Draft boards for the D&AD project. A few minor changes are yet to be made but it is nearly there.
mrdouglaswood
the idiosyncratic musings of a designer
Tagged with first impression …
#92 Quattro is done
In a push to get all the fun things done on my to do list before university work becomes just a bit too much, I managed to get the Audi Quattro I was working on finished, and in good time too. It took a bit longer than the Escort, but this one was much more detailed.
#91 Fire up the Quattro
My next side project as requested by a Mr Lynch is an Audi Quattro. It wasn’t specified if it was to be in Group B or Ashes to Ashes flavour so I opted for my favourite of the two, the Group B monster. I am putting in more detail into this one compared to the Escort and it is looking quite good so far.
#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.
#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.
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.
It’s the little things
Whilst I am going to try and keep most of my posts on here design related, there may be other topics which crop up from time to time if I feel the need to express something. However, I shall endeavor to try and reel it back in to something ‘designish’, since that is what I study.
I have had my driving license for almost 2 years now, and in that time I haven’t exactly driven a lot of cars in that time, I think the total count is 2, both of which have been company cars belonging to my dad, so obviously I don’t have the sort of gravitas of commenting on cars as the likes of motoring journalists. My opinions on cars are purely based on looks, and experiences I have had with the manufacturer in terms of in motorsport and other road users. However, of the 2 cars I have had the privilege of driving, there have been massive differences, yes mainly in the driving aspect, but also in the living with, and adapting aspect of the two cars and this is what I am going to briefly discuss.
The first car, a 2005 Volvo V50 2.0D, the first car I drove, and definitely my favourite of any cars my dad has owned and the second, current car, a 2007 Ford Mondeo ST 2.2 TDCI, quicker and bigger than the Volvo. Whilst both share many of the same underpinnings due to Volvo being under Ford ownership, it was clear to see that it was two completely different design philosophies which created them. The elegant, crisp, Swedish simplicity of the V50 was a joy to behold on the interior whilst its exterior was beautifully understated. The Mondeo, whilst a higher spec model, unarguably German with its high quality finish and sporting credentials had a rather handsome exterior (albeit, not as pretty as the Volvo in my opinion).
Despite this not being a car review, I fear it is going that way, but I shall continue and try and pull through. The following saying which I am undoubtably going to misquote shows what my main thoughts are for both the cars. “You don’t realise what you have until it is gone” The Ford, whilst being fantastically capable and having more ‘toys’, just doesn’t hold a candle to the sheer volume of thought that went into the Volvo by its designers and it wasn’t until the keys were handed back on the Swede and time had been spent in the German that things were picked up and compared even the little things. Everything in the Volvo is phenomenally ergonomic, you know instinctively where everything is on the centre console, or on the stalks behind the steering wheel and the seats are a pleasure to sit in for long periods of time. The ST on the other hand is more confusing, yes that is in part due to having used another car for 4 years, but it all seems more cluttered and there are times, even now, 4 or 5 months of having the car that I don’t know how to use something, or find something, the cruise control for instance, haven’t got a clue, whereas in the Volvo it was instinctive.
Overall, due to my age and the public’s opinion to my age group, I should prefer the Mondeo with it’s bigger engine and its potential to go ’6 millionty-gazillion miles per hour’, but I don’t, I prefer the Volvo. Mainly this is due to first impressions, something which everyone makes and is judged by with people and with products, it is something which designers need to think about when creating something as they could easily ruin it. This isn’t to say the Ford is bad, it has its fair share of good points and the Volvo has it’s bad points. But it was first impressions which have made up my mind, and have ultimately created something else which is strived for by companies, brand loyalty. Every company has their own followers, numbers varying greatly in size, and one of the things they are won over by is first impressions, and it’s the little things which help with this.
Do I see myself owning a Volvo in the future? Yes. The folk in Gothenburg have got themselves another fan.
