whatchamacallit project

for this project we were instructed to make something from scratch, I decided to make a little holder for my iphone, kinda like a dock. it has a slot in the bottom for the charger and it's shaped like the iphone. It's a simple idea, but I needed one so I made one for myself.

Furniture design project - Final Post

With this project, I had a lot of difficulty at first, I had about a week of time where I had no ideas about what to do. when looking around on the internet I came across one seat that was very interesting to me. It followed a similar design to what I have now. This is where I drew my inspiration from, after finding that image I immediately started sketching what I wanted to do. I made those sketches a while ago and have lost it between then and now. but after the sketching I came to modelling. It wasn't that difficult, I already had measurements for the seat and I knew what it would look like I just had to do it. I eventually came to this...

It doesn't look like much, but the Idea is that I would join each of the sheets together with glue to make 1 section, doing this multiple times would make more sections and I would have what looked like a bench. This is what one section would look like...

The idea was that for each section (the outside ones looking like this) I would have a spot to place a small sheet of fabric for a seat, It would have been strong fabric. strong enough to support a person of course. with this model I went to cutting a small version of the chair/bench. unfortunately I have no photos of it and the model was broken a while ago. shortly after making the model and modifying it slightly I went to full scale and cut it using the CNC machine. During the cutting process, something went wrong and messed up the cut on one of the pieces, I wanted to recut that piece again but I never had the chance and I never finished the chair. It wasn't that big of a deal for me, I would have liked to see how it would have turned out but I ran out of time and I can't. but after that first cut I went and modified my model more and came out with this...

After cutting full scale I saw that the gaps in the back were too close to the edge and may have broke under someones weight, so I made the space wider and I made the seat depth longer since it was a little short the first time around. In this, I learned a couple things. Like how to make the design process work for me rather than just following the steps and doing nothing new or creative, I also learned that it's impossible to get it perfect on the first try, no matter what, there will always be times when you can improve and modify your design to make it even better. I had used Sketchup when making my design, I don't feel like it has any real advantages or disadvantages compared to others, other than the fact that it can model in 2d and 3d, but is also universal as you can design anything with it. but it feels limited with the tools and the snapping to different angles. to me it's just a little unresponsive, but that may not be the case for others. I got used to it by getting used to the tools and just how the angle and length snapping works, I really only used the line tool for almost all of my work, if not the line tool then I used the rectangle tool.

This project didn't lead me to too many problems. the only thing that bugged me was having to wait for a while to cut it for the first time. Other than that I had no big problems, I had a couple small ones, llike getting the chair just right, and figuring out what materials I would make most of it out of, Etc.

I had a sense of accomplishment when making the scale model, It wasn't too amazing but it felt good to take my idea and make it a reality. it made me feel like I can make anything if I put time into it. 

Documenting My Furniture Progress

When designing my "chair" I had the idea of simplicity and functionality, but also wanted it to be unique. Then the idea of being able to change the chair with ease came up. most people are going with a rigid design, but I wanted a little more so I thought of making a bench, that if pulled apart, a more comfortable seat would be revealed. The prototype model looks like this.

The tow long pieces sticking through the back serve two purposes, to act as a guide and to prevent the seat from collapsing inward. the white piece between the sections, Is the more comfy seat, my Idea is to make it out of a tough fabric that will hold up a person, but will still fit with the whole design of the bench. 

My inspiration actually came from a little .GIF image that I saw showing a man taking what looked like a small chair, but he sets it down and pulls on the side turning it into a large bench. I unfortunately can't find the image to show but I found a similar image that matches what I saw. 

honeycomb-cardboard-498x377.jpg

During the whole process of modelling in sketch up, I didn't really have any issues, but my only concern what that I was making it a little too simple and bland and it wouldn't really work, when I did make it, I noticed that if I left it as it was, the sections would fall over when some one sat in it, so I added little slots for a 2X4 to fit in, so it would then keep it stable. aside from that, I had no other problems with it.

