Initial Ideas: Cupboard to shelves

 This is my last initial ideas post before the research for the developing stage. In this blog post, I will be transforming the cupboard into shelves to hang on the wall.

Even though the shape of the cupboard might change, I'm going to depict it as a square or a rectangle in these designs, to add my ideas on the shelves.

I was aiming to develop 4-5 initial ideas on the shelves. The shape and size of the shelves really depends on the final shape of the cupboard. I will be adding all the features together in a later stage, but for now I wanted to use a basic square shape as my cupboard and work on that to create a few examples. 

After this blog post, I will dive deeper into some research and make sure that I have different features that I can combine to form one outcome. 

    DESIGN #1:

The first idea was to be able to fully remove all the shelves and be able to hang them. I really like this concept as the user is presented with the idea of being able to both store and hang some shelves. However, what I noticed is that with this design the user is not presented with the opportunity to do both. They are not able to hang the shelves on the wall and store things. When the shelves are taken out of the cupboard, the cupboard is left empty. 

They can use the empty space to store large things such as vacuums, however, if they want to store their smaller items, they will not be able to. 

Additionally, the user is not presented with the freedom to alter the shape of these shelves as it is fixed. I am not a huge fan of this design but I am glad I did it as it helped me point out features I need to enhance and made me come up with the ideas below. 

DESIGN #2:

I used the previous idea as an inspiration and developed it to this. As the users will not be able to both store small items and hang the shelves, I decided to break down the shelves into cubes. This way, the user can take out as many cubes as they wish and hang them up on the wall. They are presented with the opportunity to hang different cubes in different areas or they can join all of them together. This gives them the chance to rearrange the cubes in a specific shape they want in order to make it more personalised. 

This solution to the problem provides the user with enough storage to store both large and small things in the cupboard, provides the user with the opportunity to hang some cubes on the wall and also makes it more customised as they can place them anywhere they want. With cubes, people can also store them on the floor or use them as stools or even small containers to store smaller items.

This can create multiple functions that can benefit the user.

I really like this idea and I feel like it has great potential to appeal in the market. This idea was inspired by a research I did on amazon products that had individual cubes. 

DESIGN #3:

Getting inspiration from the previous initial idea, I thought that it would be a cool idea to create something like this. The idea is that three cubes will be connected to each other like it shows in the diagram. People will have the opportunity to hang up those three in the wall. However, the cupboard will still have 6 compartments to store in. 

The main idea is that the shelves will be connected in such a way that even when the 3 cubes are removed, the cupboard has the same space as the one it started with. Therefore, this increases the space provided.

The cubes are connected in a unique and abstract way which might make it more interesting for the user to purchase. 

I really like this idea as it provides the user with a solution that will indeed sufficiently increase space. However, with the previous idea, cubes can be rearranged as the user wants them both inside and outside of the cupboard. This allows the user to be more free and independent with his choices which might be more beneficial. I will look into these closer in the development stage. 

DESIGN #4:

This design was once again inspired by the concept of cubes being removed just like the previous ones. However, this time, the cubes are arranged in pairs. This allows the user to move the cubes around the cupboard and decide which ones they want to hang or keep. 

The cubes can be also stored vertically and be used to place bathroom needs. The beneficial thing with these individual shelves is that the user has the opportunity to not hang them up in the wall as they are not very big. Design #3 might be more convenient on a wall, however, design #2 and #4 can definitely be used on the floor for storing things at the bathroom of underwear and socks.

I need to take this into consideration at the development stage as I feel like this is an important feature. Having the opportunity to not hanging up on the wall and just place them as nightstands or any other storing need will be very beneficial as they will have more functions.

Additionally, some university accommodations do not allow the students to hang things up on the wall which also needs to be considered. I need to ensure that people will be able to utilise the cubes on the floor too. 

DESIGN #5:

This was the last individual design I could come up with for now. As I as interested in exploring different geometric shapes, I decided to add some triangles stacked up to create the shelves. Triangles represent stability and power and they are used in many architectural buildings as they are harder to compress. 

I wanted to incorporate the triangular feature so I decided to include it in this design. Users will be able to take out individual triangles and hang them up on their walls. Triangles have become very modern amongst young people. Therefore, I decided to test it out and see if it looks good. However, I feel like it does not suit the design and it can be a safety precaution with all the sharp edges. I do like the idea of implementing more shapes in my designs, however, I need to explore it in greater depth in my development. 

As always, it was time to receive some feedback from the 4 people that have been giving me feedback throughout the process. It is important to have close contact with the target market to ensure that you are headed in the right direction.

In the development stage, I will ask more people for feedback as that is a crucial stage:

Person #1: I personally really like the second idea. I feel like it is exactly what many people are looking for. You can customise it to your own liking and make a unique structure. Many people like being able to have unique items in their accommodation so I think that this will allow them to create their own idea.

Person #2: I really like the third idea as the concept of having the same space and even more with the one you started with makes me very excited. The shape of the shelves is more abstract which might look very pretty in different aesthetics. You can also use ropes to connect the shelves together. You might explore this theme in the development stage.

Person #3: I like both number 2 and 4 as they can be rearranged to their own users desire. 

Person #4: I really dislike number 5 as I feel like it does not look coherent. Implementing square and rectangular shapes might fit the shapes more as it will look more neat.

I am also leaning towards the 2nd and 4th design as I have the opportunity to explore and enhance this idea. However, I still like the 3rd idea as it is a clever way to save up storage. I will be researching a lot this week and then the following week I will be finalising my development. I will also research materials and components next week and make sure I start designing them on software by the end of next week. During week 7 and 8, I will focus on designing my products on software, fixing my website and creating my design boards. I need to start software by the beginning of week 7 as this is a huge project.