Children's Reading Chair

A modular chair with a bookshelf to encourage reading in young children with a minimalist design.

An Overview

Within this project I explored modularity and ergonomics whilst ensuring the aesthetic appealed to both parents and children, encouraging children to read more & have a positive effect on their development.

The Brief

Design a chair to encourage children to be able to purposefully occupy their time in ways other than with a screen or television. It must be the right size for your target market and be comfortable, appealing aesthetically and fitting in with the environment whether this is in the home, school or outdoors.

The Problem

Parenting in the modern day brings new challenges, with 71% of parents with a child aged 11 or under being concerned that their child spends too much time in front of a screen. It is clear that there needs to be more encouragement of traditional pastimes, especially ones that have a positive impact on children's lives.

The User / Demographic

The user of my reading chair is a child between 6-10 years, the age where I believe reading can have the biggest positive impact on a child's cognitive and emotional development. They enjoy bright colours and interesting shapes, with aesthetics playing an important role in how much the child wants to use the product. However, parents of young children are also targeted as they are the consumers that want to encourage their child to read instead of playing on a tablet or games console.

Research

To ensure my chair fitted the brief, it was essential to ensure that the measurements were based off the right anthropometric data. Therefore I analysed Henry Drefus' research into anthropometric data of children, working out that for an 8 year old child I must measure my chair height to 13’’, seat length to 11.5’’(Upper Leg) and the chair back to 14.5’’. I also conducted some existing product research into different childrens chairs including the IKEA Sundvik chair and interviewed my 8 year old sister.

Design

I explored different ways that children can purposefully occupy themselves, for example I designed a chair with paint pots on either side of the seat and a stool with storage for toys. Through iteration I focused on the importance of children reading books, influenced by my personal love for reading. I decided on the minimalist curved design playing to contour bias and ensuring the child's safety. I then included storage for books to encourage reading. Inspired from existing product research I developed a more sustainable design with a gap in the middle of the chair to save material. In continuing to fine tune my design, I used the CAD software TinkerCAD online to draw up a digital model of my design.

Prototype

To create my prototype I mapped out the shape I wanted on paper to the correct anthropometric measurements and cut out a styrofoam mould on the bandsaw. I then used a steamer to bend flexible plywood around the mould and applied a layer of contact adhesive. After 3 layers of this I put it in a bag press for 24 hours. There was no way the chair would take the weight of a child, as it was collapsing without any weight. Therefore I had to add some support, diverting from my final design but keeping to the curved, minimal style. I drew up a design to the right measurements on 2D design and laser cut the shape, gluing and clamping it in place. I then secured the shelves with dowel joints. To finish, I filled in the gaps in between some of the layers of the wood where it had split off with a wood filler and then varnished the curved part with a statin varnish. I finished by painting the pinesides a bold blue colour to appeal to children and the shelves white to contrast against the colourful books.

Evaluation

Overall I believe my design and prototype met my design brief. The chair is safe, does not have any sharp edges so if the child walks into the chair they will not hurt themselves. The paint and varnish I have used is not toxic or allergenic, it protects animals and has a low VOC content meaning it doesn’t contribute to atmospheric pollution. Furthermore, the chair provides an attractive place for children to sit and read, clearly displaying the reading material and making the chair look colourful. The chair functions well, tested by Hollie aged 8 and her twin brother of similar size, both described it as 'cool'. However they said that it wasn't as comfortable as they thought it should be, suggesting that I could design a cushion to fit in the curve. I wasn't able to fit in as many shelves as I thought I would be able to and there was gapping in between the layers of plywood.