How to Record PrepTop’s Side and Back Containers and Separate Steel-Insert Lift

Record the scene in two layers: containers attaching along the cutting board’s sides and back, then steel inserts lifting out of those containers. Keep the board and outer containers identifiable throughout the change.

For a Nightstill reader making a visual record, the task is to preserve placement, nesting and movement. A useful record should let someone reconstruct which parts meet the board, which parts sit inside other parts, and which parts move. A short description paired with a few sequential sketches can carry those relationships without adding an unseen arrangement.

Establish what attaches to what

Begin with three distinct names: cutting board, outer container and steel insert. Use them consistently. Calling both the outer container and its insert a “tray” would make a sentence such as “the tray comes away” ambiguous precisely where this scene needs clarity.

PrepTop’s published design description identifies containers that attach along the board’s sides and back, with removable 304 stainless steel inserts. The creator’s FAQ further distinguishes the acacia wooden base that connects to the board from the removable steel tray inside it. These sources establish the product’s component relationships; they do not document the particular scene being recorded. PrepTop team’s design description (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cuttingboards/comments/1x803hy/we_built_a_modular_cutting_board_with_magnetic/), MESTOV PrepTop FAQ (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/preptop/mestov/faqs).

Organize the description around two connections: outer container to board, and steel insert to outer container. Attachment changes the first connection. Lifting out the insert changes the second. Keeping those changes separate is the central recording decision.

A concise example caption is: “Containers attach along the cutting board’s sides and back. Their steel inserts lift out separately, leaving the outer containers at the board.” This is an example of wording for the supplied scene, not a quotation from a witness or an additional observation.

Map the sides and back before adding detail

Draw the board’s outline first and establish its orientation. If the viewpoint is known, preserve it. If it is unspecified, a simplified overhead diagram is one possible recording choice; label it “schematic overhead view” so that its viewpoint does not become an asserted detail.

Keep the side positions distinct from the back position. A cluster beside the board would lose the back relationship. A continuous border could imply one surrounding structure instead of separate containers. Mark individual outer-container outlines only where their number and placement are known. Otherwise, retain the broader labels “sides” and “back” without inventing a count.

For an illustrative overhead diagram, you could label the far edge “back” and the lateral edges “sides.” Those labels define the diagram’s orientation. They do not establish which edge originally appeared at the top of a visual field. Avoid filling an unspecified front edge merely to make the arrangement symmetrical.

Check the spaces around the outlines as carefully as the outlines themselves. The Whitney Museum’s drawing activity defines negative space as the area surrounding a subject and recommends sketching those surrounding spaces. Applied here, that approach offers a way to inspect the intervals between adjacent containers and the board’s exposed perimeter. Positive and Negative Space — Whitney Museum of American Art (https://whitney.org/education/schools-educators/K-12/teaching-materials/activities/115).

Use this check to preserve geometry, not to supply missing measurements. Ask whether a gap was visible, whether two outlines met, and whether one part obscured another. When an interval is uncertain, annotate the uncertainty rather than turning it into an exact spacing.

Make the outer container and steel insert readable as separate parts

Give the outer container and insert separate outlines wherever both boundaries are visible. A single undifferentiated shape cannot clearly show how an inner component later leaves an outer one. At the seated stage, a visible rim or nested contour may be enough; at the lifted stage, the same insert needs to remain recognizable.

Material labels can do more useful work than elaborate shading. In an illustrative sketch, label the outer part “wooden base” and the inner part “steel insert.” If using simple pencil marks, one possible convention is a few light grain strokes for wood and a plain contour for steel. State that these marks are drawing conventions whenever they are not observed surface details.

Do not add glints, reflections, pronounced grain or a particular finish to make the materials look more convincing. The record can identify steel through a label while leaving its exact appearance unresolved. Likewise, a diagram can show the insert’s relationship to its base without claiming a precise wall thickness or rim profile.

