Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
After discussing our sketch model with Professor Spenko, we realized that this product had to be very user-friendly. We zeroed in on three things to improve on for the next prototype.
- Five compartments is too many. The next iteration will have two shelves: a bottom one that slides in and out, and a top one that goes up and down.
- A casual user will not counterweight the pulley system correctly. We will need a built in rope lock that is available at any height, perhaps a rope cleat.
- The top shelf jiggles a lot when it goes up and down. We will need to add drawer glides on the back to guide it on a single path.
We took all of these into consideration when we built our critical function model.