Drew Batchelor

Physical Computing in Design - Examples

2012-01-26T09:51:00.004Z

(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

2012-01-23T20:25:00.002Z

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

The Portfolio Handbook - UCID 2012

2011-12-14T13:53:00.004Z

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

2011-12-13T20:33:00.003Z

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

2011-12-09T18:00:00.000Z

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

2011-11-16T11:32:00.007Z

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

2011-10-19T09:47:00.005+01:00

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?

2011-10-17T12:24:00.003+01:00

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

How pencils are made

2011-09-16T22:48:00.002+01:00

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

G is for Graphic Designer

2011-09-16T22:42:00.002+01:00

"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

2011-07-20T18:32:00.001+01:00

Behind the Enemy Lines - Edit, now with a link

RIK Stools - Vac forming

2011-02-22T23:23:00.003Z

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

2011-01-24T12:19:00.005Z

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

2011-01-20T22:43:00.000Z

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

Arduino and Physical computing links

2010-11-28T23:39:00.004Z

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

2010-09-08T10:09:00.005+01:00

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

2010-09-03T13:37:00.001+01:00

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

2010-08-24T22:35:00.002+01:00

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

2010-07-28T22:24:00.003+01:00

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?

2010-07-27T17:43:00.003+01:00

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

Thanks to Cole for the link.

Redesigning the stop sign

2010-06-06T11:32:00.002+01:00

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

2010-05-25T09:49:00.008+01:00

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

2010-03-02T11:18:00.004Z

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?

2010-02-09T17:53:00.003Z

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.

Speedlinks - 01/2010

2010-01-16T21:59:00.000Z

Core77 - Portfolio tips

Solidedge view rotation shortcuts

Clive Sinclair - Making and loosing Millions

Experimental Connections

2009-11-16T22:00:00.000Z

Over on Core 77

A High Tech DIY Renaissance

2009-11-16T09:37:00.002Z

WSJ article Tinkering Makes Comeback Amid Crisis
Ties in nicely with the work going on to create a hack-space by Bristol dorkbot (Including David H). Via Makezine Blog.

Alex Moulton New Series Video

2009-11-08T18:15:00.002Z

20 minute video about the design process of the wonderfully innovative Alex Moulton, about "The Innovative Engineer"

Love the revision at the end 18:50 on:
"Create a concept by sketching
Calculations are essential
Computers may constrain concepts
Understand engineering materials
Design for manufacture
Thorough testing matters
Field trials are important"

ID Sketching - Five Levels of Sketching

2009-10-22T21:45:00.004+01:00

Spencer Nugent brilliantly summarises ID sketching, distinguishing between; Doodles, Thinking Sketches, Technical Sketches, Presentation Sketches, and the money-shot Emotive Sketches.
via Core 77

Lego Pop up Temple

2009-10-20T22:40:00.001+01:00

Awesome

Cardboard Chair Links

2009-09-18T13:55:00.003+01:00

Metafilter - Carton - follow the comments. Metafilter - more than a box. Instructables - cardboard chairs 101. youtube - cardboard table supports 820Kg Youtube - collapsible stool Designboom competition 1,2,3. Sliceform table. Instructables Gorilla Glue

In-NO-vation - PooTrap

2009-08-25T18:52:00.004+01:00

NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo NOOOOOoooooo.
PooTrap - "Magic Poop Collector"
"No Poops! No Oops!"
Putting the NO into inNOvation.

Don’t Design A Logo

2009-08-17T21:57:00.004+01:00

…Especially not one that uses your initials
Kaleidoscope Senior Designer, Michael Roller lays out his five (anti?) tips for Aspiring Industrial Designers.
via core 77

Inside IDEO - The Deep Dive

2009-08-12T11:53:00.009+01:00

From 1999 - Inside IDEO documentary in 3 parts, Something of the atmosphere that I'd like to get into UWE product design.

Were not experts in any given area but experts in the process of how to design stuff.- David Kelley, IDEO founder

Also worth a look is Tim Browns blog "design thinking"

The Inventors Handbook

2009-06-24T23:06:00.002+01:00

Nesta Inventors Handbook updated in 2002.
Gold dust for industrial designers with a leaning towards becoming professional inventors.
Grab it while you can, this link might not last... (That means YOU PDT 2/3 students!).
Thanks to Mark via 77A.