wikiseat final post

During my construction of my own wikiseat I had experienced many things and learned much more, both about the design process as well as just basic construction. But along with those successes I also had struggle and failure. I'll start with my struggles since those came before success when building. when I had first started holding nothing but the chunk of metal that was given and the thought of the instructions and the possibilities. for the longest time I had an idea of what I wanted, but no real idea of how to do it, after a few weeks I still only had the catalyst and an Idea but only had a week or two left to build it. Soon after I alerted my father about my struggle and he almost  immediately took me to buy some supplies. After I got some supplies I still only had a week and no top for the seat and the waiting game continued and I kept telling myself that I would do it at lunch times with the help of a friend but the idea kept slipping from my mind every time lunch rolled around, and soon enough I had about a day left. I went to my father again and told him of my problem and I finally finished building the seat.

This is what the final product looked like, when I had finished the top with my dad he threw out the idea of putting some kind of cushion on it, followed by upholstering it with jeans. I wanted to make it as aesthetically pleasing as I could so I went with it. Afterwards I thought it looked great and took it to class the next day.

If I had to do this again I would set this project as my priority and not forget so often, I would also try to get it done as soon as possible so I have less time to worry and more time to relax and not have to worry. So I would simply do it a lot sooner than I did with this one. 

I had learned a bit about myself, I had learned that I'm lazy and forgetful, but other than that I learned that if I start it, and I really start working on it, I can get some pretty cool things accomplished. I am very proud that I had actually finished the seat and how well it turned out. I had accomplished what I set out to do, and it came out rather well. The feeling I got when making this seat for someone else was, a bit exhausting, doing so much work for something that I may never use, but in the end it feels nice to see them so glad about something that you made for them. That is really my story about how I built this seat, and for any others that plan on doing this project, please finish this project as soon as you can, don't rush, but don't spend too much time on it either, if you do so, it'll turn out great and you have more time to relax.

Reality check post

this is my chair model of my original design, we had to talk with some fellow students to get some feed back and more ideas about what we can change with mine I am going to make it more compact and efficient, as tit is the chair/bench stays compressed together till some one goes and stretches it to reveal more comfortable seats between spots on the bench, but it can be used as a normal bench when pushed together, as for the wooden parts they will be glued and pressed together to make it more solid. 

Design standards 2

For the design of my chair, it isn't really going to be a chair but more like a couch, but it will take up as much space as a normal chair. (folded in atleast) my plan is to have little sections between armrests with seats in the middle, but my idea is that you have to expand the whole thing to bring out 3 or 4 seats, the whole thing will fit together as for the seats they will be made out of a fabric and work kinda like a camping chair, with the fabric acting as the support.

Design standards 1

Wikiseat short update

so far my progress with the wikiseat is rather underwhelming, with nothing to show for it. but later today I hope to get some materials and start building with my dad. As for my weekend that's what Im doing, it will be built and painted within 2 - 3 days. that's all I really have for my update, sorry I don't have any photos of my progress so far.

Weesled final (edit)

This is my model of the weesled that I made in google sketch up. It took me a couple days and alot of trial and error, but I finally settled on this choice. it's simple and it's functional, this model isn't 100% accurate to what I had planned but it is still relatively close to the original, the most difficult part was making sure everything was straight and fit properly, if I were to add more, i would make the sides also curve upwards to prevent flipping if it turns sideways. I would recommend this for ages 3 - 6 because of the normal safety issues with sledding. the sled is securely held to the weerol and the sled is built out of the same materials and a protective coat will be put over it, so it will be durable, and because of the

protective coat over the sled, it also makes it easier to slide along the floor with ease and prevents scratching of both the sled and the floors. The sled goes on just as easily as the wheels by securing to the same axel in place of the wheels. as it is right now the only big safety issue is the possibility of turning sideways and flipping with the child on it, but in construction I had planned on making the sides curved as well to prevent flipping. the only reason it's not in the model is because of time constraints as well as my skill level preventing me from doing so. Upon construction, I was planning on building the sled in the same fashion as the Weerol it's self, that seems like the most efficient, durable, and i feel as though the style of the accessory works well with the materials. This accessory seems to fit with the weerol by being built the same way, as well as fitting in with the versatility of the toy itself, this will make the toy more effective year round and will allow children to play outside with it as oppose to being forced to play with the toy inside.

