R Sloan's Design Experiences

COMMENT:  I started as an industrial designer and have loved the ‘simplicity’ of rietveld and can see the complexity a little clearer because of this work.

minale-maeda: rietveld LEGO buffet for droog

gerrit rietveld buffet executed in LEGO

dutch based design duo minale-maeda (kuniko maeda and mario minale)
playfully reprise
gerrit rietveld’s grace to reconsider his de stijl masterwork, ‘buffet’
for dutch design company
droog. the ‘rietveld LEGO buffet’ uses over 25, 000 pieces of LEGO,
updating the de stijl’s call
for simplified materials through the use of the iconic toy building
blocks known to us as children,
creating a re-iteration of one of modern design’s most relevant
historical suggestions.
the buffet comes in a numbered edition of 5.

gerrit rietveld buffet executed in LEGO

details

mario minale working on the construction of the buffet

lego pieces all laid out

buffet production in progress

the rietveld via LEGO, buffet is on show as part of droog’s presentation
at
design miami / basel 2010 from june 15th – 19th, located at booth
G28, hall 5,
messe basel, messeplatz.

the buffet is a continuation of mario minale’s 2004 rendition of
rietveld’s red blue chair,
also done in LEGO.

‘red blue LEGO chair’ by mario minale

this LEGO version of the iconic ‘red blue chair’ by gerrit rietveld is
6% larger because
it is goverened by the LEGO brick size. the chair was produced in the
spirit of rietveld’s
original intention to make the design widely available, however,
copyright laws prevented
this LEGO version from being mass produced.

detail
all images courtesy of minale-maeda studio

COMMENT: Feedback is the past’s future and future’s future…

ART383 – Fundamentals of Interaction Design, Autumn Quarter 2009

Prof. Axel Roesler
In collaboration with Intel Labs Seattle

During an intensive five week project, five student teams conducted an iterative user-centered design process to explore future applications for the projection of interfaces on any surface suitable for display and interaction in the home of the future.

Design techniques ranged from contextual inquiry, ideation, and storyboarding, to concept visualizations and video protypes. Each design team was comprised of students from the Division of Design’s Interaction Design program and the HCI concentration in Human Centered Design and Engineering, the iSchool, Computer Science and Engineering, and students from other UW HCI-oriented majors.

The resulting five projects envision the embedding of community networks into the home, a search, interaction across walls, lifestyle coaching, and interactive cooking.

Watch videos of each of the five team presentations via the links provided at the end of each project description below:

Real Ideal is a life consultant that utilizes wall and floor space in the house to display ambient cues relating to a person’s current task or goal. We utilized Intel’s Bonfire technology to create a system that provided “reflections through projections”, highlighting and annotating parts of the house and everyday life that could be improved or changed. This lead to the creation a life consultant that was helpful and constructive without being intrusive or obnoxious. By taking areas where action is typically invisible and visualizing it, mundane or incomprehensible tasks such as water consumption become engaging and interactive. This idea of visualization can be applied in all of the areas of life from health, to finances, to calendars and scheduling, helping to streamline life’s obligations, increase productivity and achieve goals.

Watch a video of the Real Ideal presentation
Real Ideal PDF documentation

Drew Bregel (Human Computer Interaction & Design)
Lauren Cascio (Design Studies)
Rachel Choung (Biology)
Patrick Douglas (Informatics)
Shweta Grampurohit (Interaction Design)
Kaisha Hom (Visual Communication Design)
Jeremy Juel (Visual Communication Design)
Nate Landess (Interaction Design)

Mprint is based around the idea of an objects physical history. It makes use of these histories by visualizung a solution to an all too common problem: Losing things!

Mprint captures and leaves a residue underneath every object on designated surfaces. These residues are an indication that any particular object has occupied that space. Object residues become the entry point into Mprint’s interface which can locate a lost object and take snapshots of surfaces so that meaningful layouts and spatial relationships can be saved and recalled later.

Watch a video of the Mprint presentation
Mprint PDF presentation

Daniel Frum (Geography)
Hannah Getachew (Human Centered Design and Engineering)
Imri Larsen (Industrial Design)
Ben Mabry (Industrial Design)
Kristofer Martin (Interaction Design)
Daniya Ulgen (Design Studies)

Spaces envisions entire walls as displays that provide interactions with images, stories, and facilitate communications by merging spaces that are otherwise separated by walls.

Users can remove visual occlusion caused by the walls around them by making the wall transparent. Multiple users can paste a room from each of their respective houses together, share a conversation and exchange media such as created environments or artwork, etc. Users can add objects to the wall display by gestural interaction – for example, they can ‘throw’ a slide or image on the wall, and the image will be come a part of the display. Objects could leap from the pages of the book onto the wall display, providing engagement and immersive experience.

Spaces tracks location and movement of users in the home environment and automatically adjusts settings such as color, texture, implied size of rooms, and lighting to provide the most utility for a task. Audio spatialization technology merged with ambient visual display can match the display of a performance or communication partner in the distance much closer to what would be a direct experience.

