ACHILLES
Process of Designing Permanent and Temporary Signage
Skills: Photoshop, Cinema 4D, Zbrush, and After Effects
About The Project
INTRODUCTION
ACHILLES transforms prosthetics into bold, wearable art—fusing luxury design with function. Inspired by fashion and jewelry, it empowers wearers to express identity and pride, proving that beauty and engineering can coexist.
Arm designs
Poster Design
Catalogue and Stickers
Signage for the Little Theatre
Day and Night Time Display
Process
CHALLENGE:
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How to make a prosthetic functional yet fashionable
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How to make someone feel good about it
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Which patterns would complement my idea
THE APPROACH
For this project, I created a 3D model with a simple camera animation to visually convey the concept of a luxury prosthetic, highlighting its sleek design and intricate embellishments. Also, I made some branding material for the day of presenting my thesis for Imagine RIT.
THE DEVELOPMENT
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Research on luxury products
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When researching luxury products, each brand has a simple, geometric pattern that is consistent through their product lines along with gold embellishments.
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Black and white are the staple luxury colors, hence why I used a white model for my video
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Fonts used for names and what makes it stand out
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Also, additional colors to add for the collection and the purpose of them
Steps to take in order to create my model
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Next, I made a style board on prosthetic arm built and shapes used from the palm to how the bulk of the arm
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I also pondered on how to make it not look too robotic yet have the space and utilize shapes to add and not add embellishments.
Research
BUILDING PROTOTYPES
I explored substance painter and Cinema 4D. I struggled far more with making 3D patterns and eventually ended up losing time so I stuck with zbrush. Here it looks fishy and not the look I was hoping to achieve.
I learned to make multiple types of pattern through masking, UV mapping, and alpha images and then make displacement maps from Zbrush and converted to CInema 4D.
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Here’s how the process started with zbrush.
Starting to get closer
Once I got the hang of sculpting I went back and forth from Zbrush to Cinema to see how the quality and colors would look like. I also stumbled upon the issue of rendering time based on the Cinema materials I was using which was making my models crash.
I played more with color scheme and found what I liked and didn’t like. Looking at these models, it felt like I really do need pattern for it to work and ended up manually sculpting and extracting in Zbrush to make it work.
Final Outcome
I presented my video for Imagine RIT which is a yearly event for undergrad and graduate students to present their work. I also made a catalogue to show options of different colors people can choose from and made stickers to hand out.
CONCLUSION
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This project taught me that design has the power to shift perspectives and spark meaningful conversations. By merging luxury aesthetics with prosthetic design, I realized how visual language can be used to empower, not just function. I learned that even in topics as serious and sensitive as limb loss, there’s room to celebrate individuality, beauty, and pride. It reinforced the idea that good design isn’t just about appearance—it’s about intention, empathy, and creating something that helps people feel seen, confident, and whole.
Portfolio
Check it out!
