Monday, January 31, 2011

Lingenfelter Car Collection - Brighton, MI






Currently in the process of going through all (330) images, working them over and deciding which are usable.

Side Note: No collection is complete UNLESS they have a DeLorean DMC-12. If you do not know what car this is...

go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfnAb11wKQc

Freelancing for Materials

To fund Table Design 2 I picked up some freelance work for John's Urban Timber in exchange for an urban wood slab.

The job was to design 6 posters that combine John's process, customer's work, the narrative behind each slab, and John's existing photos (which were the most challenging to incorporate successfully). This is still a work in progress but here is what I've done so far...






Sunday, January 30, 2011

New Budget- YIKES!

Material

Unit Cost

Quantity

Total Cost

Aluminum Framing

36”

48”

60”

72”


7.56

10.08

12.60

15.12


2

2

4

2


15.12

20.16

50.40

30.40

Leadscrews

48”

72”


50.00

105.00


3

1


150.00

105.00

Electronics

NEMA 34 Stepper Motor

Stepper Driver Board

Power Source

Extruder


102.00

75.00

20.00

185.00


3

1

1

1


306.00

75.00

20.00

185.00

Software

Mach3 CNC License


175.00


1


175.00

Misc.

Bolts(1 box)

Print Media (PLA)

Corner Gussets

80/20 Slot Bolts

MDF(4’x4’)

Other Fasteners


27.00

150.00

2.90

0.65

30.00

100.00


1

1

16

50

1

1


27.00

150.00

46.40

32.50

30.00

100.00

Total Cost

1517.98


Abst

Christmas Reading List

I decided to supplement my Christmas vacation with some Design reading that might be relevant to my IP.

Henry Drefuss "Designing for people"
A cult read among designers for more than half a century, the famous manifesto of America's greatest industrial designer is finally back in print! From the first answering machine ("the electronic brain") and the Hoover vacuum cleaner to the SS Independence and the Bell telephone, the creations of Henry S. Dreyfuss have shaped the cultural landscape of the 20th century. Written in a robust, fresh style, this book offers an inviting mix of professional advice, case studies, and design history along with historical black-and-white photos and the author's whimsical drawings. In addition, the author's uncompromising commitment to public service, ethics, and design responsibility makes this masterful guide a timely read for today's designers.Henry S. Dreyfuss is considered the founding father of industrial design and one of the most prolific designers of the past century. Born in New York City in 1904, he authored or inspired countless American design landmarks, including the model 300 Bell telephone, Hoover appliances, the Twentieth Century Limited locomotive, and RCA televisions.

Barry Katz/MIT Press "NONOBJECT"
What happens when designers think beyond the object to creative positive, unexpected design experiences.
“A designer’s motto should always be ‘What if?’ It certainly is the motto of NONOBJECT. The fantasy of what an object should or could be becomes a way for the designer to embrace experimentation and imbue projects with a vitality that expands beyond the physical object and into our experience.”
Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art

Fumihik0 Maki "Spoon"
SPOON presents the work of 100 product designers, selected by 10 critics, educators, designers and entrepreneurs who are all involved in innovative developments in contemporary design. Essentially an exhibition in a book, it provides an overview of the product design world and presents the most forward-looking and ground-breaking designers of today. The different kinds of objects illustrated – from furniture to tools, from high-tech products to cars and motorcycles – make up a wide collection of what is today considered good design.

More in Progress

Four garments completed by Tuesday, starting to work on the 5th one now. I tried on all the garments on a model and encountered one complication with one of them, but I'm in the process of fixing it that right now. Here are some images, but more images to come by Tuesday.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Layouts


It took a while to develop a style. But I'm going with a style of line drawings mixed with real images.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Polishing Butterflies

To polish the edges of the acrylic butterflies I figured out a way to do it myself instead of taking them to PlacticTec again. Here are the results:

Before



After

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Progression

Three pieces of the collection close to complete - currently finishing up the detailing - details being seams, button holes, pockets, etc. I'm also at the start of my fourth garment. Photos of the garments on a model soon to come. Other recent work: research on the history of each garment (age, make, and purpose)

On a side-note, I've decided the final presentation format. Shei Magazine offered to find models and host a runway show for me, as well as publish an article on my work, so I will be having a fashion show afterall. However, I'm still considering the option of exhibiting the clothes in a gallery space even after the show.

Went to the Auto Show




I took 227 pictures.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011




Over the weekend I bought and assembled a table that used a quite simple yet space effective folding technique for a table from Ikea. I plan to use this folding technique in my design as well improve upon it for my final. I have been studying it and sketching ideas how I can improve upon it. I am also currently going to the hardware store to see if I can buy some materials for trials.





Sunday, January 16, 2011

Curved Folding

This study began by a student at Bauhaus and is based off of a circle instead of a square. It's a series of concentric circles with alternating folds. At Bauhaus, the students used knives to score. I had the advantage of using the laser cutter to achieve the necessary scoring. That's the "Michigan Difference." Folding it was obviously a pain, though. Once I understood the basic underlying concept behind curved folding, I could easily and quickly produce more files to test out, yielding more studies.







Hyperbolic Paraboloid

This is my attempt at recreating a form originally conceived by a student of Josef Albers at Bauhaus. Its design consists of a series of concentric squares that alternate direction of folding.



Semicircle Pleating System

Below is a semicircle shaped pleating system. After talking to Matt Schlian, he informed me that a pleating system could form to any shape. In this study, I designed a series of folds that could wrap a semi-circle. It was important to measure the angles correctly, so I first began by illustrating the form I wanted to mimic. I mapped out the angles in illustrator and found that there were only 2 different angles necessary to achieve my intended form. After I had those interior angles, I had to develop a formula that could translate to a folding pattern. I began by mapping out every different angle and looking for a pattern within the diagram.




