Deferring Volume II: More Encouragement

Once again, I am going to defer my post which I have lined up regarding the Radio project for the Industrial Design module, and post that next week when I am finished it completely and pretty much when it is handed in, so I should have a couple of videos of the radio working and some proper photographs of it along with some work-in-progress shots.

Again, because I have made myself actively think about something else to write about for the second week in a row, it isn’t necessarily going to relate to design directly, but in my first post, I do recall saying that they weren’t all going to.

After the reasonably successful topic of IKEA last week, I say reasonably because I spent a while talking about IKEA to a friend for a good while just because of the post, I thought I would try and use the same technique to come up with something to write about, but because it is nearing the end of the semester and work is nearing an end, my desk is covered in things relating to the radio project so I’m going to have to properly think this time, and what have I come up with? Something to do with encouragement and motivation.

We all need it to keep going with what we are doing, that’s obvious, but think, just for a minute, when was the last time you gave someone encouragement, gave someone that all important push forward that they were looking for, but didn’t want to openly admit they wanted. Once you’ve done that, think about who it was you gave it to. Is there any link between that person, how close you are with them and the amount of encouragement you gave them? There probably is, but you didn’t even realise it. Now you’re wondering who the last person to give you encouragement was and your relationship with them aren’t you? Yeah, probably.

Right, that’s the philosophical bit out of the way, now the linky designy bitty. Designers are basically modern day inventors. The people who effectively helped to push the human race from living in caves to where we are now (in essence yes, I am keeping in mind the explorers, the doctors etc who have also made leaps and bounds in quality of life). There is one thing which all designers (and explorers, doctors etc) have, which makes them do what they do. The motivation to keep going, push the edges of the envelope, go the extra mile, never give up, and ultimately, help people. Well that is what I think anyway.

Just try to think where we would be now if it wasn’t for John Logie Baird not keeping motivated whilst inventing the television (or if you believe otherwise, Philo T Farnsworth), Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquering Everest, or Alexander Flemming discovering Penicillin. Carl Benz with his horseless carriage. William Murdoch and the steam train. Charles Babbage and the difference engine.

Honestly, I don’t think we would have moved far to far forward from the early Victorians, just before the Industrial Revolution. Yes there were people who didn’t think that, what the inventors, explorers, scientists, I mentioned was possible. In fact, in many cases, the majority of the people was probably against them, unwilling to accept what the future would behold. But there were some people, even if just one, who could see it too, see the same vision. And it is this, this encouragement, which gives the motivation to keep going which makes the world go round.

Ending on a similar note to that which I ended my post about sketchbooks. Give someone some encouragement, even if it is quite small, and it could in turn, end up changing the world.

Oak, Pine & a Handful of Norsemen

Before I go any further, I would like to say that in all honesty, I had lined up another post to publish today, but frankly, it’s been a long day and I didn’t really want to upload something which was causing quite a bit of strife at the moment, possibly at the end of the week or next week then.

Now, because I decided not to post the thing which I was going to post, I can’t think of anything else to write about, so I guess I’ll have a ramble about the first thing which comes to mind… or that I see if I close my eyes and turn my head away from my computer.

A glass. Not just any glass though. An IKEA glass, from probably one of the most iconic global brands there is. People hate it, people love it. Whichever side of the fence you are on in regards to the Swedish furniture maker and general place of plywood awesomeness, they won’t go away very easily, and as it turns out, you probably use something of theirs almost every day.

Now you might be thinking that I have gone off my nut here, writing about a company which seems to infuriate many people, but take a minute to think, or try to think about what it really is that annoys you about them. Chances are that it is because whenever you go there, the the warehouse of steam bent meatballs, everyone else in the area has decided to go too, whether it because the weather is awful and people suddenly have an urge to update their homes, or just because it is a Thursday night and you want to get away from the dog who seems to have taken a liking to your sofa when you have been out for the day.

