#33 iPad… Ok

A few weeks ago you may remember that I made a post guessing what I thought Apple’s tablet would be like and the general features it would have. Two days after that post, Apple presented the iPad at their keynote conference in San Francisco. In all honesty, my general mood was quite positive towards the device, albeit I am not that big a fan of the design. I was hoping for something a little more different than the fat iPhone/iPod Touch that we got. It looks like a similar step to when the 2nd generation iPod Nano was redesigned to play video and the 3rd generation one looked like a young fat version of its predecessor.

Anyway, I digress, slightly. My main point of this post is mainly about the fact that the overall opinion of the iPad has been incredibly lukewarm. It hasn’t really been given the reception that Apples other products are usually received with, with the exception of the MacBook Air which I can’t believe is still about. Peoples preconception was warped by the endless speculation on the internet and in magazines, also because this product has been rumoured for many years, well before the iPhone and in fact, even before the iPod in 2001.

That is maybe what the problem is. Everyone had their own idea of what the device would look like, what it would do, and just like you did when you were a child wanting something specific, you would think about if endlessly until the day finally came when you had enough money, went out to buy it and…. it was rubbish.

Apart from the fact that it doesn’t have a camera, nor use a touch OS X system  instead of the iPhone OS it is using. I really do like it, and am very tempted to buy one, even more so that I will be able to attach my camera to it, meaning I could take that with me instead of my MacBook or buying more SD cars and instantly view photos and have much more funcitonality. This decision is probably because I want something no one else will have, or very few people around me have. It happened when I went back to Mac a few years ago with my 2.16Ghz MacBook, the top of the range white polycarbonate one. Only one other person I knew used Mac’s. I went to university, and very few people had them on the Product Design course, but now, almost everyone has one, and it has lost its special quality, I’ll come back to this bit later. The same thing happened when I got my iPhone. I got it on the launch day for the Pay as You Go version on O2 in 2008, only about 3 other people I knew had one, but now, it seems that there are more people with one than without one. The same thing happened when I got my iPod Touch 2 years ago, and my iPod Video 4 years ago, and my iPod Mini 5 years ago (but this one to a lesser extent than the rest).

I like being different. It’s what makes me me. And when I say different I mean a lot more different than the stereotypical person of my age. The things I buy are generally an extension of me. I didn’t buy an iPod or a Mac because everyone else was, I bought them because I felt they were capable of handling what I could throw at them, and I bought them before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. I am not blowing my own trumpet here, just telling the truth. Going back to what I was saying about my MacBook. Now that everyone else seems to have one, it has lost a little bit of significance in my eyes. But there is one redeeming factor about mine. It is the polycarbonate one. And apart from one other person having one, albeit a black one, the rest are the Aluminium ones, and in my eyes they will never have the same character that my MB has. They are produced on a far greater scale and whilst they do look good, they are probably easier to copy than the white and black ones by other companies. The exterior doesn’t behave the same way either. My MacBook is covered in scratches, the clamshell doesn’t line up properly, and the palmrest has masking tape on it because of a crack which has appeared in the usual place on MacBooks of this age. I still love it to bits as it was my first laptop, my first computer and a significant point where I moved back to Apple after a few years of Windows due to my parents decisions.

It is this early adoption which is what gives products a special connection with the owner (in most cases), or getting in before everyone else does. Nothing is perfect to start off with, and the iPad is a clear example of this, but there will still be people who buy it and will want to see how great it really is at the start, show it off, use it to its full potential and generally make the most of it before everyone else is converted and wants to buy one too.

The final thing I will quickly mention whilst I am still talking about the iPad is the remaining omission of multitasking and flash. I really don’t care about either. Multitasking is fine when you’re on a fully fledged computer as that is what you are expected to be doing. On my phone, I have never been in a position where I have needed multiple apps running at the same time, and I use quite a few apps. If I prioritise what I need done, I can get done far quicker than if I am in and out the same apps every couple of minutes, and I have proven this even on my computer. As for flash, I am not a big fan of it. It is too much of a resource hog, especially on my MacBook, and I don’t miss it when I’m on my phone. If I have to use flash, I will, but the websites I frequent hardly use it.

I am aware that I have rambled and ranted on for well over 1000 words now, but I was just in the mood to write a lot, and the iPad still seems to be a hot topic (well as of writing anyway on February 2nd). My thoughts may have been slightly biased since I do like Apple things… quite a lot, but that is neither here nor there. And no, I don’t like the name iPad, it is quite stupid.

