PROJECT DRAGONFIRE
Year: 2015
Responsibilities: Project Lead, Industrial Design
Team Size: 3x Industrial Design, 2x Mechanical Engineering, 2x Technical Build Focal
Project Budget: $250,000
Duration: 9 Months
Being the industrial design part of Jamco’s innovation team, I was tasked to lead Project Dragonfire: a collaboration project between Jamco and a tier-1 technology company. The stated goal was to envision a platform where we can showcase technologies that were not production ready. I was responsible for pitching, scoping, and managing the design development and build of the working prototype. My involvement ended with the delivery of the working prototype to Aircraft Interior Expo for the product reveal.
Project Scoping: Market Landscape and Statement of Work
As project lead, I had the responsibility to determine what is the best strategy to incorporate the new technologies that was available to us. I was able to identify a hole in the market and proposed to develop a show seat that would fit right into this segment. I presented this to senior leadership and gained concurrence; the work begins!
Envision Phase: Theme Boards
One of the key deliverables from the Envision phase (Phase 0) was to communicate to our clients our design intent before starting a detail design effort. We developed and presented 2 distinct aesthetic themes boards.
Since our clients were all engineers and biz-dev folks, I took our theme boards an extra step and made some concept sketches to better communicate the aesthetics.
Define Phase: Basic Dimensions and Volumetric Mockups
Working closely with our engineering team, we develop the basis for the new seating product. A lot of care is put into making the product as feasible to reality as possible.
Physical mockups are the best way to evaluate human factors. This removable controller concept sadly did not make it into the final design…
"Quick, Dirty, and Cheap” - Rough volumetric models pieced together from foam core, plywood, and left-over cushions gave us key insights into the packaging layouts.
Define Phase: Design Development and Gated Review
We had a very short window to present to leadership and green light our gated review. So we quickly executed on the down-selected theme and created renderings for our presentation. We impressed the leadership and we were given the green light for the next phase.
Refine Phase: New Customer Target
After presenting our first phases of the project, we began to recognize the potential for an actual sales opportunity. So we added an additional requirement of aligning our aesthetics to our potential customer. A new theme board is made.
“Sensible Luxury” provided the closest aesthetics to our target customer. It is a subtle move towards the future; not a drastic step beyond today.
