It's my job

1 Study the requirements in the design brief for Kenneth Blake, a Furniture Designer. Then match each requirement to the correct reason.

Kenneth Blake: Furniture Designer

Product: garden chair

Requirement

1. lightweight

2. strong

3. stackable

4. available in a range of colours

5. durable

6. comfortable

7. easy to mass-produce

8. sells for less than €20

Reason

a stores easily in winter

b spends most of the time outside

с supports heavy adults

d keeps

manufacturing costs low

e easy to lift

f competes with rivals

g looks attractive h encourages

people to use it

I decided to use plastic because it's durable. You can make it in a lot of colours and it's easy to mass-produce plastic items.

I went to the local garden centre to examine the chairs other companies made, the rival products, and to find out their cost - about €20.1 bought three different models. I wanted a chair without arms sol cut the arms off one. This made the back too weak so I added vertical supports to make the back stronger.

I sketched my designs on paper, and from these I

produced technical drawings with all the dimensions. I

made a full-scale model to

make sure the chair looked

good and was comfortable.

Then I transferred my

drawings to a 3-D computer

modelling program, and sent

a copy by file transfer to the

moulding company

They made a

mould and sent

me a prototype

chair. I added

more supports to

the back and the

chair was ready to

produce.

2 Read about Kenneth. Complete sentences 1-6 with words from the text.

1. Plastic is very hard-wearing - it's

2. A company which competes with yours is a

3. Ahelps to make a structure stronger.

4. Kenneth his designs first and then

makes finished drawings.

5. You can make hundreds of plastic chairs from one

6. Ais a model which is ready for testing.

3 Write questions to ask Kenneth about his design. The answers should be in the text above.

EXAMPLES

Why did you go to the garden centre? How much do garden chairs cost? Did you make a model?

4 Now practise your questions in pairs. Take turns to ask and answer.

20 Unit 3

Gadget box

This wall-mounted CD player was designed by Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa just for fun in 1999. Now it is one of the top selling products at Muji.

Why do you think this design is so successful?

Listening

Working with design

1 You are going to hear three people talking about their work with design. Before you listen, find out how each of the words in the diagram below relates to design. Use the Glossary on p.131 to help.

Problem-solving

1 Work in small groups. Look at the designs for chairs which are used in a room intended both for lectures and for indoor sports. List the advantages and disadvantages of each model.

Useful language

It's too heavy. It looks comfortable.

It's not strong enough. You can stack it. It's stackable.

2 Now listen and note the answers to the questions.

A Karl

1. What does he design?

2. What two things does he think about when he's designing?

3 What does he start with? В Martin

4. What does he design?

5. What two things does he have to balance ?

6. What does he start with?

С Hilary

7. What does she do?

8. What two groups does she work with?

9. What does she have to work out?

3 Work in pairs. Write down as much as you can of what Karl says. Help each other to make a complete and accurate version. Then compare with the Listening script on p.125.

2 In your groups, design a chair for use in classrooms in

your school or college. Sketch your solution and present it to the class. Decide which chair is the most suitable.