Phase 2: Travel MOD Families

Three families for Travel MOD with a focus on travel size rounded forms in retro colors.

Phase 2: Travel MOD

Our Design Communications group will be moving forward with the Travel MOD category. We anticipate our new brand will be located in the narrow inexpensive market. It offers travel focused good design at affordable prices. Multi-media renderings coming soon!

Design Awards

Check out the Cecily & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Awards 2009.

Here is the link to the panoramic view of the display.
http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/rigg2009/virtual.html

You can click on the chairs for pictures and more information.

Phase 1 Critique

A sample of the concepts presented at Thursday's critique. Travel Active, Travel Mod, and Travel Executive.

Executive Image Board

Executive image board for luxurious and business travel. Bold, strong, and feminine forms portrayed in white, black, metal, leather, glass, and wood.

Design Communications Group Project

This quarter in Design Communications will be focused on a group project. I will be designing travel beauty products with Alicia and Megan. The products are a compact, shampoo and conditioner, and a hairdryer. They may or may not be travel sized but should give the user the experience of travel.

Portfolio Teaser

I can always tell you what I have done.

I can't always show you what I have accomplished.

But I would prefer to tell you how I have grown.

Let me take you on a journey of self discovery.

Experience the challenges I have undertaken.

Discover the treasure that has enriched me.

And meet the people who helped me along the way.

The story can begin today.

Emotion and Design

Here are some links on the relationship between emotion and design from Mike Roller.

http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/a_periodic_table_of_form_the_secret_language_of_surface_and_meaning_in_product_design_by_gray_holland_12752.asp

http://www.design-emotion.com/2008/06/29/getting-emotional-with-dan-hill/

http://www.slideshare.net/farreaching/intro-to-emotion-design-pleasurability-and-emotional-design-experience-dynamics-web-seminar-presentation-854443

http://www.slideshare.net/trevor.vangorp/emotion-arousal-attention-and-flow-chaining-emotional-states-to-improve-human-computer-interaction

Emotion is key to creating a good user experience. It helps create a memory of a product and can help build brand loyalty.

Welcome Back!

Last quarter I Co-oped at the Live Well Collaborative in Cincinnati, Ohio. I collaborated with students from business, design, and engineering to develop products for the 50+ baby boomer market in a studio sponsored by General Mills. My work included extensive research, consumer interviews, ideation, concept refinement, 3D modeling and rendering, and presentations. I also assisted with research and planning for a collaborative P&G studio for Summer Quarter 2009. I will be taking the P&G studio as a studio elective this quarter.

At the end of my Live Well Co-op I attended an inspirational presentation on storytelling that leads nicely into this quarter. In ID Studio I will be designing a beautiful artifact: a chair. I am hoping to create a poetic object that makes meaningful connections with the user. I am also excited that I will be able to more eloquently describe previous and future projects.

As I began to revisit my portfolio this quarter I noticed the lack of poetry and storytelling and also noted that I do not have a sustainable project. I am hoping to learn more about sustainable materials for chairs in Materials and Processes and incorporate these into either the chair project or the Design Communications group project.

Goals for the quarter coming soon!

Course Evaluation

Design Communications this quarter was very helpful. In class presentations and posted examples were very beneficial. I learned new techniques and improved my abilities. I liked the variety in critique types: sometimes in small groups, sometimes whole class. I enjoyed group evaluations and the personal feedback. The blog was an excellent way to keep track of my thoughts but a group website/blog would be very helpful. Thanks for a great quarter.

Spring Goals

This quarter went well. I am happy with most of my DesCom projects and very satisfied with my HP computer project. My goals for next quarter are to learn more about packaging (especially sustainable packaging), improve my design communication skills, and have fun.

Blogging About Design

Blogging and reading blogs is an excellent way to communicate and learn about design. Next quarter while I am on Co-op I intend to continue to update my blog. I hope everyone continues to do the same and I look forward to reading yours. Good luck next quarter. See you in the Summer!

T1 Kettle Box

Final tea kettle inspired by London phone boxes.

Sustainable Packaging

If anyone is interested in learning about sustainable packaging, AIGA Cincinnati is holding a Green Salon resource fair and panel March 24, 2009 at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Student fee is $10.

Check out http://www.cincinnati.aiga.org/ecoshift/greensalon/ for more information and to register.

Co-op Update!

Last week I accepted a co-op position at the Live Well Collaborative for Winter Quarter 2009. I will will be working on the General Mills Studio and other LWC projects. To learn more about LWC check out: http://www.livewellcollaborative.org/.

Carousel of Progress

My goals for the beginning of this quarter were to find a co-op job and improve my design communication skills.

At this time, I do not have a co-op job for Spring quarter. I have had three interviews and I am waiting to hear from one of them. When I accept a job I will post more information about where I will be going.

During this quarter I have learned several new visualization techniques. One of these is a combination of 2D and 3D rendering that was used for the USB project. Rough models were made in Alias and more detail was added in Illustrator and Photoshop. This is a quick and accurate way of communicating forms without modeling and rendering all the details.

Mine is More of a Kettle...

My current project for Design Communications it to design a tea kettle for young business professionals in England. I am looking into the functional act of making tea and all the pieces involved. My goal is to make the tea preparation faster so there is more time to enjoy the tea.

After talking with my brother (who studied abroad in England) and researching online I learned several things I didn’t know about tea.

• Wire mesh used in strainers can rust and ruin tea
• Lime scale is an issue in electric kettles
• Longer steeping time does not make the tea better, it makes it bitter.
• Black tea should be used with boiling water. Therefore the tea cup or tea pot needs to be warmed so that the water doesn’t cool and ruin the flavor.

Designs coming soon! Until then, check out this cute little penguin timer that removes the tea bag so that the tea does not become bitter

Storyboard

Final Design Communications storyboard for HP computer concept.

USB Final Design

The final design for the Tiffany & Co. USB sticks. 4G in sterling silver with yellow quartz, 6G in white gold with green jade and diamonds, and 8G in platinum with carnelian and diamonds.

USB Exploration

Exploratory ideation for the Tiffany USB Family.