I'm an industrial designer who believes good designs are logical designs. Logical in the human sense and not driven solely by cost, profits and marketing. I will be posting my views on designs and some products that caught my attention. So do bookmark my page if you like products that are not really that commonly talked about.
Anyway sorry in advance for my kok up ang mo. I don't really proof read my typing ha.
This video was obviously made pretty long ago, talks about plants having a state of consciousness, that they react to events around them. I'm sure many gardeners can attest to this claim, but i wonder how will the act of trimming plants have an effect on them. I mean the intention is good, but the plants will surely be in pain if it's cut.
This is a bit freaky if it's true. Maybe we should just wire up our plants the next time to act as a sensor sort of device. Ha.
I just saw this sweet looking audio system at the electronic store in Takashimaya. Didn't really get to test the sound but i think it looks really well designed and built. The generous radius and choice of colour gives it a very retro feel.The design looks really clean and buttons look well organise and unobtrusive. The top of the player is made of real wood and kept flat so user can use it as a plate for placing their keys, spectacles etc. The use of wood have always been associated with good speakers, this is because of their dampening or resonance qualities. I'm not sure if the wood does play a part in sound reproduction here as the design includes two bass reflex ports on the back that enhance bass sound dispersion, but it is a good touch as it adds class and perception of quality here. However i wonder will your keys etc on the wooden plate be affected by the vibration and starts creating buzzing sound when music are playing. That will really be a big turn off.
back view showing bass reflex ports
Anyway it's retailing for $599 and features includes iPod docking, USB port, FM radio, CD player and alarm clock.
I came up with this logo for my team when we decided to take part in ESPZEN sunday league. A few names were thrown around but we decided to stick to JAZZ as it mirrors the diverse make up of our squad. Improvisation is a key element of Jazz and our team definitely fits that bill as most of us had to play in a makeshift positions every week due to voids created by missing members.
The style of logo was inspired by tribal tattoo, something very popular among our age group. Dragon was chosen as our mascot for the fact that it is impregnable and armed with great offensive ability. The logo actually spells the word JAZZ. "J" make up by the wing on the left and the head, they double up as a saxophone as well, linking back to Jazz as a music form. "A" is the soccer ball while "ZZ" is created using the right wing and the tail.
That is the question i have been asking myself recently. Both have the vintage look that totally appeal to me, G10 comes with SLR like dials that makes adjustment easy, LX3 equipped with 24mm wide angle fast lens....then i saw this video.
It's totally shot by LX3, there's a couple more of videos taken using LX3 on Vimeo. Seriously, i'm very impressed. There's comparisons made between videos of LX3 and some branded camcorder around and LX3's output looks way better than what the camcorder managed. There's no zoom or auto focus while taking video using LX3 obviously, but it's still damn impressive. Check out the HD version on Vimeo itself.
I always have this view concerning self help books. For example, who will buy a book about power of positive thinking? The answer, people who are willing to try new things and believe in trying. In short people who are positive. So why do they need to buy the book then? On the other hand the people who really need it are too negative about it's effect to buy them.
There's some books written by successful people on how to be successful. These people are normally motivational speakers, meaning they are salesmen. They speak to make you feel good..... Who in the right frame of mind will share with strangers the secrets of being successful? Unless the secrets are some obvious facts or their real secret is to sell people the idea that they can make you successful. Actually I'm still waiting for some guy to announce to the world that he became successful because he read this book. Anyway i'm just thinking for all the successful people out there, only a few wrote books about how to be successful, and most of them happened to be in the motivational business. What happened to the rest? The real success stories?
Anyway most of you should have known about or read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". I just found a link talking about all the lies that guy talked about. It's really amazing how many businesses that book generated. I personally had a teenager approach me on the street begging me for money so he can take cab to orchard, all of this part of the workshop inspired by RDPD. I wondered why don't they sell some service instead of begging. Till today i'm still very much disgusted by what i saw that day.
A very very interesting talk by Dan Ariely, author of the book "Predictably Irrational". In this video he talks about how our decisions are influence by seemingly harmless options. This points to the fact that we cannot take results from questionnaires for granted. How lousy imitations of apple's product may in fact push apple's sales. To marketing people out there, you can make use of this knowledge to push your products in the next marketing effort.
What he talks about is kind of related to a book i've read, "The Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz. Very interesting book by the way. It basically talks about the fact that human beings always want more choices, but when given choices they tend not to know what to do.
*A friend commented that these videos are not really about design. To me, they are about how human beings behave, how the nature is designed, things we have to know to make better judgement during designing. Anyway be open and you can get insights from everything and everywhere, regardless of your field of profession/study.
A monkey-like creature called an adapid is thought to be the missing link in human evolution. The documentary presented by Sir David Attenborough is expected to be screened later this month on BBC.
This blog is about looking at design from a logical point of view. Good designs are often good because of the thinking behind it and not because of pure luck. The colour, forms etc can all be and should be rationalised. This belief doesn't mean that any and everyone can design by simply following a formula. It is still an art to decide on the solution that best fit all requirements.
I will be posting on some everyday stuff that's more light hearted and fun. Reviews will be done on products that I’ve gotten my hands on!
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