04
GETTING STARTED
WITH DESIGN
This chapter introduces the many kinds of thinking involved in the design
process, by taking you through the steps of designing a very simple bench
with AtFAB joinery. While showing key steps and decisions in a design pro-
cess, this exercise will also familiarize you with how to work within AtFAB’s
organized system of joinery, structures, programs, and assemblies. AtFAB
was always intended as a starting point for design, which we or anyone
could take further. After completing the bench, you’ll have the skills to
modify the projects in this book and enough knowledge to start designing
completely new pieces that suit your own needs.
When we designed each new piece of AtFAB
furniture, we didn’t literally start with the snig-
let and work our way up. Rather, we looked to a
particular need or use, like the need for a
sturdy worktable or enclosed storage, and
designed a piece to fulfill that need. To stream-
line our decisions, we worked within the AtFAB
system, which had already figured out the hard
stuff like joinery, structures, materials, and fab-
rication. Instead of constraining, a system frees
you up to focus the design process on elegantly
integrating functional needs with form, details,
and proportions.
This chapter uses techniques with SketchUp to
design an object in three dimensions, which will
be fabricated as flat 2D parts, and then cut and
assembled. You’ll create a basic 3D model for a
bench, with integrated CNC joinery. While guid-
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