Art Freak
To begin, we will share our thoughts and brainstormed discussions on an extract by George Perec, titled “Day-to-Day Data” which we have read out in our first lesson on week one here.
We will choose a few contrasting adjectives to begin our conceptualising of the installation work, which we will talk more about in week 2.
The trip to Harvey Norman was eye opening. I got to notice various trends of household products which I never did before since I don’t frequently change my furniture. TMI: Did I mention that my 20 years old bed frame collapsed a week ago? Well, my dad fixed that up for me so I never need to buy any new furniture…maybe in 20 more years to come.
Two similar products which I saw at Harvey Norman were Dyson Cool Fan and Philips Phone Mira M5501.
Interestingly, white seems to be a new trend colour. My first impression of white was that it makes a great contrast with dirt. That means, if I want to keep my furniture looking clean, I will need to keep up with the cleaning too. As a lazy person, white does not seem like a good choice as it magnify dirty marks found on it and the pure colour may lose its shine to become dull overtime. Now wait a minute, it’s white and not bright orange or soft turquoise?
Seemingly plain and nude without any expression of colour, white can be considered to be the freshest colour with no influence from any forms of expressions. It is said to be a timeless colour. Cool white is said to be the most illuminated colour of blues and greens while warm white the most illuminated colour of yellows and reds.
Firstly, colour is not seen the same by everyone. There are some people with colour blindness who are unable to appreciate the expressions of colours by default.
Secondly, humans are generally sensitive to colour. Overly saturated colours can be hard to look at for a long time and may even hurt our eyes.
Thirdly, some colours are hard to work with as compared to others. The best match of colours comes with a good contrast. Look at this chart:
Pure white can break up patterns, soften bold decor and a whole lot more.
Read up more on Why White Is the Ultimate Pop of Color by Yanic Simard, principal designer + design influencer at the award winning interior design boutique Toronto Interior Design Group (TIDG).
Quite noticeably, the shape that has been repeated in both designs are circle and race-track oval.
The round shapes of circle and oval suggest gentleness and gracefulness. The play with positive and negative space emphasise greatly on fluidity. Overall, the two products exude a visual sense of elegance and sleek appeal.
While the Dyson cool fan is a matt black or white and matt metallic silver or iron blue, the Philip phone mira is a mix between matt black interior and polish white exterior.
While the matt metallic shine of the Dyson cool fan emphasise on the coolness of its function as a fan, the polish white Philip phone gives it a porcelain appearance that emphasises its pristine condition.
One is a bladeless fan, another is a cordless phone.
Both the Dyson cool fan and the Philip Phone mira are similar in their approach towards innovation – simplicity without compromising on the best results.
On aspects of safety, the external rotating blade has been replaced with an internal impeller. An aligned loop allows air to enter and be propelled out on the other side by the internal impeller with less turbulence. In addition, a hemholtz cavity has been inbuilt to capture and dissipate motor noise.
To learn more about the function of Dyson Cool Fan go here.
On aspects of convenience, cordless phone allows communicators to be away from the telephone base and still continue communication. In addition, the intelligently designed concealed sockets and an internal cable guide hides all cable from sight for a clutter free environment.
To learn more about the function of Philip phone Mira go here.
To conclude, the trip to Harvey Norman allowed me to compare different designs and understand the kind of design that appeals to me more. Furniture stores are definitely a good place to learn about the new trend setter and what aspects of timeless design.
While the form of a product gives it its characteristics, what exactly defines the form of a product?
Under a lecture by my professor, Peer, I learnt that there are three traits affecting the definition of the form of a product.
In terms of industrial design,
What does function mean?
Function is to work or operate in a proper or particular way.
What does human factors mean and what is the relation between human factors and ergonomics?
Human factors focuses on system usability and designing system interfaces to optimize the users’ ability to accomplish their tasks error-free in a reasonable time and, therefore, to accept the system as a useful tool. The discipline is rooted in understanding how people use tools, products, and systems to accomplish desired tasks, and it seeks to eliminate or, at least, manage the human errors that sometimes do occur.
Ergonomics is the study of human performance and its application to the design of technological systems. The goal of this activity is to enhance productivity, safety, convenience and quality of life. Example topics include models and theories of human performance, design and analytical methodology, human-computer interface issues, environmental and work design, and physical and mental workload assessment. Human factors engineering requires input from disciplines ranging from psychology and environmental medicine to statistics.
