Green Team!
Assembly!
Presentation Video
Collapsible Mannequin (Collapsequin)
A display-style mannequin designed to collapse for transportation, making travel with the device easier for all designers, from semi-professionals to hobbyists.
Product Contract
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Storyboard
CAD Images
Contributors
Ben Weizer: (CAD subteam) integration of parts into assembly, renderings for presentation
Bre Decilap: (CAD subteam) CAD of the soft connectors to rings, writing code of ethics
Carolina Warneryd: (CAD subteam) CAD of the stand, CAD of the cap of mannequin, drawings in storyboard, renderings for presentation
Henry Sobieszczyk: (CAD subteam) CAD of the rings
Jolie Becow: (product management subteam) drawings in storyboard, formatting code of ethics
Jordan Ambrosio: (CAD subteam) CAD of the cap of mannequin, data analysis of survey
Josh Rohrbaugh: (CAD subteam) CAD of the cam mechanism
Lambert Hu: (CAD subteam) integration of parts into assembly, renderings for presentation
Nathan Ramesh: (product management subteam) drawings in storyboard, writing product contract
Rachel Park: (product management subteam) outline of storyboard, writing product contract
Ronak Roy: (CAD subteam) renderings for presentation, presentation writing, presenting
Sandra Villagrana: (product management subteam) writing product contract
Sharmi Shah: (CAD subteam) CAD of the cover
Sophia Leon Guerrero: (CAD subteam) CAD of the base, data analysis of survey, presentation writing, presenting
Steven Herrera: (CAD subteam) renderings for presentation
Steven Marquez: (CAD subteam) CAD of the base, CAD of ring pins
Reviewer Feedback
Aditya Ghodgaonkar
Feedback
Is the section stacking and locking/unlocking a completely manual process? If it is, that seems like a major hassle. Is there any way to represent different kinds of body shapes/sizes with a single kit?
Georgia Van de Zande
Feedback
- What material are you thinking of using for the fabric cover? I imagine it should be thick enough or padded to hide some of the edges of your slices
Rich Wiesman
Feedback
Your product design is evolving nicely, but I suspect you have a number of additional iterations to go through. Have you looked at a technical area called deployable structures? You might find some interesting things that are pretty close to some of your designs. Deployable structures are found in everything from pop-up displays that companies use at trade shows to satellite antennas that are deployed from small volumes after the device goes into orbit. I mention these sorts of structures because they often use simple struts, hinges and connectors that pop into form when released. Many are like tape measures that sort of hold themselves straight when unreeled. The base of your product seems to take up a lot of the packed volume. I understand the desire for the base to be heavy, but it seems like only the base needs mass and not the pole that supports the form above the base. Could you make the carry-on case in a design that would let it be the base of the dress form? That is, the wheels and the base mass could be the "carry-on like" luggage base and the other parts would come up out of it when needed. That might save you some weight and volume by letting the case do double duty as your base. Besides looking at deployable structures, please reconsider the inflatable structures that were mentioned. Maybe you could use such a structure for the support post? Or maybe for the entire form.
Rebecca Thorndike-Breeze
Feedback
Galatea is a clever name (Pygmalion’s sculpture that came to life!) / Your current design is an expandable/collapsible set of rings (connected to each other/in one piece), with an attached latching mechanism. 11th priority user need, “allows for the design of multiple body shapes,” -- in lab there was discussion of making the dress form adjustable vs. selling different size dress forms. Would an adjustable dress form be possible with this ring configuration? Would the user adjust the pins to move the rings? What if a ring needs to be removed from the center/not the top or bottom-most rings? / The tent-pole stand is very cool -- users won’t want to have a bunch of separate pieces, especially when traveling.
