Dinner Chair for Children : A highchair to bring along and grow with - From idea to product concept

Sammanfattning: The demand for well-adjusted and useable children´s products increase in conjunction with the interest of children’s environment and understanding for how their needs differ from adults. Even if the market has increased the last years an absence still can be perceived of a children’s highchair which is fit for children from six months of age till five years, and at the same time both transportable and aesthetic. Therefore, this project will consider the development of a children’s highchair which fulfils these functions, as well as answer the issue if it is possible to design a chair that meets the parents of today needs and at the same time fulfil the requirements of the Swedish Institute of Standards, SIS, when it comes to children’s highchairs. The project has followed a general product development process where the projects initial phase concludes problem analysis and data collection, followed by an idea generating phase and concept development before visualising the concept. The data collection provided a steady basis to proceed from, including a clarification of external requirements, like SIS, after which the market demands could be defined. The theories of for example aesthetics, usability, and anthropometry were investigated and of help during the development, due to their guidance in how the chair ought to be designed to fulfil the requirements as far as possible. Methods as analogies and brainwriting were used during the concept development, as well as decision matrix and selection chart to the weighting and selection between the different solutions. In the beginning of the concept development phase focus was of functions and how the different adjustments and the transformation of the format should be able to be solved. Between the seven solutions clusters that were in the start, a few were sorted out and further developed with a focus of form. It was an iterative process which switched between the drawing table and computer modelling. The concepts that emerged were a consolidation where the most appreciated properties, shapes, and functions were taken advantage of. After some processing it resulted in the final concept where both form and function had been combined in an adjustable children’s highchair which is foldable to a hand luggage size. The chair consists of two main parts: the base and the top, which changes the seat high by adjusting them relatively each other. The seat depth is adjusted by adding respectively removing an extension part. To ensure the chair’s steadiness it was equipped with extendable floor support. There are good opportunities in fulfilling both the requirements of SIS and the user needs, but to be able to answer the question with certainty a further development is needed, including definitions of controls, construction, and materials, and that strength calculations are made.