the chair that lives to last.

My role

For this project, I worked with a group of two other design classmates: Emma Levine and Dom Gallo. My responsibilities included interviewing families, researching the market, sketching and ideating, and branding guidelines including logo design and an instruction manual.

  1. Research

2. Sketching and Ideation

This project aimed to conceptualize a new version of a high chair. Our team initiated the project by conducting research, which involved interviewing three families with young children, as well as reviewing feedback on the most popular high chairs currently available in the market. Based on our research, we concluded that our high chair design would be both furniture-like in appearance and feature-rich in functionality as this is where we found gaps and needs for our product.

High Chair Mode

I knew sustainability was a crucial aspect for us and I thought of how we could incorporate sustainability, aside from the material used for the chair. Keeping this in mind, I came up with the idea of a high chair design that transforms into a step stool. This product would utilize all the pieces in both configurations, thereby reducing waste.

Sustainability was a top priority for us, as we sought to create a long-lasting product that could serve beyond the typical couple of years of a child’s high chair usage.

3. Prototyping

4. Final Concept

Stool Mode

When we began prototyping, we aimed to give the high chair’s front an angled design for both practical and aesthetic purposes. However, the angle resulted in difficulty in ensuring all parts were utilized in one of the modes, as evident in the photos to the right. As sustainability was our priority, we wanted to avoid any leftover parts.

Moreover, the angled design necessitated complete disassembly and reassembly by the user. To gain a better understanding, we created a 3D model and discovered that maintaining the angle in the front legs and avoiding leftover parts was unfeasible. Thus, we eliminated the angle from the lower half, simplifying the mode-changing process and eliminating any leftover pieces.

  • White Oak

  • White Walnut

  • Black Oak

  • Black Walnut

  • Blue Oak

  • Green Oak

  • Purple Oak

5. Packaging and Branding

Layout Flat Plan

Branding Language

Packaging

Instruction Manual

Our group decided to make the logo mimic a butterfly. The company is called“ BB” which we included in our logo and we added antennas to execute the idea. The meaning behind the butterfly alludes to the whole idea of transformation. Transformation is a theme in our design as the high chair is intended to eventually transform into a high stool. The product transforms as the child does as well.