Charlotte Folinus
Feedback
You’ve identified a core value of portability and “can be taken on an airplane”-ability. I question the need for this to be carry on/basing your engineering specs off of TSA carry ons. If you’re filling up most of a maximum-sized carry on, wouldn’t the designer also need a separate bag for the clothes and/or their personal belongings. Unless you are targeting day trips, I tend to think the designer would still need to check a bag. It sounds like you want the base to be heavy so that it can be stable — a water fillable base could give you extra stability when in use without extra weight for transit (provided there is access to sink). You’ve stuck with the same high-level form as your previous milestones — are there other approaches or fields you could borrow from (kirigami, deployable structures, old-school wireframe dress forms with vertical segments, …)? Where/how is the maximum load carried in your dress form? You mention that aesthetics matter — from a quick google search, I see many different types of dress forms, each with its own design language! What type of design language are your designers drawn to? The aesthetics can also tell us about who this mannequin is for — will the ideal aesthetics of your dress form vary with different types of designers (consider bridal vs. flee market, for example)?
Juergen Schoenstein
Feedback
I can definitely see the progress since the mock-up phase (the square pole in the center, rather than a round post, for example), and adding a fabric cover will definitely increase the utility. You might look into shaping the "rings" (as you call the segments) to minimize space: nesting different sizes within each other might be an idea - you could save a lot on thickness and gain functionality, since your idea of using pins for alignment is good, but what if the pins break off? The way you showed them on your CAD looks quite fragile, and aligning them with the pinholes seems like doing a puzzle. There are other shapes (conic or semi-spheres, raised on one piece and hollowed out as a "negative shape" on the other) that would appear to be more suitable to the task than pins. Regarding form factor and weight: It appeared as if you wanted to "max out" the space and weight of a piece of carry-on luggage - but is that even meaningful? Whoever travels with your mannequin, will still need personal items, and more importantly: garments to display on Galatea. So they would have to check SOMETHING - why not check the mannequin, which then could be stored safely in a transport case, rather than getting banged up in an overhead compartment? I also did not completely buy into your dismissal of an inflatable version: Sure, if it were a balloon, it would pop when pinned with a needle. But a slightly denser foam cover on the airtight membrane might already be enough to allow pinning, and a dense bladder membrane that puts up enough resistance to alert users that they are trying to pierce that membrane might already help. In addition: Do designers pin INTO their mannequins, or pin fabric pieces TOGETHER, ON their mannequin? A clearer feedback from actual users might go a long way here: Rather than coming across like an assertion, you might have actual data that backs up your claim that inflatable (despite its obvious advantages in almost all aspects of the functionality you are aiming for) is not desirable.
April Anlage
Feedback
Most of your user persona talks about semi-professionals, which you define as those who travels a few times a year (any further definition needed here?), but a few times you mention hobbyists - make sure your messaging here is consistent. I'm not entirely clear on how the user locks the individual pieces into place. You mentioned a CAM mechanism that is engaged by a lever - does the user need to manually align each slice of the body? What happens if some of the slices are out of alignment? Can this be easily done with only two hands? I believe you also mentioned the slices being connected to one another vertically - how rigid is this connection? Does it help/hinder the alignment and securement of the slices? A ball and spring might work well for the base with the loose pin - think of the top of a closet door, also seen on some gym equipment. Definitely good to think about stability here. Definitely test out the fabric covering ASAP, since I think this will be a key usability factor of your design. If the fabric does not help give the mannequin a more organic shape, you may find that user may not be willing to make the compromise. I appreciate your logic for a weight of under 35 lbs (do airlines actually measure this?), but you may be able to narrow this spec down further by talking with users - how much does a normal mannequin weigh? What about other supplies ? Finally, the ability to change the size the mannequin body was mentioned. I think this is a great feature of your product (show it off by creating models of multiple sizes to display!) but I'm also wondering if your current design is truly modular - if all of the slices are connected, how easy would it be to change bust or waist size, for example?
Nathan Phipps
Feedback
Hey Green, coming along nicely AND always keep re-evaluating and refining your users needs/potential solutions! It seems as though your numbers for your product contract aren't strongly connected to user need. Is your user need just that they can get one mannequin in one suitcase? How many garments do they travel with? how many suitcases do they need? what if you could give them 5 or 10 mannequins per one suitcase? What are all the ways you could make a collapsible mannequin? what are all the materials? what if it was paper (or textile) with wire rings like a japanese lantern? what if your t stand was a collapsible tripod instead of a heavy base and single column? What other base options are there? If a tripod is too unconventional aestehtically how can you leverage that principal into something more pallettable? I'm also wondering how many folks you have talked to, is it just one user? Is Manny a real or composite character? I think you need to hear (maybe you already have, idk) a lot of user epxeriences/needs/etc. to give yourselves some real (probably very challenging) user specs. Where do you find these folks? Go there, talk to lots of people. Also variable or various sizes and shapes was a great comment that came up monday, don't forget that one. Keep it up! You're doing good work.
