Final Deliverable 

This slide deck details the final products that were designed for GUS Modern over the course of an 8 week internship. The process began with extensive research and development, looking at competition, trends and current themes. From there it moved to sketching and ideation phases, which translated directly into the development of a design. The project then moved into product refinement and detailing, looking at the feasibility of the designs and how they could be simplified. From there I moved into refinement of connection points and joinery, looking at the production and technical details of the final products.

Process

This internship consisted of one major project that was assigned to the interns to create a complete dining set from start to finish. This project was done alone, with subtle influence and comments on a weekly basis from the placement partners ensuring we were on the right track. 

Firstly, the project foundation was set on extensive research into the industry. Through this, I explored various companies, trends and catalogs, looking for reoccurring patterns in current products. This research set a great starting block for my designs, taking inspiration of colour, shapes, joints and general styles. 

Using this research, I moved into ideations and sketching. This process consisted of ideating product sets based on the research we had completed. This meant using trending colours, shapes and forms in our designs that were explored in the research. This back and forth process ensured that the products would be trendy and on mark with what Gus is doing. 

Moving forward, we decided on a specific design direction with unique characteristics. Modelling these designs in Rhino3D is where these forms really came to life and could be manipulated to create the best product possible. This process followed general guidelines put out by GUS pertaining to overall dimensions of products. 

From here, the process turned to weeks of refinement and redesigning to make the products as strong as possible while being easy to package and produce. Another main factor in this process was factoring in the price of production and the materials being used. 

Finally, the final stages were looking at how all these components would be tied together. This consisted of research into connection methods that are currently being used in other products. This process ensured that the designs could be assembled with off the shelf joinery systems so they could be mass produced. 

All three of these competencies played key roles in my success at GUS modern during this internship. 

Firstly, the role required me to be very professional and conduct myself as such. This is because I was working with experienced professionals in the design industry and wanted to make a lasting impression so that I could use my team as a reference for another internship or job opportunity. 

Secondly, my design process played a key role in this project. This deliverable was an 9 week project in which I went through an intense and meticulous design process to end up with the right solution. This required my to use a range of skills and processes to ensure my design would be adequate for the company. 

Thirdly, throughout this project many of the weeks were spent defining, changing and optimizing the products to make them the cost effective, sturdy and on trend. This was an extensive process that required me to be constantly re evaluating my design in order to meet the standards of GUS as well as industry standards.