Continuing on from the last post about this collaborative project with the VSCM classes, our group met up once again to finalize our problem/solution and start assigning more solid roles. We pooled concept sketches, trying to figure out the best method of executing the manufacture of our product solving the annoyance of eating pistachios.
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| (Logo design by Nelly - VSCM) |
We now have a tentative brand name and logo for our pistachio problem solver: 'Stash' (both a play on the word pistachio and the nature of the product...) and a target demographic/consumer:
- working class peoples
- people who prioritize health and fitness
- people on the go
- earning a mid range income (~$60 000)
- all sexes
- age range 20-50
- shops at chain grocery stores
- watches and has purchased from infomercials in the past
Our group has decided with a product that consists of an on-the-go container for carrying both unopened and opened pistachios, with an included device to aid in the opening of them pesky nuts. It will be shaped like a pistachio, with one section of the lid/container holding the unopened nuts, the other being divided by the opener/cracker device and holding the empty shells.
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(Rough Concept sketches by Selin - VSCM)
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(Rough concept sketches by Matt - VSCM)
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(Concept sketches by Noémie - VSCM)
So far, we've decided that the shell/outer portions of the pistachio container will be digitally fabricated, while the hinge and pistachio cracker/opener will be fabricated with miscellaneous parts from a home improvement store (most likely Home Depot). Kelsey and I took at scouting trip to Home Depot to see what we could find that would be able to function as/be reconfigured to work as a pistachio opener.
The differences in the pistachio opener/cracker are where our concepts seem to vary the most. We've, for the most part, agreed on the overall look of the product and have defined what the functions of the product should be. So far, we've narrowed down our possibilities to a sort of prying mechanism- some flatish piece of hard material that can be wedged between the shells, or some sort of mechanism that cracks the nut open.
Here are some of the possible devices that Kelsey and I were thinking could be modified to fit the role of a nut opener/cracker:
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| (Ah, good ol' brass rod... should be no problem for a group with two jewellery majors to turn that into something...) |
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| (Upholstery nails- sturdy, cheap, totally could be used fro prying pistachio shells open) |
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| (A mechanism to hold doors open- contains a slidy mechanism that could be modified to crack nuts open) |
(There were a few other things that we found useful/could possibly be modified or included to fit the task at hand, but this blog post is already getting pretty long...)
Next will come the actual modelling of the parts that are to be digitally fabricated, which will probably fall mostly on me (we agreed upon this since Kelsey is essentially keeping the group running, though she will also help with the fabrication). The VSCM people have been put in charge of market researchy type things, along with more solid concept sketches and logo design and such.
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