Dream House - Design Process: Sharon Goldstein

Sharon Goldstein
Nov 3 · 8 min read

Hi, my name is Sharon Goldstein and I’m a Product & UX designer. Until recently I was employed in an Israeli Playground design company. The company specializes in designing playgrounds, street furniture and public space shading. The factory is located next to Jerusalem, and I started working there after graduating my B.Des. in Hadassah College, Jerusalem.

The company hired an industrial designer only six years ago, following the advice of a corporate consultant, to obtain in-house professional design of its products. Before the designer arrived, the founder of the company was also the designer of the products and did not use computer programs. One of the first products built by A.P., the co-founder of the company, was “My House of Dreams”. Designed for kindergartens, it was a two-floor, house-shaped sheet-metal facility, with a ladder on one side and a slide on the other. It remained A.P.’s favorite facility, as it is very simple to manufacture (requires no welding), built from simple folds of a single sheet (similar to Origami) and does not require a lot of material. It is a very efficient product both in terms of production and both in terms of sales — or so thought A.P.

“My House of Dreams”

During my work I received a task to renew “My House of Dreams“— as the sales declined. The customers stopped showing interest, despite the fact that this was a relatively cheap facility. And why? In my opinion, the main reason was the looks of the product. I was asked to refresh the design, creating a “wow!” effect to boost sales. Meeting the CEO , I was told to “refresh the product so we can sell it to kindergartens. Try to keep the shape as similar as possible to the current one, maybe try to make it a little more open to air- flow, and add some small plastic parts. My House of Dreams is our simplest product to manufacture and has the most value to the company, so it would benefit us to spend some time and refresh it. Remember, though — we don’t want to spend too much time on this, only make small changes”.

I got back to the office and sat in front of my computer. I looked at the design of “My House of Dreams” and thought:

“even if I make it more ventilated and add some plastic butterflies — it will still be boring”.

I decided to start with some hand sketches. It was complex work, as I wanted both to perform the mission as instructed so that everyone would be pleased, and to fulfill the actual goal — boosting the sales. I decided to be courageous and to create a completely new design — the “Dream House by designer Sharon Goldstein”. I wanted to follow my belief to its end, and to create a brand-new, different and special design. If no one likes it — at least I tried; I could always go back to the original design and complement it by adding some ventilation. So I took this path and kept sketching, getting some inspiration from Pinterest. After collecting a set of images, I continued drawing my Dream House. I decided to break the “standard” block shape and design the house with an outer angle to make it more interesting. I then continued with computer sketches in Adobe Illustrator (a vector graphics program) to gain understaning of general plan. I created several views of the design, and used some colors I liked (mostly brown and beige) for added atmosphere. I then moved to the 3D design software SolidWorks. I started “building” the house and went with the flow. The software is not simple, so it is better to start working with it after having some clear, ready designs.

“I decided to let myself get lost in the process, and go where it takes me”

I designed the house’s skeleton, the roof, the windows and the slide entrance. I kept letting the design inspire me, and suddenly thought it would be nice to add a cloud-shaped feature with the words “Dream House”, I sketched it and immediately liked it, especially the Hebrew sign on the facility, which added a special feature, rendering it different from those made abroad, and emphasizeding it is Israeli made. I liked the fact that it now had a name and identity, something that in my opinion is missing in most playground facilities. The name “Dream House” would make children think of their dreams and what they would like to achieve in life, it symbolisms the real dream house of every child and adult.

With the concept of dreams in mind, I decided to add additional elements to stimulate the child’s mind. So I added some butterflies, flowers and grass in the bottom, to blend with the surrounding, and a little mailbox with a sign “make a wish!” so that every child using the facility could dream big.

I can tell that this is not necessarily the right process for every designer, as I started from the general shape of the facility and then continued, adding elements to what I had in hand. But that was the right process for me, and I managed to create what I wanted and even reach more that I expected.

I surprised myself.

The best part of the design process, in my opinion, is the moment when I get to a point that I feel in synergy with my creation-flow that makes me come up with new ideas.

At the beginning, I was clueless and I had no idea how the final design was going to look like, and how I was going to meet the requirements.

Well, I did it! In the end I rendered simulations using SolidWorks Visualize, and added beautiful backgrounds of sky and grass.

I asked my colleague for his opinion about the design; he found it interesting but wasn’t sure whether it met the initial requirements. I was nevertheless surprised with the results and very satisfied of the way I had challenged myself, despite all the worries and concerns I experienced during the process.

I sent the design to the CEO and waited for his opinion. He was unexpectedly surprised of the results! The design was way above what he had imagined and expected. It was then shown to A.P. and to the other decision-makers who were also impressed.

Honestly, I felt surprised of their reaction. I worried that the design might offend A.P. due to the amount of changes I had made to his most favorite product, rendering it completely different from his initial requirements. I am glad that he and the others liked my innovative and refreshing design.

I also felt that I had managed to overcome my creative limits by contributing new ideas of my own.

It is important to emphasize that I actually managed to bring my own imagination into reality.

“It is a facility that will be remembered as designed and marked by Sharon Goldstein”.

Two weeks later, “Dream house” was delivered to the company’s chief engineer for production the prototype was built within one month.

During that time, the salesmen sold “Dream houses” to kindergartens. This made me feel very satisfied and raised my self-confidence.

The entire process and its results proved that I can fulfill my dreams and that I am capable to answer any challenge.

To sum up, the message I want to convey is to always believe in yourself, surprise yourself, challenge yourself, especially at work where we spend much of our time. Try to overcome all the fears and the feelings of disbelief in yourself. Don’t let anyone get in your way, take your own path and don’t be afraid to express your abilities and your views. Always imagine, think of new ideas you could create and bring to reality. Never get bored and always find yourself in development process by reading new articles, learning new tools, and inspire yourself.

Ask yourself every day — which new things could I learn today that would help me in the future?

Learn at least one new thing every day. Always believe that it is better to try than not to try.

Additionally, I believe it is not always necessary to stick to your supervisor’s plans (of course use tact), but rather to stay open-minded during the process and sometimes surprise them with your own input.

Even if you make mistakes on the way, remember that you at least learned something new and enjoyed going your own way.

And your employees would also appreciate your skills your innovation.

I think we always have more potential than what we really think, and always set new goals and bigger challenges.

Watch a short video I made for “Dream house” :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UEv8CdF7zc

As for my next challenge:

After resigning from my employment at the playgrounds company, my new project is to create a whole new playground and facilities under a “dwarf” theme. This is because I love this field.

I never stop working as playground designer

I am looking for new opportunities in Israel or abroad, in the playground field or product design in general. In the meantime I never stop dreaming and challenging myself.

I am working on another idea (to be discussed in another article), which is my biggest dream for now: to develop a whole new product from scratch — a baking game kit for children called “Cookiepod”. I believe in this idea and I plan put most of my efforts and resources in it. I would love to explain more about this product and I am looking for partners and investors that would find interest in it. This product is currently at the first development stage, and I have already sent a prototype to factories in China for price quotes.

The whole process of developing, manufacturing, marketing and selling is my biggest challenge. The progress will teach me so much and only that is worth it.

“Cookiepod” is my big dream and I am going to make it come true

You’re invited to visit my website:

https://sharongoldstiondesign.squarespace.com/

there you can find my works in many fields.

Contact me for any matter on: Sharonagoldi@gmail.com.

Sincerely yours,

Sharon Goldstein

Written by

Product & UX Designer+Playground. Entrepreneurial, dreaming developing “Cookiepod”- a baking kit for kids. You’re invited to visit my website: https://

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