Update

So...I'm behind. I've been focusing on my ID project this past week and haven't gotten very far on the tea kettle. Basically I have a few forms (which I haven't scanned and the CGC is closed) for two concepts. Here was the problem statement from my design brief:

Create a tea kettle the brings the serenity of the chado Japanese tea ritual into the modern home. The kettle will function as the boiling mixing and pouring device; it must be elegant, functional, easy to use and create an emotional connection with its users.

My two basic concepts involve boiling the water so that it rises through the leaves and into the upper part of the kettle for pouring (this is a process common to coffees and espressos.) The first concept is a simplified, anthropomorphic form that seems to bow to the users. I have been exploring different types and placements for the handle that accentuate the form and emotional impact of the kettle.

The second concept involves either bowl or cup-like forms that seem to be stacked precariously. The water/tea may rise and fall to different levels as it fills and overflows the bowls

Where I really feel like I need help is with my HP Computer. Here is what I turned in as my final "C" concept:

The frame is a single sheet of aluminum that has been die cut and pressed with bamboo fabric covering the rest of the case area. My design focuses on overtly selling the actual computer as sustainable. Bamboo fabric is instantly recognized as sustainable due to bamboo's incredibly fast rate of growth. Also, Aluminum is highly recyclable, and by using only an "exoskeleton" rather than a full case, there is a material savings of over 60% (not to mention the advantages over molded pieces.)

Other than the styling of the monitor and keyboard, the only feature I am struggling with is the connection between the monitor and the unit. The screen is a 22"transparent touch OLED that slides from an upright to a lowered position to facilitate using the touch feature (reduces arm fatigue.) OLEDs are incredibly light while remaining strong, and see no problem in the monitor being attached on only one side (in the rectangular cutout on the left of the front of the frame) as it is always resting on the desktop. Tony disagrees...strongly.

After talking with Sam last week, I proposed that the bottom of the screen be beefed up visually by widening and thickening the bezel at the bottom to give it more visual weight. Still no good for Tony. I then proceeded to show Tony Sony's new OLED tv which uses a hinge that is incredibly similar to mine:

He still wasn't buying it. I love the idea of giving the consumer something that looks a little fantastic, and I am convinced it will work. Tony's suggestion of adding a leg to the other side takes too much energy away from the main unit, which must be the focus of the computer. I'm thoroughly stumped.

Simpsons QOD

Homer, walking by a homeless man sleeping in a dumpster:
"Heh. Just like Oscar the Grouch."

Upon telling my roommate that Wednesdays are ID nights at Murphy's, he became extremely apprehensive about going. I love how threatened my frat friends are by DAAPers.

Story board from the new Rob Zombie movie - Pysch-Robo-Emo Killer Death Bunnies

I voted today

Without any clue as to who I voted for, OBAMA, I voted today; it was awesome. It was the second time I voted in a presidential election, but somehow there was much more energy this time. I went home this morning to go with my mom. Of course, we talked politics on the way there. Here are a few of my politcal thoughts over the last few weeks:

- It's been amazing to see how UC's campus, one of the more apathetic I've seen, has been energized by the election. Every day since I've been back there have been students on campus campaigning, protesting, registering, etc. For a place whose student body usually does nothing outside of go to school, this has been an exciting thing to see.

- It's amazing how divided people can become. My first day back from co-op I got into a screaming argument with my roommate. Granted we were drunk, but that doesn't negate the fact that I was yelling in the face of one of my best friends. Also, my mother's reply to a conservative email was misconstrued as calling my uncle a bigot. Crazy.

- Upon exiting the polls an older man walked up to me, shook my hand asking me if it was my first time. I told him it was my second, his face lit up and he thanked me.

- My mom's last comment before we voted was how different things were this year. Importance, voter turnout, political enthusiasm...everything this year was on a different level than it has ever been before. I cannot fully realize the gravity of the situation on account of my age, but I am grateful to have been a part of something incredible.

The way I design gets me in trouble

Ideate, refine, finalize, create. That's the way it's supposed to go, but, for me, it is rarely that linear.

I often find myself looking for a singular answer to a problem. While this method motivates me to do a great job with my final design, it hurts the intermediate steps. If I sketch something out that doesn't have obvious potential I throw it out (often literally.) Once I find "the one" I take that to final concept quite quickly. It would be much more helpful to attempt to develop multiple concepts before giving the bad ones the axe, leaving my mind open to possibilities throughout the whole process. This method of leapfrogging to the start to the finish probably arose from my first co-op, where I was critiqued for spending too much time exploring ideas.

Take my computer project for example: 200 ideations, 30 refinements, 3 further refinements - all thrown out the door for for my final concept, which was completed in three days. Though a part of it is still related to my early ideas, the main focus of my concept has no previous documentation. There aren't any sketches or explorative renderings. I'm fine with this, as I am confident that it's a good concept, but there is no proof of my thought process leading to my final design. It is hard to justify an idea that just came to me, even though that's what happened. It will probably come down to back sketching on an ongoing project. Weird, huh?

My only solution to this problem is to get much faster at the refinement stage so it is a much more useful design tool. If I am able to quickly refine concepts, I won't be worried about not having time the find "the one."

Simpsons QOD

Look at those poor saps back on land with their laws and ethics! They'll never know the simple joys of a monkey knife fight.

Storyboards are fun

I'm a sucker for animation. Naturally, I love looking at things like model sheets and storyboards. Today I ran across Bill Peet, a former storyboard illustrator for Disney. While his style may seem a little old school (i.e. not as flashy as today's concept artists) it does exactly what it needs to. He quickly and simply captures the movements and emotions of characters and scenes through his rough snapshots. What strikes me as most impressive is how close many of his storyboard designs, which come at the first stages of pre-production, are to the final designs seen in the films. It just goes to show how, if you are successful in capturing the basic qualities of a character, which Peet's illustrations do very well, the aesthetics just fall in place.

Storyboards are cool, and they can be really helpful in describing the use of a product. They kind of suck to do, though.

On my way

One of my goals for the quarter was to learn new methods of vizualization in Illustrator, Photoshop and by hand. The recent USB project has really helped with this goal. Marker rendering and Illustrator techniques will help my front end work, but the best technique I've learned with this project has been painting over 3d models in photoshop. Not only did this come out sweet looking, but it helped me finalize materials, colors and forms.

We're beyond the point that I would normally do this for ID studio, but I think I'll go back and do this type of rendering for my computer project. If it helped this much for a flash drive, it's bound to work for a whole computer system.

Here's a link to the project pdf to look at the other work that went into this project.

Blogging our lives away

A portion of our work for our design communications class has been bloggin about various design related topics. This has put a serious hurt on my Simpsons QODs, but it's been interesting. Here are my opinions on a few of my classmates' posts:

Alison Knaack
Her recent post regarding Viktor Schreckengost received two comments...from his wife and stepson! It's pretty amazing how far-reaching this interweb of ours is. This was just a journal entry that ten years ago would probably been read by no more than two people, Alison and our professor. Now anyone anywhere has access to her random thoughts and opinions.

Alex Aeschbury
Alex really stepped out for his first inspiring designer. Dali is not know for his products, but produced some of the most interesting objects of his time. Kudos for digging a little deeper.

John Ariosa
His posts are just hilarious. Clever titles, pictures, etc. just remind me how to take some time to laugh at life, the universe and eeverything.