Braunstein
Feedback
Hi. I enjoy your concept and see its value, so please understand that my feedback is strictly offered to help you be successful. You also know I spend most of my waking hours, approximately 10 feet from your team area, so you know where to find me. Don't be shy. I was a little surprised that I didn't see much change or progress in your approach since mockup review, and I feel like there's some significant low hanging fruit. I'm glad that you were responding a little bit to earlier comments about clocking of the horizontal sections, but I think this is a tractable problem and not one of which to concern yourself. I question the bigger architectural issues, and emplore you to consider potentially lighter weight approaches that take advantage of certain symmetries of the bust shape. A method to help with exploring the solution space is to look at similar geometries. I'm not specifically thinking about a figure, but am thinking about organic shapes that can be collapsed, but maintain rigidity when "deployed", and that use lightweight materials and construction methods. You seemed to have answered the inflatable and pinning issue. Fine, let's take that off the table. How about folding boats/kayaks? - look at feathercraft or (the original) klepper. These are examples of skin on frame boats. Interesting the language itself is "skin" on "frame" - seems like the boating world took a play from the mannequin book. Look at vintage dress forms - Notice that the primary shape is actually vertical elements, held in tension by inner rings, while in compression by the outer fabric. For boats, the long elements are tensioned by the inner frames, while compressed by the boat's skin. The skin on frame boat is a vintage dress form lying down. Another predicate you may be tired of me mentioning is in the lightweight backpacking world. Look at ultralight tents. The form of the tent is nominally shaped by tensioning TINY lightweight poles that are compressed by a tight and lightweight outer fabric. You are making an ultralight tent or skin on frame boat, but with higher order shape and are able to accommodate more "poles". I don't know if any of you are backpackers, but I always find it amazing how tiny, flimsy poles and the lightest of fabrics suddenly pop into a robust and stiff form. To me, the tent is a very strong analog, and one that may inspire a 2 pound mannequin that rolls up into nothing larger than a 1l bottle of soda. Forget 35 pounds and a suitcase - that's HUGE - non-started IMO. Be more aspirational! Another example are holiday decorations - look at https://www.walmart.com/ip/Fun-Express-Green-Christmas-Tree-Shaped-Paper-Hanging-Pom-Poms-3-Count/611768876. There are a number of paper products (fans, etc) that store collapsed, but unroll/unfold into a #D shape. But before you say "that's weak - it's paper" or "those are rotationally symmetric!" , I'll challenge you develop a system that can rotate open, yet open up to a non-rotationally symmetric form. It can be done. Shape it when deployed, then unroll it to stow * voila * As far as strength is concerned, sure, tissue paper ain't going to fly, but there are planty of lightweight materials that are "stiff enough", and particularly stiff if held in tension from within and compression from without. Much of this is to say that I think you have the principal axes reversed. Think about vertical elements about an axis of rotation (boats, decorations, dress forms), rather than a horizontal contour map. Regardless, scrutinize the degree of spatial resolution you need. Did I mention tents?
Josh Wiesman
Feedback
Why does the collapsed form need to stack – can it fully nest flat? Do you need the full traditional mannequin body shape – could you create a new shape that accomplishes the same thing, ie, like a valet or embellished hanger with additional features for support? How important is having a case for this product and can that be built into the base design? Lot's of great examples of cases being deployed into stands / support systems - check out conference booth set-ups (cases become table stands). What using a paddle board fabric type design or at least utilizing an inflatable for part of the design (the outer surface or center poll). Do you have the ability to change size for various body types / cloths or does this not matter as much - could this be an accessory type add-on? I would like to better understand the most valued features by the users - are you accomplishing this? Thinking about failure mode analysis - what could go wrong from a design and application perspective? How do you plan to mitigate these failures?