Drew Batchelor

Industrial Design of Bicycle components SRAM red

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:04:00 +0000

Bicycledesign.net has a great post detailling the design and development of SRAM red 2012 high end bicycle components. Showing the prototypes, style guides and technical development.
Recommended reading for design students who want to see an example of the design process in the real world.

Physical Computing in Design - Examples

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:51:00 +0000

(Above video contains brief nudity at the end as part of a Fashion show so here's your NSFW warning.)
Last week a second year PDT student asked for example of Arduino and physical computing being used in "real" design projects.
Sketching in hardware an article on Core77 explains how it is changing design.
IDEO labs blog shows some of the stuff that top design consultancy IDEO have been playing with.
Nike + Fuelband - This could have been prototyped and the user interaction developed using Arduino and a PDT student could make that working prototype with arduino.
Prototype Tranformer dresses - above.
A working prototype sonar glove, to help the blind navigate instead of a walking stick.
An experimental prototype interface for CAD modelling.
Add touch screen to your prototype products.
Ride the current wave of wearable electronics.
Prototype the house of the future - this one opens curtains.
For more, look here - Partucularly the "top 40 arduino projects" post, than that hit up google for words like "arduino" and "product design" there are a lot out there, these are just a few that tickled my fancy .

Frequently held false beliefs in product design

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:25:00 +0000

A great post over on Product Design Notebook on commonly held falacies in Product Design and Engineering.

The Portfolio Handbook - UCID 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:53:00 +0000

The UCID Class of 2012, created this excellent portfolio handbook with the goal of guiding first year students in the process of building their first portfolios. It's superuseful for all students and young designers for advice on putting their portfolios together.

We planned, wrote, and styled the book over the course a 10-week summer quarter. It captures all the knowledge we've learned over the years about creating portfolios. This was a great opportunity for us to give back to the program that has given so much to us as designers. We wanted to help strengthen our design community at DAAP and in the process we ended up creating something that we want to share with the broader design community.

Grab the PDF download, and make a donation $5 donation to their graduation show.

Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Get Better

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:33:00 +0000

It's relevent to today's crit.

You don't have to toe the line and just, float with the flotsam...
The system might fail you, but don't fail yourself, just...
get better.

OK, so Thou shalt Always kill is a better intro to the wicked lyrics of this duo, but I'm posting "get better", which is more relevent today.

Stereotypes of Design Students

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Above image is from a tongue in cheak appraisal of 21 art school student types: Which Student are you? by Chuck Dillon.

Also worth a look is:
Classmate designertypes (and what you can learn from them)
part of the incredibly useful (for design students) Hack2School on Core77

Best Computer for Product Design Technology Students - Part 1 - Hardware

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:32:00 +0000

PDT and other technical Industrial Designers are effectively tied to microsoft Windows by Software packages, Solidworks, Rhino, and Algor. (Mac Rhino is in beta and has been for years, and solidworks have talked about a mac version, but don't expect it soon.) The combination of 3D CAD and Photoshot, means that we need fairly high end machines to work.

If I were currently working as a professional designer, I would have the PC below, and this is also what I would recommend for UWE PDT students. I've tried having a mac, but found that the software and hardware limitations of a mac, and the PITA of duel booting means that I've returned back to PC's.

Current Recommended Specs - 11/2011:
- Intel i5 or i7 processor (or equivalent)
- 4GB of Ram (or more)
- 500GB hard drive (preferably 1TB+)
- 500MB Dedicated Graphics Card (Preferably 1GB, NOT integrated graphics - 3D CAD needs a dedicated graphics card)
- Windows 7 - 64bit Operating system

Here are some machines that would do nicely:
15" Laptop - Something like this Acer-5750G, i7, 15.6" screen, 4GB Ram 1TB Harddrive.
22" or larger Desktop - Acer z5801 all in one, £830. 24" touch screen, i5, 4GB Ram, 1TB Hard drive, 1Gb dedicated graphics. (This one also has a TV tuner - perfect for Student room).

Don't buy bottom end machines and don't scrimp and save, I've done that before, and it's a false economy, it's probably got to last you 4 years. Buy a brand you've heard of, I currently favour Acer machines, our previous one lasted 7 years, a chepo machine died in 3 years.

Essential Additional Hardware:
- USB key 8Gb or 16GB Write your name on it, and save a text file on it with your name and contact details.
- External Harddrive for regular backup. If you have a laptop, then a large -1TB desk based external harddrive to back up everything. If you have a desktop you can get away with a smaller prtable hard dr to carry projects into work. 250Gb+.
- Mouse

Nice to have hardware:
A4 Scanner - the Canon LiDE range are ultra thin and well designed - Highly recommeded. Not essential though, as you can use the scanners in the department, or with good cross lighting, use a digital camera.
A3 Printer - I recommend Canon again - Pixma Range. Buy it in the second year.

PC's can be brilliant work horses but they need setting up (usually takes an evening), a little bit of management and they need monthly enema's to keep the performance snappy. Tune in for Part 2 - Software, how to Pimp your windows.

CCS Car Styling - Carl Olsen

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:47:00 +0000

Car Design at the college for creative studies 1987-2001.
As a study in form, Biomorphic, deconstructive, constructive, etc this is a really useful resource for design students. Although, some of them are starting to look dated, and his attitude (or perhaps the entire car industries attitude) to women looks very dated too.
Via Core77

Creative Britain in Reverse?