#32 Wood’s Electric Aviary

It’s February. We are now starting our third week back at University, and things are looking quite lively, in all three modules, which is a change if you read my thoughts on last year. A post about the design studies module will be written in due course when we have actually started doing the project, and if I feel the need to, I might post one about the Structural Design and Manufacture module, but trying to do only one post a week might mean, those posts take up positions which I could have filled with something else.

What am I writing about this time if it is not about Design Studies or Structural Manufacture and Design, easy, the one I haven’t mentioned yet, the Interaction Design module. Our project is to produce something which ‘creates a meaningful interaction between a digital in put and an analogue output or vice versa’ or to putting it in another, simpler form, indirectly making sounds/music. This will likely be explained a bit better as the project goes on and I show what we are working on.

For the first proper time in the Product Design course (excluding Design Studies and any of the engineering modules), we are working in groups. In part this is because of the sheer amount of technical knowledge required to do the circuit building and programming, but it is probably also because of the amount of work we have to do. Having luckily been put into a group where I had worked with the other two before, one in Design Studies on the Aphasia project, and the other in Software Applications, we were able to hit the ground running as we get along quite well with each other, unlike some of the other groups where from the very start, tensions have been very high.

Thinking of a team name was the next priority on the cards. Many an hour was put into the creation of the name, with my idea of being called the All Day Electric Breakfast being shot down several times. In the end we decided on Electric Aviary, only to be changed the next day to Wood’s Electric Aviary.

A number of insights have been thought of, and now the ideas have started to flow, albeit at a trickle just now until things really kick off. Due to a part of the project being in regards to programming, as the final product will expected to have some sort of programme in it, otherwise it is not really Interaction Design, development is ongoing with this too. Having moved quickly on from the simple code of making an LED flash to selecting different sequences with a potentiometer. An MP3 player was made, and got to work (very basically I should add), there were no functions for volume, pausing, playing stopping etc, but a slight bit of coding later and a track could be selected using the potentiometer. The latest development here, is with a distance sensor and LDR’s. Getting a sound to play when someone walked past. This was rudimentary prototyping for one of our ideas, and so far, it seems to be working. (I may post a video of it in operation later)

Before I give away too much information about what our group is up to, since I’m sure that there are people from the other groups leaving this, I’ll leave it at that. But quickly, what do you get when you cross 1980’s computing with one of the most popular Albums of the 1970’s? A cross between the ZX Spectrum and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon? Electric Aviary, that’s what.

note: the logo and design are still a work in progress…

For more information about Wood’s Electric Aviary, see the sidebar link where there is a descriptor of the project and a link to the groups blog and Twitter (both updated often)

#31 What font are you?

Quick post this time. A few weeks ago, I came across a really website inside a website, pentagram.com which, once you’ve answered four questions, will tell you which font or type you are.

Linky

Where it asks for the password, write ‘character’

So, what font am I? Perpetua Titling Light, due to me apparently being Rational, Understated, Traditional and Disciplined. Not sure if that is a true representation of me, but I’ll let you decide. So, what font are you?

#30 The Fabled Tablet in Apple Flavour

If the internet is to be believed, then in the next few days, Apple is set to announce a tablet computer. Essentially a large iPod Touch or iPhone, the tablet is rumoured to share many of features with the two mentioned devices. It will have a touch screen with much more advanced multi-touch and a 10.1″ screen.

For a long time it was speculated that they would enter the netbook market. A market which has grown hugely in the past few years. The tablet is also not too dissimilar in size to these netbooks.

Whilst I am still not 100% sure what I think of this rumoured product, I personally think someone has thrown a curve ball and we are in store for something much more interesting. On top of that, I would like to see a new iPhone, with new features and better specs, a greater step from the 3GS than the 3GS was from the 3G. This is because, unashamed, I would like to replace my iPhone 3G which I have had since launch date, and this is on top of me stating I would keep using it until it dies.

Going back to the ‘iSlate’, as it has been dubbed (rubbish name in my opinion), one of the tablet related issues I am most interested in, is its exterior design, the way it looks. The basis of this, I believe, will depend mostly on what operating system it uses. A modified iPhone OS, or a modified OS X system. If it is the iPhone OS route, it will primarily be portrait oriented interface and exterior design, and horizontally if it is the OS X route.

