Embracing Material Surface Imperfections in Product Design_Pedgley et al 2018.pdf (3.77 MB)
Embracing material surface imperfections in product design
journal contribution
posted on 2019-01-17, 09:46 authored by Owain F. Pedgley, Bahar Sener, Debra LilleyDebra Lilley, Ben BridgensImperfection is not a usual aim within the context of industrialized product design. Under general norms, products are manufactured as
clones of a ‘perfect’ original and product surfaces are prized for their ‘perfect’ flawless state. The mass production of products against
these principles seems counterintuitive. Yet within the world of materials, and especially considering material surfaces, imperfection is
widespread. This research set out to identify and scrutinize circumstances when material imperfection in products is appreciated, from
mass manufacture to artisan practices. By synthesizing literature with analyses of material and product samples, five sources of surface
imperfections are characterized: inherent material properties, production effects, workmanship of risk, planned and foreseen events, and
everyday wear and tear. Following this, a research-focused concept design project is reported, leading to eleven product designs that
exemplify how to design for, and with, imperfect material surfaces. A significant challenge facing designers is one of persuasion: of
designing products where imperfect material surfaces are regarded as contributing to rather than detracting from product value. To this
end, the paper culminates in a visual guide to embracing material surface imperfections in design practice.
Funding
The authors would also like to thank the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) who provided funding for parts of the reported work through the Closed Loop Emotionally Valuable E-waste Recovery (CLEVER) project (EP/K026380/1).
History
School
- Design
Published in
International Journal of DesignVolume
12Issue
3Pages
21 - 33Citation
PEDGLEY, O.F. ... et al., 2018. Embracing material surface imperfections in product design. International Journal of Design, 12(3), pp. 21 - 33.Publisher
© The Authors. Published by the International Journal of DesignVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/Acceptance date
2018-05-30Publication date
2018-12-01Notes
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by the International Journal of Design under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ISSN
1991-3761eISSN
1994-036XPublisher version
Language
- en