Sunday, May 16, 2010

Design Research Conference 2010

"In its 9th year, DRC will be a conversation about the new frontiers of design research. It will host the world’s most compelling stories about the human condition and unmet needs. It will be a stimulating place to learn the most innovative new research methods. It will address the challenges facing the industry head on. Finally, it will continue to explore how design research can help us address the grand challenge of bringing meaningful things into the world."


10 insights on What's Next?


1. Be A Translator

Don Norman, author of Design of Everyday Things and Emotional Design, discussed the great gulf between design research and design practice. His solution: we must fill this gap with a new discipline of transitional engineers taking the knowledge gathered from design research and translating it to practical and reliable design solutions.


Helen Fraser, Director of Design Intiative at the Rotman School of Management, discussed the ways human centered design can act as a common ground within an organization. However, to create shared understanding, design research must be translated into clear visualizations.


2. Work Slower, Charge More

Anthropologist Gerald Lombardi discussed the commoditization of design research. More companies want more ethnographic research in shorter time frames than ever. We must insist on slowing things down to ensure quality research.


3. Rethink Failure & Iteration

"If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" - Albert Einstein


Eric Wilmot, Director of Innovation at Wolff Olins, argued that companies must understand that failure is not expensive, negative, or "the end", but affordable, positive, and the beginning. Using the Marshmellow Challenge as an example, Wilmot showed the importance of iteration in the process of design and innovation.


4. Research 360ยบ

Ron Pierce, Director of Strategy and Research at Stuart Karten Design, argued that the way to "make sure what we learned at the beginning is delivered at the end" is to extend end-user design research from a beginning phase to an ongoing process.


5. Embrace New Tools

Design Research Professor Kim Erwin discussed the way the internet is radically changing the way we conduct ethnographic research. According to Erwin, new internet and cellphone tools have transformed on-site field research from a necessity to an option.


6. Understand and Influence Behavior

Graduate students at IIT Institute of Design studying Behavioral Economics understand that people don't always do what they say and are often irrational. In order to make behavioral economics actionable in design practice, they have created a Brains, Behavior, and Design Toolkit.


7. Work With Your Ears

Editor of Core77 Allan Chochinov discussed the importance of learning to truly listen. When teaching undergraduate designers phone interview skills, Chochinov reminds them to ask "What question have I neglected to ask you?" and "Are there two other people you suggest I talk to?" He reminds them to reach out to others as much as possible, because often it just takes "one person to inspire great design work."


9. Overcome Assumptions

Erica Eden, Industrial Designer at Smart Design's Femme Den, explores the assumptions and realities about women. With women making or influencing 80% of all purchases, Eden says companies shouldn't rely on "Shrinking and Pinking" their products when designing for women. In order to overcome assumptions, we must confront them.


10. Empower People, Design for Impact

Kevin Starr invests in entrepreneurs designing for the bottom billion and making a real impact. When designing for people in poverty, he says, you can't rely on a good idea or cool design. You've got to obsess about distribution and make sure it works.


Tim Brown, head of IDEO, argues that solving society's biggest problems requires large scale behavior change. We must move beyond the mass production of products and into design that "empowers people to be designers of their own lives." By working to place design thinking into the hands of everyone, we can inspire change, help people overcome their limitations, and change the world.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Chakra take away



Incase you guys wanted to know more about Chakras :)

New Invention


I didn't change the name because.. well I didn't want to :) plus for my demographic.. I think this name works, added the demographic, influences and display

Invention process and final promo



My invention as stated last week in class is a bike attachment for dogs. After taking some measurements I decided it would be 30" long, and the elastic leash would be 5-6". This was decided by measuring the length of several different sidewalks and doing some "testing" with my dog. Next steps would be to make a prototype and pitch it to the major pet stores.

3rd project





Here's the image files for my 3rd project, designed to help clean up neighborhood streets. Set up by a volunteer in each neighborhood, this program could be done anywhere, multiple times each year.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

wireless cord.

personal project


http://c.homes.mcad.edu/~cchen/index.html
This is my third website that I have designed and one that I'm happy with. And most importantly I feel it resembles me. There are still a few glitches on my website, but I'll have them fixed soon and the final upload of my work.

My Product / Storage Solution :: Josh Ritenour

Unit is built, just waiting on magnetic primer I ordered. Then I am going to paint it white with several coats of poly acrylic for a plastic look and finish.

First Attempt at Garments :: Josh Ritenour

Pants and Hat I made for my son. My first attempt at making a garment.

