The Ocean At The End Of The Lane

Just read this book last week.  Fantastic narrative that was full of heart.  Kinda short at about 200 pages, but it stays with you.

Gaiman writes the closest modern writers will ever get to creating new Grimm Fairy tales. This one might be my favorite.


Go check it out at amazon and see if it floats your boat.


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51aJWsQK3fL._SY346_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_.jpg

Just a thought

This is an  interesting thought that I've come up with. Adults are too knowledgeable about the world around them.  They know better than to walk off of the path; or to feel textures of walls, trees or flowers.  The world would be a lot better off if they were willing to reach out and touch things.

Design Poster Mockups

Figure I may as well post up some of the mockups I've done for a poster featuring the LED lightbulb. I'm not going to go into too much detail about each of these.  They are listed as the number they were created.

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Better Late...

Turns out I forgot to post these responses earlier.  Figure now is as good a time as any.

Don Norman: Three Ways Good Design Makes You Happy

       

I really agree with a lot of what Mr. Norman has to say.  The way he is amazed with the ordinary being slightly tweaked into the extraordinary is what I'd like to bring to design.  For example, the use of a ping pong table being turned into a digital, koi pond is awesome.  Not because of what it looked like, but the reactions the "fish" had to the bouncing of the ball.  Artificially creating a reaction due to random movement seems surreal to me. And I love it.

This belief is reflected in the five objects I choose for design. They are objects that seem normal at first glance, but they have something special about them.  Either they are repurposed objects, multi-tools, power saving or  incredibly convenient.

Dieter Rams: Ten Principals For Good Design

I agree with much of his beliefs of simple design.  Something should be easy to use and simple in form.  I've been burned personally by some electronics promising use beyond it's capacity.  I believe that potential of an object should be tied into the design of the object.

Once again objects such as the LED lightbulb and the emergency radio, I've mentioned earlier in this blog, represent simple design.  They are easy to understand with little experience with the object, which I feel represents the ideal of Dieter Rams' design beliefs.

Think & Make Reading 01

(Ralph Caplan: By Design)

Personally what really stuck with me was the introduction of Ralph Caplan's By Design intro.  In this portion of his books he discusses how a rural theater was segregated.  While this tale is entertaining, he uses the tale to show that design is an ongoing process.  It took multiple attempts, from multiple angles, to fix the theater's problem.

The ability to see segregation as a design issue interests me.  By using design as the enemy he levels off any anger that might be placed toward the theater owner onto the problem itself.  Design, when used properly, can reshape human opinions.

Design Poster

Quick update with my inspired designs. I feel that the LED lightbulb is the best designed object of my 5, unique-looking and long-lasting.  Here's a quick mock-up of a poster design for it.

And just for fun, a weird yeti.

Painting

My mom was going through a magazine when she saw this photo.  She offered to buy supplies for me to paint it, if I was willing to.  

Here's my progress after 2 hours.

Expect updates as they happen.

Some Inspiration Photos

I figured I'd share a few photos that I've found that inspire me.

(I really like the last one. It's a crane holding a sign 10 feet off the ground.)