Sam Homer Completes MSc Product Design at York St John University 2022/23.

Sam Homer has completed his masters course of product design, he has successfully created an extensive research document that focused on Student Accommodation; This created an compilation of research that lead to the effective use of space and the productivity of students within the home-environment.

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The Final Outcome: The conclusion of the investigation found that students at university are living within smaller spaces and that their inhabitable area needs to accommodate a space for; eating, sleeping and studying. But due to the current working-style of hybrid-working within the majority of industries, it is seen that universities are also adapting to this working-style.

Picture 1: Shows the final product created at a prototype stage. - Person in Picture: Sam Homer

The Solution:

When focusing on the final product it was deemed to become a fully modular and flat-pack design that can be customisable and personalised to the bespoke user. The design consists of; Plywood (CNC Cut) and Bespoke Connectors (3D Printed), this allowed the design to be fully open-sourced and can be distributed for free. The design has been created to give a stronger connection to where the industry is currently projected in the products that are being produced by open-sourcing everything to give users the rights to their products and how to easily repair them and at a cheaper pricing strategy.

Testing:

The testing stage was done through trial periods of six users, where they were given the system for 1-2 Weeks, this allowed for a rigorous testing to be complete and gave a certain level of everyday comfortability with the design. The comments that were received were scored highly positive with remarks of how their storage and working capabilities transformed their clutter small personal rooms to be more dynamic and controlled for their organisational purposes. The other form of testing was done within University Student Accommodation as well to showcase the adaptability of the design to different scenarios and settings.

Final Comment about the Course:

"As I had already undertaken a BA (Hons) Degree in Furniture Design at York St John University, I was highly focused on the impact that furniture makes on people's everyday life. I wanted to spark a new type of discussion in the open-sourced community and to create an innovative approach to home furniture systems, which included storage and home-working spaces."

"This Masters course has allowed me to connect with new industry professional and create a portfolio of work that has backed and verified research conglomerating to my ethos and design philosophy, the way that design has evolved throughout the past century, it is time to start thinking about our conjoining approach to sustainability and it influences in the way we design products, where the impact on open-sourced design is a key to our success." - Sam Homer 2023