In class Jacob mentioned a Don't Drink and Drive Helmet Cover theme, this got me thinking about safety messages on helmet covers. I thought about the "Children on Board" signs you often see on cars. As a mother, your children are always on board, even if they are not with you. It might be helpful for car drivers to think about the cyclist as a person who has people depending on them, hence I have created a Children On Board helmet cover that you can personalise with photos of your own children.
This week we discussed these questions in relation to a group creating a design in collaboration: 01 – What are the 3 best things about your efforts for this year’s exhibition? Being organised, organising the group, Maintaining a clear and effective timeline. 02 – Did you manage time well? Very well.
03 – Did you manage materials well i.e. test prototypes? Yes, materials were gathered and tested early. This took the guess work out and built contingencies for possible future failures.
04 – Have you researched installation methods?
We have discussed this process, designed a layout and started the process of gathering materials for instillation. This is leading us to ask the questions, what is available, what do we need to provide. As the Exhibitionist is displaying the work we are also asking what are their capabilities. 05 – Have you made a shortlist of the essentials for the last WEEK? We have a shortlist for the next 4 weeks leading up to exhibition. We plan to finalise everything in 3 to ensure we meet deadlines. 06 – Have you made a shortlist of the essentials for the last DAY? Yes, we have a list of what we need on the day, this may be extended as we discover we need to re-set our pin-board due to the exhibition process.
Collaborating is something most people need to do during their working day, here is a video reminding us of the essential skills in collaboration:
Todays task, surprisingly, was to answer the following questions.
1. Using Ten Squared as an example, describe an aspect of your work or something
you have worked on, where you have found a symbiotic relationship that is both
complexity and simplicity. The pocket on the helmet cover is a very complex part of the helmet, it is complex to make, it increases the complexity of the cover. Yet, this complex item is made to hide in the cover, it adds functionality to simplify carrying items. The pocket is made to look like it's not there.
Here is an example of a symbiotic relationship between simplicity and complexity ....
The complex structure with a few simple items displayed draws your attention to the items on display. 2. Provide a conceptual example of a situation that has arisen during this project
where you have had a return on failure?
Big question, where did we fail ... the initial template design did not work and needed continual adjustments to produce a more streamlined cover. With this "failure" we made a better product. The failure simplified the pattern. 3. Homework: How are you using the laws in relation to your contribution to The
Ten Squared exhibition? Provide a short explanation and example for TWO of
the laws so far. Use your work towards and your examples.
In the exhibition we are exhibition the helmet covers and web on plinths and table, they will be white and look streamlined and clinical, a simple approach. In contrast to this we will display a pin-board with the complexity of the design process, this will highlight the simplicity of our product. This highlights Law 5, Differences.
Our exhibition also uses Law 6, Context .. the simple surrounds will draw your attention to the helmet covers. The pin board will be complex and require time to engage, the complexity will stand out in the simple surrounds.
Task 1: Quiz, Law 8, John Maeda, The Laws of Simplicity
The first task was to answer these questions ...
1. Provide an example of a situation where you have to have trust – in the same
vein as the author in his swimming lesson example. What made you trust in this
situation and how did you feel? I have had to learn to trust other parents to look after my children, it is only practice of letting your children go (after initial research of getting to know the person or asking others about them) that you learn to trust the situation of leaving your child in others care. It is only the ongoing positive experience that leads to trust. I start off feeling very nervous and, after learning to trust, I feel OK and glad to see my children again. So, would you trust this man if you wanted a tattoo?
2. Where in our exhibition do we need to instill trust? Give examples. How are we
going to achieve this?
We trust the exhibitor to understand our requirements to display our exhibit the way we imagine. We achieve this with communication. We trust that people will attend and take the time to view the exhibit, we achieve this by blindly trusting and doing our best to make it interesting. We also communicate what the exhibit is about, so those that attend know what to expect. The logo of the University gives the exhibition a trustworthy label. Food and alcohol creates trust. 3. What strategies are used to instill trust? Examples? Where do we need to employ
this in this year’s exhibition? How are we going to do this?
Strategies to install trust include practice, for example learning to trust the water, simplifying, so it is easy to trust, for example, sending an e-mail, just click a button. Also communication installs trust, the more you know the more comfortable you might feel. So we would communicate well in our promotion, label the promotion with the Uni logo, provide a thank you drink and nibble on the night. If I held an exhibition my name carries no history to trust, why would people attend? If I exhibit under the Uni logo, there is a name to trust and attend.