Saturday, May 8, 2010


So, this is a negative pulse generator. It's used for the detection of communications which are not transmitted on Hz waves, but rather in Sine waves. The machine generates a negative sine pulse, and if it were to receive a positive pulse, the bar on the screen would begin to waver in a sine wave.


It would be used by paranoids with deep pockets(I'm not going to let these things go for just pennies....), people in militias, and just other general nerds/fringe people.

I think that it's pretty neat, and that there should be one in every town in the middle of the woods, it's useful.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Design :: Evolve | www.designandevolve.com

Design and Evolve, my newest business venture. A design cooperative, featuring the amazing talent of my MCAD classmates. (2-3 Graphic Designers, 1-2 Web Developers, 2 Illustrators)

Website is under development, and business will be up and running by the end of June 2010!


Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Final

Although it may seem a relatively clean and innocuous environment, the office presents a serious risk to the health and wellbeing of its occupants.

The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that office air pollution is usually at least two times that of ambient levels.

Poor quality office air is liable to cause mental fatigue, headaches, dizziness, itchy eyes and throat, stuffy nose and other flu-like symptoms.

Simplified Design

In other systems air moves around different chambers and changes direction. Yeti Air technology simplifies air flow for quieter more efficient performance and reduced noise.

Yeti Air contains a carbon filter, which is safe and cost effective.

Best Special Effects Resource -Video Copilot

Monday, May 3, 2010

New Product: The Pocket Pillow


i know a lot of people with smelly feet, so that's where the idea of gummy feet came from. tropical scented shoe inserts that are comfortable on your foots!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

for Michael's fart pants

RADIOLAB: Sleep (for Abbey)

Every creature does it, from whales to flies, yet science still can't answer the basic question: Why do we sleep? What is it for? We'll eavesdrop on the uneasy dreams of rats in search of answers.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Buisness Cards :: Josh Ritenour

Objectos Imposibles



Jacques Carelman has a quirky recipe for offbeat art: Take a commonplace household item, add a dash of Dada, a glint of Magritte, a smidgen of social commentary, a lot of humor…et voilร ! An “unfindable object” is born: a beach bucket in the shape of a medieval chรขteau; an undulating Ping-Pong table for unpredictable bounces; a remote-control iron for easy-chair ironing; a two-piece Mona Lisa jigsaw puzzle for impatient beginners; a glass-headed hammer; a deck of transparent playing cards.

Monday, April 26, 2010

The Human Spark


Peer into Alan Alda’s head to find out which parts of our brain are responsible for our most human characteristics. Where do tool use and language reside? And how do our brains allow us to understand symbolism, figure out what others are thinking, and even travel in time? Are insight and imagination what really make humans unique?

For Chris and His Ties

This is what I was talking about in class today















It's called thin layer chromatography and it basically separates things into individual compounds, so for black ink it separates it into the blues and greens and reds and yellows and what not.  And the patterns can look kind of cool.  It tells you how to make a plate to do it on, but maybe you could translate it to fabric.  I know when I did it as a kid we just used paper towels dipped in water, so I'm sure you could figure out how to use fabric.

Daniel Eatock



Sunday, April 25, 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

Walker Lecture

For Heather

http://channel.walkerart.org/play/stefan-bucher/


Sunday, April 18, 2010

Images that changed the world




Jonathan Klein: Photos that changed the world:  http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_klein_photos_that_changed_the_world.html

Thelma Golden: How art gives shape to cultural change (optional "reading" / viewing for this week)

From the Ted Talk:   Thelma Golden: How art gives shape to cultural change 
the link:  http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/thelma_golden_how_art_gives_shape_to_cultural_change.html

Looking at the art of African American Artists - and how their work changes cultural perceptions of different cultures and how art can identify itself, and define itself outside of the assumed cultural stereotypes.

 Art as a Catalyst for social change in cultural perception!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

For Emily- More Pie Pops

Another website with Pie Pops

Just in case you wanted something else to reference when you inevitably try to make them for us.

Friday, April 16, 2010

I Want

to find a job I actually enjoy, probably working in some sort of bakery of environment with animals.

I think it's likely that this turns into I want to bake and sell my own cakes.  Because part of enjoying my job usually means doing whatever I want to do.

Expect some delicious cake on Monday morning.  So don't eat a big breakfast, because cake for breakfast is better.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Visual Journaling

handy tools to keep with you

great books:

visual journaling blog:
http://rozwoundup.typepad.com/roz_wound_up


My Personal Project

Here's the video I made for my personal project.  I hope it inspires somebody to clean their own room, or just do something that will make your life a little less stressful.


"Strange Worlds:" More than meets the eye.


This is just cool, y'all.