Since I did a reasonable job guessing with the Magic Mouse , I’ve had a shot at what I think the tablet would look like. Guessing it will be a mostly landscape device, I have made it look not too dissimilar to the iMac. It even has a Jay Leno/iMac G5/Intel chin on it. There may also be a possibility that it has a stand on the back so it can be angled on a desk, in a similar sort of fashion that the iBook G3 had a handle. The back of the device, I think will be the same sort of shape to the iPhone 3G(S), but if it isn’t, then it probably will share many design cues with the next generation iPhone, rumoured for the summer. There isn’t too much to play with on touch screen devices due to the current technology, in terms of shape since it needs to have a completely flat surface for the screen, hence why all, or most of these touch devices look very similar.

And on that note, I leave you with a video of Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer being asked to sign a MacBook Pro, quite funny, if maybe only for the geekier side of you.

#29 Seeing Clearly

Glasses. The cause and solution to many problems in the world today. I wear them and find that out of all the different products I own and live with, they are the only things that I cannot live without. The question, “name  one thing you are unable to live without” is one which many people will answer with an item which they can in fact live without, but they are drawn to it like a moth to a flame, such as a mobile phone.

I got my first pair of glasses when I was seven, and there have probably only been five or six days in the last thirteen years where I have not worn them at all, and that was because I had broken them.

They are the only product or items which I own which I am 100% comfortable with all the time (obviously clothes as well, but bear with me). In fact, my reliance on them is so great that I do feel as though I can hide behind them in certain situations in a way in which I am unable to do with my phone or my computer. They are my safety net. When I wear them I feel invulnerable, more natural. When I don’t wear them, which is not very often I should add, I feel like a different person and occasionally act like a different person too, and this doesn’t happen with any other thing I own.

Since I am a glasses wearer, I am legitimately allowed to buy glasses. I say legitimately since there are people out there who buy glasses but not need them, they just wear them as a fashion statement which, frankly, is pointless. There is one thing I have found about the design of glasses, and that is that there are few pairs which are capable of reflecting the wearers personality well enough. Yes you are able to buy a pair which suit you, but only to a certain extent. It is because of this that I would like to, one day, get around to designing and making my bespoke pair. The quick sketch below, whilst it may not convey the exact appearance, and it is still a work in progress, it does convey the main thinking behind them (sort of). Of course I will not be able to tell if they suit me or not until they have been made, but I do think they would fit me as a person.

I can always dream can’t I?

#28 Touch it to Switch it

Do you find your light switches far too plain and utilitarian? Would you like to have something much more interesting on your wall to control your lighting needs? You do? Well look no further. These Basalte Sentido touch sensitive light switches are exactly what you need to make that arduous task of flicking a switch more interesting. Control multiple lights and/or use it as a dimmer switch using effectively what is multi touch. They were also awarded the Red Dot Design Award for it in 2009.

They are beautifully simple, and come in an array of different styles. They also feature some sort of illumination so you are able to find the switch in the dark. Excellent. I’ll take 6.

Taking a look at their website, under the design section there is a single sentence, which sums up what designers should be aiming for.  “When designing our products, we look for an emotional connection. Our products should not only look or feel good, they should also be great fun to use” If this was adhered to more often, we would keep hold of our objects for longer, throw less away, and take care of what we own. This would remove the more useless products from the shelves, and help go back to the time when designers just weren’t a ‘tool’ so companies could say their product has been ‘designed’ so they can raise the prices.

Basalte Website

#27 Changes

If you remember, at the end of the 2009 review post, I mentioned that I was going to be making some changes to my blog, so what I’m going to do is briefly outline what I am thinking of doing, just so you know, and I have a list of what is what.

  1. Numbering the posts, so I can keep track easily of number of posts, and so I can refer back to other posts easily by saying a number instead of the full title. I’ve started this already, and might go back through the older ones and update their titles.
  2. Include more drawings that I have done to illustrate ideas, as per what I had done in the Might Mouse post and #26. In a similar sort of fashion to where I try and illustrate other stories with photographs I have taken.
  3. Possibly a new layout. Going to look at different themes for the blog. Chaotic Soul, whilst seeminly relevant most of the time in my opinion, something a little lighter could be good. (This includes new image at the top too)
  4. Better integration across all my interweb activities. YouTube, Twitter, DeviantART etc, to make it easier to find or navigate between each to view my work easier.
  5. This is a big one. possibly migrate away from here and onto my own proper website. It’s something I have looked at quite alot over the past couple of years since moving back to Mac, now that I have iWeb at my disposal. A draft website is already taking shape on my computer, and has been there for a while. Just got to decide whether or not I am going to bite the bullet and go for it. Might do a post on it at some point in the near future.
  6. Showing connections between other people I do, showing you what they do and their work. Possible, depending on whether or not one in particular wants me to do that. Haha.

