Design and value Tips from Corey

Design and value Tips from Corey

Famous Designer - massimo Vignelli
Before you design-
Read, take notes, sketch, choose, make it perfect, don't look at it after it's done

Respect.  Don't shoot down someone's work, try to make it better.

Smart textiles compettition

I first learned about smart textiles from my classmate Sammy.  her community that she chose for our first assignment was about smart textile.  They are any kind of fabric that can sense stimuli and respond with some sort of action. An example would be the pic below.  A fabric impregnated with LED lights and sensors that might illuminate when you walk into a dark room.   

Denmark's Knowledge Centre for Smart Textiles is holding a design competition on the topic, and top prize is 50,000 Danish Crowns (that's 6,500 Euros or about 9,400 bucks). They ask only that entrants "present the best idea within smart textiles."


The video link below shows some pretty cool examples. 


Video

Lorena Duran

Lorena Duran came to speak to us on Tuesday about her design journey, and life experiences.  She is colombia and when to the the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and earned her masters at Pratt Institute.  She now works as the Asst. Director of the International Design at CHRISTIES.  What I like about her is that she doesn't want to be defined as anything other than a Designer.  She says "Don't add anything in front or behind it."  And she is so versatile it would be hard to categorize her as a special designer.  She has worked as a interior designer, creative designer, brand, exhibition designer, and graphic designer.    As of now her hobby is jewelry design. 


A few things that I learned about design from Lorena Duran are the definition of fung shway, which is the positive or negative energy within a space, and identity of a brand/logo.


An identity describes the components of a branding logo.  It specifies everything from colors, advertising, dimensions, photography, illustrations, to the name and fonts being used.  The proposals range from 60-100+ pages. Lorena says "brands are a living organism.  It's constantly changing."  It also describes the personality of the brand.  It has to be a clear and straight or it wont work.


Lorena's presentation overall was very inspiring.  I feel as if now I could do what ever I want, even if I don't have a lot of knowledge in it.  As long as I love what I'm doing.  "Find something that makes you vibrate!" 

JCPenny logo

JCPenny has become the latest brand to redesign their logo the right way.  Unfortunately Gap, comedy central, Starbucks, and NBC Universal have sen better days.  Is it the new trend now, to change your logo to something so bad that the company gets media attention?  I guess the phrase is true. There is no such thing as bad publicity.  I havent heard to much talk on the JCPenny logo revamped, but when Gap, Starbucks, and NBC Universal changed their logos to something horrible I  heard about it right away.  But is it worth it?  

Resumes, Creative or Professional

I find that often times designers are asked to provide a resume to an employer and they are conflicted with this a question.  Should my resume be creative, to show off my creativity or should it be professional and business like?  Some opt to go the creative route and it can either be good for them or horribly wrong.  Some employers find it creative and it attracts them and the applicant might actually get the job.  Or the employer never sees what the applicant has to offer and throws away the hard work you put into the resume.  Its a tough decision to make.  I often opt for the safer route, professional.  What do you think!  Here are some examples I found interesting of some resumes.     

Robotic block

Modular Robotics has taken blocks to whole new level.  These new cubelets are the legos of the future.  And they are very cool.  Cubelets are modular, robotic tiny bricks that perform mechanical and senorial tasks.  "You snap them together and the Sense Blocks become the "input"--i.e. detecting proximity, responding to physical stimuli--and the Action Blocks provide the output, i.e. moving, rotating, making noise."  When they are on market they will be sold in different colors, u the prototypes are black.  The standard kit is $300. and they are currently out of stock.

Quick Overview
The standard kit of cubelets has 20 blocks and contains an assortment of sensor, action, and operator blocks. With it, you can experiment and create mobile robots and logic constructions.

video

The Side Winder- Helping the community

When I saw this video I thought it tied perfetly with what we are learning in class.  Mike and Ellie Kemery senced a problem within their own home and worked on how to fix the problem together.  They created the Side Winder to clear the space around their electrical sockets.  They found that they use pretty much all of the sockets and they have wires going all over the place.  With the Side Winder you dont have wires everywhere and it makes your work space neat and tangle free.  Check out the video.