Just a small post to say that for the time being my website (mrdouglaswood.com) is currently down.
It does need a little bit of updating done to it, but overall I was and still are quite happy with it.
Watch this space for when it’ll be back.
mrdouglaswood
the idiosyncratic musings of a designer
Tagged with mrdouglaswood …
One Hundred Words
Technology has become so embedded into everyday life that it is difficult to detach from it, especially for younger generations who often lose valuable sleeping time because of ‘being online’. 夜間night* aims to discourage phone use in bed and aid the process of drifting off to sleep.
夜間night* starts a soothing mood light when the phone is inserted, encouraging sleep whilst charging the phone. 夜間night* will react to the phone when a notification or message is received by flashing brightly and vibrating, disturbing the user, questioning whether the phone needs to be on or not.
One Great Image
One great image. It was more difficult than it sounded. There were many hundreds of pictures taken before deciding on this one. I think that it shows the product, the context and the mood quite nicely. The subtle editing done to it gives it a more dramatic feel and was needed to enhance the light coming out of 夜間night*. The subdued colours and darker tones give the impression that it is during the night. And the irritated look on the subjects face emphasises the fact that 夜間night* has woken them up.
It was difficult to get the right look for the picture. I could have very easily fallen into the trap of it being an ordinary product shot, or having no action in it. The huge exposure differences constantly played havoc with the pictures being taken. The dark background was undefined against the overexposed light prism. In this case, a compromise was indeed taken by increasing the ambient light, and I think that it adds to it.
Starting to Appear Places
Just a heads up that my promotion of the project is starting to take effect, albeit this one because I submitted it and not because it was necessarily found. Anyway, it is on DesignSpotter.
Click on the picture below to be taken there.
Proof of Concept
The video below was shot quickly and serves as a good proof of concept video, which isn’t quite the same as my final one. I am really glad that it is still working too!
Another Website Plug
Another plug for my website, but if you view it on a mobile device, the good news is that it shows up perfectly. It looks good in portrait or landscape, and if you save a bookmark of it to the home screen, it takes care of that too!
This website is looking and performing much much better than my old one. And it is much easier to update too.
New Website Live
As I mentioned a few posts ago I had a new website but was waiting to upload it. Well the time has come and it is live!
I am having a few problems with transferring my domain to a new registrar so you can only access it via http://mrdouglaswood.com for the time being. Do not put www. at the start because it will not work just yet.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
New Website Coming Soon
Over the past few weeks I have been investing a huge amount of my spare time into redoing my website. The time is almost here for you to get a closer look at it and go hands on, but in the mean time here is a little preview.
It is much much cleaner than the previous one and it does more what I want it to do than what my current one does. I also have much more control over all the details in it. On the whole I am extremely happy with it, and if I’m lucky, it will be online within a week!
Fourth Year: Forging Ahead
Despite waking up to snow, I was in a good mood. Though that doesn’t really make so much sense because I like the snow. Anyways. Tests from last night show that the light travels through the new blocks of light the way that I want them too and it gives a strangely desirable effect. So riding on this high, I got cracking with preparing the blocks of acrylic as I was wanting them completed today.
I etched, using the laser cutter, the name on to the block and with a fine grit of sandpaper, I ‘brushed’ the side the name was on. For the purposes of this project, it has a nicer aesthetic than sandblasting.
After the good of the morning the afternoon was where things started to go wrong. I had done so well up until that point. It was time to start thinking about gluing the pieces together. Without going into too much detail, it didn’t go that well. The glue ruined the effect of the prism and it didn’t look good at all. Thankfully I was able to pull the pieces apart and the glue peeled off leaving no marks at all. Tomorrow I am going to head down to the workshop and see what they say I should do if I want a seamless join.
Fourth Year: Blocks of Plastic
GOOD NEWS
No, there isn’t a Dacia Sandero in this post, but the blocks of plastic that I ordered last week from ‘The Plastic People’ arrived and it is exactly what I am looking for. As you can see in the photos below they are brilliant. However, I am a little worried as to how the light will travel through these compared to the layered plastic section. Especially since this is a definite prism compared to the last ones….