Either way, their general philosophy is one which changed the way in which people bought furniture. Great designs and low prices is something which other companies should try and do. But for some reason, design seems to mean that they can bump up the prices. Now I’m not saying that everything should be at rock bottom prices, there are certain designery things which deserve to be the price they are because you are clearly able to see the amount of work put in by the designer and the company as a whole to make the product the best that they can make it.

Count the number of things bought in IKEA in the room you are in just now (not really doable if you are at work, preferably done at home), and of those things, for which reasons did you buy them? Because they were cheap? or because they looked good?

And whilst you are pondering that, and I am aware that some people will manage to answer that quicker than others, I’ll leave you with an epic song which I came about whilst listening to The Bitterest Pill podcast a few years ago, a song created by Jonathan Coulton, a song all about IKEA.

Link to song on iTunes

Note: tiredness may have played a part in the randomness of this post.

Camera Lust

Quick post this time, but I am having a serious case of camera lust after seeing the following camera on Engadget. As you know if you have read any of my previous posts, I am a keen photographer and I do have a strange pull towards all things cameraish, lenses and what not in a similar sort of way some people are with, say, watches for example. It is a classic design made modern. The Leica M7 Edition Hermes. Just look at it, absolutely gorgeous. And this piece of limited edition goodness costs? Almost £9000. I’d like one with orange trim please.

Article and press release on Engadget

New Aphasia Blog…

Update on our Design Studies Aphasia project. We have now set up a blog to gauge responses about the work we have done for it so far and to inform people about Aphasia. So I you have time, we would appreciate it if you were able to spare some time to go and comment on what we have done and give us an insight into where you think we can improve.

http://aware4aphasia.wordpress.com/

Thanks

Bang & Olufsen, Ear Comfort Extraordinaire

Bang & Olufsen. A Danish company founded in 1925 who produce extremely high quality and beautifully designed electronic goods such as sound systems, televisions and telephones. They have always been at the front of the line, or very near the front, when it came to sound quality and the general experience of using their products.

Up until very recently, my only experiences of their products was either ogling them through the window of the B&O shop in Perth, or at the home of a family friend who had one of their television. They certainly could capture the imagination of the user whether or not they have used one of their products before. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I decided to purchase my first Bang & Olufsen product. Something which I had been wanting for a long time, and something which I knew would be £90 well spent. A pair of A8 earphones.

When they arrived, there was the usual sense of excitement you get when unboxing or unpacking something for the first time. The anticipation, the tension, the unrivalled sense of proud ownership. Holding the earphones in my hands, you could tell alot of time had been spent on materials, and build. Absolutely brilliant. The moving mechanisms on them are extremely smooth too. The pneumatic type arm which extends the height of the earphone is like cutting butter with a blow torch, effortless. The same goes for rotating the earpiece and the top ear support component.

Alot of time was clearly spent making these earphones stand out. They are not the same as all the other earphones which are pretty much one size fits all and don’t, these ones really do fit all thanks to the huge range of movement in them.

Overall, I am pleased to say that they are one of the best purchases I have ever made, and they have been very well used over the past few weeks already. Here’s hoping that they last a very long time too, and may this be the first of many B&O products to come into my possession.

Snap happy…

Ok, time for something a little diverted from the field of design, but it is something which I enjoy doing very much, I can spend many an hour doing this and not get bored. What is it? Photography.

Ever since I was very small, I enjoyed playing with camera’s and taking pictures. Some of my earliest memories of using a camera was was using Dad’s Olympus OM10 film SLR camera (which incidentally he still has and is contemplating giving it to me sometime). Getting my first camera was a great moment too, albeit it was effectively a point and shoot camera when I was about 6, and it was used until I was almost 10. After that when I needed one it was just a disposable one until the time came for the first digital camera. This was a major turning point because I could take pictures of everything and everyone and not have to wait until they were developed to see them. It was great. A couple of compact cameras later, growing in price and functionality, I decided in April this year to bite the bullet and get my first DSLR. After many weeks of thought, I went out there to the shops, still without the faintest idea of what one I was wanting to buy. The shop we went to was the same one in which my dad had bought his first proper camera about 30 years before, so I was very excited and he was quite nostalgic.

