Patrick Richards
Printing (simplified)
Printers are probably the most hated piece of technology in people’s lives and has not seen significant improvement in decades, therefore for this project I aimed to drag the domestic printer into the 21st century, I did this by solving people’s problems with them; the fact they are too large, prone to breaking, expensive to refill, and on the whole overcomplicated and confusing to use. This meant that I had to redesign almost every part of the domestic printer and simplified almost every aspect. I simplified the way paper is fed through, how documents are printed and how devices are connected.
All of this was in aid of improving how users interact with printers, all of my research, sketch work and prototyping was in aid of simplifying the process of printing one A4 black and white document, and I simplified it into a three-step process, power, pair, print.
I simplified the paring process by using “Plug and Play” technology so that the user only has to plug in a Bluetooth dongle to their device to create a connection, working in the same way as a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
I also removed the need for the printhead to move back and forth across the width of the paper as it prints by using PageWide technology where the only thing that moves is the paper itself. Increasing the speed of prints and simplifying the internals, reducing the risk of the printer breaking.
What is also interesting about my project is what is not in it, I removed as many unnecessary components as possible, identifying which parts were essential and which should be removed, for example I removed the scanner as I identified improved scanning apps on smartphones will soon make these obsolete. I decided on a black and white printer to keep it as simple as possible whilst focusing on the most popular thing people print and will continue to print as the world becomes more digital, documents and package return labels.
I achieved all of this whilst creating what I hope is an aesthetically pleasing product, I kept the exterior very simple and used colour to help aid the users understanding of the product, drawing their attention to the parts of the printer they interact with.
Patrick Richards's designs
Student Biography
I chose to study Product Design and Manufacture as it focused on understanding people’s needs and solving their problems and provided me with the skills to do this effectively.
Throughout my degree I have improved my engineering knowledge as well as my sketch work, CAD skills and rendering. However I believe that my best skills are problem solving and coming up with creative solutions. I demonstrated this in my major project and would like to do so in my future career.
I have a passion for technology and how users engage with it as I believe this will change dramatically in the coming years and therefore is the area I would most like to pursue a career in.
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