The FAQ describes built-in magnets holding the containers alongside the board. That explains the product’s attachment, but a visual record need not draw hidden magnets. Show the visible meeting of the parts and, if useful, add a separate note identifying the documented magnetic connection. MESTOV PrepTop FAQ (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/preptop/mestov/faqs).

Separate attachment from insert removal in the sequence

A sequence is useful because one image can otherwise merge two different actions. Nielsen Norman Group describes a storyboard as images arranged in chronological panels and identifies visuals with corresponding captions as core elements. For this scene, that structure can be adapted to track component changes. The application below is an editorial recording method. Storyboards Help Visualize UX Ideas (https://www.nngroup.com/articles/storyboards-visualize-ideas/).

Use the following stages only to the extent that they are present in the scene. The list distinguishes states worth recording; it does not authorize inventing intermediate motion.

1. Attachment: Record containers joining the board at its sides and back. If the approach path is unspecified, show the resulting connection and caption the attachment without inventing a sliding or swinging movement.

2. Seated inserts: Establish the steel inserts within their outer containers. This can share the attachment panel if the relationship is already clear.

3. Separate lift: Show the steel inserts lifting out while keeping the outer-container positions identifiable. Make any visible separation between insert and base legible.

4. Lifted-out state: If this state is shown, preserve the inserts as separate components and the outer containers as the parts remaining beside the board. Stop at the last supplied state.

Keep the board’s orientation and recognizable outline consistent across panels. If space permits, repeat the same simplified outer-container contours. This is a drawing choice that makes it easier to compare the states without introducing a new viewpoint at the moment of removal.

Use arrows selectively. An arrow beginning at the steel insert can identify the moving component; an arrow around the whole container assembly could suggest that both parts leave together. Where the exact trajectory is unknown, the caption “steel insert lifts out separately” preserves more precision than a curved arrow with an invented route.

Do not assign an order among multiple inserts unless one is supplied. Showing a left insert rising, then a back insert, then a right insert would create a sequence beyond the stated change. Likewise, do not depict all inserts moving simultaneously unless simultaneity is established. A caption can preserve the shared action while stating that their relative timing is unspecified.

Check the record by following each component

Read the finished description once while following only the board, once while following the outer containers, and once while following the steel inserts. This component-by-component check is a practical way to find a missing relationship. The board supplies orientation; the containers supply attachment positions; the inserts supply the separate lift.

Use these questions to resolve specific drawing problems:

• Can the side attachments be distinguished from the back attachments?

• Does each depicted insert remain identifiable as the inner component of an outer container?

• Does the lift clearly belong to the steel insert?

• Are the outer containers’ positions traceable during that lift?

• Have unspecified counts, distances, timing and final locations remained unspecified?

If the lifted insert resembles a second unrelated container, add a small matching label to its seated and raised depictions. If the outer container appears to disappear, retain its visible contour or clarify its position in the caption. If one outline is obscured, describe the overlap instead of supplying a hidden shape as though it were observed.

The finished record should preserve a simple but exact change: containers connect along the cutting board’s sides and back, and their steel inserts lift out separately. Clear component names, stable spatial references and distinct movement states are enough to carry that scene without adding a layout or action beyond what is supplied.

Sources

• We Built a Modular Cutting Board with Magnetic Prep Containers — Would Love Your Feedback (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cuttingboards/comments/1x803hy/we_built_a_modular_cutting_board_with_magnetic/) — first-person design description from an account identifying itself as part of the PrepTop team.

• MESTOV PrepTop: Less Prep, Less Mess, Dinner Easier — FAQ (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/preptop/mestov/faqs) — creator’s explanation of the wooden bases, removable steel trays and magnetic connections.

• Positive and Negative Space — Whitney Museum of American Art (https://whitney.org/education/schools-educators/K-12/teaching-materials/activities/115) — primary educational guidance on recording surrounding spaces.

• Storyboards Help Visualize UX Ideas — Nielsen Norman Group (https://www.nngroup.com/articles/storyboards-visualize-ideas/) — original guidance on chronological panels, visuals and captions.