Week 11 - 3D

Class Format

This week looked at general progress from last week and we looked at each others file structures and format usage. I have been very cautious not to repeat myself with these posts. This week the line in the group exercise between 2D and 3D has become so blurred that this is not possible (prepare for copy and paste). Research will of course be quite separate between the two, so at least you have that to look forward to.

 

Group Exercise

Concept Feedback

Giving feedback on the effectiveness of your design process and concept communication
Students present 2D exhibition designs and explain progress in the last week The GROUP gives verbal feedback on:

1. Appropriate storage location and file formats for professional presentation
   - Cherill; As expected a solid well thought out structure was evident here. Quite different to my own, but as we discussed file structuring is and should be personally specific.
   - Queenie; The file structure here has been developing over the semester and it is improving. We had a conversation about numbers verses names and the benefits of using both. We also covered the fact the that file structuring is very much a personal preference thing.
   - Katelyn; 
2. Progress in the last week
   - We have solidly prepared contingency plans for possible short comings. To this end I have prepared another design should we feel as a group that any one of our individual designs do not meet the the collective group standard.

 

Research

Video

This is interesting as it is the work of a design student also. This came in via an RSS from Mac Rumours and is work by Austin Yang. The link to Austin's website takes you to his turntable project, which I liked more than the typewriter.

 

Images

Throughout the course I have been cutting and pasting. So much cutting and pasting. I would like a little break from cutting and pasting. This is an image of my cutting and pasting board, which I thought over the course of the year has developed an interesting texture.

 

Reflection

Correct file structuring I find completely imperative. This helps to keep me organised as the crush of end of semester begins to fall. This is of course true in real world scenarios where multiple jobs will no doubt need to be juggled simultaneously. It was like getting a peek into my peers heads when we had a look at each others file structure, which I found very interesting.

Week 11 - 2D

Class Format

This week looked at general progress from last week and we looked at each others file structures and format usage.

 

Group Exercise

Concept Feedback

Giving feedback on the effectiveness of your design process and concept communication
Students present 2D exhibition designs and explain progress in the last week The GROUP gives verbal feedback on:

1. Appropriate storage location and file formats for professional presentation
   - Cherill; As expected a solid well thought out structure was evident here. Quite different to my own, but as we discussed file structuring is and should be personally specific.
   - Queenie; The file structure here has been developing over the semester and it is improving. We had a conversation about numbers verses names and the benefits of using both. We also covered the fact the that file structuring is very much a personal preference thing.
   - Katelyn; 
2. Progress in the last week
   - We have solidly prepared contingency plans for possible short comings. To this end I have prepared another design should we feel as a group that any one of our individual designs do not meet the the collective group standard.

 

Research

Video

I don't normally go for cute, but I also thought this was very clever. Via an RSS The Fox is Black, this is the work of Animade.

Images

Insert images and comment

Reflection

Correct file structuring I find completely imperative. This helps to keep me organised as the crush of end of semester begins to fall. This is of course true in real world scenarios where multiple jobs will no doubt need to be juggled simultaneously. It was like getting a peek into my peers heads when we had a look at each others file structure, which I found very interesting.

Week 10 - 3D

Class Format

We are really getting toward the pointy end now. Todays class examined the evaluation process in relation to our collaborative work.

 

Group Exercise

Group Exercise - Concept Evaluation

The GROUP verbally evaluates each member’s 3D Exhibition work. Scribe writes a summary paragraph on the 2 points below for each member. Each student post the group results in your blog with images and descriptive text.