This list is likely to change, with things being added, removed etc.

#26 Snow. The Problem?

Snow. J’adore ça. It makes places look a lot nicer than other kinds of weather. But, in this day and age people can’t cope and want somebody to blame for not being able to get to work on time, when they really should be blaming themselves for getting into a panic and not thinking straight.

There are a couple of times where there is someone to blame, just because the solution they have come up with has not been thought through thoroughly enough, and there is one crucial point which has been overlooked. This is clearly what has happened in America, where the designers and the engineers forgot some basic properties of simple electrical components. LED traffic lights. In cities across America, where LED traffic lights are in use and in areas which are prone to snow fall have found that the LED’s do not produce enough heat when in operation to melt the snow from them, resulting in accidents at the junctions, and reportedly someone has been killed because snow was covering the lights.

LED’s are great. They are brighter than incandescent bulbs and they are more efficient so cost less to run. So they make the ideal choice for traffic lights. However, forgetting that they are essentially a cold light source, light without the associated heat, albeit, an easy mistake to make in some cases, can be one which is easily rectified.

So, what are the possible solutions. Replace them with the older kind of traffic lights? Don’t think so, since the cost of making and installing the LED lights would have been too great to go back now. Give the lights some sort of central heating? Again, no, cost would be too great. What I have in mind is far simpler, and could easily be done without having to change the whole light. It pretty much involves only changing the glass or plastic cover of the light. Install or use light covers which have a heating element in them, the same sort of thing cars have on their front and rear windows for use when it gets really cold or when they fog up. This coupled with some sort of sensor, be it one which detects when the lens is covered, or a temperature one which is activated when the temperature is low enough and this is enough to sort the problem. The heating element does not need to be hot, just warm as that will be enough to melt whatever is on the lens. This quick sketch shows basically what I mean, the heating element is crisscrossing the lens and should melt the snow easily.

That idea is better than the additional one which I thought up which involved channeling the heat from the electrical connections since they heat up significantly when in use, and when there is a large voltage going through which is what would be happening with the traffic light.

The snow, the problem or the solution? Or is it the people who don’t think things through, and as I leave you with that thought, here is a picture which shows the ingenuity people have when the snow comes. Makeshift snowplough anybody?

LED traffic light picture and information from Engadget and Autoblog

Door snowplough picture from thereifixedit.com

#25 I’m Falling for a “bell’italiano”

First post of 2010. Happy New Year and all that jazz I suppose.

Now that all the formalities are over I can get underway with the serious business, and it has happened again. The last time this happened it didn’t exactly end the way I hoped it would, but I sort of have a feeling that this time is going to end better. A beautiful Italian has entered my thoughts and I can’t quite seem to get rid of her.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You don’t really want to hear much about my personal life, and you are correct, I am not talking about a woman (not this time anyway), but instead, a car. A very beautiful car. An Alfa Romeo. The 147. The first one. Before the facelift.

Why have I fallen for this car, and fallen for it again, because as I recall, I fell for it the first time I saw it when it was launched in 2000. The reason is simple. The search is now on properly on for a first car. I want something different, and because I have not driven a lot of cars in my time, my choices are purely (at this moment in time) based upon the looks of the car. The design. The company. The emotions it evokes. And the Alfa, manages to tick most of my boxes.

The 147, designed by Wolfgang Egger and Walter de’Silva, is easily one of the most gorgeous things ever to be created by man, alongside the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 9000 designed by David Lewis and the Barcelona Chair designed by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. It has won awards f0r its design, and once it was given its midlife facelift, a journalist described the car as losing feminine features, namely due to the shape and size of the iconic triangular grill. That is all I am going to say about that bit.

Fine fair enough, I am gushing about it, and my thoughts and emotions (slightly) are getting in the way of saying anything constructive. The car isn’t perfect. It is an Alfa, and of course we know that they aren’t exactly the most reliable of cars, they can be expensive to run, and everyone will secretly hate you for having one because they know they really want one, but don’t want to suffer the heartbreak of standing next to the road in a cloud of steam when it fails on them. These small foibles however, give the car a personality, a soul, a character which is lacking in other cars today, and yes that is slightly cliched for Alfa Romeos, but who cares, because we all know it is true.

