Project Brief

Steelcase Design Project

The first project of the Product Design Engineering MSc is sponsored by Steelcase: one of the biggest US office furniture suppliers.

The challenge is to design an office chair for the year 2035. 

One of the biggest challenges will be to futurecast the year 2035 and how people will working. This involves looking at various factors such as technology, the workplace and collaborations, and the users interactions with said factors. With the context defined the office chair will then be designed around the users environment. 

People Observations

Myself and my peers performed some people observations at the Mitchell Library cafe. This location was chosen because there are many different seating areas and types of seating, and therefore possible postures to work in. This work space was in the cafe area of a busy library and virtually every seat was taken. My insights are described below.  

Image 1

In figure 1 four people are having a meeting over lunch. What struck me was the serious expressions and body language. One of the gents wearing a suit was taking minutes! It seems like a very busy and public place to have such a formal meeting.

Image 2

Image 2 shows a gentleman reading some documents whilst having a coffee. He is sat upright but his back isn't quite touching the back rest which puts an unnecessary load on the spine.

Image 3

Image 3 shows two contrasting positions for using a laptop. The guy at the table is slouched back in what some experts suggest is the correct angle for sitting at a desk using a computer (also different to the gent in figure 2). In the background the man can be seen standing up using his laptop on one of the higher tables. This actually look like it would be quite comfortable for short periods of time and a good opportunity to change position and stretch the muscles off.

Image 4

The last image shows another seating position for using a laptop. This guy is sat on quite a high stool with his laptop on the high worktable. He kept looking outside, possibly wishing he was somewhere else. Or maybe he is just distracted by what is going on outside.

Persona & Day in the Life Scenarios

I created a persona who would live in the year 2035 so that I could start to imagine how people would work and live in the future. Using the research that I have done so far I have started to form my own vision of the future, the technology will be available and how people will work and interact with the work place. 

Persona Profile 

Name: Martin
Age: 35
Profession: Businessman for a world class IT company
Qualification: MA in Business Studies and Economics at the University of Edinburgh
Marital status: Married
Children: One son aged five
Location: Outskirts of West London

A Day in the Life of Martin

After creating my persona I started to plan a normal day of his life using the insights I have gained from my research and futurecasting.  

[06:00] Martin wakes up and has a shower [standing]. Whilst in the bathroom he listens to some rock music through the home entertainment system.

[06:30] As he eats breakfast [seated] at his breakfast bar, Martin checks his emails and voice messages and is reminded of his schedule and appointments for the day. This is all communicated to him verbally by his home computer system.

When his wife joins him in the kitchen he has a summary of his emails and schedule sent to his e-paper tablet.

[07:00] Martin leaves the house and commutes to work in his driverless car; the journey takes 1 hour. 

[Seated] He prepares for a meeting by reading through a contract on his e-paper tablet using a combination of voice and touch screen control. 

[08:00] Martin arrives at the company HQ. He instructs his car to park in his private parking space in a multi-storey car park using his tablet to control the vehicles integrated satnav. 

He walks into the building and catches up with colleagues whilst making a coffee. He uses the large display on his smartphone to show colleagues a video of his son kicking a football for the first time.

[08:25] Martin decides to work in a quiet zone to prepare for this afternoons virtual meeting.

He uses a large ultra thin touch screen monitor/computer with an e-paper keyboard rather than voice control in this work area. Martin likes to alternate his body orientation between sitting down and stranding up, he adjusts the height of his desk accordingly.

[12.20] Martin and two colleagues go to a cafe for lunch. The cafe is close to the office so they walk. They discuss the news and football results over lunch. 

[13:00] Martin walks back to the office and heads to a private video conference room.

[13:10] Martin arranges the videos of meeting members, documents, graphs etc on a large display which can be moved in 4 DOF. 

The meeting takes 2 hours and Martin changes his orientation from sitting upright, standing and sitting back. He controls the screen by using a combination of voice, motion and touch depending on his orientation.

[16.30] Martin leaves the office and recalls his driverless vehicle using his phone and finishes some work during the commute home.

[17:30] Martin arrives home and changes into some more comfortable clothes. 

[17:45] Martin eats dinner with his wife whilst their son plays games on a tablet [Seated] at the dinner table.

[20:30] With their son in bed, Martin and his wife watch a film on a large 3D screen before going to bed.

 

Italian Space Saving Furniture Video

This is a great video about space saving furniture by an Italian company called Resource Furniture. 

