IDSA Merit Award

Two Wednesdays ago, seven UC ID students, including myself, presented our best work in front of a board of IDSA Southern Ohio Chapter members to compete for the IDSA UC Merit Award. Everyone did stellar jobs and differentiated themselves as designers. Looking back at how we prepared ourselves for this, we wanted to identify why we are designers and how we grew professionally through the school and co-op.

I am happy to say that I was awarded the Merit Award for the class of 2010. I will be attending the IDSA Mideast Conference to represent UC. It means a lot to represent the class, because it is chock-a-block with talent!

After talking with the members of the judging panel for a bit after the event, I learned that a big reason in their decision was the timing and straightforwardness of my presentation, as well as versatility of work. When competing with people who you know have a similar skill set, itís important to be natural/show your personality and customize your work to the intent of the competition. Because public speaking is not one of my strong suits, I put a lot of focus on my verbal presentation and practiced so I could speak in a natural way. It helped to show a ninja stealth-jacket design that is almost completely responsible in showing my personality, and because it was fun to talk about, it was easier to relax and be myself (aka, it's good to enjoy the work that you are presenting!).

You can check out my updated work here. The other candidates were Sam Amis, Kristen Beck, Jeff Engelhardt, Sylvia Spencer, Cody Stonerock, and transportation major David Heyne. Also check out our professor Mike Roller's blog to see other UC work.

reNEW solar battery charger

Good news! After working for four months, Donn Koh, Herlinda, and I have won the Gold Award for the LiteOn Awards 2009.

Check out our hard work here!

Cake

For the past 6 weeks in our Design Communications studio, Sylvia Spencer, Michael Kandel and I have been working to create a new brand/identity for Men's Beauty products. Our design team is called "Cake," because our designs provide many sweet layers of awesome solutions. The concepts shown here are what I rendered for our last critique, where we each presented 3 brand families. We have been working around having a design language that fits the theme "Urban Raw," which is for urban men who are attracted to pure colors and materials and a stripped-down lifestyle. Through our process we have been working together a lot and have made smart decisions because of it.

For our next step, we each are taking one of our concepts and refining the form, CMF (color, material, finish), the brand's story, graphics, and the user.  I will be refining the Envoy concept.

Raw Beauty

I found this chair on designboom and fell in love with the elegant way the "Yii" chair uses its material and refers to craftsmanship. The chair was a collaboration between NTCRI (National Taiwan Craft Research Institute) and TDC (Taiwan Design Center) aiming to use traditional craft techniques in a contemporary way. Led by creative director Jeff Shi, it encompasses the philosophy of "yii," which is a law of natures transformation over time.

It is made of 43 bamboo cantilevered slats.

Go here.

Chair Progress

It's our chair quarter this summer, and narrowed my concepts down to a story that explains nature through geometric forms. The theme is "in the park" where anyone who sits in it can be reminded of relaxing in the park. It is a quiet form, but has many intricacies and elements of surprise.

I'm currently refining the bench (form and legs) and figuring out the most efficient way to manufacture this. As of now, the bottom of the bench will be steam-molded felt which then will be needle felted to a linkage system of multicolored felt pieces. Through the gaps of the linkage system, surprises will come through and give a taste of nature.

I've come to be really fond of this concept and I think it really speaks out my personality as someone who's crafty and cute but also has a need for mathematics and structure.

Updated Portfolio!

I'm looking for some feedback before I start sending this out! Still thinking I should add something to the Compaq project... perhaps.

Check it out!

Want Some Inspiration?

Try Spezify. It pulls images to the word you enter and makes an inspiration board for you!

Bag Stool

by Gitta Gschwendtner for Quinze and Milan

ping Pooong!

We have a ping pong table at work. And it is awesome.

Here are some ping pong related designs:







images courtesy of: certified Random, complex.com, Highsnobiety, Vvork

Designs for women

Knife Combs by Lorenzo Damiani




Straightener/Curling Iron by Babybliss





Solar Vintage by Elena Corchero

Feature Number Dos

On Core77, Carly Hagins' work and a pic of mine... people.. I reckon the ID world might be curious about our projects, eh?

So, I will post some things on last quarter's project soon!

Alternative Transportation

This is pretty hilarious. By Robert Nightingale.

Found on Yanko. His portfolio is pretty sweet too.

Inky Tea

We did a tea kettle project in our Design Communications studio.

I wanted to do a characterization to give some edge to the design (aka most tea kettles today are pretty standard and boring). My design solution is that this tea kettle is a tea kettle in a cup--a cup kettle, if you will. It is for individuals who like to relax with a cup of tea at home.

Check out the process book.


P.S. It was my first time with hypershot. It was amazing.

Origami Shoe

This has been publicized for a while, but I still think it's awesome. Oh, the possibilities!

Design by Catherine Meuter

Design + Prosthetics

Francesca Lanzavecchia (Proaesthetics Supports collection)

Some interesting opportunities where design and fashion and biomimicry can help people feel more whole when they have a physical disability. These are some beautiful designs that help give the user/wearer confidence.