4. If you could “undo” any aspect of the preparation for the exhibition to-date, what
would you “undo”? With this in mind, what would would you change now in your
preparation strategy to overcome having to “undo” anything?
I would not undo anything, even "errors" educate. In saying that, there are no changes I would make in our preparation strategy. 5. Homework: How are you using the laws in relation to your contribution to the
student exhibition? Provide a short explanation and example for each of the laws
so far. Law 1 Reduce - SHE - Shrink, Hide Embody. Make the complex simple. We would like to have our helmet cover look streamlined, reduce the pucker/gather of material to make it look simple. We also hide the pocket so it has an unexpected usefulness. Law 2 Organise - SLIP - Sort- into groups Label- your groups Integrate – characteristics of groups. ie reduce the number of groups Prioritize – 80/20 rule, where 20% will need priority
We have divided our designs into groups, male, female and children, this helps to focus the designs and appeal to different audiences.
Law 3 Time - Saving time gives you more time, making things simple saves time or making the wait a quality wait gives the impression of saving time. The Helmet Cover should be easy to put on, taking not time at all, not a complicated process, hence it is an easy product and therefore useful to you. Law 4 Learn - Learning occurs best when you are passionate about it. BRAIN Basics are the beginning. Repeat yourself often. Avoid creating desperation. Inspire with examples. Never forget to repeat yourself. It is important because it helps to teach and helps to learn. We will mention the safety aspect of wearing a helmet and show how unattractive they are, this repetition will help in our message that a helmet cover is essential. Law 5 Differences - Complexity makes simplicity stand out and adds interest, the opposite is also true. The complex looking helmet can look more simple by adding a helmet cover, thus adding to its appeal. Law 6 Context - is about surroundings making a difference to what you see, where is the focus? When we exhibit we will have a set design that is simple and clean to draw people attention to what we are displaying Law 7 Emotion - is about the feel and feel for, drawing on personal experience to create the feeling We will introduce the feelings of the freedom of riding a bike and the dangers of not wearing a helmet, then provide the solution of a helmet cover is the choice you can make and still be individual. The music always reaches my emotions ..
Discuss these questions in relation to a group creating a design in collaboration
01 – What is the difference between reflection and criticism?
Reflection is to view without judgement, keeping an open mind, step back from the item and reflect. Need reflection for balanced criticism. Criticism is forming an opinion, good and bad. Both involve John Maeda Law of Context, how an item looks in the context of its surrounding.
02 – Can you reflect while you are designing?
Yes, you can reflect at every stage, it provides options to move forward.
03 – Do you set aside time for reflection?
It's a good idea, we tend to keep moving forward with reflection left to the individual on their journey, then when we come together we all comment on each others work and reflect.
04 – Do you make notes on your reflections?
In the early development process we do tend to make notes as the notes guide the development of the project. As the project becomes more developed less changes are required and less note taking occurs. However, if there is a new feature to the project, for example our pin-board then more notes are taken to communicate the idea and to make adjustments.
05 – When is the best time to reflect?
It is best to reflect when creating the idea and at each stage of the idea, for example, creation, prototype, and refinement before launch.
06 – Do you compare your work to work by your heroes?
Yes, I try to lift my standards to those that I admire. I love the work presented by these creative students ...
07 – How do you benefit by comparison?
It makes me work harder, be more creative, think outside the square and produce a better final result.
08 – What can be a disadvantage of comparison?
You don't believe in your own abilities and your work becomes something you are not. If you always thinking others are better if makes you feel bad about your abilities.
Task 2: Moving On / Encouraging Solutions
In regard to creative collaboration:
Discuss these questions - write a paragraph on each and use examples
1 . Are you brave enough to move on and adopt new and unexpected ideas?
It is difficult to move out of your comfort zone, some ideas I will take on only in part as I try to maintain my only stamp of individuality and stay within my frame of capabilities. I am happy to learn and to try to achieve something new, I enjoy the challenge. I love unexpected ideas, the surprise is exhilarating.
2. Describe how you have encouraged others with a solution to their design problems?
Talking to others is always a help, I appreciate it when I can talk about an idea and get feedback. I might take on all or part of the feedback depending on whether it helps to achieve my goals. I say this as they way I have helped is by listening to other ideas and giving feedback, things I like, what might be hard to read, a possible solution, another way to help would be to brainstorm an idea, from this a person can take the ideas that appeal to them.