Retro-futuristic Designs & Technology

2009-06-21T21:49:00.005+01:00

web-urbanist takes a retrospective view of how we see the future
Architecture, cars, planes, fashion and more....
For the modernist fans, Brasilica is a must see.

Design Soujourn - 30 Essential books for Industrial Designers

2009-06-10T22:16:00.003+01:00

Mmmmm Books.
There are some real essential reads on that list, #7 It’s Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be: The World’s Best Selling Book by Paul Arden is a great fun light read.
Although #24 Dick Powell's Presentation Techniques is really showing it's age, and I wouldn't recommend anymore,
I'll start working through the rest...

Bristol needs a Hackerspace

2009-05-27T22:54:00.006+01:00

Re Purpose via Bre, describes Foulab Montreal. Dorkbot Bristol is working on it...
The tinkerers shall inherit the earth.

It's a Babacycle!

2009-05-10T09:18:00.004+01:00

Wow. Excellent concept - Taga Bicycle + Stroller.
via.

Bass string winding with antique machinery

2009-05-09T08:25:00.001+01:00

2 videos on make-zine show the hand manufacture of a piano string in 1850's compared with the modern manufacture of guitar string.

Wearable Tech at ITP

2009-05-07T20:46:00.001+01:00

Wearable Tech at ITP - Video via Core77.
Hands up if you think we *need* a product design / electronics hybrid course at UWE?

The Dark Side of Design

2009-04-28T13:15:00.004+01:00

The Dark side of Design - This excellent article by Brian Ling of Design Sojourn tells it like it is about design - good stuff in the last 2 paragraphs.
Extract:

... You will never have clear brief
In the real world everyone knows what a brief is, but nobody really knows what a brief is. You will have to face the fact that there is no such thing as a clear brief. It is also never the straightforward* design process you learned in school....

*Good thing we're not teaching a straightforward design process at UWE.

Michael DiTullo's Advice for Students

2009-04-20T22:03:00.003+01:00

Posted over on Core77:

"There is no better time to be a great designer, and no worst time to be a mediocre one."

Undergraduates would do well to spend 5 minutes reading the rest here.

Sustainability at IDEO: A First Look Through the Lens

2009-04-03T09:03:00.002+01:00

Sustainability at IDEO: A First Look Through the Lens from IDEO on Vimeo.
It's a fairly "information lite" view, and we know IDEO have got a lot more than this, so we have to take this one as a straight out "marketing exercise" rather than information useful for designers.
Their "less guilty" line is close to saying "be less bad", in contrast with "be more good" pushed by Braungart, Cradle to cradle
Good to see progress in this direction, I would hope for more from IDEO...

Golf Club Fail

2009-03-11T20:43:00.002Z

Putting the "no" into "innovation:.
via fail blog.

Marc Newson Urban Spaceman

2009-03-06T13:37:00.000Z

Grab it online while you can.
50 minutes in 5 parts - Should also be in DVD in the University library.
BBC's Imagine. Marc Newson: Urban Spaceman

The design equivalent of a rockstar, they say:
"Undisputed star of the "design-art" market limited edition furniture...sculptural and very improbable shapes, generally uncomfortable to sit on, usually extortionately expensive."
"...More of a sculpture that a chair."
"The constraints of working in industrial production bring out the best of him."

Marc Says:
"I'm proud to say I'm a geek, designers are geeks. Good designers are geeks, bad designers are not geeks. Geeks are interested in detail... their obsessed with the minutia of how things work, and if you're not, then how can you really know what you are doing?"
"This is a prototype - we'll go through many many iterations before we get it right."
"This is just a vehicle for me to exercise all of my deamons."
"These are my technical experiments, these are exercises I set myself...it's like doing a new course at university, it's a learning process."

Speedlinks 5/03/09

2009-03-05T19:58:00.006Z

* Ben Hopson - Kinetic Design - Also on Core77
* Periodic Table of Form
* "No forest of any kind should be used to make toilet paper"
* UWE Product Design students Bloodhound 1000mph car, cockpit development rig. Hywel is keeping track of the media frenzy, including a post on core77 -which was the only one to get the fact right!

Dieter Rams - Good design in 10 Commandments

2009-02-28T20:49:00.004Z

Dieter Rams - Good design in 10 Commandments on Vitsoe.
Good design makes a product useful
"A product is bought in order to be used. It must serve a defined purpose – in both primary and additional functions. The most important task of design is to optimise the utility of a product."