Having tried many different cameras, Canon’s, Nikon’s, Pentax’s etc, I settled on Sony, mainly because it fitted in my hands well and it had a good weight to it. Camera purists would say I was an idiot for going for a Sony because they are ‘new’ to the field, but in fact they did buy out Konica Minolta’s camera operations a few years before so the quality and functionality of them was right up there from the start. Also, due to picking Sony, I have been informed that they will be the company of choice for my camera and camera needs for essentially the rest of my life. Not a problem for me as I quite like Sony, having had many of their products over the years from a number of walkmans (cassette and CD), a Playstation (1, 2 and 3), a television or two, and a fantastic pair of earphones (though not as good as my newly purchased B&O’s)

Along with the camera and the standard 18-55mm lens, I got a 55-270mm lens and a carrying bag. Awesome!

Since this most recent purchase I do feel as though my photography has come on leaps and bounds because I am more free with the settings of the camera, am able to do what I want to do with it more. With the compact camera’s before it, I was pushing to the limit and in many cases beyond. Just now, I am only using probably about 30-40%, and I can’t wait to see what my photo’s are like when I am using the camera at 110%. In the 7 or 8 months since I bought the camera, I have taken about 10,000 photographs, some good, some pretty shoddy. But my love affair with the camera and the act of photography is growing and growing, and my ideas are becoming more and more ambitious.

Some of my favourite kinds of photographs are panorama’s and light trails. Panorama’s because they require either the use of a tripod, or the ability to swivel very steadily whilst holding the camera making sure it is not moved vertically or angularly from the previous position. The overall result is usually phenomenal even without post processing. Light trails are something which are great fun to do, and something I have only been able to achieve since purchasing the DSLR, the only problem is that it would be so much easier if I had an external shutter control so I could take pictures on the bulb setting, but this is on my purchase list along with a polarising filter. My favourite light trails photograph has to be from July when I was on holiday in Uist, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, the camera was set up on the tripod and I was standing in my room with the velux window wide open, cold air pouring in the window waiting for cars to pass, and because it was 11 o’clock at night, on an island 70 miles long and only with a population of circa 4000, they didn’t pass too often. I had to make do with talking to a friend on msn on my iPhone to pass the time, which did make the arduous task of this much more enjoyable.

If you would like to see some of my work please visit my flickr photostream or my DeviantART where I upload some of my better pieces of work, also all the photographs used to illustrate posts here have been taken by myself, except for the one of the Eigenharp.

Flickr

DeviantART

Some examples and a small description of each.

1. My most recent shot, taken today (31st October 2009), playing around with long shutter speeds.

2. Coming back from the Mcrae Forest Stages, thought it looked good in the mirror so I took a picture.

3. On holiday, playing with long shutter speeds with cars going across the causeway between Grimsay and North Uist.

4. Panorama of Dundee taken from the Law. Taken in December 2008 with my Fujifilm F480.

5. Probably my favourite photo I have taken. My sister’s hamster in the grass at home in the garden.

New Goods

Is it not just brilliant when you order something and when it comes, you get to unwrap it and it is like your birthday, but only this time you know what it is and it is also something you actually want. The only thing which has the ability to top that feeling is if you have bought more than one thing from different places and they all arrive at the same time. A wonderful feeling.

The past couple of weeks have been spent waiting for some things to arrive, and it was only today (or yesterday, depending on whether or not I post this on the Sunday or the Monday) that I had the opportunity to pick them up from home and then open them. It just so happens that they all relate to design in one form or another so I thought I would share what I got.

