Stratasys has teamed up with Kor Ecologic Inc. to develop the world's first car to have the entire body created by 3-D printers. Every part of the car's exterior, even the glass panels, is made on Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems. This use of 3-D printing eliminates the need for tooling, machining, and handwork during the manufacturing process. Stratasys' website also states that this process of automaking saves time when last minute design changes are needed. The car's code name is Urbee.
Kor Ecologic has engineered this two passenger, hybrid automobile to run on electricity and liquid fuel with the possibility of getting over 200 miles per gallon. The development of Urbee has been documented by the Discovery Channel and a full scale prototype was displayed at this year's SEMA show in Las Vegas. Urbee is estimated to cost between $18,000 and $21,000.
3-D printing makes the design process much more efficient. It offers on the fly prototyping without the cost and time of making molds. My company currently uses a Stratasys Dimension FDM printer. When presenting a concept to a client, we send them a hand primed and painted FDM model to give the client an idea of the scale and feel of the product. This makes the probability of the client approving the project increase exponentially.
IDEO has a VIMEO page with a plethora of interesting conceptual projects they have been working on. One project that stands out to me is the project related to the Future of Self-Service Banking. ATMs are devices that seem to always be evolving but always missing the mark. Some Bank of America ATMs, for example, contain retrofitted touch screens. This results in a massive gap in between the touch panel and the actual angled visual display creating a disconnect between your finger and what is being selected.
IDEO explains that their main goals for developing a self service banking device is to make it human, delightful and tangible. They built it from the user up instead of the components down. In order to simplify the experience of using a banking device, there is one slot for notes and receipts and all transitions are visual. The device is also personal by identifying the user and displaying all recent and relevant transactions.
The IDSA LA chapter teamed up with Continuum and the Industrial Design Linked In network for a design mixer on October 14th. Rob Curedale is the creator of several Industrial Design related Linked In groups and has been organizing networking events for designers all over. The last mixer was held at RKS in Thousand Oaks and was highly successful. Continuum's Venice Beach studio is located within the walls of Charles and Ray Eames' former office. The open air studio spaces and brainstorming rooms make for an extremely creative environment with historic relevance.
Wall outside of brainstorming and conference room
Continuum office was once the studio of Charles and Ray Eames
Continuum seating project
Work area
Designers networking near the Target display
Continuum developed the original Reebok pumps
Cervelo bikes display
The evening consisted of several speakers from Continuum associates to Art Center professors. One of the speakers, Nick Agid, is a pioneer in material processing. Mr. Agid integrates colors and forms into glass and plastic on the molecular level to create pieces for clients such as BMW, Sun Microsystems, Reebok, and others. Some applications for his materials are anywhere from lighting and architectural wall treatments to plumbing fixtures to signage. His pieces are truly cutting edge and unique.
Recently, I was contracted out to help develop a new watch brand. I am in charge of designing the watch and the graphics for the face. I am also involved in organizing manufacturing and sourcing for the watches. It is something that is very exciting for me because I have always wanted to design a watch.
The goal of the brand is to develop a high quality, stylized watch with a Swiss movement that is manufactured in America. We are aiming to have the cases milled out here in the US and the watches assembled here as well.
We are choosing a Swiss movement because Switzerland has been the leader in developing watch movements for centuries and the Swiss name is synonymous with quality. With that in mind, we want the rest of the watch to exemplify the spirit of American manufacturing. As everybody knows, domestic manufacturing has been on the downturn for quite some time now. The Upton name was developed to symbolize the re-ignition of the New Deal Era spirit of American manufacturing.
We are also aiming to set our price point lower than most other watches with Swiss movements. We have an exciting challenge ahead of us and I am going to keep updates on our progress. Keep an eye out for renders of the watches and a website/blog. Thanks for the support and please feel free to ask any questions.