Amen.

Sustainable design links

2009-02-15T16:05:00.005Z

Cradle to Cradle links:
The NEXT Industrial Revolution, by McDonough & Braungart, 1998 (Essential primer).
Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart
Ted Talk - William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle.
Waste = Food - Cradle to Cradle movie.
EPEA - Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency.
McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry

Eco-Design and Eco-Efficiency links:
Okala from IDSA - Industrial Design Society of America. Super resource for eco-design in their links and PDFs.

Speedlinks

2009-02-12T13:37:00.001Z

Form inspiration? 12 Futuristic Cellular Structures
Over on Makezine 3 videos of the work of one of the UK's finest Automata makers - Keith Newstead.
Macbook pro dissasembly
How car's are made - big industrial robots.
Keyboards - time for a change? So remind me again why we use qwerty? - A system devised to slow down typists. On my current keyboard the "designers" were so lame that they didn't even see fit to add a delete key.

Top 40 Arduino Projects of the Web

2009-02-10T13:37:00.000Z

Top 40 projects on the web using Arduino Micro-controllers, many with tutorials.
The rise of low cost micro-controllers, such as the open source Arduino will be one of the big driving forces in ID / product innovation over the next decade. I used one to build a system to take the milk drop picture in the banner (pics).

Our newly developing course in "smart products" should start to ride that wave.
The web of things and all that jazz.

Bill Gross on TED - Idealab

2009-02-09T13:37:00.002Z

Bill Gross on TED.com, here is innovation.
Idealab is one of the most inventive and successful Technology companies, with projects such as Aptera (high efficiency vehicle), desktop factory ($5000 Rapid prototyping machine!), and their work on solar energy - all truly revolutionary.

Last week, some of the PDT 1st year were grumbling, "Why to we have to do the maths module?" (Engineering for Designers), here Bill Gross is giving you an answer. Industrial Design is obsessed with novelty and innovation, technology IS one of the biggest drivers for innovation. In order to develop this level of innovative products, services and solutions, designers need to be "in bed" with Engineers and Scientists.

If you want to work with Engineers, you got to be able to talk their language - that language is Maths.

What is Industrial Design?

2009-02-08T20:28:00.008Z

It's an interesting question. A question that I often ask to interviewees applying for the course, rarely do I get an excellent answer. That's not surprising really, I'd argue that it's an exceptionally difficult question to answer in an interview:

"Design, itself, is often difficult to define to non-designers because the meaning accepted by the design community is not one made of words...."

I wonder how many of our UWE PD 1st year students actually know what is Industrial design, and what it means to be a professional designer.

That quote is from the Wikipedia page of Industrial Design, the first 2 paragraphs are (currently) one of the best descriptions of Industrial Design I have read.
(Although the section on "Process" is a bit weak, but that's a section that really needs to be expressed using images and diagrams, rather than paragraphs.)

I'm currently reading Vance Packard's 1960's classic, The Waste Makers, which is an altogether different definition of Industrial Design!

Electronic Waste / birth defects

2009-02-02T22:22:00.004Z

The daily RSS feed juxtaposed 2 articles.
Time magazine Photos:China's Electronic Waste Village
Treehugger: In China, Pollution Causes Two Birth Defects a Minute: Official
We started the briefing for the first years on sustainable design today, I don't think that they quite have a clue of where this project is going.....

Meanwhile David and I were hugely impressed when one group dropped a project report on us, and our jaws dropped, Pro-quality stuff from Undergraduates - the bar has been raised.

Wave Sculptures - Rubin Margolin

2009-01-30T17:15:00.002Z

First 11 minutes, Engineering + Art = motorized wave sculptures, created by visionary maker Reuben Margolin...man. From Make TV.

PDD

2009-01-21T22:31:00.002Z

PDD - Pankhurst Design & Development - Design consultancy in West London.
A quality outfit, very PDT in their approach and capabilities. Barry works there, he's and old RCA chum of David and I - his weekly design blog is worth a look.

Kevin Kelly Predicting the next 5000 days of the web

2009-01-20T22:03:00.004Z

"The size of this machine is the size - in complexity to your brain...However your your brain isn't doubling every 2 years."
"E-mail is running at 1 Mega-hertz."
"The internet of things."
He even got a matrix reference in there.
So how does this affect the future of product design?

