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Industrial Design Student Work: A Measuring System for Festool

Some constructive criticism for a construction tool

By Rain Noe - March 25

in design.edu | Tools & Craft

This project is by Ziyan Huang, an Industrial Design Masters candidate at Germany's Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences. Huang's Cursor Measurement Tool is a proposal for project sponsor Festool. The tool is intended to make it easier for tradespeople to transfer dimensions from blueprints onto the real-world spaces they're building or installing within.

Sadly there is no descriptive copy accompanying the project, beyond what we've stated above. But we can see that the system consists of two units. Aside from the fact that they're connected by a tether, the forms signal their pairing; the shorter unit has a crescent-shaped chunk carved out of it that mirrors the convex form of the taller unit.

An internal mechanism is presumably calibrated to determine the distance between the smaller unit and the corner-like cursor on the taller unit. Furthermore, the taller unit has an angled screen atop it.

The device is nifty, but I do have two pieces of constructive criticism about the design. The first is that the screen is angled, in my opinion, in the wrong direction. If a tradesperson is supposed to set a measurement using the devices, then make a mark at the corner cursor, why isn't the screen angled towards the cursor? It doesn't make sense to me that the operator should have to move from their marking position in order to confirm the dimension.

My second criticism is that the Modernist forms, don't match Festool's established design language, which eschews pure geometric shapes for more functional, ergonomics-based forms. Simply applying the brand's colors and logos does not close this gap for me.

This project was executed under professor Jan Bäse and with the cooperation of Festool.

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Ben Engel

2 days ago

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This is clearly designed for countertop measuring. It would be in direct competition of Leica
https://shop.leica-geosystems.com/measurement-tools/3d-disto/blog/video/leica-3d-disto-countertop-digital-templating
These are priceless for stone installation or any other templated operation that requires CNC. If you have never run a CNC to match a hand template these save immense amounts of time and are highly accurate. Inside dimensions are typically taken with a laser nowadays as cabinetmakers, or the old measure and mark 10 inches, then measure form the other side up to the previous mark.

This looks like a good design, I would recommend an attachment for a suction cup as well as tripod.

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Einar Blixhavn

2 days ago

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What can this do, that a measure tape, or a Swedish style folding ruler can't do?

This thing is not intuitive to use, maybe not able to measure internal dimensions, will eventually create electronic waste, got a screen that can be smashed if it falls on the floor, might have calibration issues, and by appearance has a string that can get tangled or break. I could see it being used in a workshop, but not on a building site.

I also agree, that as a styling exercise for an industrial design course, the design has no relevance to the festiol aesthetic.

But having said this, I think improving on existing tape measure and folding ruler, and laser measure, is virtually impossible.

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- Roger ak
  
  Einar Blixhavn
  
  2 days ago
  
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  Internal dimensions? You would have to clamp that base somehow with that clamp and then somehow measure...
  without seeing how the designer intended it to be used, it is hard to judge if this is a solution to a problem or a solution LOOKING for a problem.
  
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Anthony Towers

2 days ago

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I don't understand what its used for‽

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