The furniture is designed for homes with limited space. Although the idea of folding furniture is not new, I think the aesthetics and mechanisms are very well designed making the products appealing. 

Although the furniture  is novel it does have a purpose with living and office spaces becoming smaller and more people to occupy them! For example, a cramped bedroom can be transformed into a study room in seconds.

 I think this kind of furniture has a place in the office and that it will be used widely in the future although electronic controlled mechanisms will take care of the transformation!  

Timeline Insights

Below is the actual timeline detailed in the previous post. I created the illustrated timeline to start building a vision of how I think that future will be both in and outside of the workplace. It was quite interesting thinking about how the persona would commute to work, interact with colleagues and how his family would interact with technology at home. By including life outside of the workplace a more complete vision can be created and connections between work and life established. This is important because I believe the future workplace will not be confined to the office, in fact trends of working at home and 'anywhere working' are beginning to gather pace - especially outside of the UK. 

My Timeline 

After several iterations of developing the timeline I chose one of the scenarios to develop further, this scenario will form the context around which the chair will be designed. 

The Group Timeline

User Scenarios

Some early sketches of the chair and its context 

My research and people observations show that people like to work in a variety of postures and in different work areas. Having the option of multiple work postures can help to improve comfort and reduce the risks of a work related repetitive strain injury. People also like choice and flexibility at work so choosing which work space to use might facilitate this as well as increasing productivity by using specific work areas for different tasks.

In terms of the technology used I envisage height adjustable touch and voice controlled computer screens that would make use of cloud computing to allow hot-desking and anywhere working. The chair concept in the storyboard is ultra adjustable to allow a range of work positions. 

This initial concept and its context were designed around the research and vision mentioned above. The next step is to make a prototype video to help visualise and role play the scenario.

  

Material Research

Memory Shape Materials

I did some research into shape memory materials because I think the chair should have multiple positions but  I didn't want to use complicated mechanisms. 

The research showed that shape memory technology already exists in alloys, polymers and foams. The basic principle of the technology is that the material has two (or more) shapes, primary and secondary (or temporary). An external trigger is required to recover the materials shape from one form to another. The external trigger can be a temperature change, electric current, contact with a solvent or exposure to a certain light wavelength. A different trigger is required for each shape.

The recovery time for polymers ranges from 1-60 seconds. I think in the future we will be able to control the recovery time when designing the material. This is important because because a large heavy object springing open could cause serious injury to a person.

The technology that would be required to enable the chair to perform its multi-shape transformation is not yet available. I don't think we are too far away and I project that this technology will be readily available by the year 2035.  

Below is a video showing a simple memory shape alloy spring which, after being deformed, returns to its original shape when heated with a heat gun.

Video Prototype

I created a prototype video of an early chair concept set in the future work environment of 2035. 

The aim of the video was to interact with the future scenario to get a feel for what it would be like using the predicted technology and how certain working postures felt ergonomically. The prototype video was also a good tool for gaining insights and externalising thoughts and ideas in the real world in addition to sketches and CAD models.

Scenario & Concept Description

The scene is set in an informal work space in an open plan office at a large IT company's headquarters. At this stage of the project I envisaged people using large computer screens controlled by gesture, touch, voice and tablets. There are no tables in this work space as paper is no longer used.

Many different work postures are supported by the chair. Selection of posture depends on the users mood and work task. At the beginning of the video Martin (persona) is sitting in a traditional seating position, he then raises the chair so that he can perch on it. When a colleague comes over to collaborate, the chair is conveniently manipulated to allow two people to perch on the chair. At the end of the work day the chair is folded and stored out of the way.

Insights

• Whilst making the video and helping a colleague with their's we discovered that using gesture control for as little as 5 minutes was enough to make our arms ache. Although gesture controlled computer screens could be useful, they would have to be used for short periods of time. This insight suggests that gesture control will not be the technology to replace keyboards. 
• Ergonomically the users interaction with the chair and technology need to be improved. Working in these positions for long periods of time would be very uncomfortable, especially for the elderly who will be working to a much older age than in the present day.  
• Although the video was made at an early stage of the project the insights mentioned above led to the realisation that my scenario required further development. 

Outcomes

• Advantages and disadvantages of the chair design and context were established. This will direct the research and development required to take the design forward.   
• Externalizing my work through the video instead of explaining rough sketches allowed my colleagues and tutors to give detailed feedback because of a better understanding of the overall context.