"Tornado" - steel wool, cotton, ground parsley, moss

great book resources for starting your business

•  Six week start up
http://www.amazon.com/Six-Week-Start-Up-Step-Step-Achieving/dp/0966963598/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271086236&sr=8-1

For Nicoletta

I just found this while I was working on my I Want statement.  It reminded me of your bike-yoga studio idea.  Except replace yoga with baked goods.

http://www.thebikeryshop.com/home

Friends that followed their dreams

http://www.studioartiflora.com/

"At Studio Artiflora we create beautiful floral arrangements that are lush, stylish and modern.
Our creations always hit the mark without ever overstepping the bounds of taste and tradition.
We hope you enjoy this selection of flowers and we invite you to consider us the next time you need to send something beautiful.
You pick the occasion, we’ll pick the flowers."
-- Stephanie Gueldner

I Want To Travel The World.

My name is Emma Archbold and if I could pick my occupation I would be an explorer.  I am a junior at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and am majoring in marketing, branding and public relations.  Ever since I was a little girl, I was always eager to try something new.  All I think about is my future and all the wonderful places I would like to go, but the lack of money and time have hindered me from traveling.  I would like to travel to different parts of the country and experience the different ways of life.

Revised I Want

I want to headline a CD release show of my own, however, the achievement of this goal is influenced by many other factors. I am a student at MCAD and I am currently 2/3 the way through my spring semester. Right now it is very hard to find a lot of time for music. I need to be recording, writing, promoting and playing shows. When the semester is over and summer arrives, I will replace the time I dedicate to school and use it to do these things. The root of my problems lies in recording. I have the material but it all needs to be recorded and this will take a lot of time. Once the album is recorded I can then start to think about the CD release show. If I want to headline this show at a larger venue then I am going to need to develop a fan base and promote the show heavily. If I cannot draw enough people to this show I will probably not be able to headline it and it will be a failure. Another thing I need to consider is whether or not I should put all my efforts into recording all of my songs into a full album or if I should just try to record a few songs and release a shorter EP. I have many tasks and decisions ahead and I hope that I have enough time.

Public Umbrella


On a recent trip to new york, one element of the local lifestyle that i was completely surprised by was the use (and mis-use) of umbrellas. New York City had seen less than one full rainy day, and almost every garbage can on every corner was completely full of tattered, busted umbrellas. Thousands of broken umbrellas sit in garbage cans, on the street, in subway stations, all over the place every time it rains.

I asked friends who live in Manhattan and Brooklyn about the issue, all of whom had been completely desensitized to it. "You can buy one of those cheap umbrellas for three dollars at any news stand in New York", one of them told me. I remember leaving my friend Ruth's apartment in Brooklyn on a rainy morning. She pointed at an umbrella in front of her brownstone, still intact, and told me "just grab that umbrella, no one owns any umbrellas here".

Is there a way to develop a product in which New Yorkers can stay dry, without generating as much umbrella waste? Like most products designed for a social change, doing so will require looking at the problem at hand, and designing a product as well as a system for that products use.



My proposed solution is a network of public umbrellas, placed around the city's subway entrances and news stands. The umbrellas will be designed to withstand rain and extreme wind conditions, using materials that have been tested to do so. The umbrellas will be designed using a standardized system, meaning if or when they do begin to wear, citizens or employees of the city can easily repair them without any irregular tools.

In terms of developing a system, the umbrellas could be picked up and dropped off at any of the other umbrella stations. Giving people incentive not to keep the umbrellas in their apartment, or away from the network could be done through implementing the metro card system into the umbrella system. Users could swipe their metro card. The card could be placed on hold (not valid for rides until the user checks an umbrella back in), or a certain value could be held in case the user doesn't return the umbrella.

Personal Project


http://cargocollective.com/heatherminter


Frog Catcher 2.0

Well, I was thinkin' really hard about not reinventing the wheel. And I wanted to work with an idea I had earlier in the semester. When I was a young 'un at the lake, we had this little frog catcher. I haven't really seen anything like it since. I tried googling it and themes like it for a while, to no avail. It was essentially a small, rectangular wooden box with mesh walls. The top was a sort of punctured rubber. You could reach in (to set a frog down) but frogs couldn't jump out.

The problem was, with two brothers, this tiny carrying case for frogs, would quickly fill up, so we'd have to put the poor frogs in a bucket.

I wanted to create a... "Big N' Tall" version of that. The idea is that this is a short term solution to hold frogs, not a cage you keep them in, frogs need more of wet aquarium if you keep them. This is just some good lookin' patio conversation piece, that can be easily carried down to the shore for an evening of frog catchin' --

But how should it look?

I was inspired by the antique laundry basket my Mom has in her living room, that we use as an end table.



