I have just received approval with proviso from the examination board about my D.T Product Design project idea.
My idea is this.
Coffee tables are often simply just that. They are essentially usually a poor use of space, and only really suitable for larger living rooms. My idea is to re-invent the coffeee table by implementing several combined features that will give it a new lease of life and offer a better living room solution. How will I do this?
I am considering putting a basic media centre PC into the table. This will give the coffee table a new name, acting as a central hub to all entertainment needs. It will house storage for magazines, remote controls and newspapers. It will have an "Junction", basically a set of connections for people's MP3 players and cameras. It will also have space for a Digital Set Top box, and will also house a sub woofer.
This is going to be difficult, but it is possible. I am by nature fascinated by product design. Frequently people see me eyeing up things like pens, Notepads, mice, speakers etc analysing them and thinking of ways of improvement.
What is most likely is that the table will be smaller than traditional, and be of a more solid nature. It will also hold the above items in a discreet nature.
The sub-woofer will be a convention job from Richer sounds. It will then probably be fixed inside the table in a corner, or the centre.
The PC components will be small and take up a small amount of space. This is because I will use the smaller Micro
ATX boards, and rather than fixing in components conventially they will be fixed wherever there is space. There will be one hard drive, one
PSU and one optical drive. Hence it won't take up much room.
Now, why am I posting here about this? It's going to be July 2006 until it's finished. The reason is I would like to share this as it goes along with you.
I also am required to obtain "Professional" and client input. If any of you have fabrication, furniture, or computer hardware as your profession I would love you to help me and offer advice and feedback. This is also great coming from everybody else, but I need to pay particular heed if any of this is your profession.
Hopefully soon I will have some ideas in the pipeline which I'll tell you about. I'll also keep you updated. I hope it goes well...wish me luck. And please give me any advice, tips or anything!