Singapore Experience Design- Conclusion

OK so I have been somewhat lazy recently and haven't been updating this at all so here's to a new invigorated initiative, starting off with a couple of large posts finishing off what I did at Brunel.

After the progress shown in the last post (here) a number of projects began simultaneously. One of these was the finalisation of the logo for our 'company' (group). The idea we went with was the one above with 'rumah' meaning home in Malay, one of the major languages of Singapore. The logo references the 'pod' motif of the design with the pod formed by the union of the 'h' and the 'u' in the logo.

Another project I was involved with was the creation of a scale model of the design, made out of foamboard, card, plastic and lots of tape. This was done by myself and another group member over a number of days.

 The model featured a removable roof and top floor.

While this was being done others in the group were working on creating 3D CAD models in Solidworks on the computer, with the two groups in contact to finalise design details. When both these were done we began collating all the work to put together the workbook.

For the workbook I made some more graphics to go with the ones I had already made (Rig Graphics and Infographics) creating a hierarchy of needs with the bold text showing need particularly necessary for this project.

I also created a number of potential cover ideas based on different possible styles for the inside of the book

In the end a different idea proposed by someone else was chosen that we agreed looked better.

Before we could present the workbook we first had to give a verbal presentation to our peers on the course. The presentation went well and here are a selection of the slides from that.

 With the presentation out of the way we were able to concentrate on finishing the workbook, which was presented to one of our lecturers and a representative from Building Trust International. Again here are a sample of the pages.

After the small presentation feedback was given to the group and it was very positive. The Building Trust International rep said that we had exceeded both their expectations and the brief and the lecturer was equally positive.

Finally after the presentation some other members of the group put together a single board summarising our project on a single page for Building Trust International to use.

So a good finish to a fun, if stressful at times, project and a good end to the first part of the module.

Eco-Design Presentation Board

So the deadline for the Eco design critique was today and this below was my idea.

The ideas was to use new technology in harvesting Spider Silk to create reusable bags that can also be easily stored and carried about. This could be applied to other products and would reduce our reliance of natural oil plastics. However the main purpose of the crit was to evaluate our concept presentation skills, and as such a lot of emphasis was placed on the layout and graphics of the boards rather then the actual concept. As you can see I took a bit of a gamble as I decided against the normal clean white perfect background and grid based layout in favour of a more unusual layout. However I have to admit I'm not sure if it has payed off and I will be rethinking the idea for the final deadline in April based upon what was said in the critique.

Below is some of the content I edited and created for the board.

Foam Objects Critique

Today was the deadline and critique for the foam objects I have been slowly making over the past four weeks. And it went relatively well, in my opinion at least.

 To recap, the assignment was to create two objects:

• An everyday object with a historic design style incorporated into the design
• And a mystery object from a 200 word description from a classmate.

The first object I chose was a mug in the style of the Gugenheim Museum (called deconstructivism). This was quite tricky as it involves lots of flat surfaces flowing into one another with sharp well defined edges, not too easy in foam. Also the whole model had to be cut in half and across the bottom to allow me to remove the inner part of the mug and then glued back together. However I was pleased with the final design and finish on the model, but it could be improved with more time.

 Below are also the drawings I did to come up with and help build the design in some initial ideas and two orthographic drawings.

The second object was done from a description (see it here) my classmate gave me. This is the object I made from that description, Again I am pleased with how it has come out, but it needs more time to be finished properly.

 Again here are a couple of sketches and an orthographic drawing from the description.

 And this here is a photo of the actual object itself, a handheld label maker. So as you can see, not really what I made at all, but the purpose of the exercise was to make what was described, and to that end I think I did quite well.

So to the crit(ique) itself. We each sat at the tables our group's have been allocated (I'm X13) and we got out our models and development drawings. Then as a whole class we gathered around each table in turn and each person presented their models and then Rob (the lecturer) gave his comments and possible improvements for each piece, getting individuals to comment on their own and others work as well in a sort of peer review. 

When it came to my turn Rob agreed with me that the finish could be improved on the mug, but he seemed pleased with the design as it is challenging and also was the only model that was deconstructivism (the others were all Art Deco/Nouveu, Streamlined or Post-Modernism, with a few being Memphis, Natural or Bauhaus). He then suggest it be passed round the class so other students could see it better while he examined my other object. Again he agreed that the finish could be better but other than that he seemed very happy and praised my classmate for picking an interesting and unusual object. There were also some other very good objects such as a Memphis gorilla, a Natural vase and a Streamlined Coke can.

So another pretty good crit and at last a rest from a pretty stressful week so I can now relax and enjoy the weekend!