BTW

By the way, I graduated on Monday.

ID view 2011

feelology

These are the final images of the products made for my feelology project. The project started with the intent to introduce textures to the backs of electronic devices in order to make them more tactile. While sketching in silicone, I realized that though it is interesting to make a device feel good in the hand, it is not going to change how people interact with their electronics. Tactile surfaces have more impact when they are not directly competing with the functional screen side of the device.

I branched out into other materials, incorporating my love of textiles and craft into my experimentation in feelology. The result is a group of three products (plus a bunch of silicone sketches) which add an element of tactility to an environment.

The quilt is a new interpretation of the classic trapunto technique. The pattern of stuffed areas is unevenly distributed and is therefore more interesting to feel in some areas than others. By emphasizing the texture of an object that is already used as a comfort object, the user may become more aware of the physical object which they are interacting with, or maybe not.

The carpet, made entirely out of wool, has a similar concept to the quilt. The lumps of varying size are placed unevenly so the texture is more noticeable. In the process of sketching, I found that a uniform texture is the tactile equivalent of white noise: You can feel it, but the sensation is constant that after a while you no longer notice it. The bumps kind of massage the bottoms of your feet. They feel pretty good.

The third product in the series is kind of the odd duck of the group. This is the hoodie that I posted about earlier. It has an inset pocket with a texture inside. The idea is based on the observation that people reach into their pockets and jingle their change or their keys when they are nervous or bored. The hoodie took on an unusual form because I wanted to make it look cozy and inviting. I also have an affinity for strangely shaped garments. The adult size has a beard of texture, the kid's (not shown) only got texture in the pockets. There is a bit more work to be done on this garment, but for the purpose of school, all of the ideas are there. More versions can be expected.

So, one week from now there will be a show/critique at Pratt Institute. I think it might be open to visitors, so drop by room 44a in Pratt studios at 1:30, Wednesday, May 4th if you want to see my work and some really cool stuff from my classmates. I may have some more to show.

bearded head

project progress

the rug

This is a small textured rug that I am working on for my final. The bumps massage your feet and make you more aware of your sense of touch.

things that are no longer on display

These are a few pictures that I took at the Armory last Saturday.  They are of the 630 red and white quilts that are no longer on display. The lighting made very cool patterns on the floor.

You should look at the second image large, the quilt is embroidered with the busts of bearded men.


I think that my professor took better pictures, so you should look at those too.

morning midterm walk

Went to the park this morning to think and see friendly dogs.

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Textures in puff paint

I have never had puff paint before, but when I saw it at the art store, I knew it would be a great way to show texture without getting too delicate or detail oriented. So far, I am not sure if it is too helpful, but it certainly is fun.

The Glass Wall

I am currently in the process of defining my senior project for my last semester in school. There are so many things that interest me, yet there is one area of life which continues to worry me more and more. Life is becoming digitized, there is so little time spent away from the internet. The internet is meant to be our tool, yet for many it has become the prison which keeps their mind away from novel thought. This is a habit which must be broken if we are to keep human ingenuity and problem solving alive.
One of the reasons that the overuse of mobile devices bothers me is that I can see the reliance on constant entertainment. Mobile devices are used most for entertainment and games, this means that instead of personal thought and reflection, most people turn to their hand held device of choice to fill empty brain time. It can be argued that this used to be the role of television, but television was never so portable and widely available. It is important to keep a certain amount of thinking time away from technology in order to process the incessant stream of data which is entering our mind.
And that is the problem, an overabundance of data which we do not take the proper time to analyze and digest. Sure, many people do use this information learned to create amazing new things, but the average internet user is substituting a slice of their reality for a digital world. This is where the glass wall comes in. The glass wall is my term for the physical feeling of the touch screen and the division between the real and the virtual. Behind the wall there is another world filled with the ideas of many, yet it is also the place where people can only get lost in the thoughts of others. They get lost in research or games.
If at this point you are reading this and you cannot think of an experience with a glass wall, think about every time you use an interface which is designed to look three dimensional or textured. It is only there for visual interest. You cannot feel the dimensionality of your GUI when you use it. Even more bothersome is when the interface emphasizes its artificiality. When you read a book on your iPad, the pages turn as if it is a physical object. This is just incredibly stupid interface design, I don't know if there is any other way to say it. This animation is supposed to make you feel as if you are interacting with a real book, as long as you usually read books from the other side of a glass wall.
Humans are evolved to have a sense of touch, and we like to use it. This is one of the reasons that the touch screen has caught on so well. But it isn't called a feel screen, there is really nothing about it that you feel besides sometimes a small amount of haptic feedback. And now I can finally make the connection between my project and the glass wall. I would like to make something that satisfies the sense of touch. These objects will probably be textures which I will use for the cases of mobile devices among other things.

