Design Concept Generation, Analysis, and Selection
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Design Requirements
The design requirements are a culmination of all research we have done thus far as well as consideration of existing products and patents. These requirements focus on ways to improve the downfalls of existing products, but were created with the ideas of the consumer in mind (these ideas were determined through survey results and interviews with consumers).
These requirements are listed in order of importance determined through a series of research done through scholarly articles as well as consumer surveys and expert interviews.
Safety:
Design must prioritize safety of the dog, both in general and in the case of a car crash.
Design must prevent the dog from harming anyone in the car in the case of a crash (ie: prevent the dog from becoming a projectile)
Comfort:
Design must be comfortable for the dog to wear as to prevent the dog from making verbal distractions (barking)
Design must be comforting to dogs who are anxious in the car
Mobility:
Design must allow for mobility of larger dogs in order to prevent them from feeling anxious. However, it must also reduce this mobility in the case of a crash as to keep the dog and the other passengers safe.
Distraction Reducing:
Design must be able to reduce the distraction a dog creates in the car, whether it be a vocal distraction or a distraction caused by the dog’s motion.
Size:
Design must take into account the fact that there are several different sizes of dogs.
Key for Decision Matrix
Weight: Used to emphasize the importance of each design requirements (1-3)
Not important, but should be addressed.
Important and should be addressed.
Extremely important, must be prioritized.
Rating: Used to judge how well the concept meets the requirements (1-5)
Did not meet specification.
Specification was addressed poorly.
Specification was met, but could use improvement.
Specification was met and incorporated well into the design.
Specification was met excellently and clearly answered the criteria.
Summary of Decision Matrix
The format of our decision matrix allowed us to evaluate the important aspects of each of our top designs. These specifications were chosen based on the failures and benefits of other restraints we’ve researched. The rating was used to decide how closely the design met a specification, while the weight demonstrated the importance of that specification. We observed each of the sketches while filling out the decision matrix as we evaluated. As shown in the table above, we chose Concept 5 as our top solution to the problem statement.
Final Design Sketch
Material Selection for Possible Solution
Analysis and Selection: When we were looking into possible materials and ways of going about our design for our dog harness we took many ideas into account. Starting with safety we wanted to find durable straps and binding agents that would be able to keep the dog safe in case of a collision, but that would also easily be able to be removed. After that, we decided to look into accessibility and effectiveness when it came to strapping the dog in and getting the strap connected to the car, leading us to the last consideration we took into account which was the ability for our design to be aesthetically pleasing to the consumers. This is why we decided to go with a metal car buckle to strap the harness to the car, due to its durability and universal acceptance between cars. The polyester nylon webbed rope for the strap, due to its elasticity and durability polyester contains; and the polyester webbings with the plastic buckle clips for their durability and lightweight properties.
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