1. Bang & Olufsen A8 earphones – A few weeks ago when my old pair of earphones died, I thought I would treat myself with something that I have wanted for a very long time, and it just so happens to be my first foray into products from the Danish company. Already having used them extensively, I can say they are extremely comfortable to wear and have great sound, also they have exquisite detail. I may post something more in depth about the earphones and/or B&O at a later date.

2. Objectified – a DVD about the complex relationship people have with manufactured products. Having known about this film almost since its website appeared on the internet, I leapt at the chance to pre-order it. I have watched it already and it really does provide a unique insight into design and the designers working on products we use everyday, especially the interview or segment with Jonathan Ive from Apple.

3. T-shirts – Having taken part in a competition in the Final Gear forums to design a t-shirt (a competition they hold every 6 months or so), I was lucky enough to have 2 of my designs made in to t-shirts where only 150 or so people worldwide will wear them. A very limited run and I am glad to say that I am very pleased with both of my shirts which I did get for free. One design is based on outlines of different iconic cars, so the Ferrari F2007, Porsche 911 GT3, a Mini and a Ford GT40, the second shirt was a play on a fun feature of an early Top Gear episode where the differences between Oversteer and Understeer were being explained using toy cars.

4. Light Organ – I think I mentioned this in my last post, but this piece of equipment is to help with the radio project on my University course. The purpose of the light organ is to flicker the light or a set of lights to sound or music. This is the basis of my radio design, or it is now, and it should make a very effective looking radio. One thing which I personally am not looking forward to is having to solder all of the components onto the circuit board myself, so I’m glad I bought two, just in case.

Websites which relate to the content of my post:

Bang & Olufsen A8’s

Objectified

Light Organ

Work in Progress…

Note from the end: I apologise in advance for this being a relatively long post in relation to the rest of the posts I have written, I may have rambled on a bit towards the end.

As I am writing this, we are just about to start week six of semester 1, year 2 of the Innovative Product Design course at Dundee University. And as far as I am concerned, it has passed extremely quickly, and despite regular posts (well weekly), there has been very little talk about what we are actually doing. So this post will concern 2 of the modules of the course, the Industrial Design portion and the Design Studies area, missing out the mechanics module since you are able to guess what we do in that.

First off, the Design Studies part. We are looking at people with aphasia, working with them and going to develop something which would aid them, whether it be a physical product or a service. Aphasia for those who do not know what it is, usually occurs if someone has a stroke, and they then have a partial or total loss of ability to articulate ideas or comprehend speech or text. It affects different people by different amounts, so whilst it may be definitely noticeable in one person, it may be overlooked in another. They live normal lives and learn to live with and cope with what has happened. We were given an insight into what it was and what it was like when a couple of members of the Dundee Speakeasy group gave a talk about it.

As for the work our group is doing for this project, we are looking at producing an awareness campaign consisting of a number of posters and a video trying to explain to the public what aphasia is. This is proving quite difficult in terms of how to convey the message across effectively, but also it is quite difficult because after initial research into what people already know about it, it appears that no one knows what it is. Initial research for this consisted of a number of messages on Twitter asking the followers of myself and a fellow group member what it is, deeper research is going to be conducted post haste.

Moving onto the Industrial Design part of the course, things are quite a bit different to the design studies part. First of all, this module is probably more practical. For me this makes it much more enjoyable, as I am able to draw lots and will soon start to be making models. Our project for this is aptly called Radio Redux. The aim of the project is essentially to reinvent the radio for the 21st century, making it more accessible to more people perhaps. Having to look for a target market, research into them, come up with 10 insights based on these characters/users and how they use the radio etc, followed by producing 100 different concepts, narrowing them down to 25, then culling a further 20 leaving just 5.

