Created By “The Design Bored”Wes Burdett, Edward Dan, Matt Naples, Brian

Werneke

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Presents...

PDI Design Studio II

Spring 2006

The Project• To create a gift for RPI to give to:

– Alumni– Campus Visitors– Potential Benefactors– Current Students– Prospective Students– Accepted Students– Incoming Students

What is a gift?Gift (gĭft) n.

1. Something that is bestowed voluntarily and without compensation.

2. The act, right, or power of giving. 3. A talent, endowment, aptitude, or

inclination.

Giving Gifts• What are gifts for?• What do people think when they get

gifts?• What do we want them to think?• What are some of the aspects of RPI

that the institute tries to convey with its gifts?

Design Considerations

• Target Customer• Functionality• Manufacturability• Aesthetics• Fun: For us and them

The Gift: ‘Designers of the World’

A Board Game• A game provides a tricky but not

impossible challenge for manufacturing

• Aimed at students; incoming or accepted

• We like board games– Fun for us so fun for you

The Choices• Music Box

– Aimed at Alumni and Potential Benefactors

– Something aesthetically pleasing with a function

• Board Game– Aimed at students;

incoming or accepted– Fun for us and fun for

you

1. Music Box2. Playing cards3. Hand-held

Hockey Game4. Shake-up LED

Keychain5. Pool Cue

Benefits of A Board Game

• A good alternative to video games; enables physical and social interaction

• Provides structured contact between people looking to make new friends

• Not something you remember to bring to school with you

• It’s something that’s suitable for everyone, and is also useful outside of school at home

Which board game do we choose?

• We wanted not just any ordinary board game that everyone knows how to play

• Challenging strategic game that requires thinking

• Many opportunities to add in our own features

• Meet our objectives as a gift• It has to be FUN!

Our Game• Based on the board game ‘Settlers of

Catan’• Customized to be an RPI-based game• Also promotes the field of design• Teaches about RPI’s past innovations

Game Setup• The game board consists

of tiles laid out in either the initial setup or randomly– Resource tiles are in the

center surrounded by the research connections i.e. RPI and the world around it

• Markers designate a number for each tile

• Each player starts with two products and two pathways

Game Rules• The object of the game is to

collect 10 victory points– To gain points you can

collect Development Cards– Build Products, Businesses,

and Pathways– Get the Longest Pathway, or

Largest Design Team• Building requires first

collecting resources, which depends on the dice roll of each player and their positions on the board– Hint: The more you build

the more resources you can get!

• Players are also encouraged to trade their resources through a variety of options

Getting Outside Input• We believe that obtaining opinions

from the future users will be crucial to the project

– 98% of the people enjoy board games– 50% believed they wouldn’t have brought a board game

to school– 38% of the people said that the game appeared to be

complicated– 88% of the people would enjoy this as a gift– 100% of the people find this game interesting

The Design Process & Challenges

• The Game Concept– The RPI Campus and/or

Troy– Schools of RPI– Facets of Design

• The Name– The Engineers of RPI– Designers of the World

• The Image– Classic RPI of 1824– Cutting Edge RPI– The RPI Family

• The Pieces, Cards, & Pictures– Redesigns dependent upon

game concept. Either way, there are A LOT of components to design

– We needed to represent visually our intentions for what we wanted the game to convey

• How to make the Tiles– Single color tiles– Sticker

• The Box– Traditional– Innovative Shape & Image

Manufacturability

• 280 pieces but most of them are the same– Businesses and Pathways cut from stock– Products and Bursar injection molded– Cards and dice purchased– Tiles precision cut from a sheet of

chipboard with a sticker on top– Game container obtained for free from

Caplugs

Design Elements (Resources)

• Sustainability

• Economics

• Technical Feasibility

• Social Responsibility

• Education

• Development Cards– Patent Cards, Progress

Cards, & Design Teams

The Cards• Resource Cards

Game PiecesBusinesses

Pathways

The Bursar

Markers

Products

11..G

.75” .50”

.375”

.50”

.75”

1.00” .125”

.125”

.50”

.75”

The Box

The Final ProductOur Model

Thank YouThank YouEnjoy playing “Designer’s of the World”