ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING | PROTOTYPING
FSRCOREME N TO HAND Producing incredibly realistic product models is now fast and
easy for designers, as one industrial design company has shown.
Good product design is
hard to de ne, but most
people know it when they
see it. The role of a product
designer is to outline a concept and
bring it to life, making sure that the
idea in their head not only works
correctly, but is user-friendly and
aesthetically pleasing. It’s a dif cult
process to get right, but Priority
Designs is a proven leader in the
design consultancy space.
Priority Designs is an industrial
design consultancy based in
Columbus, Ohio. The team works
with clients to help build “pretty much
anything they need,” as prototype
specialist Billy Rupe puts it. The
company sees product design as a
form of problem solving, and its role
is to nd solutions for customers,
creating products that are simpler to
manufacture, easier to use, and just
work better.
“Product design is about putting
the users rst – we’re trying to create
something that makes their life
easier, and a little bit more seamless,”
explained Industrial Designer Emily
Stokes. Priority Designs combines a
cross-functional team with modern
prototyping tools and a true passion
for design, which means it can help
clients at every stage of the design
process.
One of those prototyping tools
includes additive manufacturing –
and recently, PolyJet Technology
from Stratasys. When the team got
the most recent PolyJet 3D printer, the
of ce-friendly J55, they knew it would
transform their prototyping process.
This process typically involves a
range of tools, especially at the initial
ideation step – the team relies on penandpaper
sketches, digital renders,
and Photoshop images to collaborate
and get their ideas across.
The full-colour, multi-material
Stratasys 3D printers and the latest
version of KeyShot from Luxion
both now support the new 3MF le
format, a signi cant improvement
over legacy STL, OBJ, and VRML
les. By saving designs to 3MF,
KeyShot 10 produces les ready for
printing, with accurate colours and
bump/displacement maps to threedimensionally
simulate textures
like fabric and wood. Additional
enhancements are planned for
2021.
“We try to get a broader group
together and quickly create designs
that we pin up on a board,” explained
Ludwin Mora, senior industrial
designer at Priority Designs. “And
we all talk about it. We all explain
it. I think one of the things that
make Priority Designs special is
that everybody has an opportunity
to present their work.” The team
often works on a tight schedule for
clients, and they’re used to pivoting
or backtracking during the design
process as they receive more
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