(Other sketches and models)

sketch side

Model side

Sketch top

Model top

Weerol Prototype and sketches

Over the past few days we have been working on a project for the Weerol toy, we are required to design and build an accessory for the toy, when thinking of what to make the thought of winter came to mind and I thought that I could make this toy more versatile over the winter season by adding a sled to the bottom of it. these are the sketches of what It might look like.

Wikiseat - post interview

For our wikiseat project we had to talk with and gain insight from the person we are building the chair for. For mine, I am making the seat more for a wider group, I had difficulty thinking of who to talk to then I thought of who visits the most, and my neighbour came to mind. In my interview I asked him things like what it should look like, and how big it should be. I got very generic answers like, "I don't care" or stuff like that but I got enough out of him to get a decent design, I want to make it fit with anyone who visits my home. I learned what my friend would like with his seat, and how he kinda wants it to look, I will take that into account along with the size, colour and a few other things. this interview helped me to gain insight about how it should look like and how functional it will be. The design of it will be kinda similar to a normal stool only I may add a few other things, like a back rest maybe some cloth and foam to make it more comfortable, with the colours I will go with a darker colour like black or a dark blue. But before I get to that I need to obtain some materials, I was hoping to get some materials from the schools shop class, or to even have my dad get some for me, for me the only real obstacle in this project would have to be building the stool using the catalyst, but it will have to be something that I will have to overcome if I am to finish this project. As for the materials I will use normal wood to build most of the seat, I will try to avoid using metal with this because that will mean more work for myself and might take too long for me to complete. Painting is pretty straight forward, I will use a normal spray paint and for any details I will use a small paint brush and add the details by hand.

What I hope the stool will kinda look like before painting. (legs will be different)

weerol response/reflection

We recently had a presentation by a man named Derek Perkins, the designer of the Weerol (we-roll) toy, Derek went very in depth with the details and told us as much as he could, although it was tough to see from where I was I still payed close attention to try and absorb as much as possible. He first went into more detail about his background and his education on things like design, this part didn't last too long as he didn't want to waste too much time, as we were listening we had to take notes on a few sheets of paper provided to us. After giving us a brief summary of his background he went through the design process with us, he went through it because he and many other designers go through the same process. It started with finding a problem and to think and brainstorm ways to solve that problem, before getting into actual designing or brainstorming it greatly helps to collect info about similar things, and to learn as much as possible. once the brainstorming starts, new ideas and insights start to emerge, once you have a prototype idea you build and try to find new ways to improve on that Idea. after that you start to show the idea to others and take notes and learn more. when designing things alot of different considerations must be made like. "Is it safe?" "How much does it cost?" "Is it easily manufactured?"

The note sheets I used:

the Weerol:

Wikiseat investigations 1

The wikiseat project is a project that has been made by Nicolas Weidinger and Alaric Moore. The goal of the wikiseat is to help students think differently about the problems this generation is faced with on a regular basis, and to help them bring tangibility to intangible concepts. Wikiseat explores new methods of teaching in various core subjects. Like Mr. Wheelers literature class, he uses this to teach the students how to think about and work to solve to problem what ever it may be. Some students say the project was really fun and they had a great time doing it, some said it was a great experience and so on. Some things to know about furniture design include ergonomics, how comfortable is it? and functionality and aesthetics should come in mind. "what will it do? what will it look like?" it also helps to make it so it can fit into many different settings and themes. Chairs must be able to withstand a lot of weight, and have stability when transferring weight from front to back. A stool stands at an average 24 - 30" from the ground. When designing a stool you must think about ergonomics and how comfortable the stool is,  how it fits in a specific setting like a house or workspace. Some principals and elements of design include; balance, scale and shape.

Balance:

Scale:

Catalyst sketches

Wikiseat First Conversations

When first introduced to this project I was confused on what we were supposed to do with this hunk of metal. The first note I thought about my brother and how he could use a foot rest for his room, so it wouldn't be much of a seat, but rather a foot rest. I had not spoken with him yet but I think if I did he would reply flatly with "cool." I don't have any questions about this project as it is pretty straight forward.