Interim Poster Presentation

Inspire Chair Concept Poster

We had the opportunity to present at a Steelcase launch event which fell 5 weeks before the final project deadline. The chair design and poster were therefore at an interim stage and will be developed further.

The idea behind my concept was to inspire people in creative industries (although the chair could be used in other work environments). Some companies have already recognised that people work better when collaborating and I think that by 2035 the majority of companies that would benefit from collaborative working will be doing so. So the chair has been designed to inspire creative thinking and facilitate effective collaborating. 

The main poster scenario contains a large multi-touch display screen which can be used for collaborative working, virtual meetings or can become clouded or opaque to block out distractions from the rest of the office space.The table is also a multi-touch screen which gives people the option of how they want to work on certain tasks.

The concepts key features are as follows:- 

• The concepts aesthetics are at an early stage but the contemporary appearance and bright colours were chosen with the intention of making collaborative work spaces less formal. 
• The intuitive and easy to manipulate mechanisms make adjusting the chair into a wide range of positions quick and easy as well as offering inspiration through its state-of-the-art technology.   
• The arms of the chair are different shapes and have different functions. One of the armrest is a parallelogram shape that can be used as a foot rest. The other is 2 sides of a parallelogram and its second function provides a small desk space for a tablet, mobile device or coffee.  
• The headrest slides out of the back rest once the chair has been reclined enough for the head and neck to need support.

An important point that I neglected in the poster was the use of nanomaterials or nanocomposites in the chair. As the design is incredibly thin, advanced materials are required to ensure the chair is comfortable for when people spend long periods of time sat in the chair. As nanomaterials can be built from bottom up (i.e manipulating individual atoms) the desired properties can be selected. When someone sits on the chair they sink into the materials. Another benefit of nanomaterials is there ability to self clean, repair and change colour. I will be looking into nanomaterials and other options during concept development.

The Event

At the event I presented my concept to a range of Steelcase employees, clients and business partners with their roles ranging from CEO's to designers to finance. This meant that the feedback I received was given from different perspectives. The feedback was positive with particular praise for  the colours, usability and use of nanomaterials in the design. The consensus on further development was to focus on the chairs mechanisms, use of nanomaterials and to consider the chairs cost - something I had not considered at the concept stage. 

In addition to this I want to refine the chairs aesthetics and ergonomics and finalise my vision of the work space/scenario.    

We made it onto the Steelcase Facebook page...

The class sullying the white board wall in Steelcase's meeting/collaboration area.

A few of us enjoying the comfy seats in the open plan office.

Video for Steelcase Node Chair

This is a cool video about Steelcase's node chair made by students at EM Strasbourg University in France.

What I really like about the node chair is the flexibility that it gives the user. The wheels, under seat storage space and swivel desk allow the whole work space to be reconfigured in seconds.   

My research suggests that in the future companies will be occupying less office space due to employees working more from home, public spaces, communal hubs and possibly on the move in their driverless cars. People will be living longer too which will cause a further increase in the global population. In the future I think that office chairs and furniture will be adaptable so that they can perform multiple tasks rather being used for a single purpose. These insights will influence the function of the final design.

Changing Posture & Healthy Posture

This video highlights the importance of regularly changing posture at work and how a healthy posture can improve well being and hence productivity.

This second video discuses healthy postures, why they are good for the body and postures that should be avoided.

Biodegradable Materials

After looking at a range of materials that are sustainable and have a low environmental impact, I decided to focus my research on biopolymers.

Biopolymers are made from natural sources such as proteins and carbohydrates that grow in plants and do not require any crude oil derivatives which all synthetic polymers do. The cultivation of biopolymer crops is sustainable, renewable and almost carbon neutral. The process is almost self sustaining because composted biopolymers can be used as nutrients for the next biopolymer crop. When products made from biopolymers reach the end of their life, the material can be recycled, biodegraded or composted.

The materials are still in their infancy but current applications include plastic bags, food packaging and electronic consumer product accessories such as mobile phone cases. 

The materials are not yet advanced enough to be used in larger load bearing structures like a chair. I predict that with increasing oil prices and declining oil reserves, investment in biopolymers and other green materials will increase. This in turn will accelerate advances in the technology and its applications. 

Final Design Presentation

Here is my final design presentation for the project. I will annotate the slides and refine the rest of the blog posts at a later date. Thank you for reading my blog! Feel free to add me so you can catch my next design blog.