What does emotion mean?
Design is not necessarily functional and does not necessarily include considerations on human factors. Design is based merely on the senses that the designer intend to stimulate in the user to evoke certain emotion(s). According to Don Norman’s book on Emotional design, it involves the concept on how aesthetically pleasing objects appear to the user to be more effective, by virtue of their sensual appeal. This can be due to the affinity the user feels for an object that appeals to them; due to the formation of an emotional connection with the object.
Now as we have a better understanding of the terms, I would like to share a few products to elaborate on the traits defining their individual forms.
Human Factors
Function
Emotion
Limitations on emotions
For more information on Baggizmo, go here or there.
Function
The function of this manual juicer can be observed in the video below. The manual juicer possess the function of juicing various high-fibre fruit and vegetables that may contain seeds or roots.
Human Factors
The manual juicer has been designed in a way that there are no steel blades or sharp edges that will require extra precaution for safety during usage and cleaning up.
Emotion
There is not much attractiveness to the design other than it appearing like a hard plastic screw. Its green colour emphasizes on its eco-friendly property.
For more information on Konstar Manual Juicer, go here.
Emotion
Pandora Rose can be used to represent a token of love in different occasions and different ways. Diamonds and shades of gold are precious materials used to construct many kinds of jewellery like Pandora. The rareness and numerous sourcing technique and refining technique of the material adds value to the material and makes them precious. The preciousness of the material is usually used to represent an exquisite gift for a wearer by a giver as a token of love that is treasured between them.
Function
A necklace to be worn around the neck, a bracelet to be worn around the wrist, a ring to be worn around the fingers and a earring to be worn along the ears. Each accessory may carry symbolic meaning of wealth, identity and myths.
Each charm of a Pandora bracelet can be customise by choice, making each piece of jewellery unique to an individual.
Human Factors
Small and durable object that can be hung on a human body without obstructing human activities whilst retaining its inherent quality for a long period of time.
For more information on Pandora Rose, go here.
Background
Function
Emotion
“It can go anywhere…It’s a piece you would take to a nice warm climate, sit in the sun and drink martinis. It’s kind of different and iconic.” – Wanders
Human Factors
“Realizing the piece in all the perfect detail, it took us maybe nine months or so, but to really get the right concept, it took a long time.” – Wanders
For more information on The Chaise Longue, go here.
Human factors
Function
Emotion
For more information on Razer Mamba, go here.
Ewer with parrot
Vietnam, 15th century
Stoneware
Ewer with parrot is a 15th century stoneware originating from Vietnam.
The stoneware has delicate line works painted in blue-and-white, perhaps a style inspired by the Chinese blue-and-white porcelain.
It possesses an elongated spout that reaches right beneath the rim of its head. The roundness of the rim resonates with the roundness of its belly that is situated at a height about one-third from its base. The position of the belly nearer to the base exudes a sense of stability and strikes a balance with the long vertical body of the ewer.
The spout and the handle appear as two parallel curvilinear rods. Both rods appear to have consistent thickness. While the spout is attach to the ewer’s neck with reinforcement provided by an interconnection using a small piece of s-like clay, the handle splits into a fork at its end and rests tangent to the opposite side of the neck.
At the belly, a patch shaped with four connected arches, resembling a four-petal flower, has been left unglazed unlike the other parts of the stoneware that were glazed in white. The matt surface of the unglazed portion stands out from the fairly glossy glazed surface. The unglazed portion has been treated through methods of piercing and engraving to depict an image of a parrot perching on a branch whilst being circled by foliage. The pierced gaps suggest that the ewer may have served the purpose as a decorative object instead of its preconceived function as a storage jug.
249 words
Visit more artefacts at Singapore’s Asian Civilisation Museum today!
In this self-directed project, I refer to DATAMOSHING: Image bending under Glichet Resources (Click on me, you know you want to :)).
According to the resources, I made glitches with Audacity, an open source, cross-platform audio editor and recorder.
For this project, I would like to share 27 glitches (and one that is an original image I had created) in a pdf: Glitch with Audacity, where I create glitches through image bending with audacity.
