Hello!
The purpose of this desk is to reflect on its creation, including answering these questions: Compare your original project intent to what you ended up with. How did the public react? What did you learn from your project, and from the class? What will you do next with the project? What do you wish you had done differently?
Comparison of goals:
functional:
- The table top stays up when the collar is locked
- the tension in the collar needs to be adjusted so the top doesn’t rotate when its locked
- The table will not fall over if leaned on
- The top of the desk has a smooth finish
- the table top is a little wobbly
- the table base is not exactly level
Artistic
- Heavy, industrial base fits the aesthetic
- Table top has the right look of the finish, but maybe should be thicker
- Stem looks thin in comparison to the other pieces
- Shelf brackets look nice with aesthetic
- The cement has imperfections, which I think actually adds to the aesthetic
public reaction
The object I chose to make is becoming more popular with the public. Advertisements for standing desks (more than one type!) can be viewed on TV. They are all over pinterest, with people recording DIY ways to build a standing desk. However, the desk I presented is cheaper and is easier to adjust the height of than many of the desks in these media outlets, respectively. The public response was generally positive. Not many were too interested in understanding how the bearing system worked really, or what things went wrong that I had to fix. People were more interested in how much it cost, and how I made it.
what did I learn from this project and this class?
Building this project reaffirmed for me that I can be an impatient person. Maybe this will help me in choosing my career path: I should not be in highly detail-oriented work for aesthetic purposes, AKA product design. But I’m not sure, because at the same time, I do have a commitment to myself to make something the right way. Interesting. In terms of this class, I learned a lot about the different types of design that happened throughout history. It’s not a field that I had explored before. Who knew that the design of chairs was so important!
what to do next?
Right now my desk lives in two places: the basement and the yard shed. There she shall stay until my family becomes too annoyed with it being there or I move out and take it with me. I realized that If I were to make the desk again it would be much faster and have fewer flaws. Maybe if I have the hankering for a project in the future, I will make the 2.0 version. Also, I need to apply some felt to the bottom of the structure if I’m going to put it on a wood floor in a house!
What do I wish I had done differently?
There are some physical flaws in the finished product. The cement has pieces missing where I didn’t tamp all the air bubbles out, and the connection to the top of the table is kind of thick and therefore ugly. The table is too tall to use a normal desk chair at, which is fine, but could be adapted in the future. A lot of my project was focused on building the object. Topics like strength, balance, and connections were important. Maybe if I were to do this project again I would do something more artistic. There would be a larger chance that whatever I made would fail at being beautiful, but I would have stretched the level of my comfort zone somewhat.
Overall, I built a great desk. Thanks to everyone who has been reading my posts during the project and giving useful feedback!f
4 Comments. Leave new
This is a fantastic project! I love that you sought to make a functional project inspired by a product that is becoming more common in everyday life. And you were obviously able to challenge yourself to use new and old concepts like 3D modelling and setting concrete. Great work with the aesthetic and all of the little details, it absolutely looks fancier than something you could buy from any store. I saw your project in person at the expo as well and was very impressed. It looks professionally done but I could tell you put more thought into it than any industrial manufacturers would. All of the little imperfect details add to the aesthetic and prove that you spent a lot of time and effort on this project. Honestly, I can’t think of any way to improve upon your project design. As long as you are happy with the end result, I am thoroughly impressed! Great job!
This is the end of an era for the two of us. You were one of the first people I met in college, it was Freshman Projects, Fall 2012. We’ve come a long way since then! You always work so hard and deserve the absolute best that comes after college. Best of luck to you in the real world! I’ll miss you 🙂
Hey thanks a lot Alex, good luck to you too!
This project is really cool and the desk looks pretty good! You should put felt on the bottom of it and use it! If you do work on this project in the future it would be cool to see the ‘stem’ be thicker, I think that would help your aesthetic. I can’t tell if you’re happy with your final project but for what it’s worth I think this is pretty solid. It sounds like you would make a really solid stand up desk if you decided to try making one again. If you don’t want the desk inside, perhaps you could re purpose it and use it in a garage as a dynamic tool bench!
I agree about the stem being thicker. I am happy with the overall project, although the second time around it could be even better. Thanks for your comments.