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title: 'OUTDATED! PLS SEE THE NEW & CORRECT VERSION ⇢ [HERE](https://treegrid.world/design-brief/)'

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# OUTDATED! PLS SEE THE NEW & CORRECT VERSION ⇢ [HERE](https://treegrid.world/design-brief/)

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<center> OUTDATED ↓  </center>

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# Treegrid Design Brief (FAQ) Vs 0.1

>Hi, welcome to the Treegrid Design Brief Version 0.1. You can navigate to the chapters over there ←. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comment. Just highlight text you want to comment on and a comment box will appear). 

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Treegrid aims to grow as an open system. Designers are invited to contribute parts and products using those parts, license out their products and collect royalties. Here is how contributions are made. 

    
# Preamble 
    

[Treegrid](https://treegrid.world/) wants to grow a powerful collection of universal parts that allow the assembly of ever more consumer products. It enables new forms of collaboration between designers, producers, customers and makers. The goal is **more sustainable production and consumption**. Reuse, repurpose, repair and recycling build the core of new experiences for everyone. 

Treegrid builds a system that finds and favors **multi-use parts**. Like you know it from LEGO® bricks. The same parts (bricks) can be used in many different products (builds).

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This document describes how this currently works. What constraints are in place to spark creativity and build a strong  connection between all Treegrid parts. It is subject to change.  Add your ideas by commenting on sections. 


# Howto → add a product 

Everyone can add a product to the [official TreeGrid product catalog ↗](https://treegrid.world/category/products/). Here is how you do it: 

+ **Design** a product using Treegrid parts. You are done when you have a functional prototpye e.g. a chair that is ready to be sat on and that you have tested. 
+ + You can add **one new part per product.** All other parts need to be part of the [official Treegrid parts catalog ↗](https://treegrid.world/category/parts/). Fasteners like nuts and bolts are not included in the part count. So the challenge is to make use of the universal parts from the catalog. You can also add two new parts if you add two products at the same time that both use the second part. For more info about how to add a part see below “add a part ↓”. 
+ **Publish** your design publicly on the web (for example your own homepage or a maker page) using the Treegrid product post format ↗ (Link soon). **Send the link** to your public post to hello@treegrid.world. Your contribution will be peer reviewed by the board of stewards (see below ↓). Eventually they’ll ask for some tweaks to help you to get your contribution into the catalog. 
+ Your products need to be **different** from other products in the catalog. A small iteration of an existing product might not be enough. Of course you can add a product that is already in the catalog (for example another chair). But with different parts or solutions



# Howto → add a part 

Everbody can add parts to the official [Treegrid parts catalog](https://treegrid.world/category/parts/) ↗. Here is how: 

+ **Publish** your part publicly on the web (for example your own homepage or a maker page) using the Treegrid parts post format ↗ (link follows soon). 
+ New parts can only be introduced as **part of a new product**. See above ↑ “add a product”. 
+ Consider the Treegrid **part design suggestions**. To establish connectability between Treegrid parts a couple of suggestions for your part design and documentation are out there (see below). These are not fixed rules. You can disregard them. But show us how your solution works in the Treegrid solutions building a universal powerful construction system.   

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1. The 30mm TreeGRID. Treegrid is inspired by erector sets. Erector sets follow a grid-system. The holes in all parts have the same distance to allow connectivity between all of them. The Treegrid Grid is based on a 30mm or 3cm distance between the drill holes (or multiples thereof like 60mm, 90mm, 120mm etc. or for small parts half steps toward zero 15mm, 7,5mm …). More about universal grids and the origin of the 3cm Treegrid you can read here (https://mifactori.de/3erlin-Grid/) & here (https://mifactori.de/why-do-we-use-3cm-x-3cm-and-not-the-open-structures-4cm-x-4cm-grid/). 
2. Material independent. Try to come up with parts that can be made from many different materials with simple tools and still work in most products. Treegrid wants to support local materials and enable local manufacturers to plug in to the system with repairs, makes, upgrades and so on. Material independence makes this possible.  
3. Size tolerance. Try to define a tolerance for your part. So give a margin for the size of the part within which it can still work in your product and in other products that already use it. The maximum tolerance to each side is 30mm. Size tolerances make it easier for local manufacturers with simple tools to replicate the part. So the same part might be a bit bigger when it comes out of the factory of one manufacturer then when it comes from another. But both parts still work - they can be swapped between two different products using the same part. Tolerance does not include the size, locations and numbers of holes. 