Jordan Diatlo


Hans A. Huseklepp

India: Leaf Bowls

A couple of weeks ago, some of my classmates and I saw the webinar by IDSA Design for the Majority Section called “Subtle Technologies: What I’ve Learned in India About Design" by Larry Hoffer.



Loffer gave an example of recycling and reuse: pressed leaf bowls. These are found on train platforms, and fall apart shortly after being soaked with the Indian food in the bowl. After use, the bowls are thrown on the ground and eaten by the roaming cows on the streets, which results in fertilizing manure.

So why do we use paper bags+styrofoam containers+napkins+plastic utensils when we are going to just spend 15 minutes eating? I think this is why a lot of people eat over the sink. Also, I think this is one of the beauties of street food everywhere.


(Hoddeok in Korea... yumm.. just need one piece of paper to keep from burning your fingers!)

Anything Design

This brand, Anything Design is a collaboration between UK designer Michael Sodeau and Japanese company Suikosha, where they have a collection of stationary products. The design is clean and focuses on functionality and space.

I like how the products all appear to be grounded and stable. They also have completely different characters in terms of their proportions, but are still a family of form.

HP Sponsored Studio-Concept Phase

We are currently working on a desktop computer design targeted towards emerging markets for an HP-sponsored studio. Last Friday, we had a critique on some initial concepts and are expected to come up with a final design by Wednesday.

This is pretty much a call for help and any input or feedback is appreciated.

An overview for my concepts:

The Patel family is growing up in the Dharavi slum, which is a very large slum central in Mumbai. The family is in the emerging middle class, where they have enough money to sustain, but not enough to move out of the slums.

There are two children: one in high school, one just graduated and is interested in IT. Education is the main reason they will purchase a computer.

Concerns addressed:
SPACE- They live in a 225 ft^2 apartment. They have a TV, Stove, toilet/shower, and beds. No room for a table. They need an environment to study.
GEOGRAPHY- They deal with Monsoon season, drought, and dust.
COST- They do not waste money on luxury items. Customization will help the user buy a basic, inexpensive computer, and upgrade when they can afford it.


On the Wall- Solving space is its primary concern. Also, a story is that during monsoon season in the slums, sewage and water flow onto the floors of homes. This keeps the computer protected.


Stacked- This concept focuses on the space and cost problem by being compact during shipping. The parts, monitor and keyboard fit with the tower. It solves small things like cord management.


Out-of-Box- One thing that really hit me was the fact that some people didn't have tables, only room for sleeping. This concept utilizes packaging as a way to create a desk environment for the family. The tower is part of the base and everything fits neatly inside. It also serves to protect a computer.



As of now, I want to combine the Out-of-Box with the On-the-Wall concepts. Any feedback or suggestions on making this sweet?

Branding yourself

I was looking through Coroflot's Creative Seeds and saw this article on The 3 Things You Need to Do in an Interview, since I'm working on my portfolio right now, one of my goals in my portfolio is distinguishing it from the pile of others it is competing against. One way to do this is by branding yourself. Self-branding can be described as how someone can recognize and remember you from the back of their mind just from a simple 30 second to 30 minute experience.

I think good designers have the capability of showing their own personality in their portfolios, while remaining professional, thorough, and thought-provoking.

Here are some designers I admire for their unique and awesome work:
Nancy Wu. Simply Versatile.







Alberto Villarreal. Clean.










Kimberly Wu. Lively.

My design philosophy

As a young, student designer, I have to say my design philosophy is like an amoeba. Every time it starts to settle, I learn about something new and want to apply it to my philosophy. That said, here are some things that are important to me when designing (in no particular order):

Cultural influence: This is where the user, global, environment... research and consideration for everything happens. One of my favorite parts of the design process. I have a personal passion for learning about different cultures. This is partly because I was raised in a multicultural environment. (whoo!)

Green: This is a no brainer. How can we make the design more sustainable? Is this harmful or helpful? These questions must be considered. Hopefully as I grow as a designer I will learn more about good green design and why it rocks.

Innovation: Making design unique, setting it apart from others in a positive way. All other aspects of design can roll into this category. I like how material choice has the ability to drastically change the feel of a design. Mechanical innovation is also interesting to me, however, I really need to work on this!

Emotion: What to say? Emotion adds value to everything. Especially when applying it to an electronic, a "machine." Lately, this has been a real interest to me. It is really important to an innovative design.

Here are a couple of strong mp3 player designs (Korean..):

Both these designs do not look like mp3 players. They are treated more as an accessory.. something that can add to the user's lifestyle. They are also iconic, use technology in a new way, and "lovable."

Validity and usefulness: Another no-brainer. Don't create another piece of junk. Also, don't design something that is so out-of-the-box that it is conceived as ridiculous.


To help me grow more this quarter as a designer, I want to...
1. develop my refinement skills. Luckily this quarter in my design communications course we will have some focus on that. In my co-op experience, I have not had many chances to work on refinement.
2. create a thoughtful, and thorough portfolio. I am actually content with my portfolio, but from my experience last quarter at Continuum, I can really add a lot of value to my portfolio.
3. work on my interviewing skills. One of my interviews last winter, someone gave me feedback telling me that I did not sound enthusiastic about my designs. This was a disappointment to hear because I am enthusiastic, so I have been trying to work on it since.