That is all.

Final Review, Fall 2010

It is nearing the end of the semester and though there is still a lot of work to be done,  I have finished my design work for the semester. There is a lot to be said about how the project went, but it is easier to just refer everyone to the blog of my professor, Matthew  Burger, who has done a great job posting the coursework.

This is the tent which I made with my partner, Adam Miller. The project will be continued after the winter break.

It is now time for a nap.

Can you spot me?

This is a picture of my midterm presentation for Making Meaning, my senior studio class.

I have not really been following the progression of my project because not a lot was happening up to the midterm. So far I think this project has taught me more about time management than anything else. This project is unique from other things which I have done before in so many ways that it was overwhelming at first. Writing my own brief was difficult because though the outcome is unknown, it must be defined. My partner and I were completely unprepared for the initial organization of such a large project. At the time of the midterm, we were weeks behind schedule.
Though there are two of us, the work does not seem to go faster just because we have more brain power. Working with a partner is difficult for reasons that I had not anticipated. There are few times when we have disagreements which cause tension. The problem with working as a team is that we are slow to move forward. When there is always someone to bounce ideas off of, ideas keep bouncing and decisions are never permanent.
I wonder whether this is a problem for other people.
The project is now progressing a lot faster, and bu the time the final is due, there will be something to build. I hope it stands up.

shoes!

I am far along in the process of making a pair of shoes. This week I finally got the confidence to try sewing my own pieces on the industrial machines in the fashion department. I am not great at sewing straight lines, but it got to be too hard to explain my pattern to the professor and sewing for me was taking up a lot of her time. All pieces have to be sewn with a 1/16" seam, so I was a bit nervous about the precision in combination with the high speed of the machines. It turned out that the fashion machines are a lot easier to use than I was led to believe.

I do not want to show the patterns for the shoes quite yet, but I would like to share my color dilemma. I need to choose a color that goes well with periwinkle and gray, not that periwinkle and gray go well together. Here are my options:

Gold

Yellow

Green

Silver

Please help me out and leave some input, I will not reveal my opinion until there is some feedback.

I have chosen

I was approached with an offer that I cannot refuse: collaborate with a friend on a burning man shelter which is collapsible and leaves no trace in the environment. By the end of the year we will have a functioning structure built, and it will go to the desert for use.
Though I have little interest in camping in the heat and dust, I have been fascinated with the idea of burning man for a while. It is a very interesting concept to set up a city for a week and then leave without a trace at the end. This is the perfect opportunity to participate but not get all dirty and crabby in the middle of a desert.

Making Meaning of my design brief

It is time to write my design brief for my studio class and last week I could have done it on time. I was set on the idea of making an item which either collapsed, transformed, or was just mechanically superior to its predecessor. Yet, as the deadline approaches, this idea no longer seems like the only interest which occupies my thoughts.

Dedication to function over form has always been my way of overcoming many of the stylistic decisions that must be made during the design process. First the basic needs must be addressed, then the form can be determined by a combination of mechanics, style, target market, and the ever present teachings of the Pratt 3D department. There is a certain emptyness to this process though, something is left unsatisfied by design which accepts the traditional assumption that the styling of an object is better determined by designers than by the consumer.

