So here we are at the end of another quarter of school. It never feels like ten weeks at the end, and it always feels like eternity at the beginning.
First let me get the orders of business out of the way:
My final storyboards can be found here
my final tea kettle can be found here
and my process book can be found here
I have enjoyed this quarter very much and I feel like I have improved, which is the point, I think.
As for my goals none were archived totally but all were at least started. As far as design process I feel I have found some quick techniques for expressing my designs and I understand better what I want to know at the onset of my work.
I purchased but have not started to go through the tutorials on solid works.
I have sketched but not nearly enough, no excuses, I must be more vigilant.
Hopefully over my next co-op quarter I can continue to work on these things and improve. I will keep on posting periodically to keep you up to date.
3/3/09
Innovation
Innovation is a catchword like ergonomic or sustainable. Everyone wants to be associated with innovation; and everyone has a different definition for it.
I believe that the technical definition goes something like this: the incremental improvement of a product, idea, or process such that it becomes more valuable.
Often I think people allow invention and innovation to be interchangeable, but they are not. The Wright brothers invented the airplane. It did not exist before they created it. Ford invented the assembly line, but he innovated manual labor processes. The car existed before ford built the model T, but it was made affordable by mass production and the assembly line.
I am reminded of the advertising campaign of BASF; we dont make (product x), we make it (faster, stronger, smaller). that is innovation. And it really is what the design process is all about. We research so we know what exists already and then we create new things often based on the creations of the past. We innovate.
3/1/09
Leaves water and heat
Hey Guys,
This is my second evolution of my tea kettle design. I added the metal accent on bottom to make it a better heating surface and the one on the handle is to stop the handle from getting too hot. There is a rubber grip on the underside of the handle but it is a bit hard to see because it is tone on tone. I wanted to do as little as possible to take away from the form.
What do you think? any suggestions for improvements?
2/17/09
story board
2/8/09
2/4/09
Human Factors Vs. Usibility:
terms we use without understanding them
I am in an alternative human factors class this quarter and it is taught by Mary beth Privitera in the BME department. She writes human factors regulations for the FDA so...
Any way she has been assigning some rather interesting readings. In them I have learned some useful strategies for developing a product.
A good anthropometric target is to design to fit (the hand sizes) between the 5% woman and the 95% man.
The most work can be done from the nutral position.
no more than 30% of maximum force should be exerted for more than 2 min.
In the power grip the wider the diameter of the handle is, the more force can be exerted...up to the point where the hand can no longer grasp.
power grip handles should taper due to the natural tapering of finger size.
you need at least 12 results to start compiling quantitative statistics.
All this to say that I think facts like these could be helpful in the design process .
1/30/09
Sometimes I check my own blog to see if there is a new post
Hi guys,
So... We just finished our first "real" des com assignment and I must say I enjoyed it. This is the first time I have done a des com project that I totally understood the motivations behind. It wasent a load of superfluous fluff, it was "this is what you will be expected to do at a real job...do it".
That said I did struggle with it a little... Let me explain in a roundabout sort of way.
When I learned how to 3d model I basically went through a pdf tutorial for about 200-300 hours. It took me a whole semester at Wisconsin, but at the end I felt quite proficient and now feel that I am at a level where I can make just about anything I want. Doing that tutorial taught me 2 valuable things about 3d modeling. 1: it got me to think about objects in the right frame of mind to model them, i.e. where are the contour lines? is the object symmetrical? should I sweep this surface or loft it? 2: it taught me all the tools that I needed to know to operate the program.
with that knowledge I now can use the program to explore concepts and not get boged down in the details of how to create my idea.
To put it simply I learned how to use the tool and then got creative with it.
With illustrator and photoshop things are much more open ended...I often ask a person "how should I do this?" and they will just say "play around with it"... and then I feel like Im lost in the tall reeds without a clue what I am doing.
Sometimes I wish we just had a pdf to follow. step by step, and the at the end you can tell whether you did things correctly because there is something your are trying to copy. In that way we could just focus on learning the tools, before we start using them to design.
All that to say I enjoyed the first project but was a little overwhelend trying to navigate illustrator and create a pleasing design.
1/26/09
Doo-da-loo-doo, Doo-da-loo-doo, Doo-da-loo-Do-Do (nokia phone ring)
Nokia: USB DriveFor whatever reason, I have always been a fan of the designs that those crazy Fins at Nokia produce. They are usually rather quirky but lovable. Their mostly regular geometric forms with a slight curve added to the top or bottom edge has created a simple, recognizable aesthetic.
For my USB drive I will try to integrate this design aesthetic into a tiny lovable package.
1/22/09
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