Research:
This week we divided into tasks, Paul is sewing another prototype, Katelyn is taking the Web design and adding this to a web page, and I am to come up with some example wording for the web page.
Example Text for Web Page
Pages for the web:
Home
About Us
Contact
Order
Design Story
Design Covers
Home
Welcome to our collaborative exercise as students in Design at Charles Darwin University.
Our task was to form a collaborative group and present a 2&3D Design.
As a group we saw the need to improve the aesthetics and functionality of bicycle helmets, this has led to the creation of the PCK Helmet Cover.
Accessorise your bicycle helmet today and stand out from the crowd.
The Helmet Cover will
Hold your MP3 player
Identify your cycling group
Make listening to your music easy by keeping cords out of the way
Accessorise your riding outfit
Little boxes – photos of helmet covers
About us
Profile picture of each
Cherill Hopkins Bachelor of Arts Psychology and Sociology Career in Sales and Marketing Cherill is a long term Territorian, she resides in Darwin with her family. After an extensive career in the airlines and tourism industry she took time off to raise her family. During those busy years she resided on school committees and Boards, often taking a leadership role. Over the years, Cherill also completed numerous courses in the evenings, anything from data-base and web design to drawing and painting. Cherill hopes to use her skills from the Charles Darwin University to assist business in communicating to their audience.
As part of the Certificate in Design program we were instructed to form collaborative groups and design a 2&3D piece for exhibition. As a group we thought of “problems”, things we didn’t like or things that might need a solution. One of these “problems” was the bike helmet, more specifically how unattractive they can be.
The solution was to create a helmet cover, with the added purpose of holding an MP3 player.
The process Think of a problem –helmet covers are unattractive Think of a solution – illustrate helmet covers, create designs Talk to the experts – Cyclist – would love a pocket for their MP3 player -Spotlight – best to use Nylon/ Spandex as it is long lasting, stretchy and printable -Seamstress advises on pattern making
Make a prototype - great work Review the prototype – need to avoid gathering Fix the prototype Create a web page Launch the product
Problem:
Bicycle helmets are unattractive
They all look the same
Solution
Illustrate Helmet Covers
Bonus, added purpose of holding an MP3 player
Benefit
Easy to hold valuables or your MP3 player as cords are confined to the helmet area making it easier to ride
Designed helmet covers allow you to accessorise, personalise your style
People are more likely to wear helmets if they are happy with the design leading to increase safety on the road
This week week we reviewed Law 7 of John Maeda, The Law of Simplicity.
Task 1: Law 7, John Maeda The Laws of Simplicity
1. When Maeda uses the “Feel, and feel for” principle, he is drawing on peoples
connection to a very personal experience: feelings. List 3 ways that would make
use of this principle to visitors of your exhibition.
Artist work is about the feelings you are expressing and what others might feel. Placing object next to each other changes the story or feeling for each item. Tend towards complexity to evoke different feeling from different people or think of one simple message. Art is to create questions, design is to answer or solve the problem. The environment and space can evoke a response. 2. What is animism? Why do you think the “Tamagocchi” craze of the ‘90s became
such a craze? How can you apply this to your exhibition?
Animism is believing that a inanimate object have a soul, life. Eg Projection of soul into a dol or teddy bear. The Tamagocchi craze captivated the youth at the time, just as Mushi Monsters do today. Children will be excited to collect the mushi monsters, particularly interested in how rare the mushi monster is, what series it is from and adding them to their new home (video below). Animism captures the innate need to care for others. This can apply to your art work by evoking feelings of life and soul into your work, you could do this by relating to things that people are emotionally invested in.
3. Name 2 products that you have purchased that gave you that feeling of
“Aichaku”. What feelings did those products evoke? Was it the feeling that sold the product to you? Aichaku refers to "the sense of attachment one can feel for an artefact." I asked for Sylvanian Family characters, reminded me of my childhood, feeling of safety and no responsibility, an imaginary world where all things are calm, friendly and enchanting. I also bought glass paper weight, it reminds me of my grandparents and a prize my grandfather won with me at a sideshow. 4. How do the references to emotion relate to the simplicity/complexity relationship
discussed in Law 5 - Differences Emotion needs the balance between simplicity, so it is not overwhelming and complexity so it is interesting. To give simple objects more meaning and make them personalised we accessorise, e.g. iPod, family sticker on cars, our home. Here are some examples of making a simple object more complex ....
This week we presented our exhibition prototype to class.
