How do you start a new design?

How do you get started on a new design?

Do research? Collect images and make drawings?

Do you do user research?


I usually draw and collect images for inspiration

My designs typically change once I'm actually designing so I try not to do too much prep outside of the actual design phase.

What do you do?

Here how I do it , and is kinda tedious (time eating like hell but worth it)

- Finding an main idea and other ideas that come in relation to it , it can happen random , or just looking around , even seeing a documentary can inspire looking at some old civilization thing , looking over the internet etc (I call this development phase )
- Research over the internet , google image search is pretty good at this , looking at 1000x images with same idea or in relation to it (I call this research phase and construction and fusion of ideas)

- Drawing initial finished ideas into a product on paper with pen just to see how the fuse together , if they fail -> I return to the development phase and start it over.

- Drawing the final product roughly taking in account with calipers the thickness and stuff / 3D modeling the real product ( I call it project phase / finishing phase.)

And last if the 3D modeling of the product looks not so nice , I keep the ideas a bit and start from development phase again , because the main idea can be bad or the other ideas bad , and need to cut some to make it better.

And ... if after all that the prototype lands not nice or how I want it to be , I'll start from development phase again or just ... start a new project. * Happened couple of times when I was learning how to do things up.

The main ideas can come from images , some news on tv etc Learning to find new ideas it is a skill that must be developed.

There are moment when I just "do it" ... but that comes from practice and that I have already done some stages inside of my mind.


This apply to designs that are premium , not on simple designs, because sometime I must take a break from that brain hitting process.

At start coffee was helpful , now I must cut it , I already think speedy without it.


I'm a visual thinker , but I think the process is similar with other thinkers , just the difference is that 1000x pictures become with something else. Like car designers look daily at car designs made in the past and other car designers work and so on.

Learning to draw and drawing is the fundamental skill I did not regret learning it. I could not be able to design without it.

It is only needed a medium level o learning to draw for the drawing phase.

Is always better to alternate between easy and complex projects , each product is a project from start finish.

Don't jump stages -> lands crap products instantly!

I wrote a really good blog post about this highlighting some of my tactics for picking a new design: https://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/21491-five-tactics-t o-help-you-decide-your-next-design-idea.html

I usually start with a goal. Then I think of a way to complete the goal. I try to stay away from outside influence until I have my idea. From there, I'll grab some images from google and shop them to my needs. Usually using images as backgrounds for sculpting and modeling. Sometimes using images for displacement maps to speed the modeling process.

Nice work Andrew, I didn't know you're an artist. Good thread too.

I used to draw when I was in my teens to mid twenties, but then I got to where I can just "see" everything without drawing or doing layouts. I do use drawing to record my inventions though.

When I get a new idea for a design I first ask myself, is it worth my time? When I was young I used to just work on anything that came to mind, but nowadays, age 51, I realized that life is short and one only has so much time to do things in life so the things I do need to be really really worth it. At times though, I find that things I thought would be worth my time were actually errors in judgment and that then causes me to be even more cautious. Consequently, I end up spending time doing things that don't involve creating new designs. HAHA! So I have this VAST sea of things in mind regarding new designs I'd like to do, but no time to do it because there are better things that I know of to spend my time on.

When I do have time to work on a new design I first try to see what's selling by doing marketing research. In my adult life I have never done any art for the fun of it. I would like to though someday. I'm more like a commercial artist in that everything I do is to make money from the effort in some way. So, I look at what's making money and I try to simply do it bigger and better. The rest is just pushing vertices around until it matches what I have in mind.

I didn't have time right now to read the other replies. I'll come back later and read them.

Design has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.

Nice job!

If I were running Shapeways I'd have someone dedicated to looking into this kind of stuff and turning it into a monthly report so that designers could have an idea about what would be good to work on without spending horrendous amounts of time doing research.

You're really good at doing abstract stuff. Things like this,


would be a perfect example of what I mean by that.

Once I decide on a model I want to create, the fun part starts. I'm a railway modeller, so things need to be right, and that takes a great deal of research.

If a surviving piece example is within reasonable travel distance, I will do some field research, taking dozens, or even hundreds of photos and measurements.

Regardless of whether I have access to a sample, I then search for photos, a process that can literally take years. I usually start with a web search, then start searching various railway museums and achives, and put the call out among known railfan photographers, historians, and collectors.

If possible, I will order prints or scans of the original builder's drawings and any drawings I can find from the railway that owned the equipment in question. Legal documents may be required, recently I signed documents for permission to use some very old Osgood- Bradley drawings, now owned by Bombardier. Permission is very important, as some builders and owners can be very protective of their intellectual property, even if it is very old.

As I design the kit I keep a notebook with important dimensions, notes about how I created a part (in case I need to modify something it saves time), and I keep lots of screen shots as the kit evolves.

Inspiration can come from a personal desire to see a specific model, from discovery of a good collection of data, or from customer requests. My upcoming Northern Alberta Railway caboose kit is the result of a number of requests.



Steve Hunter

Sometimes I just stand in the shower or daydream in the train and then I have an idea that I want to work out. Other times, I actual sketch something or brainstorm for new things. I use my sketching tablet or draw on any paper that happens to be on my desk.

For me it's usually just designing something I personally wanted or needed and then saying how can this work for someone else also? It usually starts spiraling out of control with ideas after that and I have to go back and edit to what is reasonable and most likely to work for others.

To echo Steve Hunter's comments.. I look at a beast like this and think "I could make one of those". <GRIN>
Click the picture to see the model. (fyi.. the plow also spins on the model)

I started on SW designing for myself - if other people like my stuff and want to buy, well that's great!
More recently I have been approaching new designs with the commercial prospects in mind too, but often I'm doing it to try out a new technique, piece of software, or material.
If something 'works' I put it in my shop!


Steven

I think I throw a lot of stuff against the wall. I may start with simpler designs but then upgrade them over time, either with slight tweaking or replacement. I figure if it hasn't sold or I didn't buy it for myself there's nothing lost in modifying it. If something does sell I tend to leave it as is just in case someone wants to reorder it or shows it to someone and they want a copy. So maybe my store is Darwinian in nature.