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(B) Rethinking Design: Counterintuitive Packaging for Curious Objects
Why would a designer make something deliberately harder to use? For structural engineers and packaging designers, this question feels unnatural. Our instinct is to remove friction, streamline tasks, and optimise for speed. But this assumption hides a deeper problem: we tend to equate ease with improvement. The idea of improvement,…
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(A) Resilient Design: Countermeasures for Containing Objects
Visualise lifting a shipping container. The box resists, flexes, and redistributes force. This is not a simple mechanical exchange but a reciprocal balance: your body applies torque, the container pushes back, and subtle adjustments of posture and grip allow both to settle into alignment. Traditional design treats failure as an…
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The Haptics of Hidden Mazes
Have you ever held a rolling ball maze, tilting the frame to guide a steel bearing through its corridors? Now, imagine playing with this same toy sealed inside an opaque box. The visual map is gone, and the experience shifts instantly from sight to haptic intuition. You no longer see…
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Design Guide: Choosing Between Flute and Cell
When evaluating protective board materials, the question is rarely “Which board is stronger?” Strength is not an absolute property—it is conditional, directional, and dependent on how a material is loaded. A more precise design question is: “What behaviour is required for this application?” Both fluted and cellular (honeycomb) corrugated systems…
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(3) Adherence in Corrugated Performance
Corrugated cardboard is frequently defined by its geometry: flutes, cells, and voids. Yet geometry alone does not dictate performance. A corrugated structure is only as ‘intelligent’ as the surfaces that restrain it and the bonds that unify it. Liners and adhesives are not passive layers; they are the active mechanisms…