Linear Pleating Systems

I created these 2 pleating systems by first drafting them out in Illustrator and then sending them to the laser. The most difficult part of the process was, by far, folding them without tearing the paper. Both designs were crafted from 1 sheet of paper with a series of cutting lines to assist the folding process. In this series, folding guides were designated by dashed cut lines opposed to scoring. This folding characteristic is common in most corrugated cardboard boxes.



Thursday, January 13, 2011

Breaking down the images.


Image #1: 1959 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Convertible

The overall size of this car reminds me of a tank but when I got down low to snap this image, I realized how smooth and flowing the body line of this car actually are. The body line, mid-way, splits into two parts. The upper portion of the body is the taillight streaming out of the top of the fender. The bottom portion is accented with chrome molding. The way this corner looks is as though it is a space ship at a stand still, as though the car was frozen in motion. I feel as though flames will come shooting out of where the taillight and the backup light are located. It reminds me of a piece of clay as I look from the rear end to the front. It’s as though some took the clay and stretched it all the way to the front of the car. The depth of field seems like it’s at least 15-20 yards to the cars in the background. However, those cars in the background are only about 20-30 feet away. It’s like the front of the car is moving away from me.



Image #2: 1972 Plymouth Road Runner

The best way to describe this image is not that majority of the image is yellow but that its clean. By which I mean that there are no digs or dents and it’s like looking to into a mirror with wheels. What’s interesting about this image is the decal that was painted on to the car. The black blocks down the driver rear quarter panel that shows the Road Runner logo with the Road Runner itself. In the early 70’s, a lot of the muscles that were produced by Chevrolet, Plymouth, Ford and Dodge were designed very similarly. Because of this reason, I like the fact that the viewer is able to identify this automobile by it’s paint job and logo. If it were just an ordinary yellow muscle car, it wouldn’t have been so interesting to look at but its not. It’s a yellow and black accented 1972 Plymouth Road Runner, which is just as cool. I also feel with this image that with the angle of this image, that it’s slanted angle helps better understand the stance that the muscle car had on the road. The front of the car stood lower than the rear that stood slightly taller.


Image #3: 1960 Buick Electra 225 Convertible

Like most of the cars of this era, this was a very large car with a very large presence. What struck me as the most interesting part of the car was not the car as a whole but the front end. It felt foreign, something different, something that was just cool in a strange way, almost like an alien. The headlight bulged out the front of the car, staring at you. The fenders, above the headlights remind me of eyebrows, as they slant downward toward the center. Another part of the front end I also found to be human-like was the accent piece that is on the hood. It starts at a point and moves up the hood, getting wider and then disappearing into the windshield. With both, the accent piece and the windshield, it gives the appearance of a hairline and the top of the head. This car looks more human-like the longer I look at it and compare specific parts to the human face. The license plate hangs downward in the center of the chrome bumper, making it almost look like either a mouth or the bottom of the nose. It such an exotic look that it is hard not to stare at it and forget about the bright blue sky above it. The car just stares you down and demands a presence.


Image #4: 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible

One of the most recognizable cars on the road, the 57 Chevy Bel Air, is sharp and bold. This specific one in the photograph is different though. It’s not red and chrome, but instead it is a black Bel Air Convertible with gold and chrome accents, finished off by a bright red interior. What makes this image so strong is that the I have captured the rear passenger side fender flare that display the smooth bodyline, the clean chrome the cars golden emblem. It is interesting how the emblem stands strong in the middle of the image and that the chrome piece just above it have been angled in such a way that it almost looks as though it is parallel with the with frame of the image. Another part of this image is that when I crouched down to take this image, I noticed that not only was the car dig free but that the angle reflected the clouds in the sky. There is always something compelling about the reflection of the sky. Every person has his or her own way of explaining the symbolism with the sky but it makes me feel as though this car is almost too good to be true. It’s like the clouds are telling me this car is just a dream come true.


Image #5: 1955-56 Chevrolet Bel Air/Nomad

What is compelling about this image is the repetition that these Chevy’s have created. There were only two colors but the vast majority was red. As a car guy, the Woodward Dream Cruise is the one time of the year where everyone can come together and show off their cool cars and trucks. This image shows that so many people share the same passion. But not only do they share the same passion, it’s the amount of people that intrigued me. I remember stopping to snap this image while my friends walked on. The way I angled the camera makes it look as though the Chevy’s never end, they just go on down the line. However, no two are the same. Each car is slightly different whether it is something as little as the fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror or as big as changing the front bumper and grill. This image shows how many people can have a passion or love for one thing.


Image #6: 1967 Pontiac LeMans

There is simplicity about this image that makes me want to know more. Although I can honestly say, I wish I drove one, I find that the face or the front of the car was what caught my eye the most. In most cars, not all cars, the orientation of the headlights is usually horizontal. On the GTO & LeMans models from 1965 – 1967, the headlight orientation took a more aggressive vertical look. The headlights look like you are staring straight down the barrel of a gun. It’s like the car is saying, stay out of my way because I’m packing some heavy artillery under this hood. What makes it even more like a gun is that the top headlight stands out further from the body than the lower light. The part of this image that solidifies it is not just the headlight display or the fog light in the grill but that the Pontiac name is display just above the grill and the GTO logo that was usually located on the driver side, is not there. This is best way to know whether it’s a GTO or a LeMans is the little details. One may think it’s a GTO, just by the body style but it’s the little details like what emblems are where and which ones are placed there. I like the idea that the own could have taken all the emblems off the car and any person could make the honest mistake of saying it’s a GTO when it’s not. Then again, LeMans owners could always upgrade their car to make it appear as a GTO just by changing the engine and emblems.