Year 9 & 10 Digital Design

Towards the end of last term, we began to work on a new design brief - fidget toys. We had to make something that moved, or rotated, or had a texture, anything that could be fidgeted with. We were given a lot of creative freedom, but we also had to study fidget toys that are currently used on a worldwide scale, and then justify why our designs were considered fidget toys. The main software that we used was to 3d print, but we could also use ball bearings, magnets, and the like, in the final design, although, not everyone did. We completed visualisations and design options to finalise the design and work out any major design flaws before working online. Then, we spend time creating and adjusting our varying designs. Some people spent longer on this stage because they had more intricate designs, but each one had some aspect of the design brief – to design a fidget toy. Using Onshape, we could create ‘Working Drawings’ – scaled plans that contain locations, sizes, and materials for various parts. Then, we began to 3d print the designs. Some worked the first time, others needed minor changes, but, eventually, there was a collection of fidget toys that needed to be displayed. So, we turned to laser cutting, and we created stands for the fidget toys out of cardboard, so that the stands could be individual from the fidget toys. Then, at last, our designs could be displayed in one of the display cases in the B-block. 

Words by Heidi Anson. 

Featured works by: 

Luca Alcock Hall                      Jojo Whittle                      Gus Hoyle-Howell           Ryu Holzer 

Humphrey Miller              Jake Akkerman                   Leo Li                                  Heidi Anson