Desks are an essential part of furniture needed in most environments. There exist many designs that address several customer needs. Thus, in my view, some needs can be better addressed by revisiting and revising existing designs, using an engineering approach. Let us consider a student desk in our university. There are different designs, but the one chosen for scrutiny is not comfortable for taller people or those with heavier frames. There is significant scope for improvement in ergonomics, with attention to students' arm, leg, torso, etc., dimensions. 

I will start with a student survey to determine which needs are most significant, using a Likert scale (1-5). This information will drive my quality function deployment tool, which will generate ratings for ‘how various needs can be addressed’. The tool will provide tasks related to engineering design in the areas of 1. Structural analysis, 2. Kinesiology, 3. Ergonomics, and 4. Safety and Reliability. These will be addressed using the engineering design process. Each of these tasks calls for specific design methodologies, and there will be a need to “synthesize” the recommendations or results from each pathway into one final design. I will create at least two variations that will be prototyped using SolidWorks.