Balanced

City bike

Once again just browsing through the web on core77 and i came across this cool city bike.

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/jruiter_studios_super-minimal_city_bike_15092.asp

The target market for this bike makes perfect sense and i can see it being a pretty cool bike to have aswell, "as long as the price is reasonable"!!

The short wheel base is also ideal for lifts for people living in the city.

Archi!!

The last assignment on ritual dinings as a fun assignment. Because it had to relate back to my bloodline i learnt alot about chinas history and culture in dining. I also looked into other areas where Chinese design has evolved over the 5000 years. Chinese architecture was a part in which inspired me about my bowl design, the way ancient architecture was planed and constructed just really amazes me.

Balance was a key part of ancient Chinese architecture and how most things were carried out in the culture and rituals.

Bunk speed

Just got bunkspeed today and its such a kool program. I think the only down side is time!! it takes a long time to render high detailed images. I still think using aux pecker maps in rhino is good enough for concept stage developments, which means a lot of time can be saved.

Tea?

This sorapot takes tea to a whole new level!!

CHECK OUT THE YOUTUBE LINK!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8KWYClJUqQ

FREE RICE

Currently i am designing a new bowl for studio. This bowl is not going to be any ordinary bowl but a rice bowl, it will encourage the user to make or carry out certain gestures when in use. Kind of a hard task to do but im still working at it.

Well, i was doiing research on how much rice is in the average bowl of rice, and i came across this website. http://www.freerice.com/index.php EVERYONE SHOULD GO TO IT WHEN THEY ARE BORED!!

Basically your given a word, and four other words, if you match the word to the correct corresponding word you donate 10 grains of rice to someone in need of rice!!! Well i mean, you learn at the same time give rice to someone who needs it!!!

Oh and a close estimate to the average amounts of rice in a rice bowl is 3000 grains when expanded. The way they calculated it was but getiing the volume of the bowl, then countings 1 table spoon of rice, getiing the volume for the table spoon times the volume of the spoon by the bowl then amount of rice grains. If that makes sense??

Well give that site a visit if your bored! might learn a few words or more

American chopper

Southern cross packaging awards

Patrick and myself went down to Melbourne yesterday for the southern cross packaging awards dinner. The trip was a nice mission which was filled with lots of obstacles that were overcome in the end. On the night of the awards it showcased the best packaging designed in industry for the year. Having being exposed to such event was such a great experience.

The overall Showcase winners for the year in the industry category was the

"O-I’s Lean+Green™ lightweight wine bottle"

The wine bottle design saves almost 20,000 tonnes of glass packaging per annum. This also comes with major reductions in carbon emissions, waste, water costs, transportation costs and energy reduction.

Check out o-i's website for more details on their designs, it could help out on the current assignment in studio.

http://www.o-i.com/asia.aspx?id=1906

Ice Cream Moon cakes

Is it westernizing chinese culture?

New Wood

We come across wood everyday, its in our houses, out on the streets and even in some shoes. Fossil watches have come out with a new design which uses the wood texture in a watch. The technology uses liquid wood to create parts for the watch.

SORAPOT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8KWYClJUqQ

Watch this video, it's taken the tea preparation to a whole new level.

Design competitions

I was just browsing around and happen to come across a few competitions that were held by some sites such as Core77.com and Idsketching.com. Some of the sketching and product boards are pretty good for the amount of time allowed for these products.

Here is some that caught my eye.

Check out more sketches at http://boards.core77.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=16597&sid=51b33968f4cb657d0f32d3154e89f665 and www.idsketching.com

These two sites hold competitions regularly and give out awesome prizes to the winners.

Stone

Banksy!!

I just stumbled across one of James turnbulls older posts about Banksy!!

Bansky is not one person!!?? Hrmmm if it wasnt one person then the movement must be prety strong. The artwork is taken to the next level, I wouldnt call he's work graffiti but a Movement.

Materials

Today was the day i went in search for materials. After carrying out research to what type of material i should use for my bag design i went straight to spotlight. I mean it's logical to go to spotlight as the first point when getting fabric right? Well i was wrong. They didn't carry that specific colour i was looking for. The next place i went to was reverse garbage in Marrickville, i went there in search for a bag in which i could use for the skeleton of my design. Surprisingly they just stocked up on a lot of fabric material aswell, and to my luck they had a colour in a soft fabric that suited my design.

