Högskolan i Skövde

This project analyzes the impact on how today's small living spaces affect young people and why they don’t read. The objective was to design a reading furniture collection for reduced households addressing its main needs: a comfortable seat, adequate lighting, and a stand or store for books. Research was made about small living spaces, reading habits, and home distractions to better acknowledge the problem. A pre-study, including market research, interviews, surveys, personas, scenario, and list of requirements, was conducted to discover user preferences. Based on these insights, specifications for the collection were specified and the phase of concept generation began. In the ideation part, all the information was gathered and separated into two products for the collection: an armchair with storage and a bookshelf with an integrated lamp and table. Two design methods, divergent and convergent, were used with some iterations for the concept generation and selection to support a user centered design collection. When the final concepts were selected, the development phase proceeded with material selection, analysis of structural forces, prototyping, and user testing to evaluate the effectiveness of both products and inform future improvements. Also, sustainability considerations, including Life Cycle Assessment, were integrated during all the phases of the design processes. Finally, it is important to note that the collaboration with the company SalomStudio was essential during all stages of the process, providing valuable inputs, support and help to successfully finish the collection.