In fact, soul, character and personality is something which is missing from pretty much all products today as well, for the simple reason that companies don’t care about that. They just want to shift as many products out of the factory as they can possibly manage. Sure we can add those traits to products ourselves if we decide to personalise them, I swear to god that my iPod mini, my first iPod has a soul, but it isn’t the same as something which has been built with the same passion that food is made with, the same passion people when they are with someone they love, the same passion to keep going with something even though it might not be the right thing to be doing.

And on that note, before my heart starts to do the talking instead of my head, I leave you with a video clip from Top Gear, on the Alfa Romeo 147 GTA. It may not have been the most memorable of posts to have written as my first of the year, and some of you may have gotten bored halfway through, but each to our own.

Goodnight.

#24 Review of 2009 & 2010 Predictions

2009. A year to remember or a year to forget? I’ve put together this review of my year at University, saying what I thought about the second semester of first year and the first semester of second year. Following that, a small review of what designs caught my eye through the year.

The year has been a mixture for myself. Some highs and some lows, though in all fairness the lows did outnumber the highs. The projects in the second semester of first year didn’t really grab my attention as much as I wished they would. This is apart from the second project undertaken in Design Studies regarding supermarkets, where I feel the group I was in (bar one member) put in some of the best work we had done at University up to that point, and it was the first time since possibly the December of 6th year at high school where I felt I had put in the sufficient hours and had gotten far. It was a good group to work in, but not as good as the group for the first project of Design Studies in that semester where we had to create characters out of ‘junk’, and then using these characters, create a story involving them.

The product design part of that semester was interesting to say the least. A combination of modelling a dyson, a kitchen object and creating a product which met an unmet need in the kitchen was required. At the time it didn’t really seem that relevant, and if I’m honest, part of me still does not see the point in what we did, but it, at times, was good fun none the less.

The mechanics module was, well, rubbish. A lot of time was spent helping others, which, I should point out, do not really mind doing as long as people at least say thank you. Then there are those (and only one or two) who I like to help without expecting thanks from because I like them too much to mind. However, once the exam was over in the middle of May, that was the hardest part of the Mechanics done and dusted for the full university course.

First year left me with mixed feelings about the course. On one hand it was not quite what I had thought it was going to be, and thoughts were coming into my head about whether or not I had made the right choice about what I wanted to to, or if I had chosen the wrong place to go since I could have gone to either Edinburgh or Glasgow instead of Dundee. However on the other hand, I did have quite a lot of fun in my first year, ranging from meeting huge amounts of new people, some who have left a huge impression on me, to doing a range of things which I would not have done anywhere else, from sticking my face in paint, in the name of leaving my mark, to making a Dyson out of blue foam.

Before I knew what was what, September sprung up again and it was time to head back up to Dundee for the start of the second year, and as it turned out two of the modules were once again verging on awful, but one was pretty decent. The two which were not that enjoyable though were not two which were expected.

The two modules which were the ‘unenjoyable’ ones were the Design Studies and the Industrial Design modules. Design Studies because we started the project very late, the workload in the group was very uneven (read that as 2 or 3 people in the group doing the work and pulling the weight of the other 3 or 4), and in all honesty it was not the most interesting project, despite the people involved, those with Aphasia, who were some of the nicest people anyone could meet.

The Industrial Design module did not start very well, and neither did it finish very well, however the middle was quite enjoyable. This was probably in part due to the fact the lecturer ripped down everything that was put forward and did not really give any useful criticism. They changed their mind from week to week, and strongly seemed to favour some people more than they did others. And I know that this sentiment is shared with at least one other person in the class.

I have posted a full review of those two modules previously where I covered everything, or almost everything, as fully as I could, or felt I could since this is publicly available. You can view them here for Industrial Design and here for Design Studies.

The surprise module was the mechanics one, or giving it its proper name, Software Applications. This one was surprisingly enjoyable. I think this was because it was the only time when I felt as thought I was learning new skills which would be useful in later life. It started off with AutoCAD and then onto Solidworks. Whilst neither were taught that well, self experimentation gave me most of the answers I needed (along with Google I should add). This was then passed onto the majority of the class, who seemed to ask me more than they did the bearded lecturer. Again the same opinion as per first year mechanics, I did not mind helping people, and definitely helping more people more than others. It was a good thing most of my work was completed by putting in longer hours than others at the start of each part of the project as the later parts were consumed spending time crouched down, on my knees, next to the computers.