Task 1: Review Prototype
Group 1 - Helmet Cover
Our group demonstrated the Helmet Cover web page, logo, template and the helmet cover prototype. The Prototype has shown strengths and weaknesses, the pocket works very well, it holds an iPhone securely. The elastic on the pro type needs to hold better to avoid gathering, this will also be achieved with the new template design. One concern is, when the pocket has something in it it pulls down so you can see the lining of the pocket, does the pocket need to be printed?
Group 2 - Video promoting the University
Looks like a great use of everyones skills and is tied together well. I'm looking forward to seeing the final result. Group 3 - Brown Bear story
WOW, going from sketch to illustration is working well. There might need to be a story location in the background to add interest and improve the story. Time is a factor as it takes 1-2 days to transfer the sketch to illustrator.
Group 4 - Movie paper motion by Jacob
Wow, so much work and Wow. Using stop motion, draw characters on paper and in illustrator. Great work, looking forward to the final result.
Task 2: Discussion 01 – Have you had to abandon any exhibition design concepts so far? yes
02 – If so, was it hard? It was hard to let go of the time and effort and a potential idea
03 – Do you think it is easy to miss a better idea if it is not the first one? Yes, tend to get stuck on the first idea. 04 – Do you have any techniques for creating unpredictable ideas? Brainstorming, others suggest inverting things, e.g. swap colours. 05 – Is logic the best way to attack a design problem? Yes - Logic can help answer a problem which is what design is about. Also good to talk to the expert.
06 – What other problem solving methods could work? Use the blur concept, rid of the clutter and check if it works. Research, talk to others for their opinion.
07 – Do you ever doubt your design decisions? Yes, put on the "black hat"
08 – Do you ever consciously put on “another hat” to get inspiration? Yes
09 – Describe somebody opposite to you in relation to their design approach? I think as I am more logical I think Paul might be my opposite as he free flows his ideas. 10 – Could you imagine designing like them? I am inspired to design like Paul.
Task 3: Encouraging Solutions
In regard to creative collaboration:
Discuss these questions - write a paragraph on each and use examples
1 . Describe how you have contributed to design solutions for other group members The Brown Bear group was wanting to use hand illustration in the final book, it was suggested that this would be too washed out to appeal to children. To help, I have found examples of hand illustration turned into books for the Brown Bear Group, it demonstrated that if you wanted to use sketching. hand illustration you need to improve the colours with paint and add the hand illustration. I also brought books from home to show Queenie how a simple story or a story with rhyme appeals to children. I also suggested (maybe there were others, hard to remember) that the Brown Bear tours Darwin to give it a local and unique feel with more meaning.
2. Describe how you have challenged designs by other students in your group When listening to the group presentations it is important to listen well and then ask questions. When something is not clear it becomes obvious in discussion, also other ideas flow from the discussion.
3. Are you flexible when others suggest design improvements / changes? I love to hear others suggestions, it's a group of people that often find the solution to a problem as everyone looks at the same problem differently with different results, that is the exciting part of designing.
4. Choose a design that group input has changed radically. Post before & after images. I think the Brown Bear with the idea that he tours Darwin, the story now includes Darwin as places he visits (images yet to come). 5. Describe the process of shifting the design solution radically. When on one line of thought and other ideas come into play that may help your design, firstly you consider whether it is an improvement of a distraction from what you are trying to achieve. You might ponder this before you decide to integrate it or replace your original thought with the new solution. Simple ideas change everything .... Love the idea of the world changing and people being open minded, working together to find solutions, it is expressed well in this advert.
Our Web page should reflect the values of our logo.
The concepts I would like to communicate are retro and Funky.
The feelings I would like to communicate are fun and good times ahead.
Based on the logo design I designed the web home page featured below.
The long boxes are to hold text or I might convert this to one box to display the life cycle of product development. The square feature boxes will hold photos of the helmet covers, when clicked they will expand and give an option to purchase.
I chose a Kuler set of colours called 1920's craftsman, to this I added a neutral colour from a 1930's package colour selection. The colours to the right are part of the the 1920's craftsman set but I have not as yet included them on the web page.
I like the visual presentation, however I think it needs to be a little bolder to achieve the "funky' look, it's a bit safe and boring. Maybe this will be achieved with product placement. The neutral background might be what is needed to show the product.
I like the repetition of the glow in the small boxes, as it is in the logo which is based on an app design.
I also looked at my 2D Design, after the initial print I wanted to remove the flares and brighten the background green colour from a brightness of 75% to 78%. I also wanted to increase the number of dots with the flares gone.
