Wednesday 25 March 2009

Dharma Ads


I love these fake adverts for the Dharma Initiative (if any of you don't know, it plays a large part in the story lines of Lost). There so retro!

Via Flickr

Wednesday 18 March 2009

KARERA


A really nice portfolio of illustrations from Japanese design team Karera. Simplicity is good!

Sunday 15 March 2009

Das Ding


A lot of design wank, but nice to look at.

http://www.dasding.be/

Saturday 14 March 2009

Fast Food Robotics


Currently for our engineering module, NCR have given us another brief - this time we have to envisage the future of self service in different business sectors. Giving the most potential, our team chose fast food as a sector to develop. Each member has a section to work on, ordering, cooking, stock, and paying.

Although I don't agree that automation is going to be the future (I've seen terminator!), I'd rather let the workers at McDonalds have a better life doing more constructive things, than flipping burgers for the rest of their lives - I know, I've worked there!

The Chocolate Research Facility


I love the whole feel of this chocolate shop in Singapore. Gives you a whole different experience of buying chocolate! http://www.chocolateresearchfacility.com/

New Render


Here's a persuasive drawing of one of my models...

Billboards


I've just found some amazing photos by Branislav Kropilak. A very science fiction-y look at ordinary billboards.

Saturday 7 March 2009

Visualisations


The thing I've noticed recently is that hand renders of products have disappeared, being replaced by computer aided visualisations. I do agree that machines are getting better at creating more "realistic" pictures, but they feel so lifeless, so sterile.

I thought the whole point of renders were to sell the product to the client - make them feel part of it, get them emotionally involved - but I don't think the computer renders have this. Fair enough they're very accurate, but where's the life?

Open Source

My dissertation proposal has taken a lot of twists and turns along the way, but I think I have settled on a very current subject - the effect of the open source movement on industry. It will concentrate on the fact that everything is becoming free online and how businesses can adapt, counteract, and even benefit from it. Still a work in progress, but it will help me understand a bit more of the world - one step at a time!

Re3 - Sustainable Living


Everything is coming together nicely on the sustainable business front. We've got products, visualisations, a website and a cracking logo (as seen above)! Although this is just a theoretical enterprise project, I believe this could be something great if we want to pursue this!

Friday 6 March 2009

Watchmen


Watchmen is out now! Go see it... Now!
(But I do suggest reading the book first)

Nanotechnology goes to war




I Don't know why I put this pic in, just thought it was funny. Anyway...

A very interesting article on the research and development in nanotechnology (maybe because I love Sci Fi!) The implications are endless!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/mar/05/micro-darpa-microchips

Make It, Don't Fake It

After the prototyping stage of the concept, I have begun to make my hard drives for real. This will involve five weeks of good 'ol hard work, but I'm sure the results will be great! I've set up another blog on the subject of a step by step guide on how to make them - this is not only a required element of the module, but it will help future students with certain manufacturing processes.

The link is:

http://ipd.dundee.ac.uk/users/lmurray/blog/


p.s. since it is the start of the process, there's not much on it, but I'll keep adding to it over the weeks.

Tuesday 3 March 2009

PowerUp!


Just a quick prototype of getting power from a USB plug. It's surprisingly easy!

Models



Here are the concept models for my project - made from blue foam and painted to give a sense of form and scale.

Experience Design

A nice article about kinetic design and the experience of using products by Ben Hopson.

http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/kinetic_design_and_the_animation_of_products_by_ben_hopson_12642.asp

The best piano ever!

Just looking through some blogs and such, and came across this crazy piano!
I love the feel of this, utterly pointless, but I could just imagine turning it on and watching it come to life. Good Stuff!

Re3


For the interdisciplinary work creating a sustainable business, our team has created a set of products - furniture throws, curtains, table runners, and other household textiles - made from photo negatives and old VHS tapes. Very interesting stuff!

We've got a blog dedicated to this. It's:

http://dhtpgreenteam.wordpress.com/

Renders





Here's the renders of the objects I have hand drawn for the project. These were all done using markers and coloured pencil.

The End of Play...

It's been four weeks of developing my concept, and I wish I could say it's been easy!

Four weeks of indecision, redesigning and frustration - but finally everything fell into place.

To give you a hint of the final concept, here is the blurb for my rationale board:

Before the rise of personal computers, people stored their most treasured information – pictures, videos, music, and letters – in very personal and creative ways. But due to the rise of multimedia computers, these rituals and idiosyncrasies have been replaced by standardised and lifeless methods – digital folders and files all in one location.

The richness of this information has decreased due to this system - pictures mixed with text documents, videos mixed with graphs and charts - there is no way to fully appreciate and value all of these types of information simply from a computer screen and uninspiring storage devices.

Rewrite renews the sentimental value of this information using the modern method of digital storage devices. Each drive has been created from lost methods of interaction due to replacement by computers – a chrome microphone for music, a VHS tape for videos, a projector slide for pictures and a journal for letters.

By allocating each type of medium a physical artefact, the organisation and storage of the data becomes more tangible and meaningful. It makes the experience of using digital information more valuable, and through being able to organise and store them wherever you like, it revives the rituals and interactions connected more with traditional media and enables users to interact with information in a more intuitive and creative ways.

If you haven't already guessed, my products are called Rewrite!