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[ADD IMAGE: of a big and a small angle node saying → these are 2 different parts]
    
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4. Holes. The number, size and location of holes need to be defined. They make a part. Currently Treegrid favors M4 (4mm), M6 (6mm), M10 (10mm), M16 (16mm) and M20 (20mm) as the steps. Go for these if possible.  

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![](https://i.imgur.com/GRTv4pV.png)

*These are all individual parts. We know that it is possible to modify parts for example by adding holes, enlarging them or cutting parts off. Or that you swap them (for example part 1 and 3 in the image above). And also that you can combine smaller parts into one larger piece. Currently we can’t show this. But eventually we will be able to do it in the future.*


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+ If your part will be accepted and included in the official parts catalog is decided by the **Treegrid board of stewards**. They might suggest tweaks in order to help you to get your part in.

# Board of stewards (Jury of Stewards)

We believe that a system like Treegrid envisions it is impossible to determine in every detail. You can’t come up with a set of rules that will make every decision clear upfront. We need humans that will steward it – guide it and shape it with their taste and experience and keep it alive and flexible. Their decisions “design” the system. This is the Treegrid board of stewards. 

The board of stewards consists of people that have contributed a product to the catalog. They are elected. Everyone who ever contributed a design to the catalog gets a vote. You can apply for it every 6 months. The board can take up to 6 stewards. 

The board of stewards will accept or reject contributions to the parts catalog and products catalog based on this design brief. Stewards might ask for changes on your products and parts (peer review). Their goal is to help you get something in. Rejections will always come with an explanation. If you receive a rejection it is final and can’t be disputed. 

This design brief is also subject to change. Changes can be made by the board of stewards always in consultation with the community. 

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// DRAFT ↓ // 

# Scoreboard  

Treegrid aims to incentivize the use of standard common parts. For now we do this with a little gamification: the designers scoreboard. 

Designers with contributions to the product catalog are listed on a public scoreboard. The score is calculated as follows: 

+ **Score per part.** Each part in the catalog has a number that shows how many products in the official catalog use this part. This is the “parts score”. 
+ **Five part scores per product.** If you add a product to the catalog you’ll get the scores of the five parts in your product with the highest part score.  
+ **Scores grow over time.** The catalog is growing. Eventually more designers will find use cases for the parts you have used. The scores of these parts will go up. Your score with it 

Scores will allow us to highlight people and contributions to the system. 

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# IP & Legal Questions: 

**Parts are open Products can be closed?** 

How does the legal side of all of this work? **And how to make money?**

Find answers to all of this → [HERE.](https://treegrid.world/intellectual-property/)  

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# Colors (suggestions)   

Colors play an important role for products and their use. Of course Treegird will not tell you what colors to use. But here are a few suggestions for things that could guide color choices. 

+ **Multiuse.** Always imagine that the parts of your product will be repurposed in other products. What color choices might work in many other solutions? Try to use colors that go nicely together with most other colors. 
+ **Long Lasting.** Eventually your part will be reused several times in different products that apply different levels of stress to it. What paints do stick? Or are they easy to wash off?  
+ **Healthy.** Treegrid encourages creative reuse. So you’ll never be able to control where your part is used. Maybe someone uses it in a kitchen or kindergarden? Try to avoid toxins and go for finishes “you can eat from”. 
+ **Recyclability (less layers).** Everytime you add a layer to something, recycling might become harder (or even impossible). Think twice. Maybe less is more.
+ **Transparency.** Manufacturers: Try to document your decisions. To make it easier for people that want to reuse and repurpose your parts to understand what you have done and what freedoms or limitations this brings to them. 

