Diplomprosjekt
Høst 2024
Institutt for design
Manufacturing project accepts a research by design to gain practical industrial design knowledge through the hands-on experience during the design process from ideation of floss holder to the manufacturing phase.
This industrial design and engineering project focuses on conducting research by design, emphasizing the product design, prototyping, and devlopment of new ideas. The goal is to ensure that the resulting designs are warkable, viable, and manufacturable. My personal objective is to create products that en-courage better user choices, expand my skills in design, production, and sustainability.
The project highlights understanding production processes such as injection molding method, selecting appropriate materials and managing factors like time scales and cost estimates. Collaborating with fac-tories provides real-world experience in transforming an idea into a manufacturable product.
My diploma project represents the initial phase, focusing on creating and testing a trial inejction mold. The plan is to refine the design and aim for mass production if progress is successful in 2025. Though one semester is insufficient for full completion, my aim is to develop the mold and observe the manufacturing process, recognizing the resources and collaboration needed to achieve this goal.
The product developed for this manufacturing project is a floss holder primarily intended for use in the bathroom, as flossing is most effective when combined with toothbrushing. The design goal is to create a sustainable, user-friendly floss holder with aesthetically pleasing features. The floss holder offers an intuitive and simple leverage mechanism with teeth solution to securely hold the floss, an ergonomic universal handle grip, and built-in storage for a refill cartridge to enhance usability.
The product features a reusable floss holder with a floss cartridge. Twe cartridges are installed in the stor-age compartment of the handle and each provides up to 100 uses, replacing 100 disposable floss picks. This makes it a more sustainable option, reducing waste by approximately 50 times compared to using single-use floss picks. For the floss holder, ABS is used to ensure durability, while the floss cartridge is made from PP to increase recyclability.
The chosen production method is trial injection molding, which allows for testing the form, functionali-ty, and usability of the product. This production process was the key practical task in bringing the initial concept to life. By actively participating in the process, I gained a better understanding of the require-ments for advancing in production, including engineering design, materials selection and the production method. To achieve the desired results, effective collaboration with stakeholders, including engineers and factory facilities, is essential, in addition to thoughtful design.
Minkyu Lee / mkleedesign@gmail.com / minkyulee.myportfolio.com/