Every day inventors make useful items, and every day designers produce sleek renderings which epitomize form and function in harmony. I cannot help but wonder what the role of the designer has become. Is it our job to create something that does good, or is it similar to the role of a fashion designer who relies on changing trends in order to sell clothes each season.

In any case, I am struggling to figure out what is more practical, important and interesting. Designing one object which is a significant improvement over the last is good. It shows that I can define and solve problems, and probably make them look pretty. But if I am to complete this task, I must first find a starting point, and that is where I am floundering. If I am unable to find area for improvement in the world, then do I have the skill to solve such a problem?

The alternative is to turn to a research based exploration of the role of the designer in the world. It concerns me that my education focuses so much energy on my visual literacy, yet ignores the fact that most people are ignorant or indifferent to the forms which we create. The designer should not pass judgment on the tastes of those less educated than they, rather they should examine what is most loved. There is a validity to all stylistic preferences outside of those that are taught in school, to say otherwise is outdated, pre-postmodernist thinking which does not acknowledge the polyvocality which pervades other areas of academia.

We live in a time when the mass media is severely undermined by the new social media (twitter, reddit, op-ed bloggers) which gives the individual an opportunity to be heard. It is possible that the DIY and craft movements are growing for no reason other than a desire for individuality and freedom from impersonal industrial design. Sometimes it is just too easy to look at the portfolios on design websites and find a lack of individuality and a dedication to the idea of the designer as the sole creator of beauty. In the scheme of things, those of us who consider ourselves to be visually literate are just another group of people with similar taste.

As you can see from my passionate writing, I am pretty opinionated on the role of design and beauty in relation to society. I am sure that my comments can be refuted with all sorts of arguments, and those are very welcome.

Now that I have written more of a rant than a contrast of options I will go to bed.

My First Last

I thought that the pez and tictacs made a good heel

On Wednesday morning I got up early to go to Kaufman's Shoe Repair Supply. They helped me find a lot of the supplies that i need to make my first pair of shoes. That is a lie, I made a pair of valenki type boots about a month ago, but those are much less complex than a pair of pumps.

I purchased my first last (good pun, right?) and have already started taping it up to make the pattern for a vegan pair. I think that the 3 inch height will make for a really good somewhat comfortable pumps with a small platform in the front. Once i get this shoe making thing done, I will hopefully no longer have to settle for trends over personal style.

Collapsible plans

Well, my plans to make an umbrella as a senior project seem to be collapsing. There is a lot of doubt whether there is a need for a new type of umbrella when the original is good and the many variations on the theme are even better.

My current design problem is no longer about the mechanics. This week I will be dedicating myself to the challenge of finding something that should be collapsible. Not just for fun or for aesthetics, but for a real improvement in usability.

I want to avoid making another product like my Dot Hat (on the right) because it was not really a mechanical challenge for me. The only thing that I can think to do right now is to read through the "Collapsible" book and make something that is not in it.

For example,  my roommate has a switch blade comb. It is functional, easy to carry and, most importantly, humorous. Maybe later she will let me take a little video of it in action.

School is beginning tomorrow

There is a possibility that I will be posting less often.

This is rather surprising...

This morning I found a surprising amount of traffic leading to my flickr account. I went to find the source, and was shocked to find this. Thank you Becky Stern for writing about my "noodle chair" and for linking to my portfolio.

Knitting chainmaille

It takes a long time to knit chainmaille, but it looks pretty interesting when it is done. It took me a few months to finish this cowl out of felted rings, but I think it was worth the work. The rings are .5" cord with a 1.25" ID woven in a euro 4-1 pattern.

I will be posting pictures of my color and half Persian experimentation soon, and possibly some pictures of a new, faster version of this concept.

Not too bad after all

Well, aside from the three incompletes, I made it through.