PicturePeace: Finding zen
Updated: 5 days ago
Most desk accessories ask for your attention. We wanted to build one that gave some back.
The Manufacturing Prototype event asks you to design and build a product that could actually be manufactured. Our team started with a number: around 83% of US workers feel stressed at work. People spend all day at a screen, and when they want a moment of calm, a lot of them glance at a photo of someone they love.
So we combined the two. Picture Peace is a picture frame with a tiny zen garden built into the base. The photo goes in the top. When life gets loud, you drag a little rake through the sand for thirty seconds.
We 3D printed the frame and hinge in PLA plastic and laser cut the acrylic that holds the photo. It fits together with no glue, which kept the cost down. It's two-sided, so you can show two photos, and it stands at whatever angle you want.
Testing taught us more than the design phase did. Sand turns out to be a materials problem. Too coarse and the lines look messy. Too fine and it ends up everywhere. We tried several kinds before we found one that held a pattern. We also set the frame on different surfaces to make sure it didn't tip, and adjusted the depth of the garden so it was usable without making the whole thing bulky.
Not everyone on the team knew CAD going in. The people who did walked the rest of us through it.
Final cost to make one: $3.35.