No sooner had we picked the top 5 ideas we thought we had, based on not only feasibility of the project in terms of being able to produce a working model, but also on what we thought was most interesting, we had to do a brief presentation of the 5 ideas, allocating a mere 20 seconds per idea and then getting the rest of the folk on the course to pick their favourite in order to find a single idea to take forward. Having managed to somehow successfully bypass the need to design the radio for a specific user or target market and instead looking at the different environments radios are used in, my top 5 radios related to customisation by the user and also the relationship people have with sound, light, colour and shape (verging on synesthesia, something which I may write a post about at a later date if I can remember).

The idea which was chosen by the voting public, well everyone in 2nd year IPD, was one which looked at the relationship between light and sound, where when the volume of the radio was increased, the brightness of a bulb increased too. A very simple idea which would look, or as I should more appropriately say, should look, quite good (notice the confidence of that sentence, ha). I was however urged to have a look into a process or a device which would make the light flicker when music was being played or when someone was talking and when there was radio silence, in between words etc, the light would be off. It would add to the uniqueness and the, well, weirdness of the radio, something which I would not mind at all.

Another part of this module, which we had to undertake at the same time as the other radio related things, was that we were given a relatively cheap radio to take apart, make a note of all the pieces, measure them and draw them, then go on to create or produce an exploded isometric view of it as a practice for when we need to produce an exploded drawing for our final radio for the project. For me, it was not so difficult to produce this as I had done about 4 or 5 years of the things, or technical drawings in general at school, but it was the first time in almost  a year and a half since I had done one properly.

Those two parts of the Industrial Design module of the course did provide enough stress and work to last almost an entire semester in first year (excluding the supermarket project for Design Studies where the group I was in did put in a 12 hour day to get it finished). In saying that though, it was good fun, and I did help a few people which I do enjoy doing, as I don’t like seeing people getting left behind, or worked up if they do not understand, that possibly being a reason for being told by a former teacher that I would make a good teacher… oh joy, maybe I will change my opinion about it at a later date, but until then, becoming a teacher is going to be the least of my worries. The teacher thing may have been emphasised by the fact my 4th year Graphic Communications teacher did try to make me skip a year because he thought I was so far ahead of everyone else, but part of the reason why I wasn’t was because I said no due to the fact I did quite like helping everyone else. Anyways, I digress.

That’s all for this time, but I’ll try and remember to give some updates on both of the projects, and hopefully if and when I get the radio working, I’ll post a video of it working. Something to look forward to then.

Aphasia: Research

Just going to quote the same thing I posted on Twitter so help the research process for our Design Studies project regarding Aphasia.

“Help wanted for research (University project). What does everyone know about aphasia? (without googling what it is) Thanks in advance.”

Even if you do not know what it is, please take a guess to allow us to gauge how much or little people know of the condition.

I Want One of Those…an Eigenharp

Every so often whilst browsing the vastness of the internet, you end up stumbling across something which you end up wanting so badly. Last time that happened to me, I ended up buying it, but I didn’t stumble across it as it were, it was my iMac.

This week, whilst looking through the most shared stories on the BBC News website, it happened again. A product which for no reason at all is shouting out to me just because of its brilliant uniqueness. An utterly gorgeous piece of design and also a new musical instrument. The Eigenharp. Dubbed as the worlds most expressive electronic instrument, it does enough to capture the looks of traditional instruments whilst bringing it inline with modern technology by stuffing it full of electronics. It is pushing electronics and music to their limits, a creative and innovative way to produce an exquisite yet quite quirky product.

Now what would I do with an instrument which is just shy of £4000? Hopefully I would end up playing it, if I ever managed to learn how to play it, if not it would be one of those things which would sit about the house gathering dust. I’m not saying that I would not play or try to play it, I did used to play a musical instrument a few years ago, it was just the kind of music I had to play which put me off it.

Later on in life, if I have a spare £4000 however, I don’t think I will buy one, just because I have my eye on some Bang & Olufsen things which I have been wanting for a while.

So without further ado, and since I have to stop writing as I can’t help just looking at the Eigenharp as it is beautifully designed, I’ll leave you with a video of it in use. Enjoy.

Eigenlabs website