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:24:00 +0000

Making the case for more design and technology in the UK.
More info on the youtube page.
via Core77

How pencils are made

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:48:00 +0000

5 minute video, Wow, I had underestimated pencils, via Core 77

G is for Graphic Designer

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:42:00 +0000

"The vast majority of designers make ugly things for incompetent people."

Scroll down the page to letter G on this interesting article about different professions.

It's about graphic design, but sometimes Product Design can get like this too.

Excellent article on Plagiarism in Universities

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:32:00 +0000

Behind the Enemy Lines - Edit, now with a link

RIK Stools - Vac forming

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:23:00 +0000

Designer: Inon Retting
Taking a process all designers know, annoying vacform "mistakes" and turns them into a product, such a simple idea. Ace.
via Yanko which has more details.
Design For Manufacture project kicks off tomorrow with the second years.

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft Bike

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:19:00 +0000

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft from michael evans on Vimeo.

Professional Handmaking of a steel Bicycle frame,
This shows incredible craftsmanship, and those jigs and dedicated tools are amazing.
Soulcraft bikes wbsite.

How to make a Toaster

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:43:00 +0000

Thomas Thwaites: How I built a toaster -- from scratch.

Arduino and Physical computing links

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:39:00 +0000

Nike Advert
Nike Shoe blogged by Tom Igoe

Tom Igoe - ITP
ITP Physical Computing overview
Interesting ITP student blog
Another Interesting ITP Student Blog
RSIDpedia - products and materials for makers

Roadtrip Nation - The Open Road

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:09:00 +0000

The Original Roadtrip
This was our dilemma when we graduated from college. All we had ever been exposed to were traditional roads. To see what else was out there, we decided to take a roadtrip across the country in a 1985 green RV, to interview 85 individuals from all walks of life and learn how they defined their own paths. The trip showed us that, just like the people we met on the road, we could create lives that one day we could look back on and say I stayed true to myself every step of the way.

About The Movement

Roadtrip Nation exists to empower people to define their own roads in life. We encourage people to engage in self-construction and actively participate in defining their futures by hitting the road and hearing stories from Leaders who have resisted the Noise of conformity and stayed true to themselves.

Above is the original 1 hour film, include many design related interviews (inc Tim Kelley from IDEO) on the site are the follow up series, all as free downloads thanks to US public service TV.

The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:37:00 +0000

Incredibly useful research for aspiring designer by Michael Roller, recommended reading for all years.

A few weeks ago, I initiated a project with the goal of uncovering information about how industrial designers process and evaluate the complex, nuanced combination of skills and traits that are thrown at them every time they look at a portfolio or meet someone for an interview. I sent out surveys to senior designers to get feedback that would help students and young designers understand where to focus their energy. After receiving 100 responses, I’m happy to say that this document confirms some things intuitively believed and also uncovers some interesting surprises. How important is good sketching relative to a good personality? As it turns out, they’re neck and neck.

OK, so it's America-centric, and it shouldn't be taken as gospel truth, but it's a bloody good start at researching what you're future employers are looking for. (Note some of the limitations of this research are in the report, and some are in the comments on his original blog post. PDT graduates should add more technical elements to this, as he's talking about a more conventional Industrial design).

I'll be presenting this in GDP2 or perhaps my session in the Cohort meetings this year.

Motivation - RSA Animate

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:35:00 +0000

This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.
Several more great videos in this series at www.theRSA.org

Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose

Unusual Vintage Bike designs

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:24:00 +0000

Alternative vintage bikes from 1930-40's eastern Europe(?), showing that a lot of "new" idea's aren't really new at all.

Now and then: Do we really need five blades?

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:43:00 +0000

An excellent article by Josh Smith asks why some designs are not getting better?

Thanks to Cole for the link.

Redesigning the stop sign

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 10:32:00 +0000

Any freelancer or designer who's ever had a PITA client (that's every freelancer and every designer) will recognise that this fun parody is not so far from reality.

Product Tank - Clothes Peg

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Tue, 25 May 2010 08:49:00 +0000

Product Tank redesigned the clothes peg to address problems experience by his neighbour with arthritis.
If there were a project which could define PDT, this might be it. Certainly David and I wish that one of our students had handed in this project for 2nd year Studio.
via core77

Links for third year Students 2/3/10

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:18:00 +0000

Following today's discussions on major project meeting:
Ben Hopson Inspiration for PDT students / mechanisms and how to sketch model / Prototype, see kinetic works.
Roger Edbert's voice on Oprah - following throat cancer.
Great Book: Manufacturing Process for Design Professionals - Rob Thompson - Buy it.
Book: Process, 50 Product Designs from Concept to Manufacture - Jennifer Hudson, Good for case studies, a bit too many are furniture.
You Thought we wouldn't Notice A wonderful blog exposing universally despised, hacks and rip offs in Graphic design, fashion and illustration. (Never ever, EVER do this again, it's called plagiarism.)

Last orders for Pint glasses as we know them?

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Batchelor) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:53:00 +0000

On BBC
By Design Council and Design Bridge.
Here is the summary of some gold standard design research for my 3rd years, downloadable as a pdf. An old RCA chum, Chris McGinley was involved in this research. Quality.