It's a big enough size, in my opinion, and also had the appeal to leave out on the patio when not in use. So, using this shape, I'd replace the sides with mesh, and then replace the top with the punctured rubber sheeting.

I came up with something like this --



The legs would be -- tv tray style/director's chair style -- where they would collapse underneath when moving it.

1) Would you leave this on your patio when you weren't using it? Or would it make its way into the back of the garage?

2) Does this seem practical if the legs collapsed, for older children to carry, set up, and then fill frogs with?

3) Are you opposed to catching frogs, and have a biased answer to questions one and two?

I want :: Josh Ritenour

I want to create. Making things makes me happy, it allows me to completely envelope myself in the work. While working on my personal project, I changed ideas several times and finally proceeded with an idea to allow for myself to not only learn and make progress on something new, but to also create and make something tangible.

This experience has also opened my eyes on some new ideas to expand on.

My Little 3D Puzzles!

mood conveyer








i have those days, more often than not, that regardless of how put together or how messy i look people could really just get the picture.
"so i am composed - but i feel like crap. this is not an inviting smile, it is a DO NOT APPROACH OR THIS SMILE WILL PEEL BACK TO REVEAL MY DEMON TEETH READY TO RIP OPEN YOUR FACE."
"ok, i know, i look like a sack of s*&#t. but seriously, i'm doin' ok. it would kind of make my day if we could pick up on a conversation."

and so on. this could become extremely useful in the inevitably confusing situations that are the female hormones gone rampant to the complete neglect of their significant others.



QUESTIONS:
1. do you really think that wearing your mood on your sleeve could aid more than hinder? -socially -personally -professionally -academically, etc
2. would you feel comfortable being required to choose a "method" to make your mood public knowledge?
3. what are the benefits of such future technology?
4. seriously... how creepy or cool would this be?

Sunday, April 11, 2010









I was inspired by the yeti crab and its “fur” to help me create some sort of air purifier for people who have horrible allergies, like me for instance.

“The yeti crab is best known for its silky setae (resembles fur) on its legs and claws. This crab can be found in the south pacific living and feeding the on hydrothermal vents. The hair is able to filter through the poisonous minerals from the vents where it lives.”

-Discovery.com

The purifier would be portable and able to purify large amounts air. I’m not sure how it would work or how the products design would work. What I do know is that the typical air purifier needs to be redesigned so that its able be portable and work in large areas.

Questions:

1. Do you use an air purifier or would you if it worked properly and was portable?

2. Would you buy one if they were more aesthetically pleasing?

3. Isn't the Yeti Crab the coolest thing ever?

I want to create my own Jewelry line.

I want to create a jewelry line fully inspired by dreams entitled Woolgather.

I want to learn how to make jewelry with fine materials. Jewelry like this:

Pie Pops


This is for emily....... Make these please!!!!

I want


This is my condensed version of my "I Want" statement.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Invisible Bike Lock

Questions: 
1) Do you find bike locks annoying? 
2) Would you like to have this in your bike?
3) Any other suggestions/comments to further this invention?
4) Can you think of any other names for this invention?
5) Do you think the consumer should have the option of installing this in their bike or just having it on the outside?

For Jill - Creative Cakes


http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2010/04/06/12-creative-and-unusual-cakes/

Monday, April 5, 2010

I want...

I want to keep making prints and books after MCAD.

Pie Lab :: Josh Ritenour

Another idea for Jill...


In addition to your rubber glove cake, how about a rubber glove meatloaf?




Cake Eater Bakery

Here's the Cake Eater Blog.  Field Trip?
http://cakeeaterbakery.blogspot.com

Link to space photos :: Josh Ritenour

I Want...

-To go on a real vacation to someplace awesome.
-To study abroad before I graduate.
-To find a job this summer.

i want

i want to be the johnathan to someones marc jacobs.
i want to move to the east coast.

I want!

In ten years...

I want to be taking names and branding companies.

I want to be a certified yoga instructor.

I want to be an urban homesteader, growing at least 50% of the produce that my family eats.

The Pocket Pillow : New Invention



On a trip to Gooseberry Falls over break, I came up with an idea that would help myself not be so scattered with all the little tiny things I have to remember when I go out of town.

I Want Statement

Edit:
Just kidding.

Its in progress.

Emily Keenan: Personal Project (Pies)

I'm posting a link to the website correlated to my personal project, which was making up pie recipes.

Feel free to use any of the recipes, if you'd like!

http://e.homes.mcad.edu/~ekeenan/pies/home.html

i want...

to have someone else invest in my future.
to be in love for a day.
to eliminate stress.

an idea