Design Specs and Tests (Seat)

For this part, you should include five specifications for your product. Three of them should be size, aesthetics, and materials. You can choose the other two. For aesthetics, you should create a google form that can be emailed to people as a survey to get aesthetics feedback.


For every design spec, you should have a sentence saying something like, "I will test this by........."

Design Specs for My Stool.

  1. Size: My stool will have horizontal dimensions of 350 mm x 250 mm. The height of it will also be 250 mm. I will photograph my stool with a meter stick held along the different dimensions to test this.
  2. Materials: The stool will predominantly be made of birch plywood. I will use 18 mm wood for the two leg pairs and 24 mm wood to create the two braces which contain the housing joints. The top of the stool will at first be made of 12 mm plywood. This will then be covered by a 3 mm piece of plywood with 3 mm acrylic inlays. I will test this by photographing my stool from different angles to highlight the materials used.
  3. Mass: I am expecting my stool to have a mass of about 4 kg. The 24 mm braces will be heavy, which is why I’m using only 12 mm ply for the top. I will place my completed tool on a scale to test this.
  4. Aesthetics: I’m making this for my wife and so I’m going for a design that she likes. I’m putting her initials as an inlay as well as an image of a flower. The colors will be yellow and green, two of her favorites. This also works out well as ISM colors. The wood will be stained a dark color to attempt to match the other woods in our home. Here is a link to the google form that I'm using as a test for this. It will be sent to multiple people. Everyone must use a google form / survey to test the aesthetics with an audience.
  5. Safety: The stool will have all edges and corners rounded so my son doesn’t injure himself on it. The legs will angle outwards to give it maximum stability so it will not fall over, even if you stand on the outside. The stool is also not very tall, but quite wide. This should also maximize the stability. I will test this by standing on the edges of the stool to see if it falls over. I will photograph this event, and I'm sure it will be amazing.

Examples of Design Spec Choices:

  1. Size
  2. Materials
  3. Mass
  4. Aesthetics
  5. Safety
  6. Cost
  7. Manufacturing Process (ie. completely digitally fabricated)
  8. Sustainability
  9. Target Audience
  10. Theme