http://www.davison.com/creators/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/cool_calendar.jpg

This is a product that is representing a calendar, it represents an entire year with changeable blocks with the months and dates on.  It has a nice visual impact with all the different colors creating the different seasons.  It relates to the other 2 roles because it abstractly representing a year.  Symbolically, the letters and numbers also form the calendar.

Week 14 - Design Levels

Symbol

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVjAP09XevgBHBZumgv59BXbdBlKhIK4i7GOSG1dLMGMhm-mrvZzwFjcECeEmm9DesxD5Gh50GPkoXw0cW7x_mxIkiJoZNc9pLvyKhQL2ifO26kUceAy8aW3h1cndW_hV1oGfXHd3ukSaD/s400/infinityJH.gif

The figure of 8 infinity symbol is known and recognized throughout the world.  It is an everlasting line that has no beginning and no end, it is used in mathematics and we like this symbol as it can represent everlasting life - which some people seem determined to achieve.  It is used in different cultures and in jewelry around the world.

Abstract

http://www.inminds.com/picasso-weeping-woman-1937.jpg

Picasso is well known for his abstract paintings and this is a very good example.  It is clearly a weeping woman, but the image of her is very abstract - this is not how she would look if a photograph had been taken of her.  The colors are very bright and garish and monotone, there is less detail than there would be in a photo and the features on her face are not proportional to each other and her hands.  Also you can see through her jagged tissue in mystified blue tones.  Yet although the painting of her is very abstract, we can still see the whole image as a weeping woman.

Representational

http://www.strangeharvest.com/juicy_gang.jpg

The Juicy Salif by Philippe Stark is a great example of representational design.  This weird looking lemon squeezer has a lemon shaped body with spider like legs looks like an alien or droid from star wars.  Grouped together they look like an evil army of futuristic like creatures that want to take over the world. The metallic finish of them also adds to this effect, and it is no wonder that they are not actually a very good lemon squeezer, however they are very popular and many people have them on their shelves, despite their lack of function, for their representational qualities.

http://www.skalaplus.com/sitebuilder/images/TheBean_lg-482x360.jpg

Bold

Depth

singular

contrast

balance

asymmetry

simplicity

economy

stasis

brightness

roundness

http://www.smashingapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/modular-shelving-unit.jpg

Contrast

asymmetry

irregularity

simplicity

unity

economy

understatement

predictability

subtle

neutral

opaque

variation

depth

singular

sequential

episodicity

roundness

These two designs are actually kind of similar, even though they are both for a different purpose.  They both have contrasting colours and are for holding something - chair holds people,  shelf holds objects.

They are both visually pleasing and opaque and are both very simple and elegant.  they are understated pieces of design.  although the shelf has a feeling of epidosicity and continuity and the chair is very singular in itself on its own.

The shelf looks like it could have more added on to it easily but the chair is completely finished as a whole and couldn't have more added on if needed.

Contrast

http://blog.koormann.de/files/zoo_bus.preview_blog.png

"Giant constrictor snake squeezing complete Copenhagen citybus."

This is an advertising campaign in Denmark, advertising a zoo!  I think the snake squeezing the bus really works well and looks so obscure that it attracts your attention.  The snake is so large that it shocks us and it makes it interesting to us.

http://blog.koormann.de/files/doormat-scale_blog.png

I think this doormat scale is bad design, as the contrast of the materials from what we would normally use for a set of scales is so different.  The texture and the colour make it feel ugly, although it does indicate us to put our feet on it as it is a doormat.  I think it is interesting but not a good piece of design.

Implied Motion in Design

http://www.yousaytoo.com/gallery_image/pics/39/54/64/200539/original/remote_image_20491_0.jpg

This gratified image of a shark appears to break through the brick floor with his nose and jaws wide open.

The overlap of his nose over the upper bricks imply this as well as the orientation of the bricks that are broken away from the rest of the floor.

The tone of the bricks shows their orientation ans the white splashes in the water also create the illusion of movement in the image.

http://keetsa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/rocking-chair-2.0.jpg

This rocking chair suggest that it is such because of the circular curvature of the outer shape of it.  The big long curve with the chair neatly suspended in the middle shows that it will roll if you pushed or sat on it.   It is an elegant design, especially with the clever detail of the light at the top, which almost gives a purpose for the long extending arm that forms the chairs shape.

It is designed to look like it could almost roll all the way around  because of the near circle shape it forms.  Yet it can probably only roll back and forth in a very limited way.

Week 7 - Dondis Basic Elements

Line!
(http://pingmag.jp/images/article/normal03.jpg)

These perpendicular  lines all form the shape of this clock.

