This week my class and I were challenged to create unique and inventive signage for the Greenwich academy cafeteria about sustainability. The problem in the GA cafeteria is that the signage in the cafeteria about recycling, composting, and landfills were either not visually placed well or didn’t have signs at all. This caused issues in the cafeteria because of people’s unsureness and lazy attitudes towards putting the correct items in the correct bins.

For this challenge, we were prompted to make signage for different parts of the cafeteria, my group and I decided on table signage. For table signage, my group and I wanted to make our signs accessible to all, so we decided to make triangular table displays that clearly stated the does and don’t of recycling, composting, and landfills, and a set of helpful tips to educate the viewer on the matter.

Our idea-focused in on visual placement and learning experiences for the viewer, by pacing the signage on the tables we figured that it might lead to someone sitting at the table to be curious and decide to read the signs. Another aspect we focused on is a visual experience we wanted people who were eating lunch to be able to see our sign from wherever they are sitting, so we made the sign triangle-shaped with three panels of the text so that it is accessible to all.

For our first prototype, we made it out of cardboard and tape to get a sense of how we wanted our design to look, from here we made our second prototype out of red and yellow acrylic. We especially like this material because it was durable, flexible, and easy to clean. After making our designs we headed to the laser cutter to raster the text onto the material and cut out the three panels. The material rasterized perfectly, but when it was time to cut out the panel we ran into a problem.

Although we choose to use this material for our table signs, it was our first time using it. The material was safe to use for the laser cutter but when it came time to cut, the laser was burning the material, almost as if it was melting it. Instead of cutting the shape out with the laser cutter, I used the guillotine to cut out the panels to avoid any damage to our prototype and fires.

After cutting the panels, I wanted to create a way to glue the panels together without the glue being seen or looking sloppy. So instead of just glueing it together randomly, I decided to use red cardstock paper tabs. I used red paper so that it would blend well with the colors of our prototype because it is red and yellow. The paper tabs worked very well because they are almost invisible to the naked eye.

If I could change or add anything about or design I would probably make the design bigger so that the text is less bunched together making it easier to read for the viewer. I would also like to make 3D- printed joinery for the panels rather than paper tabs just to increase the lifecycle of the design.

Overall after doing this project I hope that there is more universal awareness about the importance of recycling, composting, and landfills because of the relevance of sustainability in our community.

Final Prototype

Phase 2

Since Phase 1 my group and I have ordered the material we want to use for our final design, we chose to use Trolase bright green/ white 1/8" from Trotec for the panels of the table signs. We chose green qand white because green is one of GA's school colors and the white lettering would best pop and stand out when reading the table signs. This material was much more durable than the Trolase material we used in our phase 1 prototype because it is thicker, although this material is more durable there were some complications when using it with the laser cutter. The material came packaged with a plastic cover over it and we ran into the problem of deciphering whether to remove it while rastering and laser cutting or to leave it on. From prior knowledge we knew that cutting the material with no covering over led to burning and less precise lines, so instead we tried to use transfer paper when cutting the trolase material. After trying out this method we realized that we were running into the same problem because the transfer paper worked better but it also was burning when we attempted to cut the material. at this point we hit a dead end, from here I decided to get in contact with the Trotec company to clarify the steps to using the laser cutter with this material. The company explained that it is best that we leave the plastic on the material when cutting but remove it when engraving or rastering. This information is very helpful, but it also prompts my group and I with a new problem because in order to cut with the plastic on and the remove it to raster, this meant that we would have to do all of the cutting with the laser first and then raster our panels with the our writing individually. For our final project in the future we plan to try out this method of cutting and rastering individually.

In addition to getting our material, we have also created a successful 3D printed joint to make the tri-pannel pyramid shape. For our final design we want to change the color of the filament used to print the joint because at the moment it is orange and we would like it to fit in with our color scheme of green, white, and gold, so we are planning on changing the color to green. For the writing aspect of our design we want to spread out our writing on the panels to make it legible, and easier for people to read while sitting at the table.

Final Product

The last phase of our composting challenge was to find a more efficient way to cut and raster the trotec material. what we came up with was basically a wooden frame to place the cut panels into and then raster them.

The plywood frame was fairly easy to make we just measured out the sizes of the panels and then equally spread them out on the whole sheet of plywood. This frame ultimately saved my group and I so much time during our building process because we were able to mass produce when rastering. We also adjusted our raster files from phase 2 and made the text larger and more spread out so that it was easier to read on the tables.

Group Members Portfolio

Maia Van Beisen :

https://sites.google.com/view/mvanbiesen-engineering/home

Kayla Tillman:

https://ktillmanmakerportfolio.weebly.com/composting-challenge.html

Folder Link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NyEd3Z-kP3BMUwXHYGMjj3mneik0EJUs