Watch a video of the Spaces presentation
Spaces PDF documentation

Elizabeth Abrahanson (Interdisciplinary Visual Arts)
Kristen Bales (Industrial Design)
Aron Chavez (Interdisciplinary Visual Arts)
Tim Damon (Design Studies)
MikeJohnson (Interdisciplinary Visual Arts)
Sean Ren (Computer Science)

Wall[ace] is a social networking interface that represents friends and community as avatars that live as projections on the walls of the home environment. Wall[ace] is operated by natural language and gesture recognition and can be controlled from almost any
location in the home. The ambient interface facilitates real interactions with friends in one’s social network by projecting their avatars in context with their activities / one’s own activities

Wall[ace] redefines the home with a simple command, changing it from a place of separation and privacy into a social arena. With Wall[ace] activated, the feeling of being at home will be characterized by the following: The social network will occupy the user’s ambient space at home. User’s can have a constant feeling of presence. User’s can share live experiences

Watch a video of the Wall[ace] presentation
Wall[ace] PDF documentation

Daren Chaisy (Human Centered Design and Engineering)
Leslie Ferguson (Design Studies and Computer Science)
Craig Kochis (Informatics)
Jon Sandler (Interdisciplinary Visual Arts)
Jacob Warren (Human Centered Design and Engineering)

Foodie is envisioned as an interactive coach that makes cooking easier. Currently, many people cook with their laptop in the kitchen. Without prior cooking experience some terminology within the recipe can be confusing. A new cook may not know the difference between mincing and chopping an onion. Timing is an issue. A recipe may list the ingredients needed and in which order to use them but it does not tell you if multiple parts of the recipe need to be made at the same time.

An interactive, distributed display system projects information located in context with the cooking task and in proximity to counter workspace, pans, and pots – synchronized with the progress of cooking. A laptop is no longer needed in the kitchen. Video tutorials projected onto the kitchen counter right next to the task at hand provide further explanation for the inexperienced cook step-by step. An overview of timing is provided to help the cook manage their time well.

Watch a video of the Foodie presentation
Foodie PDF presentation

Derek Chan (Visual Communication Design)
Annaliese Chapa (Industrial Design)
Lindsay Haggman (Human Centered Design and Engineering
Joshua Ng (Informatics)
Jamilia Popov (Human Centered Design and Engineering)
Calder Thami (Human Centered Design and Engineering)

COMMENT: Bamboo has never looked so good.

by andrea db on designboom

bamboo furniture system is part of the selection of indian contemporary design production in designboom’s curated exhibition ‘asia_now’, a show at dwell on design in los angeles, in june 25 – 27, 2010.

demonstrating the stability of the book shelf

‘book shelf’

‘book shelf’

‘truss me’ is a sustainable furniture system developed my indian designer sandeep sangaru.
designboom promotes the use of bamboo in the fields of architecture and design and we
asked sandeep to document his ongoing bamboo project for our readers.
the concept behind the collection explores new construction possibilities with solid bamboo poles –
strictus dendocalmus – and splits, using modular forms and lamination joints for new applications.
enjoy!

‘book shelf’ rendering

 

the strong fibers of bamboo can withstand compression and tensile loads.
using the properties of the fibers, ‘truss me’ was developed on a technique of splitting
and laminating the poles with another strip of split bamboo. when the glue cures,
the laminated module acts like a truss.

different configurations of ‘book shelf’

wall hung ‘book shelf’

the ‘truss me’ protoypes were developed with the help of a group of artisans in the village of sankhela,
tripura, india, a region which has an abundant bamboo resource, cultivated in organized plantations
by local farmers.

all of the products are completely handcrafted. the components used for construction are modular
and repetitive, and can be produced in batches by a group of craftsmen. the equipment involved
for production are basic hand tools. through a modular system of jigs, fixtures and templates,
the construction elements were quickly realized and also maintained a formal consistency and quality
to the individual components. the furniture has been designed to use locally resourced bamboo
and skills in a sustainable fashion.

adjusting the jigs

modules being laminated

each piece is handmade by local craftsmen

‘sofa’ and ‘bookshelf’

framework of the sofa prototype

testing the sofa prototype

‘chair’

process work of ‘truss me’ chair

‘square stool’

 

measurements and modules ready for construction

 

basic construction module

 

demonstration of load bearing qualities

 

technical drawings of the various modular forms

 

‘truss me’ collection

 

the various configurations and pieces

No Time Like Tea Time

There’s an old Chinese saying, “tea is drunk to
forget the din of the world.” There’s some irony in that truth, as much
as the world indulges itself with problems, tea is universally
understood as an escape. Wars would even pause for both sides to
ceremoniously share cups of tea. TASTE is a physical manifestation of
that tranquility. The organic shape castes a reflection describing
majesty and peace; the moon and the mountains. Gorgeous design.

Designer: Ran Xiangfei