“More than pink or blue” Eltern-Kind-Design

Ulrike Pier (geb.Lücke)

April / April - 2018

Fachhochschule Potsdam

Description

"STEPS" is an innovative system of a baby-changing unit - simply thought one step further. Your size, your height by free combinability of the boxes. Need-oriented design for parents and children. Safe handling in all development phases of the child. Simple, aesthetic, sustainable, fantasy-stimulating. With just two hand movements, the

What is the Topic?

"More than pink or blue" Parents - Child - Design. This subject matter is not a colour study or a discussion of colour allocation within in context of gender, but rather a metaphor for a lack of innovation and existing monotony in the area of baby changing furniture. "STEPS" is supposed to break this monotony up and create design for parents and children alike. To this end, I have comprehensively analysed the needs of both groups and focused on them during development and implementation.

Why does it look like this?

During idea-generation, I noticed, the variations and the absolutely functional orientation of the rubble-containers. In children's room, storage boxes are used, which often alienate the children from their purpose and integrate them into play. I had the idea to combine appearance and practical characteristics of containers, as well as the principle of order and the possible playful use of storage-boxes and to align the concept of my baby-changing-unit accordingly. For surface-design I decided to use a pattern, characterized by a uniform geometric basic form, experiencing a certain loosening by the arrangement, seeming to be chosen randomly and thus stimulating imagination.

What is special?

The special feature about "STEPS" in contrast to conventional changing chests is that it is functionally adapted to both users, parents and children. You can achieve your individual, optimum height by combining the four basic boxes. The boxes will later be used by children for imaginative play, as seat (with wooden lid) or as painting table in the children's room. To prevent falls, the system implements various safety aspects. The top-segment has a sufficiently large lying-surface and a sloping-edge to "shield" the child. This prevents the barrier from "rolling-over" and encourages the children to remain lying. Due to the practical orifices in the boxes, all the necessary things are reached during diaper-changing without having to open drawers or move away from the open-side of the top-segment. In addition, the height of the tower can be lowered for older diaper-changing children by removing elements in just a few simple steps.

What is new?

New: -the individual determination of the height of the changing unit in 5 cm steps - the possibility of dismantling the combination for age-appropriate use - the pursuit of a new approach beyond the classical "chest of drawers” - the versatile possibility of further use in the children's room - the optical unique selling point through the use of sheet metal and powder coating