‘Fab’ by Neil Gershenfeld, subtitled ‘The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop - from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication’ has been on my ‘must read’ list ever since I first started thinking about my PhD topic. It seemed to be promising to address a lot of the issues I’m interested in regarding what will happen when consumers gain control of the means of production. As such it was something of a disappointment, concentrating mainly on signs of what is happening now, rather than in-depth implications for the future. I think it’s fair to say that ‘Fab’ was written for the ‘average’ reader rather than anyone working in the area of rapid manufacturing or fabbing. But there is still a lot to commend the book, and no doubt that it’s required reading from one of the earliest pioneers in the field.

Gershenfeld begins by describing a class he runs at MIT entitled “How to make (almost) anything,” which introduces students to CNC machines and rapid prototyping technologies. The enthusiasm with which he describes some of the students’ creations: a backpack which lets the wearer scream into it, a bike which can be built from water-jet cut polycarbonate, or a PC input device for parrots, makes clear the passion he has for the subject. It’s also clear that Gershenfeld sees himself as something of a revolutionary, freeing machines from the ownership of corporations and putting them in the hands of consumers, at the same time opening up opportunities for creativity which do not interest profit driven industries. But this passion also causes him to make assumptions about consumers’ motivations which are questionable and far from proven.

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Following on from my previous post regarding consumers designing their own products, one of the first problems is obviously how consumers will do this. It’s likely that the pioneers will be those who aren’t intimidated by the effort it requires to obtain and then master a 3D CAD package. But given the steep learning curve and the frustrations even experienced designers sometimes encounter when working in CAD, it’s unlikely that any more than a small minority of non-professional designers will be willing to invest the time it takes to become a proficient 3D surfacer.

So starting from the standpoint that helping consumers to design their own products is a worthwhile aim, it becomes important to look at the kind of tools which will enable this. Part of my research will look at developments in CAD software - Google SketchUp, Cosmic Blobs, Teddy etc - and ask whether it will ever be possible to produce stylish products using such ’simple’ tools. But I also want to look at other ways that consumers might be empowered to design products, ways which don’t necessarily imitate the processes that professional industrial designers currently use.

I’ve known about GenoForm, a software package from Genometri, for some time now, since a discussion on Core 77. For the most part it has been presented as a tool for industrial designers, one which allows them to explore design variations, though I think it’s fair to say the reaction on Core 77 was mixed. The main argument against seems to be that generating and filtering design variations is an activity that designers do intuitively, and that GenoForm is a ‘brute force’ method, rather than a creative method, of arriving at the best solution. Nonetheless, it seems to me that an iterative design tool may be valuable to those consumers who lack the skills to design their own product from scratch.

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One of the basic assumptions of my PhD’s hypothesis is that as rapid manufacturing technologies (by which I mean, primarily, 3D printers) become more affordable, and as the quality of parts they produce approaches that of mass manufacturing technologies, consumers will want to start using them. They’ll begin by taking products apart and making their own plastic covers, then sharing or selling the files so that others can recreate their designs. Part of my research is likely to look at what position manufacturers and brands take towards this consumer enthusiasm - do they embrace it or do they try to stamp it out. But assuming that at least some companies are enlightened enough to take the first position, another significant question is how consumers will actually begin to design their own products.

According to Alison Black of the UK Design Council,

“The central premise of user-centred design is that the best designed products and services result from understanding the needs of the people who will use them”

Rather than relying on market research or simply gut feeling, a user-centred design approach requires the designer to engage directly with the consumer, interviewing them about their specific requirements and observing them in situations where a proposed product would likely be used. Other designers have taken this even further, advocating the inclusion of users in the design process, critiquing designs and adding ideas of their own in a sub-category of user-centred design often referred to as consumer co-design.

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Yesterday I took the first step in a project that I’ve been thinking about for a year or so now, which is to custom build a bike. Although this won’t strictly be part of my PhD, I’m hoping the process will tell me a lot about the differences between bespoke design and mass customisation, with the advantage of course of ending up with a really nice (and unique) machine at the end of it.

Whilst most of the parts will be standard or mass customised components, the frame will be hand-built. It’s being made by Mercian Cycles in Derby, and yesterday I met with John Eley, who went through my requirements, measured me up, and explained the options I was unsure about (such as the difference in ride characteristics between straight and curved forks). One of the things that interests me about this project is how much I’m required to learn in order to make the right decisions - on a personal level it interests me because I love bikes and cycling, but in terms of my research I hope to find out how a consumer’s level of expertise might dictate the customisation experience they are offered.

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