If you go to ice-cream shops, especially the ones like Marble-Slab and Cold Stone Cremery, observe how the hands of the people scooping out the ice-cream move. It seems painful and I think those awkward movements/postures can be improved by designing a better handle/ tool.
Now, my specialization is in Ergonomics, so I can point out what needs to be improved, where and recommend ideas to do so. i just don’t know how to go about “concepting” my ideas. I would like any design help in getting me going on this projet.
I don’t understand quite what you need.
Are you a student or design enthusiast doing an intellectual excercise? Or, are you trying to develop a new product for market?
You mention that your specialty is ergonomics, but do you want to develop the aesthetic and manufacturing details of the product, or are you searching for someone to help you with that?
Let me know and I will try to point you the right way.
Well, the idea started out as a design enthusiast’s intellectual exercise (mine) but I would like to take it to the level of product development. So, you see…
As to your second question, yes, my specialty is ergonomics, and I am searching for someone to help me develop the aesthetic and manufacturing details of the product, with the ergonomic information that I already have.
So,now, please shed all the light you can, in the right direction.
Do you want to do it all yourself? You could always knock something up and go speak to a contractor who sometimes have crude internal ‘designers’ or CAD monkeys who could help you improve the design some more. Or go speak to a consultancy and work with them.
I helped out on such a project where an ‘invetor’ had developed a new bath lifter but wanted to bring it to market so we designed a product from taking his crazy rig as a starting point.
He got funding from the DTI which helped link the invetor/etripuer with the appriate resouces to bring it to market. This happens alot in the UK. NESTA also do funding schemes to help you out.
If you want to learn how to be a designers in a day i think thats a steep help to climb. I would say if you do want to get crack to get down in your shed and start making lots and lots of working prototypes it ala dyson/edison way. You will learn a lot this way.
I suggest you call Alex Lee and the folks at OXO. If you can get them interested, I think you might have a shot at the big time. They introduce something in the neighborhood of 90-95 new products a year. I for one, would rather have a piece of their pie, than a few crumbs I could scare up on my own.
paper and a pencil would be a start