Shape!
(http://www.venusgraphics.com/VenusGFXlogo.jpg)

These two odd shapes form a ball

Dimension!
(http://www.productdesignforums.com/uploads/monthly_12_2008/post-6582-1228380669.jpg)

These drawings are drawn in perspective to give dimension

Syntactical Design

The Dodgem
http://www.dodgemcarhire.com.au/images/dodgem-car-hire.jpg

For my example of good syntactical design, I have chosen the dodgem.  A complex design but very simple for the user to understand and control.  The driver of the dodgem has full control of the vehicle itself but the controls are actually very simple and limited.
How it works:
The driver pushes their foot down on the accelerator - this causes the dodgem to move forward.
The driver turns the steering wheel - this changes the direction of the dodgem.
Simple for adults and children to drive, while they still feel in control of the vehicle they are driving.
Limitations:
The diver cannot accurately change the speed - the dodgem is more of a stop and go vehicle.

The Urinal
http://www.business-strategy-innovation.com/uploaded_images/Bad-Design-753237.jpg

The urinal itself is not a bad design, but the placement of both of these urinals combined together create terrible syntactical design.  

Questions which may run though a males head as they walk into the bathroom:

• Which one shall I use?
• Where shall I face?
• (If someone is already using one) Is it ok to use the other whist one is in use?
• If so, how?

This is where simple arrangement of products hinders their practicality.  I think this is a brilliant example of bad syntactical design.

'Unemployment'
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/unemployed-artist_preview.jpg

• Sense of humour
• Desperate
• Thinks outside the box
• Unemployed
• Needs money
• Stars
• Bunny rabbit outfit
• Sad face of costume
• Friendly pink bunny

This is a photograph of a desperate person who has gone to extensive lengths to attract the attention of an employer to get a job.  A person is dressed in a pink bunny rabbit outfit with a sad face and wearing a human billboard which reads 'ARTIST UNEMPLOYED WILL TAKE ANY JOB' the bunny's floppy ears exaggerate the overall desperateness of this person.  And it shows they are trying to think outside the box for employers to notice them.

Visual Thinking Research - Gestalt Laws

Cat Puzzle.  Aim: Count the triangles in the cat.

I worked with my house-mate on this puzzle and although the concept is relatively simple, it actually took quite a few try's to figure it out.  David's is on the left and mine is on the right.

I outlined each triangle and numbered and numbered them as I counted,  this made the cat look rather messy and caused me to miss out 2 of the harder triangles to spot - in the tail because they are all similar colours and all grouped together and this makes it harder to distinguish them due to Gestalt's similarity and proximity laws.

David was much neater in the way he counted his triangles by just putting a dot in each triangle when he had counted it.  He still came into problems on the tail and made him retrace his counting steps many times and he became very unsure of how many triangles there actually were. He eventually came to the conclusion that there are 19 triangles - he missed one out which he outlined.

Due to the similarity of the shapes, orientation and overlapping of triangles, what you would think of to be a simple task actually becomes somewhat challenging.

Rose Puzzle.  Aim: Replant the ring of roses to create 8 rows, 9 rows and 10 rows - each with 3 roses in each row.

This was actually quite a challenge for David and I.  I used a separate piece of paper and used circles and stars to represent the roses and David used the same tiny dots he used in the first puzzle.  This time my way proved to be easier to see as the tiny dots were difficult to figure out if they were in rows or not.
We both worked out the first exercise, creating a square of 3x3 roses.
The rest we sat and pondered over for quite some time before coming to the conclusion that it was an impossible task and unfortunately gave up.

When I looked at the conclusion - I still found the rows difficult to see and hard to count without repeating them twice or even 3 times.  This is because of the similarity of all the roses and rows and the proximity of them to one another.  This causes us to look at them and just see a group of roses rather than seeing each individual rose and separate row.  Also the lack f being able to manipulate them on paper also made it hard.  I feel that if we had made red counters and moved them around on a grid it may have been easier to work out - although we would still have the problems of seeing them as a group.

Feature Hierarchy and Visual Search

As an aspiring Product Designer - I have yet to decide where in the market place I would like to end up - but I really like the design of this iPod speaker by Gear4.  I like the interface - its simplicity is beautiful.  


Obviously the primary feature channel is the middle cube with all the important information on.  Within this feature channel there are a couple of different levels.  The digital display of the time being the main focus, then the date and other information.


I would say the secondary feature channel consists of the 2 identical speakers although these have been designed to be as subtle as possible but I think they are a nice touch.


Naturally products like this are able to be extremely simple, because once a consumer has bought this product they will look very little at the interface of the actual speakers, as when in use, the iPod becomes the primary feature channel, and the user will be interacting with this much more than with the speakers themselves.

Top-Down Visual Processing

Computer Mouse

http://nexus404.com/Blog/2007/08/03/sole-mio-solar-powered-computer-mouse/

This is my example of a piece of design related to top-down visual processing.  One of the most common but probably overlooked pieces of design.  It is top-down, because the user will probably only glance at their mouse briefly before or whilst using it but will be using it constantly whilst using their computer.  They will also only look at the parts of it they need - if they do look at it at all.  The user will quickly gather the information they need to know where to place their hand, but the rest comes automatically from the brain and previous experience/knowledge.