As soon as i got home i started to work on the strap of the bag to check out how it would look. Attached is a picture of it being sewed.

Here is more images of the sketches of the bag and mockups to how it would work.

(Early stage sketch of the bag)(Cheap fast paper mock up)

The pacifier

The pacifier was a movie i dug up from my archive collection cause i suited my tribe perfectly. After watching it, ideas started coming to me to as what i should make for the stay at home dad.

Although Vin Deisel was not in my target market, the concept of the movie was perfect! A male going through change with kids around. The bag in this picture also gave me alot of ideas.

Stay At Home Dads

Stay At Home Dad Story Board

Project 1

Urban Tribe of choice: Stay At Home Dad

Stay At Home Dad

Brief

Background Information

In 1914 women broke out into the work force, fighting for the equal rights women now make up for 45% of the paid workforce. The role of looking after children and doing the house work was previously known as a “females role” but in today’s modern society men are becoming more frequent in carrying out these roles. A “Stay At Home Dad” is a man who is dedicated to he’s family with a occupation which consists of looking after the kids and house. With 98% of stay at home dads having partners, female are the bread winners of the family.

Aim

To explore and understand the emotional connection Stay At Home Dads encounter each day with the objects they use in their daily lives, with new technologies, shapes and materials, design a product belonging to a family of objects. The product should have emotional appeal in which should be evident to the targeted audience to create a sense of identity to the user.

Target market

Stay At Home Dads (SAHD)

Age

35-40

Sex

Male

Combined Income

65K- 90K

Occupation

Stay at home dad

Location

Western society

Lifestyle

He is not locked down by the clock, so he takes he’s time doing the housekeeping. Spending nearly all he’s time around the kids, he is also committed to being a role model for children. Cooking, cleaning and feeding the kids are the daily routines, but he will need to break the daily routines up to stimulate he’s life outside being a stay at home dad.

Needs

He needs to be able identify himself as belonging to a specific tribe through the objects encountered in everyday life. These objects will allow the user to define the transition from being a working dad to a stay at home dad. Surrounded by these objects and support with social networks, the stay at home father will discover he’s identity with being comfortable with the changes.

Purpose

To create a object which will allow the user to become more flexible and feel masculine in the activities carried out daily. The object may be used around the house in completing tasks or used as a symbol of identity when in public.

Performance

This product must be designed to work in wet and dry conditions, the product must also assist the user to perform a task and be practical.

Features

User friendly as well as ergonomic parts must be incorporated into the design. The use of at least one recycled material will have to be incorporated into the final design. The logo from the family products must also be incorporated into the design. The item must be easily dismantled for recycling after its life span.

Reliability

The product life should have a life span of over 5 years, the product must not be a item where it will disposed of after a few or single use. Product should be perceived as useful to the user.

Ease of repair

Repairs will have to be sent away for repairs or analysis, a maximum time frame of 2 working weeks will be given to the user.

Aesthetics

The product should give the user a sense of belonging when the object is encountered with. The physical looks and the tactile feel of the product must reflect the user’s lifestyle as being a stay at home dad, but still have an edge to identity the change in parenting roles.

Packaging

The box will have to be packaged in recycled cardboard. If there is other packaging to protect the product inside the box, Styrofoam may not be used. A alternate solution to padding the product must be used but must be recyclable.

Perceived quality

The product must appeal as a friendly item that can also be used by other individuals in the house as well. The item must also be perceived as being useful to the user on a regular basis.

Budget

The item must be affordable to the average Stay At Home Dad. The estimated budget for this useful item will be maximum $400

Time scale 6 week project

Week 1 è Build strong understanding of selected tribe, create brief. Once brief has been typed up, refine and identify potential products for market.

Week 2 è Concept generation, Filter non relevant out ideas

Week 3 è Refining concepts. Reviewing process and what other information must be gathered. Gather materials and supplies for model making

Week 4 è Refining down concept and start model making. Make shore all relevant information has been collected.

Week 5 è ensure model is finished, finish off presentation material.

Week 6 è Presentation

Ice packs?

Ice packs are things that have amazed me in the past.

Sodium Acetate the sodium salt of acetic acid, is a chemical which is the core of amazement. Chemicals giving out a exothermic reaction is amazing already but when it crystalises and becomes solid within seconds is amazing.

Trying to come up with concepts for studio for the stay at home dad made me stumble across Karim Rashids "liamo". This concept uses the exothermic heat, for the heating milk. Pretty kool!!