• Parents who stayed in the playground are mainly assisting their children playing rather than playing with them.
• Children love to create their own way of using the play equipment.
• Children love to seek the excitement and danger when playing.
IDEATION - Initial Conceps
Initial concepts were developed based on the research we did.
• Create playing experience for both parent and child.
• Provide the feeling of excitement playing experience.
After presentation, two directions were chosen by sponsor: Suspension Bridge Concept and AR (Augmented Reality) Concept.
IDEATIONS- Concept Development & Scale Model
Suspension Bridge Concept
From the initial one-person suspension bridge concept, I started to develop it into two-person play. A step-tread was designed to meet this need. When walking on the tread together, parents and child can have their eyes looking at each other in the same eye-level, which would enhance the emotional connection between parent and child. Based on the step-tread, different configurations of the bridge concepts were developed.
AR Concept
More research has been done for generating AR concepts, the most important point for this direction is having the AR animation merged into the playing equipment successfully. In this case, when parents sharing the animated AR play on social media, it can be a free commercial for promoting the playground.
IDEATIONS- Further Development
Solidworks Assisted Design Development
Solidworks was used to assist further concept development. Because at this stage, it is vital to make sure that everything is in the right measurements and dimensions.
The design of thread is also important. Several variations were created for seeking the most appropriate solution.
AR Testing
For the further development of the AR concept, testing is really important. Application AUGMENT was used to test the tracking pattern recognization. The final decision was made to have the tracking pattern to be merged into the graphics on the ground.
FINAL DESIGN- Manufacturing Details
FINAL DESIGN- Final Rendering & 3D Printed Model
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