Wallet Challenge Reflection

The process of this challenge first started with a small interview with the person we were partnered with, mine was a little quiet so I had to try a bit harder to get as much out of him as possible, once the interviews were over we had gone into thinking of any sort of problems that our partner might have with their wallet, with mine I noticed he like to use cards and had a lot of them, so I based my design around the thought that it must be inconvenient for him to have to open the wallet every time. after a short seven or eight minutes I finally came to a design.

Since I wasn't supplied with many great materials I ended up making the whole thing out of duct tape and sticky notes. the duct tape making up the body and the sticky notes making the pockets for credit cards and such. When I had first started I had the idea of a basic wallet in mind, only with more pockets, I soon realized that everyone else had the same Idea so I made something new, I built it with convenience in mind by making the credit card pockets on the outside, and I made it just a bit smaller than a normal bill. In the interview I learned that my partner didn't really like using cash that often, so the cash pocket is made on  the inside, incase he would need it. With my original design it was more like a normal wallet but after hearing my teacher say that it didn't need to be a normal wallet I changed it to something more like this. 

although it's not very pretty I believe it is a good design, I didn't really get that "A ha!" moment until later on in my sketching when I had made this design, it was shortly after we were told that it didn't have to resemble a normal wallet, after that I started thinking and eventually reached this design. I had reached this design by gaining empathy and thinking about what it must be like for him to have to take out and open his wallet every time he wanted to purchase something with his debit card, so I came up with this "pocket" like design by putting the card slots on the outside, I made it more convenient for someone like him by doing so. After all this we started prototyping and actually built our design using the materials supplied, as soon as he said "Go" I made a dash for the duct tape because I knew it would be the most reliable to work with only been given fifteen minutes to build, what took the longest was making the tape line up and having to wait for others to get what they needed from the one roll available. After finally finishing the body I had to add the pockets, the fastest way to do this was tape sticky notes to it I only had about a minute or two so I didn't get far only adding about three pockets, although not a lot it still got my point across. The whole prototyping process helped the design by putting things into an easier perspective, and helped me to understand how well this design actually worked, the only flaw I noticed was my placement of the pockets. being to close to the top and making the card stick out higher than the top of the wallet. From my partner I got relatively good feedback but he also only said that "It's good" so i'm not quite sure. If I could make another prototype I would fix the placement of the pockets and even add more, but other than that I wouldn't change it. It would be something like this.

If I could improve the design process, I would extend the build time to thirty minutes or more so that those who need more time have it. everything else seems fine to me and I had no further issues. Any feedback would be appreciated thank you for reading.

The Gift Giving Experience

Understanding what it was like for my partner when he has to get gifts helped me to think of a way to help solve his issue. although it wasn't totally amazing, it still helped his issue.

The part the I got stuck and confused the most is when I was asking questions trying to find any sort of issue he might have with the gift giving process.

The first time doing it was a bit slow, but I also didn't have much time to actually work on my solution. I would improve it by taking more time to accomplish my goal and have better materials at hand.

Logo (v3)

More Isometric sketches

Logo Stationary (march 8, 2013)

Logo (v2)

added: More symmetry, new colours, better switch, Made bulb look like a flame (representing a mixture of old and new)

I made this my logo because it not only remind me of my history, but also shows a mixture of old and new, which is the technique I use in my projects using old design styles with new age technology. I used the different shapes and colours because I feel they blend together, and also stand out. The font used also has an old age feel to it further connecting the old and new. the message I'm trying to send is "comfort in design" and now, "A mixture of old and new"

NightLight logo (V1 finished)

I decided to make my logo like this because through most of my childhood I used a night light, it made me feel safe. the message I want to make with this is "comfort in design"

Nightlight logo (V1 WIP)

Logo sketches

Vector project (march 4, 2013)

Owl Drawing

Isometric sketches. (march 4, 2013)

Name vector

Isometric sketch (1)

Isometric sketching.

STICK man.\

Alternate logo
#1

Logo design project...