The complex nature behind simple products isn’t always as obvious as you might think, especially when it comes to the world’s first hot chocolate shaker!
Callum Taylor discusses why designers use product rendering to create inspiring imagery and compelling stories, and shares some top tips for using KeyShot.
Sustainable Transport
Concept Design
Rendering & Visualisation
Sector: Sustainable Transport
The Electric Aviation Group (EAG) needed an aerodynamically feasible concept visualisation that was both technically viable and compelling enough to help secure major investment for HERA – the world’s first zero-emissions aircraft for short-haul regional flights.
The concept designs have been instrumental in communicating EAG as a company with expertise and patents to a credible aircraft manufacturer. They have since secured high profile meetings with the UK Government and attracted interest from leading industry partners to form their Jet Zero Consortium.
Developing sustainable air travel is one of the most urgent and difficult challenges facing aviation. There is growing pressure on the major aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus to respond with meaningful innovation. But as with Tesla in the car industry, new players like Electric Aviation Group (EAG) are needed to truly disrupt the status quo. EAG has been innovating across the whole aircraft system to come up with a comprehensive package of technologies that collectively form the basis of their concept Hybrid Electric Regional Aircraft (HERA). It is the first aircraft design of its kind to be able to carry 70+ passengers on short-haul regional journeys. It includes over twenty patents covering technologies such as mixed gas turbine and electric power, energy recovery on landing and fast recovery battery systems with aerodynamically lower drag features. Their next-stage challenge is raising the funds to develop a HERA demonstration. To do this they needed compelling visuals to share the vision and business potential to investors. It had to be inspiring, but more than just good-looking pictures. It had to grab attention but withstand scrutiny. The real challenge was that not only did EAG need imagery, they hadn’t yet designed the full concept and Realise needed to design a viable structure for the aircraft body.Introducing HERA – a possibility that needed a body
Being able to talk the right technical language in any project is important, but it is crucial to having productive conversations in highly technical situations. The team at Realise includes mechanical engineers as well as product designers. And with a background in Naval Architecture, our founder, Andrew Redman, understands hydro and aero-dynamics – his grandfather was one of the first navy pilots to fly off a ship and helped organise the first flight over Everest. With this expertise, we were quickly able to model design options around the arrangements of EAG technology and the aerodynamics of stability and drag factors. For example, four different tail fin designs were analysed for efficiency as well as aesthetic, with the ‘U-tail’ being selected. The U-tail took inspiration from the way nature has evolved bird tails, simplifying it into just two main horizontal stabilisers that reduce the tip vortex drag and reduce the area of a wing needed for flight.
Once the final aircraft concept was agreed, we needed to convey it as both inspirational and industry-ready. Competitor analysis clearly showed that ‘white striped planes’ on blue skies was the over-riding norm. HERA needed to be accepted as credible, but also to stand-out and incorporate the EAG liveries. Somewhat like dressing a fashion model, we had to create a luxury and contemporary look whilst enhancing HERA’s unique shape. At the same time, we reviewed sky scene images to find the right one as we sketched and storyboarded to present HERA at its very best in CAD renders and highly polished Photoshop images. EAG received exactly what they hoped for, and more, with the final images being instrumental to communicating the potential in HERA, and elevating EAG from a company with expertise and patents, to being a viable manufacturer of future aircraft solutions.
An additional benefit of our CAD designs is being able to create new images quickly for tailored pitches that present HERA to investment partners in their own custom livery. For example, ahead of the 2020 Farnborough International Airshow, the UK Government announced the Jet Zero Council – a coalition of Ministers, businesses, trade bodies and environmental groups working to align the aviation sector with the 2050 net-zero carbon target. At EAG’s request, we visualised HERA emblazoned with the British flag, reinforcing the potential to support the UK’s ambitions. This has helped secure high profile meetings, and attract leading industry players such as GE Aviation to EAG’s own consortium of expert partners.
With a team that loves to travel but is equally concerned about Climate Change, Realise are excited to be building a positive relationship with EAG, and together using our creativity and knowledge for a truly meaningful contribution towards a sustainable future.
Working with a new start-up and innovative disruptor, Realise have designed a hybrid-electric aircraft to force a much needed change in the aircraft industry.
