P2 Concepts

Here, we start with initial concepts, inklings of ideas that are further pushed into development if they are interesting. We had to have 12 pages of concepts in one week. Most people ignored the challenge thinking the prof wasn’t going to check. I did them, tiny little doodles each, I’m glad because the TA eventually came around to check.
With lighting as the theme, I wanted something that was playful, interactive perhaps, and could a story. Anyway, after a whole bunch of lame ideas, these were the final few.

influences: family dinner, Philips wake-up light.

Interactive ambient lighting experience

Childrens night lights to help them feel secure and sleep at night

wind powered ourdoor light. Light variations by the strength of wind 

I chickened out on the presentation, and didn't do the work by hand. I figured it would be cleaner on the computer, but this wasn't what I imagined either. It's a bit too stagnant,a little cold. My roomate reprimanded me and said for all that time I spent working it out and drawing and tracing and digitizing, I could have spent on doing it decently by hand. Perhaps...

But! As I am undeniably shy and self conscious about my sketching ability, my prof actually complimented me (!) saying that my way of drawing was totally okay although very different from other students in the class (who do great drawing if you saw it) because it is simple and still understandable and therefore still efficient. I don’t know if he was just being in a good mood, but that was uplifting. Even best-class-sketcher said he loves the way I draw, says it’s very me. Way to make my day.

P1 research: Design a small mobile low voltage light

There are 8 topics: Major retail, Industrial products and trades, Innovation, Ethical opportunities, Battery technology, Bulbs, Alternative energy, and Construction and mechanical construction. My group was placed in the Innovation category.

So, what breeds innovation?
Here, looking at what's already been done, people pushing boundaries and the potential with new materials and technologies, there's so many exciting possibilities for concept development! One possible objective was making a light that was dark sky friendly. Something that won't create light pollution and be too harsh, but it would be enough to be usable and at the same time not just for dim ambient purposes.

I also really enjoyed discovering the Solskin, designed by Hrafnkell Birgisson. It involves an old icelandic folk tale as the inspiration for the product. I love stories!

Is this process effective?

We are such visual learners, we learn first with our eyes and making mental patterns, and second we learn with our hands. Sometimes, it's the other way around. Anyway, as simple as it may seem to categorize information who are we to judge what belong where. Sometimes we disagree, but in the end, the product still ends up somewhere on the board under some category. Which are our core values? What are the constraints we want to keep and which ones can we be flexible with? Is this helping us build better connections? This map got wiped out and redone at least four times. I'm not sure if we agreed on every iteration, but maybe it was the process of experimenting with different categories and rearranging them to understand them in other contexts were we able to make the clutter more understandable for us and others.

 

2 day project

 

This was a dinky two day project that I think was a secret diagnostic test of our CAD and rendering skills. There isn't really much to it, we wanted facets and discovered how stupidly complex it was to create a faceted ring on solidworks. Luckily chamfers worked just as well visually...!

Ottawa Neighbourhood Services silent auction

Our first class coming back from the break was a two day project. The task was to go to Ottawa Neighbourhood Services (like a Goodwill/value village/salvation army) and spend no more than $5. Then we were to turn it into something else, or make it better and then silent auction it off for a charity. I made a toy piano, which I fell in love with and then auctioned it off to myself. During the final crunch of the toy piano making, I was in a rush (obviously) and glued the legs on backwards! I didn't notice until my friend who had been helping me put the whole thing together yelled at me for ruining the final touch lol.