Product Design: User-centered Design using Fusion 360

Lunchbox design project: Design Criteria, Ideation, and Rapid Prototyping in Autodesk Fusion 360

This course introduces you to the user-centered design process, a process typically used in product and industrial design. The user-centered design (UCD) process focuses on gaining a deep understanding of who will be using the product throughout all phases of the design and development process from user research & empathy, to defining design criteria, idea generation, prototype development, testing and refinement, and final presentation.

Using Fusion 360 as the 3D CAD/CAM tool to model a lunchbox, you will be able to quickly generate sketches for user review and feedback, streamlining the design iteration process and informing design choices based on user needs.

Concepts covered in this course are

User-center design: user observation and interaction
Modeling: solid modeling and freeform modeling
Sustainable design practices: green material selection, lightweighting, whole systems, and product lifecycle
Collaboration: live design review, sharing design information
Simulation: safety factor, stress and deflection
Visualization: photo-realistic rendering
Documentation: technical drawing, product instructions
Making: 3D printing

Contents Overview

This course contains over 9 lessons outlining the workflow phases and over 1 hour of step-by-step video based instruction and print guide. It's designed for anyone, regardless of experience level, who wishes to learn how to incorporate user based design methodologies and Autodesk Fusion 360 software to develop product designs. Not interested in creating a lunchbox? No worries. The skills taught in this course can be applied to any product design.

This course starts with an overview summarizing the course benefits and the project design goal. Next, the Fusion 360 introduction walks you through downloading the software, navigating the user interface, and key features of the software. A quick practice exercise has you apply these skills by creating and rendering a simple shape in Fusion 360.

The design process starts by observing and documenting user needs and interaction. This is an essential step in developing and finalizing the design criteria for the project.

Using Fusion 360 sketching and modeling tools, you apply both parametric and freeform modeling techniques to design the lunchbox to support your user’s needs. Your design process incorporates sustainable design practices to ensure that you are thinking holistically about material choices, the lifetime of the product, and lightweighting.

You refine your design by 3D printing an initial prototype and utilizing Fusion 360 cloud-based collaboration features for live design review and feedback.

After implementing your design refinements, you complete a simulation on your design for safety, stress and deflection when a force is placed on the lid.

You finish the design process by documenting design and product instructions and by leveraging the cloud to create a photo-realistic render of your design for presentation.

By the end of this course, you will have obtained the skills needed to practice user-centered design methodologies to take a design idea from concept to prototyping and manufacturing using Fusion 360.