The World’s first Hot Chocolate Shaker
Design For Manufacture
User Centred Design
FDA Food Rating
Sector: Consumer products
Design a versatile home/cafe barista tool to shake up the hot chocolate market!
Al Garnsworthy of The Chocolate Society discovered that by shaking up quality chocolate and not just stirring it, you can create an ultra smooth and exceptionally tasty hot chocolate drink. The only problem with this method is the spray of hot liquid when you open your container.
Not to be deterred and identifying a great opportunity to expand his existing product line, Al asked us to join him in his onsite kitchen in Somerset where we very willingly tried his experimental new hot chocolate drinks.
Think cocktail shakers! Think theatre! Think of the best hot chocolate ever! Seeking an easy to use, easy to clean and most importantly fun container that was more James Bond than the local corner shop, Al had found it and he wanted to bring it to his customers.
As exceptional Chocolatiers based in rural countryside, the company had already established itself with an enviable reputation as producers of fresh chocolate truffles, caramels and chocolate bars. Taking the next steps in their business with a physical product would help elevate their market position further.
Recognising a key challenge for designing a vessel to contain hot drinks was the necessity of overcoming the expansion of hot air and increased pressure, especially during shaking and Al sought the expertise of the Realise Team.
Several design routes were explored on paper, thinking through the various mechanisms that could be used to combat the main issue of increased pressure within the vessel, as well as many aesthetic directions to find the perfect fit for The Chocolate Society’s brand.
Exploring a cap that would automatically ‘pop’ to accommodate the expansion of air when shaking hot liquid, the team calculated the increase in air volume required (driven by guideline fill levels) to ensure that all designs were feasible from the outset. Coupled with identifying a suitable silicon material, Santoprene TPR, offered the required flexibility, repeatability and thermal resistance properties early on in the development process to ensure performance risks were minimised quickly.
Seeking a modern and premium looking product that was also safe to use was also high on requirements list.
Replicating double-walled glass in food-grade Tritan plastic the team created a design that utilises a natural air gap that prevents the container getting too hot or cold. This also allows the user to still see the contents internally without the obstruction of a silicon grip or heat shield, and minimise the number of parts to be assembled.
Producing a number of prototypes internally proved critical, allowing the team to continuously test the performance of the product throughout its development, looking specifically at pouring, expansion of the vessel, heat transfer and thread performance. Keeping an eye on manufacture costs was essential to The Chocolate Society to ensure that it was not only a viable product to manufacture, but also cost sensitive to the end customer.
These iterative prototypes also enabled the opportunity to have early conversations with manufacturing partners to address costs and design improvements. Ensuring that the product functioned as expected before the customer invested in higher cost visual aids and high end prototypes for investor pitches and user testing also reduces project risk.
As with all of our projects, Al and the team at The Chocolate Society were kept in close collaboration throughout the whole product development cycle.
This was to ensure that they remained in control of the direction of the end product, whilst at the same time we were able to share our own knowledge to ensure the best outcome for their business. This also included advice for their Kickstarter campaign which ultimately gained the backing of over 1600 people.
On completion of all final prototype testing and agreeing the correct material selection in accordance with FDA Approvals, Realise generated all required technical documentation for the shakers two part enclosure, ready for handover to the selected manufacturer.
It was very important to The Chocolate Society to keep manufacture within the UK. Although this comes at an increased price point, it meant that Al and the Team were much more involved in the manufacturing process and could therefore personally inspect first-off parts much more easily than with an overseas manufacturer.
Initially, final production involves a lot of process optimisation to begin producing parts of an ideal quality. Sometimes tooling modifications are also required to reach a perfect functional/aesthetic blend, an area that Realise is an expert in.
Realise have the ability to introduce customers to manufacturing partners and oversee production runs and in this case the product was ultimately injection moulded by a company in the South of England.
The Hot Chocolate Shaker has gone on to become a big success at The Chocolate Society, winning rave reviews in the media and online.
So what are you waiting for, head on over to their website and then throw in your favourite chocolate bar, and maybe a cheeky tipple and give it a shake!
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Realise chats with founder and CTO of Finish Line Product Development Services to discuss conceptual design in product development.