1. Effectiveness of design process 
2. Effectiveness of concept communication 

Results

These are images of the bicycle helmet cover prototype that Cherill, Katelyn and I have been working on. The effectiveness of our design process has been great. We have followed the the path as outlined by the various units of this course while at the same time injecting aspects of our own personal insights and knowledge. By capitalising on the various skills that each of us has brought to the table the progress of our project has benefited. I have been particularly impressed by Cherill's organisational skills, I believe you will make an exceptional Project Lead or Head Designer in your future endeavours Cherill.
The concept behind our project was basically to create a cover for a helmet. This cover has three purposes; to make unattractive helmets more attractive, to make generic helmets more personal and to provide pockets for the rider. The images above of our prototype show that our concept communication has certainly acheived the covering aspect of our goals. While as you can see the pocket is having some issues (further prototyping has resolved this). The final aspect to address is the 'make it pretty' bit, which will be taken care of with the printing stage (which was cost prohibitive at this stage, although we have had test prints done with various fabrics).
Overall evaluation - our group is rocking it!

 

Research

Video

Insert video and comment

 

Images

This came through RSS from Design You Trust and is the work of Markus Reugels. I am not usually a fan of the 'Ken Burns Effect', but he uses it in a nicely subtle way on his website. This image caught my eye with an upcoming project in mind. This is a logo design for 'Every Single Drop', a non profit organisation for building water awareness and usage policy. Below is a shot of Reugals' studio set up.

 

Reflection

The effectiveness of our design process really does owe a lot to the organisational skills of Cherill. We have also just gotten along very well and I will most certainly be maintaining contact after this course. While our aesthetics and even our approaches to finding design solutions are very different, I think the levity of our interaction has made the collaborative process not only smoother but more enjoyable.

Week 10 - 2D

Class Format

Filling in this section of my posts is so much easier when done in class. Likewise for the next section and sometimes Reflection. That would be my bit of advice for any students who may come across this blog. Which brings me to my other 'pearl of wisdom' - read the blogs of previously successful students, particularly those who completed the course in the same time frame that you wish to (look at the comments first).

 

Group Exercise

Group Exercise

Reflecting on the effectiveness of your design process and concept communication.

The GROUP verbally evaluates each member’s 2D Exhibition work. Scribe writes a summary paragraph on the 2 points below for each member, 

1. Effectiveness of design process
2. Effectiveness of concept communication

Each student post the group results in your blog with images and descriptive text.

Results

Unfortunately I was not present for this class, so I will be evaluating my own design work for the exhibition here. This will focus on the work I have been doing for the group aspect of the exhibition with Cherill and Katelyn. Above is my design for the bicycle helmet cover applied to the template I posted about in another unit here.
The effectiveness of our design process has been great. We have followed the the path as outlined by the various units of this course while at the same time injecting aspects of our own personal insights and knowledge. By capitalising on the various skills that each of us has brought to the table the progress of our project has benefited.
The effectiveness of the concept communication specifically relating to the design above, I would also highly rate. The concept being to create

Research

Video

Insert video and comment

Images

This is the thought/action path which led to this image being here. I shut down my computer before going to uni today to give it a rest. At this point in the course it is more convenient for my train of thought to leave it running with multiple things going at once. This, however is a good way to break your hardware or at least be inconvenienced by a break in the power. Faced with a nice fresh desktop, I returned with the first task of making a blog entry. I lazily opened Safari and I hit the bookmarked CUV40303 - the short lived blog begun at the start of the year, which is linked to the specific blogs I wished to edit.  I found this image when it occurred to me check where I had stored the images for the now dead blog. The tag line and logo then became a part of the image you see above.

 

Reflection

I have used Blogger on and off for about the the past ten years, so it was a welcome selection when we were told that we would be using it to create blogs for this course. I have asked this question elsewhere and am posting it here as well because I think I may have answered it for myself. Was it a deliberate decision to separate blog and website creation by their platform of delivery by not using Wordpress for both? Because I have never used Wordpress, I guess the focus of my question is how different can the experience of blogging be on Wordpress in comparison to Blogger?  The most reasonably explanation for the separation was simply a matter of logistics. Blogger had been used in previous so it was convenient to continue using it. However, it does not offer similar services to Wordpress like website creation from templates, which was only introduced this year.