Today we had a very inspirational presentation by Nicholas O'Donnell-Hoare. He talk about his own work which aimed to make a positive change in people's everyday life. He also showed us examples of hybrid designs and give a workshop to open up the endless possibilities to use a paperclip.
Nicholas graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone as a jeweller but since then he worked on several different projects. The price winning 'Kissed Ring' co designed with Chloe McCormick using 3D printing which means it never been touched by human hands during the making process. Most makers think that using traditional techniques is very beneficial because of the accidents happen during the creation of the final product. It makes it more personal compare to artefacts coming from mass-production. Nicholas used 3D digital photography to capture the moment which he later translated into this ring. The funny thing is although they took several pictures, the final one happened when the models kissed goodbye to each other so it was just a random, personal moment between two people. For me it shows that the correct usage of digital technology can lead to special products although they'll never be as individual as a handmade one. The 'Kissed Ring' is available to buy in different sizes from £79.00 online printed of nylon or wax.
'Good as Gold' was his Masters project when he started to look at social, environmental and political issues and managed to come up with a solution for a certain problem. My favourite sentence of him during his presentation was: "Create solutions instead of making comments". He researched gold as a material and it's real impacts what a lot of people don't really know about. The first part of his design is an easy to use mercury condensing kit which reduces the risk of mercury exposure to both the user and to the local ecosystems. The second part of the one-for-one concept is a beautifully designed recycled 9ct gold ring, which allows the end user of gold to support an artisan miner. 'Good as Gold' offers a chance to the buyer to humanise the conditions of mining and gives a real value to gold.
On 'The Trojan Egg Project' Nicholas was working with fellow postgraduate students to provide shoppers with the information they need to make practical, real-time ethical choices. By changing numerical codes on eggs to a Bee Tagg stamp they created an interactive and easily understandable way to find out more about our food. When scanning the logo with a smart phone the Tagg gives access to the Trojan Egg portal, where consumers can see in real time where their food is produced, by who, and under which conditions. Although we are talking about eggs here I think it's a genius idea to solve the biggest problem about mass production, the lack of personal contact between buyer and producer. We can get real information about the product we buy and not just numbers and letters which don't tell anything to us.
He also showed us pictures of hybrid designs which proved that simply putting two existing ideas together can create revolutionary products.
We also had a chance to try out the power of teamwork during his workshop. We had to come up as many ideas as we can for possible usage of a paperclip. Many teams had over 100 ideas in about ten minutes because once you start thinking about more than one paperclip or change the size of it you realise the endless potential. So the question should be what you cannot do with a paperclip? Same with design I guess. We just have to keep our eyes open, watch people everyday life, realise problems and find the perfect solution. In the 21st century it's often have to involve technology which many of us scared of but by using internet we can find whatever we need and also contact people from other disciplines to give us a hand if we need it. I don't think smart phones will make people smarter but as designers we have to take advantage of the opportunities it has to offer.
Arduino workshop
Arduino is a fairly little board which allows designers to create interactive products by building it into the object. During the workshop we used Arduino UNO, pieces of wire, and a couple of LED lights to learn the basics of this interface. Later on a breadboard/ prototyping board and a potentiometer helped us to deal with more complex tasks. Arduino(hardware) is attachable to a computer (software) and by using a special programming language it makes LEDs to switch on and off for a given time repeatedly. We also managed to set up 4 LEDs to imitate the front lights of KITT from Knight-Rider. Arduino has analog pins as well as digitals which makes it possible not just switching the lights but set their intensity or speed. To achieve this we built in an analog sensor (potentiometer) which has an adjustable bar to let us set the resistance which effects the lights.
I have to admit this workshop was way too technological for me. Maybe just because I've never done any programming before and I'm not familiar with electronics either. Although I'm glad we learnt the basics of using an Arduino board because at least I know about it and if I'll feel it's relevant to one of my future projects I just have to look up a book called Getting started with Arduino by Massimo Banzi and I'll be sorted.
