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UNWIND l Designing for Comfort

UNWIND l Designing for Comfort

Johanna chin
February 20, 2018
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The goal for this project is to design a seating option for collaborative education environments (i.e. Industrial Design Studio, Library, Science Lab, Study Hall, Student Union, etc.). The product should encourage movement and interaction. It should also help the user to rest, lean, perch, lounge, kneel or otherwise sit, while being comfortable, creative, and intuitive.



This design is inspired by people who enjoy working at home, or are most productive in a home-like atmosphere. Some people cannot focus when there are other people around and lots of noise, and there are some people who like working on a bed for comfort. I personally like to work in a private and quite environment like my room where I can work on my bed with my blanket wrapped around me. I find myself more productive and creative working in that kind of environment. Moreover, the design is focused on creating spaces for privacy and collaboration. There are panels around the chair to isolate the user from noises. The chair was designed specifically for the student union space. The student union is a busy place where everyone walks around and talks. With this chair design, people can cut themselves out from others and noisiness, and relax and focus on their work.


First, I quickly sketched the basic form of the chair on a paper. Then, I went straight to Solidworks to play around with the size and form of the chair, and at the same time, adding nice small details to boost up the value of the chair. After I'm satisfied with the 3D model, I rendered it in Keyshot to play around with the color and material.

The audiences like the fact that I stepped outside of the typical collaboration seating box to address changes in the industry, and the simplicity in which I designed everyday problems, like where to stash your bag, was a palate cleanser in today’s world of high-tech gadgets. From this project, I learned that sometimes simplicity is the way to go, and a great design comes with personal struggles or experience. If you can't relate to your own design, how do you expect others to relate to it too?

johanna chin

Hi, my name is Johanna Chin. I was born and raised in Malaysia and Hong Kong, and now living in California. I am passionate about meeting different people and learning different cultures, and using that to create unique products and enhance the user experience. My goal is to create versatile and useful products that the people can rely on. Instead of trying to create good designs, I aim to create products that will improve the life of the people.

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