Department of Creative Design EngineeringU.CUBE is an educational toy in the form of a cube that puts a ball at the entrance of the block and sets the maze to pull the ball out of the exit on the opposite side. U.CUB is a rare case of successful start-up and entry into the market after the concept was developed in the undergraduate industrial design curriculum. This paper deals with the characteristics of the design process of U.CUBE's success stories and the factors that made it possible to commercialize U.CUBE in educational environments. The characteristics of U.CUBE's design process are explained in detail as it is by comparing the process of U.CUBE development with existing design processes. The success factors of U.CUBE were derived by analyzing the system and characteristics of the existing curriculum specialized for start-up. This paper is intended to provide guidelines for junior design students to develop and commercialize their designs during the degree program. Also, design educators wanted to serve as reference materials when introducing curriculum aimed at starting and commercializing design.
First, the product development process of U.CUBE can be divided into three stages: 'concept design', 'detailed design and test' and 'design for mold and production'. The concept design phase can be further subdivided into three phases: idea generation phase, idea development phase, and idea verification phase. The detailed design and test phases can be subdivided into detailed design stages that take into account initial detailed design, detailed design for usability improvement, and manufacturing. Finally, the design stages for mold and production can be divided into preparation stages, five mold modifications, and the injection process to set final production quality limits.
This U.CUBE development process is conducted by the students of industrial design during the degree program, and they have similarities and differences with the existing product development and design process. In terms of the overall product development stage and the tasks performed, they are similar to Ulrich's proposed process, but due to the nature of the start-up company with a small workforce, it was not possible to conduct several tasks simultaneously. Compared to the Lean Startup Process, we pursued an improvement process that quickly and effectively reflected user feedback through rapid prototyping and testing, but the cost of prototyping was not high enough. Instead, various methods that can be effectively used in the design development process such as experts or exhibitions were used as verification means. In the detailed design and test phase, the method introduced in Ullman's The Mechanical Design Process was used like Parametric Design. Although the Double Diamond Design Process was used to derive the initial idea of U.CUBE, there was little practical use in the later stages. This is because of the abstraction of this process, it is difficult to utilize at the stage of detailed design work such as improvement of usability or functionality.
In each development stage of U.CUBE, it was necessary to verify and complete the necessary items for commercialization such as design aesthetics, product performance, usability, merchandise, and marketability. To this end, we listen to opinions on technology and marketability from patent attorneys, feedback from IR pitching, awards from the Reddot Design Award and SPARK Design Award, selected as excellent design and global living products, school graduation exhibitions and Design Korea 2018, Design Korea 2019, Seoul We used verification methods such as user observation and survey at design festival. It was possible to try these methods because they made the best use of the conditions given during the degree course at the Graduate School of Design-Engineering Convergence.
By analyzing the existing curriculum specializing in entrepreneurship and comparing it with the case of U.CUBE, the success factors of U.CUBE's commercialization were found. Among the typical start-up curriculum, MIT's design X was abroad, and in Korea, KAIST's K-school entrepreneurship master's course. First, we analyzed and categorized the specialized entrepreneurship systems provided by the two curricula and the characteristics of these curricula. Based on this, we compared and analyzed how similar things occurred in the development process of U.CUBE. In addition, we analyzed the specifics that appeared only in the development process of U.CUBE. As a result, the success factors of the commercialization of U.CUBE were human factors such as the will of students, the guidance of professors with practical experience, and the use of appropriate external experts. It is essential to say that the equipment and facilities for this were important, and the educational factors were the integration and fusion of the integrated courses and the single courses.
In this paper, we describe the process and the success factors of commercialization from U.CUBE's concept design process to commercialization development and market entry during the master's degree. You can do it. First, by showing how the commercial development process of U.CUBE differs from the general product design and product development process, it can be a guide for future juniors who want to commercialize design during the degree course. After reading this paper, juniors will find that the design process and methods they learn in school may not be the right answer, and they will find that the practice requires the integration of a wide variety of methods. Above all, you will understand not only the theory but the challenge, and within that challenge, your expertise expands. Second, the case of U.CUBE, which has been successfully commercialized in the degree course, will be a good reference material for future design educators to improve the design curriculum aimed at entrepreneurship and commercialization. U.CUBE is a rare case of success in an educational environment that is not specialized in entrepreneurship and commercial development. Therefore, the success factors of U.CUBE's commercialization revealed in this paper can provide a hint about what can be improved in our education to design educational programs that can commercialize the design in the degree program.
Finally, I hope that the development examples of U.CUBE introduced in this paper will be introduced to many juniors and professors so that designers can actively explore ways to develop their products and commercialize them with broader expertise and entrepreneurship.clos