I've done some research about the potential of Arduinos in terms of textiles. It has a smaller version called Lilypad especially designed for E-textiles. It's washable and by using conductive threads or metal fibres we don't even have to struggle with wires. On the internet I found several projects using Lilypads which aren't just clever but pretty too.
The funniest one was by Bonifaz Kaufmann who made a knitted piece which he puts on his arm and it counts how many times he bends his arm when he's doing exercise. In this case the Lilypad measures the stretching of the fabric and send the information to his smart phone.
It could be an obvious idea to use it instead of high visibility jackets but there are plenty of well designed products for this purpose too. LEDs either built into the clothing or into an attachable part for a bag it's more eye-appealing than the jackets and it can save your life when your cycling or doing other sports.
The most interesting one by Jie Qi is a self-folding origami paper which actually acts like a proper robot in the video. The red (controller) paper senses how it is being folded and the white (output) paper follows the movements.
I also found an interactive wallpaper by Hannah Perner-Wilson which has lightning and moving parts attached to it with magnetic Arduino pads. By touching the paper you can turn a lamp on, play music or send a message to your friend. She used non-toxic water based conductive paint on the wallpaper and her Arduinos are wirelessly connected to a computer.
As a textile designer my very favourite was Lynne Bruning's work. She's designing clothing for fashion shows and theatres using the transparency of different fabrics to create a lightshow kind of experience. Her work is just simply amazingly beautiful.
And just in case anybody would be fancy for some prototyping with Lilypad Angela Mackey and David McCallum designed an easy to move device so we don't have to rip it out and sew it back into the next project. Thanks for them!
We also learnt how to use the laser cutter and the sublimation printer. My only problem with these two is that I'm not quite sure they will be accessible for me after I finished University. but at the moment they are so I might will give them a go at one point. I have all the notes I need to use them so nothing can stop me. I loved this module, it opened up so many possibilities.
Jo Hodge's interactive textiles
We get to know a lovely person during Jo's interesting presentation. She's really focused on her work and explained us how important self discipline is when you leave college. She mostly concentrate on communication, emotion and connection between people. Her aim with her textiles to bring back intimacy to communication through technology.
She told us a lovely story of an exhibition where she presented one of her latest designs. The dress she presented was printed with heat reactive dyes so it would change colour when someone touch it. She also used UV reactive dyes so if you lift up the model's skirt it change colour too. Poor model girl was quite embarrassed when she was walking around in the crowd and everybody was touching her and lifting her skirt up. But after a couple minutes she started to feel confident and started to encourage people to interact with her dress. In today's society we have certain rules and have to play certain roles. Touching each other isn't common nowadays but Jo found the solution to change this and bring some playful interaction into our everyday life.
Jo as a good designer always searching for design opportunities and trying to find out what people really need. The most interesting technique she uses called 'cultural probes' or 'diary studies'. It allows her to collect data on a small group of people for a longer period of time which gives her a chance to get a deeper insight into people's mind. While ethnography tells you what people do, cultural probes give you information about how they feel. They designed to stimulate thought as well as capture experiences. They can contain anything from disposable cameras to sketchbooks you have to fill up with your thinking process. They are interactive and fun. Jo like to make them personal so the volunteers can feel the time, effort and empathy went into the research. This technique allows designers to peak into hospitals or bedrooms where otherwise we wouldn't have an insight to.
Jo also mentioned a couple other designers who inspired her. Alexander Reeder's Butterfly dress makes it possible to communicate your feelings without telling a word. The little butterflies on the garment start to flip their wings when the wearer's heart starts to beat faster. No wonder it makes guys' life much easier :)
Joanna Montgomery's 'Pillow talk' allows couples living far away from each other to still have a sort of connection when they go to sleep. By placing their ears onto the interactive pillow they can listen to each other's heart beat. How amazing is that?! Thanks to Jo to introducing us the future of design.