UWE Product Design 2008 show images

2009-01-13T10:58:00.006Z

Bristol Institute of Technology images from the 2008 UWE product design show, included this image of Tom Hilder's, "Child Toilet seat experience".
Complete set of images over on BIT flickr set.

The Dissapearing Male

2009-01-04T23:11:00.000Z

Can you feel you sperm count falling?

#"Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be.."

Why Is There Still a Frog Disruptor In My Toothpaste?

2009-01-02T22:10:00.000Z

Treehugger post on products that potentially are causing long term damage to endocrine systems in humans, and definitely causing damage to wildlife.

Information Design

2008-11-25T21:06:00.000Z

Infopornographic!-Datagraphic!-Diagramatic

Benjamin Zander - "How interesting" Pop!Tech 2008

2008-11-17T14:44:00.000Z

Boston Philharmonic Orchestra conductor, Benjamin Zanderat Pop!Tech, the other TED.

...a prophet of human potential and an unrivaled champion of joie de vivre. Here he helps unlock the boundless potential of a 15 year old cellist and teaches the entire Pop!Tech audience what it means to live in a world of possibility.

Death by powerpoint

2008-11-11T10:45:00.000Z

Death by PowerPoint

View SlideShare presentation

I have to agree with Edward Tufte who is unceasing in his criticism of Powerpoint-lessness. David and I are transferring over to Indesign for making presentations, and embracing Tuftes opposition to the "cognative style of powerpoint." Ban the bullet point!

Ross Lovegrove - TED talk

2008-11-11T07:19:00.001Z

London Designer Ross Lovegrove does TED: The power and beauty of organic design
We love TED.

Gear Heart Mechanical Sculpture

2008-11-03T09:26:00.000Z

How engineers love?
Via Makezine

I CAN HAZ TWITTER?

2008-10-30T22:24:00.001Z

Internet-enable your Houseplant with a plant twitter kit $100. Looks like it's based on an Arduino/Atmel microcontroller.

It's either a work of genius, or milestone in the decline of humanity.

I must remember to water the lily in my office.

The Do Lectures

2008-10-29T22:41:00.000Z

Inspiration: The Do Lectures
Co-founded by top ethical and environmental dude - David Hieatt of Howies (Cardigan bay's 3rd biggest clothing company), who make my black tops and Andy Gray's Jeans.
There's a Michael Braungart talk in there.

ID Sketching

2008-10-27T21:10:00.000Z

IDsketching.com
Pen, Paper, Hand, Right Brain + Drawing = Videos.

Cardboard... Good for more than just rocking chairs

2008-10-15T21:21:00.001+01:00

Mark Langan Gallery

Sketching... in 3D

2008-10-14T21:50:00.000+01:00

ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.

University of Toronto. In 5 years CAD software will look very different! Certainly beats dragging handles on NURBS.
via drawn.ca Illustration blog.

Balsa Wood Canon Camera

2008-10-03T11:31:00.000+01:00

Step by step balsa wood camera
Looks like a Canon 1D - their top of the range professional cameras.
You can't feel a CAD model, and while an rapid prototype is definately an option, there's a lot to be gained from sculpting a real prototype. Hands-On designing - it's more fun.
ViaMakezine blog

Randy Pausch - Last lecture

2008-10-02T17:04:00.000+01:00

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving presentation, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. For more, visit www.cmu.edu/randyslecture.

Yar Rassadin - Beehouse Lamp

2008-09-27T14:08:00.001+01:00

Approved!

Inside the Lego factory

2008-09-24T18:55:00.000+01:00

The making of a million childhoods. Gizmodo does a video tour of the Lego factory in 3 parts. Wow. Modern large-scale automated manufacture. Essential Viewing for product design students.

Understanding Understanding & Teaching Teaching

2008-09-23T10:35:00.000+01:00

A 19-minute award-winning short-film about teaching at University.
Epilogue by Prof. Biggs himself.
Film's Homepage
Mmmmm - Active Knowledge construction.

First !!1!

2008-09-22T21:36:00.002+01:00

Drew-isms on Product Design, Lecturing, Industrial Design, UWE - The University of the West of England, Arduino, Sustainable design, Photography, Engineering Design, Inspiration and ...

Primary Objectives:

1 Inspiration for Product Design students.
2 Document my design research - if teaching schedule allows.
3 An online home for my extended memory.