The following is a short video I tried to piece together with sound tracks from YouTube. Credits for sound: Coolal and EB7BMV
As compared to the previous video I did titled Rosa Menkman (can be found here), the difference between the two can be observed by the experimental techniques. For the previous video, I made use of a pre-set online glitching tool to create the glitch images, whereas for this video, I experiment with image bending with Audacity.
This new approach provided me with a better understanding of how certain types of glitch are created. Audacity allows me to trace back my footsteps and work flexibly back and forth, whereas the pre-set online glitching tool does not have the “Step backwards”/ “Undo” button and the “Step forward”/ “Redo” button. Moreover, after working with Audacity, I realised that it provided me a wider scope of glitch patterns as compared to the pre-set online glitching tool. Personally, I actually prefer the aesthetics of the glitched images made with the online glitching tool. That being said, both Audacity and online glitching tool have proved to be very useful tools for creating glitch art.
How to create glitch on mac and windows
I wanted to glitch more images, but the glitch did not work on every images and I wonder why…if anyone know why I couldn’t glitch images the same way I did as referenced from the link above, please leave a comment below! Many thanks ~
So I found out how to glitch more images by editing only along the lower two-third of the Wordpad, except the differences are very subtle. I was hoping for more drastic changes and weird colours coming into the picture, but nope…
I like how the glitch images look like distorted flashing images of a moving deer. I don’t know why the glitch images always turn out in a rather neutral tone. Does anyone know how to make colourful glitches?
Wearable Kinesthetic systems for capturing and classifying body posture and gesture by Alessandro Tognetti, Federico Lorussi, Mario Tesconi, Raphael Bartalesi, Giuseppe Zupone and Danilo De Rossi
This review evaluates the design, the development and the understanding of sensing garments for the human body gesture, posture and movement. Sensing garment is defined as the incorporation of innovative, comfortable and spreadable sensors with garments.
Sensors are directly built in LYCRA fabric by using conductive elastomer (CE) sensors. The CE used is made by a silicon rubber and graphite mixture, manufactured to conduct electricity. This mixture can be applied on an elastic fabric substrate according to the shape and desired area for the sensors using an adhesive mask. CE sensors is a good technology as it provides both sensors and wiring by using the same elastic material and does not use noticeable metallic wires which may restrict the movements of the wearer. CE sensors show piezo-resistive properties when a deformation is applied and they can be integrated onto fabric or other flexible substrate to be employed as strain sensors.
The biggest advantage of sensorised garments would be the achievable idea of wearing garments for long duration while being monitored without discomfort. Sensorised garments are a possible alternative and comfortable tool for use in many rehabilitation areas, in sport disciplines and multimedia field.
Wearable Electronics and Smart Textiles: A Critical Review by Matteo Stoppa and Alessandro Chioleio
This review delves into the latest developments in the area of Electronic textiles (E-textiles) and focuses on the materials and their manufacturing process. It explores the strengths and weaknesses of different techniques and emphasizes on achieving a balance between flexibility, ergonomics, low power consumption, integration and autonomy.
E-textiles are fabrics with embedded electronics in a way that components and interconnections are almost unobservable with moldability and distinct size that is unachievable with conventional electronic manufacturing techniques. Embroidering, sewing, non-woven textiles, knitting, weaving, braiding, coating/laminating, printing and chemical treating are some ways of combining electronics with wearables.
With E-textiles, we can use computation and sensors to manipulate outfits to suit our sensory needs. Smart textiles may eventually be integrated into our daily lives. The function of wearable technology rely on their ability to recognize the behaviour of their wearers and the environment they are in.
Example of use of conductive thread in ‘Human Antenna’ by Florian kräutli
The employment of new materials such as conductive threads, conductive inks and organic semiconductors, along with technologies such as a drawing die with a steel mount and a ceramic/ carbide/ diamond core for wire drawing, sheet-based inkjet and screen printing that can print conductive material on various substrates, sintering technology, stretched sensors, pressure sensors, bio-potential sensing systems, capacitor sensor, electrochemical sensor and power supply technologies, in wearables, will serve as a means of increasing social welfare and might lead to important savings on welfare budget.
My thoughts:
While E-textiles and Sensing garments involves various complexities with the use of specialised technology, I believe that they have great potential to aid us in many ways in the area of social welfare.
Additional research and adaptation:
