Portable Desktops: Curing the plight of a Budding Designer

I have always been a serious advocate for PCs. As a designer that specialises in graphics and product design I function on both sides of the design spectrum  Most designers prefer Macs as their product of choice but I find that the Windows operating system to be a lot more versatile  As many people ave found out, partitioning your Mac to have Windows could be a very nasty affair... Yes Open Window Students, I'm talking to you lol. But with all the benefits of Windows, there is a downside, transporting your equipment around can be such a hassle especially if you have a desktop.

Understandably, Desktops shouldn't be totted around like gym bags (that's what laptops are for), but I have recently discovered that having that option might not be such a bad thing. I'm interning at an Advertising Agency to cover the graphics side of my studies and I have just a desk and chair, no computer and I have to work on the digitally, so the solution I came up with was to bring my desktop to the office... Simple right? Wrong! cables, Speakers, Monitor, Hard-drive  yikes! I look like a pack mule.

I'm in the process of designing a carry case that is adjustable and compact enough to fit your monitor, hard-drive  cables and other such necessities for others suffering as I am. I have searched the web and found examples (limited examples) of such cases, clearly there is a gap in the market, most of them do look like gym bags and the straps and clips aren't "sexy" at all.

Desktop Carrying Case- Very basic isn't it? (No offence to the designer of course, clearly me and you are on the same wavelength)

Although laptops are a solution to this problem, but as a student still in the sponging phase of adult-hood, budget doesn't allow for me to purchase a laptop that can handle both Solidworks and Photoshop, so maybe this could be another solution. The desktop carrier, bring your desk with you, wherever you go. The title is still a work in progress.

USB Designs: Medieval Style

My current school project was to come up with interesting and refreshing USB designs for three categories  The first is called The troll, something obnoxious, edgy and full of attitude, The second is An object of desire, beautiful and elegant and the last is The everyday USB, reliable, sleek and for all intents and purposes ordinary. Ideally these designs should fall under a single theme for example Star wars  thus all the designs would explore a particular aspect of this theme.

For my theme I used my fixation or enthusiasm (whichever way you see things) for Medieval culture. Each USB explores some of the main or most common "archetypes" of the Medieval Age. The knight, The princess and the Dragon.

Its interesting to note that many USB designs have become either very modern or very corny, of course this is a personal opinion, but its very difficult to find references...

Here are the images I have chosen to use as reference for my designs:

Another interesting little "tidd-bit" is that each of the references have armour on them, the discovery of which was completely by accident. Lets hope this scores necessary points in my favour. My first round of models look good... perhaps not good enough to post as of yet lol.

I Fucking Love Science: Science Made Cool

I have been following the I fucking love science Facebook page for sometime now and I have concluded that every sane-fully functional human being should be following this. Every week, they bring you updates within the scientific community  Many of the discoveries and innovations are quite interesting. I find it a lot more stimulating than say: what  new tattoo Rihanna has engraved on her person or who Taylor Swift is dating now.

It seems, we as society have fed into the mass produced celebrity lifestyle and thus our future generations are being trusted into this cycle of meaningless dribble. Honestly If I had kids, I would expect them to read two books a month and a subscription to the I fucking love science page. It is important to teach our future generations the importance of science and compel them to seek knowledge.

This week's post is all about Jet packs, Interesting photographs from the International Space Station and other really cool things... I feel like a child again!!

This amazing photograph was taken last year from the International Space Station. It shows the east coast of the USA at night.

Check out their new Youtube show here: http://bit.ly/1f7BMZl

D. I. Y: Building your own Umbrella, Possibility or Fantasy?

I have always been fascinated with umbrella's, from the large outdoor umbrella to pop culture inspired colourful ones, even the Asian themed umbrella's, they are an important invention that most of use truly take for granted. Like most designers, I'm always looking for inspiration in a wide range of things from nature, to the humble shoe. I find umbrella both simple and complicated. the mechanisms involved work intricately to allow users to engage with the product with little to hassle at all, whilst boasting a very complicated system of design.

The umbrella seems like a simple enough thing to replicate, but in-fact there are many components that go into the building of them, which sadly enough makes them very difficult to build on your own (the cute cocktail umbrella don't count lol). I found an article that sheds some light on the modification of umbrella's rather than the building of one from scratch on your own.

So those of you hoping to build your own perhaps this article can at least satisfy this dream in some way...

How to Build an Umbrella

By Tucker Cummings, eHow Contributor

 
 
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Build an Umbrella

Building your own umbrella is incredibly difficult. In addition to understanding the mechanics of an umbrella, you will also have great difficulty sourcing umbrella parts. Umbrella repair shops are few and far between these days, making it virtually impossible to build an umbrella by yourself. Making an umbrella from scratch may not be possible for you, but this article will help you understand how to cannibalize an old umbrella to make a new one.

If you are looking to repair your umbrella, or modify it in any way, this article can help you. Why bother to repair an umbrella? After all, you can find them cheaply on any streetcorner. However, if you have an umbrella with a lovely pattern, or a vintage umbrella that belonged to your grandfather, building a new umbrella out of the old parts is a great idea.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_4843413_build-an-umbrella.html#ixzz2cTXjKOqG

For the full article, please follow the link provided

Happy D.I.Y-ing

Kevlar - A thing of the Dark Ages

While surfing the web for a cheap, lightweight and durable material for my latest varsity project, I came across this very interesting article about a material fashioned from wood pulp and other such waste materials which may be stronger and more durable than Kevlar.

Super-Durable Material Made from Wood Waste is Stronger, Cheaper, and Lighter Than Kevlar

by Morgana Matus, 09/04/12

filed under: Green Materials, green technology, News, Recycled Materials

Read more: Super-Durable Material Made from Wood Waste is Stronger, Cheaper, and Lighter Than Kevlar | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building 

Ever wondered why paper beats rock in a game of roshambo?  It turns out that cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) derived from wood pulp extract can be used to create one of the strongest materials known to man.  Out-toughing even Kevlar and carbon fiber, the material is lightweight, cheap, and abundant.  Found in forest by-products such as sawdust and wood chips, CNC could be used to create materials with applications in military defense, engineering, medicine, and consumer products.

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The Forest Products Laboratory branch of the US Forest Service has granted $1.7 million towards a pilot plant that will work on the production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC).  One of the most abundant compounds on earth, cellulose can be found in the cell walls of plants and bacteria.  Made up of long chains of glucose molecules, cellulose fibers are arranged in a matrix that provides support and strength to everything from a clover leaf to a giant sequoia.  Held together by lignin (an easily degraded polymer), cellulose can be extracted from wood byproducts through pulping for use in the production of nanocrystals.

Once the plant material is pulped and rinsed of lignin, the cellulose fibers and water that remain can then be utilized in a process that breaks down the fibers even further into nanofibrils.  These extremely small pieces of cellulose are a thousand times smaller than the original fibers.  Once they reach the nanofibril stage, the cellulose takes on the form of a three-dimensional stack of unbranched glucose molecules held together by hydrogen bonds.  Closely packed next to one another, the glucose molecules are positioned even tighter in their crystalline structure with the help of some strong acid to dissolve the spaces between them.

Currently, the yield for CNC from wood pulp is around 30 percent and it costs about $10 per kilogram to produce. It is hoped that the price could come down to around $1-2 per kilogram when produced on a large scale.  CNC has a tensile strength rivaled only by carbon nanotubules, a material that costs almost 100 times more to make. 

Of course, CNC is not perfect – it’s biggest drawback lies in how it deals with water.  While the hydrogen bonds between the molecules are too strong to simply be dissolved by H2O, the cellulose can become disordered when wet.  Since hydrogen bonds with water, a drop can potentially turn CNC into a water-loving substance, soaking up the stuff like a paper towel.  This could reduce the strength and greatly increase the weight of the CNC while jostling its microscopic make-up. Researchers exploring ways to develop CNC are striving to overcome its shortcomings with moisture by either adding it to devices that do not come in contact with water, or altering its surface chemistry to repel the molecules.

The Forest Products Laboratory is optimistic that the new plant based in Madison Wisconsin will support the establishment of a new CNC industry, potentially creating a number of jobs and contributing $600 billion to the US economy by 2020.

+ Forest Products Laboratory

Via gizmag

Lead photo by EMSL

Read more: Super-Durable Material Made from Wood Waste is Stronger, Cheaper, and Lighter Than Kevlar | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building 

The Rantings of a Religion Rebel.

As of late, I have been thinking about the impact religion has had one the general populous over the past hundreds of years and I have found that although the prospect of salvation and repentance have a certain allure to them, over all religion hasn't lived up to the preached and written "morals and values" of its patron: that being God.

A bit of background on myself, before I rush into anything: I grew up in a very strict catholic house hold. Church was every Sunday, including Sunday school, bible camps, alter serving duties and prayers (morning and evening) and also I attended a Convent school from grade one to grade three, public school from grade four to seven and my high school years were spent at another Catholic School. During my time spent in High School I began developing a fascination with atheists. I found them to be very interesting and so free, something I thought was impossible, because Jesus was always "watching me".

I began talking to some of them, one of whom became one of  my best friends and she began explaining that religion, isn't something God gave to mankind but rather religion was a tool developed by the upper class to control the peasants in the fields by instilling fear and anxiety. She told me that the presence of a higher power or God would defeat the notion of freewill and thus create a society governed by a non entity destined for narrow minded thinking.

This was distressing, No God? how could this be? I immediately went to my grandmother (who at the time was the ultimate source of wisdom and knowledge) and asked her about religion. I found the answers extremely unsatisfactory and became very uncomfortable during my usual religious duties. I could no longer say "praise be to God" or "In Jesus name" with as much reverence as before, I found myself asking, Are/ were these people even real? and what on Earth am I doing here?  and thus began my questioning of God and this institution called Religion.

Over the years I have became very happy without God looming over my head and I haven't been to church "willingly of course" in the past 6-7 years and I have come to realise that everything comes down to a basic choice and that there are no real right and wrongs in the world when you really think about it. All these things are societal constructs that enable us to live "harmoniously" with one another but what it really comes down to are the consequences of your actions and whether or not such consequences will impact positively or negatively on your life.

Religion is a very dangerous thing, I am not averse to the belief in a high power, that as it stands is acceptable, but the institutionalisation of faith (religion) into classifications such Catholics, Methodists, Christians, Judaism etc is one I have a problem with. Countless wars, the repression of science during the dark ages, stoning of women for seeking an education all have used religion and God as justification. It seems to me that all these religious denominations are seeking to become the one ultimate force behind the army of God, but aren't they fundamentally all the same? When all is said and done, when one goes to "Heaven" and Saint Peter asks what have you done with your life? will he really care whether or not you were Christian or Jewish?Muslim or Hindu?

What scares me the most is that we live in a world where people need God to be good people versus being Good without God. Scary very scary indeed.

Cradle to Cradle and Cradle to Grave

Design has become one of the most important tools in the fight against the "sins" of the industrial revolution, however the notion of using less or reducing itself doesn't truly solve the problem, it only delays the results of the growing global crisis.


In the Book Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and  Michael Braungrat, we see how most design isn't based on the cradle to cradle mentality (where everything is mutually beneficial to both humans and the environment) but rather the cradle to grave mentality (where products are just consumed and consumed with little to no concern for the environment).

The book is like a manifesto outlining the steps to achieve more productive and sound design model called Cradle to Cradle. It suggests that industry needs to under go a radical change, where the cradle to grave system is switched for the cradle to cradle design model. The idea of "Reuse, Reduce, Recycle", the book suggests does not solve the environmental crisis but rather perpetuate this outdated way of thinking and more changes need to be made in order for real results to be made.

The entire book is printed on a plastic polymer, which can be used and reused to create another book. It is fully recyclable and in a way promotes the idea of cradle to cradle design thinking.

Statistically speaking most products, especially in the United States don't out live the packaging they are wrapped in, a chocolate bar is a prime example of this. When opened, the chocolate is consumed and the packaging is all that is left. Perhaps in the future, the chocolate bar and the packaging can both be edible or perhaps the packaging is completely bio-degradable and when it decomposes it releases seeds into the soil? this could be a way of avoiding the constant cycle of throwing away and making more.

The Book goes into great detail about how in order to solve the global environmental problem, is not to reduce or use less but rather to design systems that both benefit human needs but also that are both nurturing and beneficial to the environment, without which we would struggle to survive.