The other part of this module which proved to be quite enjoyable was the Microcontrollers part, though I am probably on my own with this one. It did finish quite quickly, I felt as though I learned quite a lot, though maybe it is not quite as useful as the AutoCAD and Solidworks. The labs were good as well, working with people who I enjoy working with, and putting into practice what we had learned. We had to do a project as well, creating something which used a microcontroller and all the previous knowledge we had gathered. Our group, after initially wanting to go for a car traction control system, changed it to an outdoor keyboard. The basic prototype is shown in the picture below.

Overall 2009, in terms of the University course, was not as good as what I was hoping it would be. There just seemed to be too much of ego’s getting in the way in some areas, not knowing what was going on, having to carry people through projects and not seeing the relevance of what was being done. It was sort of counterbalanced by the fact I got to work with some really good people, begin to make more of a mark for myself up in Dundee, feeling more comfortable with what I was doing, and since the amount of alcohol consumed in writing this post has increased over the time it has been written (though not that much to say what I really am thinking and start to not make sense), gotten closer to people who I really enjoy being with.

I am hoping that 2010 will be a much better year overall in terms of university work. Hoping that it will be more useful, more enjoyable. One of the projects I am looking forward to though, is one where we are going to be making an MP3 player, which should be interesting. There are many areas in which I feel as though I could improve and I hope to do so quickly and effectively..

I am aware that I have gone on for quite a bit in this post, so I shall try to keep this next bit to a minimum, despite it being a part in which I could write so much more than my 2009 University musings. I shall also try and keep it away from my usual haunts of Apple and Bang & Olufsen (or as it has been said to me instead of B&O, Häagen Dazs), but in some instances I cannot help it.

One of the first pieces of design which was revealed in 2009 was the Apple Magic Mouse. I wrote a piece about its predecessor, the Mighty Mouse a while ago, citing reasons why people thought the scroll ball was a bad piece of design and possible areas of improvement. It seems that Jonathan Ive or Steve Jobs read what I wrote and implemented it in the Magic Mouse. It is probably one of the best pieces of Apple design, up there with the iMac G4. It’s beautifully simple and elegant, almost Scandinavian in its design, and I love it. I was very close to ordering one when it was launched, and sometime over the break, I am planning on heading to the Apple store in either Glasgow or Aberdeen to try one out and then possibly buy one. (Post about Mighty Mouse here).

The next piece of design which caught my eye in 2009 was the Bang & Olufsen Beotime. A gorgeous alarm clock inspired by a flute. I have no other words to describe it other than I want one. But then again, I am a bit of a sucker for B&O (and Apple I should add). It just seems that at the moment, both companies are producing products which are leading in each of their respective fields. We all have, in our minds, what we think an alarm clock should look like, the Danes then took this archetype, turned it upside down and rewrote it, or drew it to create the Beotime.

Despite only being a concept. the Art.Lebedev Transparentius caught my eye for being something epically unique. It takes an aspect of road safety and turns it into something which has not been seen before. It is absolutely astounding. When following a lorry and looking for opportunities to pass, the driver is often unaware of oncoming obstacles until they pull out, and it is often too late then. A camera mounted on the front of the lorry, projects the front view onto the rear of the trailer so the drivers behind are able to see ‘through’ the lorry. Whilst this could be quite distracting, it is a start to reducing the number of deaths on the roads. Additionally, being from Art.Lebedev studios, a Russian design company who are responsible for some of the most random, yet brilliant pieces of modern product design available, you know the final product will be just as radical and fun as the concept.

The final product which has captured my imagination is another one which I have written about. The Eigenharp. Not really being musically minded (despite playing the violin for a few years when I was younger), the Eigenharp is an electronic instrument with a difference. It looks beautiful and sounds pretty spectacular, especially the Moby Extreme Ways version. Read more on what I said about it in the original post here.

I know those four may not have been the most radical designs of the past 12 months. But those are the three which have made an impression on me, or the ones in which I can remember. I may end up adding a couple of more in the coming days, as this year draws to an end. What sort of things am I expecting to appear next year? I don’t know, that is the beauty of product design, and only a question which can be answered when you work in the industry and not just studying it.

So there we go. Nearing the end of not one of my favourite years. A post verging on 2000 words, and the general tone of my posts turning to grumbles instead of musings. I am planning on making a few changes on here for next year, some more subtle than others, a post sometime in January will hopefully and probably outline them. Thank you for reading my posts this year, and I hope everyone got something from at least one of them.