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[News and Stories by Geiko’s student] Undergraduate Exhibition & Poster Session: Industrial Design Course

The Industrial Design Course, School of Design fosters designers and researchers in general, including creators, planners, and engineers, who understand various aspects of human characteristics based on their connection with society to create safe, secure, and attractive “products,” “living environments,” “services,” and “social systems” equipped with a new bird’s-eye view from the consumer’s perspective. The curriculum is designed based on a core of creative design and ergonomics, which are the specialization foundation for a wide range of theories and practices and can be structured according to the interests and aspirations of students.

In the Industrial Course Graduation Exhibition, students who belong to the Creative Design Laboratory exhibit their works, while students who belong to the Ergonomics Laboratory exhibit their research results in the form of posters.

This year, as in previous years, a wide variety of unique research was exhibited. In the creative design section, there are new proposals on a new Buddhist altar, a board game to train finger dexterity, a chair design based on the theme of paintings, research on a new umbrella structure, etc. In the ergonomics section, there is research on lower limb muscle activity during toe walking, on patients with eating disorders using fMRI, etc.

Some detailed examples of the projects are as follows:

Toys that Utilize Toddlers’ Figurative Play
Makoto Morisaki of Akita Laboratory focused on the imaginative play of young children and created several wooden toys that enable multiple imaginative play with a single toy. Research and verification of the creations were conducted with the cooperation of the Fukuoka Toy Museum. The toys are also expected to help parents learn how to play with their toddlers and encourage comfortable communication even when the toys are not in use.

Influence of the Ryushi Grip on Table Tennis Beginners’ Forehand Hitting
Ryushi Kumamoto of Ping Laboratory thought that it was necessary for table tennis beginners to master the forehand grip in order to have stable forehand rallies. He created the “Ryushi Grip” to guide the player to the forehand grip and verified its effectiveness. As a result, when the Ryushi grip was used, the success rate of sending the ball to the target position by hitting with the forehand increased, and stabilization of control was expected.

The works of the Industrial Design course students are extremely varied, but all seem to have one thing in common: an interest in humans. They all share the same starting point, wondering why do people behave like this, why do people think and feel like this, and how can human life be enriched? After graduation, some of the fourth-year undergraduate students in the Industrial Design Course go on to graduate school, while others find employment in a variety of fields. They will be able to use their interest in people and their experience in creating in any field they choose, and their works will have a great impact on our society.



About the Writer
I am a master’s student. I’m Japanese, but I really love foreign cultures, especially Chinese culture. It’s fun for me to hear the stories from international students because it broadens my horizons. If you also become a Geiko student, you can expand your creativity as well as your international horizons.
Why don’t you join us? We are waiting for you!

Megumi Hasegawa
Graduate School of Design
Human Life Design and Science Course