To keep with the recent theme of designs by Yves Behar, I'd like to speak about his new chair for Herman Miller. From the very iconic Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman to the more recent Aeron Chair, Herman Miller has been a staple in high end office furniture design for decades.
Aligning with this tradition, Yves Behar has brought us a very affordable, forward thinking, and eco friendly chair with the Herman Miller name badge.
The chair sports a frameless back with a flexible and airy web of material making it up. This back is inspired by suspension bridges and features flexibility and tension in key areas for optimal support. This forward thinking ideology also makes for less material and reduced shipping cost.
Yves Behar is a household name when it comes to Industrial Design and is synonymous with socially responsible design. He is the founder of the ID firm Fuseproject with offices in San Francisco and New York. Yves Behar is known for, among other things, the One Laptop for Every Child campaign and the New York City Condom campaign.
I had the pleasure of hearing Yves Behar speak at last year's Greener Gadgets Conference in Manhattan. The theme of the conference was sustainable and social design and challenged designers to think about the products they design on higher levels.
Fuseproject has teamed up with GE to develop the WattStation. It is a charging station for electric vehicles that aimes to blend into the lanscape that it is placed into. It's design is minimal with the focus on the details and the user interaction. The WattStation is very iconic and will be embedded into GE's smart power grid. GE is planning to install these all over the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Furniture is an arm of product design that has always fascinated me. Designers can be extremely creative with it and do not have to deal with as many constraints as other forms of design. Two classmates and I designed and built a chair with a detachable ottoman my sophomore year of design school and had a blast doing it. After countless hours in the wood shop, we found ourselves with a piece of furniture that we were very proud of. J. Rusten Furniture Studio in San Francisco has taken furniture to the next level with the California Desk.
The desk screams California pride and is constructed from salvaged Claro walnut. The beautiful wavy grain of the wood compliments the asymmetrical California coast line.
For more information, check out J. Rusten. If I ever open my own design firm, this would be my conference table.
A lot of what I do for my current company is design promotional products for various companies. These are some renders I did a while back for the pasta company Bertolli. Bertolli was a Unilever brand, but it was sold off in 2008. The most important aspect of designing promotional products (I think) is logo placement.
Stainless Steel Salt and Pepper Shakers
Combination Cookbook Holder/Kitchen Timer
Pasta Container with Measuring Cap
Kitchen Timer
Oil Cruet
Pasta Server with Epoxy Dome Branding
Cheese Grater (my personal favorite :))
These renders were all modeled in Solidworks and rendered in Hypershot.
I first learned about Spencer Nugent at the 2009 IDSA Western District Conference in Santa Monica, CA. During the conference, he did a presentation and tutorial on sketching for Industrial Designers. It was the most clear and informative presentation about sketching I had ever seen. It just made sense. As an Industrial Designer, I know that sketching can be kind of a touchy topic because of all the techniques, variations, and alternatives to it with technology. No tool in a designer's tool box is as important as the ability to quickly and clearly display ideas and concepts on paper to everybody involved in the product development process. I've always struggled to keep my sketching skills sharp and current.
Spencer has created a website, IDSKETCHING.com, that is a one stop shop for everything about sketching for Industrial Designers. His video demos continue to help my sketching develop and I recommend it to all designers.
I had the pleasure to interview Spencer Nugent about himself and his site. Spencer and his business partner, John Muhlenkamp (also involved with IDSKETCHING.com), have launched their own design firm in the Sacramento area called studio tminus. Spencer studied Industrial Design at Brigham Young University and interned with General Motors and Astro Studios.
?: When did you first learn about Industrial Design?
Spencer: I first learned about Industrial Design from a friend in college whilst I was studying to be a Math Professor. He told me what he did for his major and I was intrigued by his sketches and models he had done for projects.
?: What made you pursue a career in Industrial Design?
Spencer: I guess I've always had an interest in technical things - how things are put together, why they work the way they work etc. I also have always had an artistic side as well. My father painted recreationally, and I was constantly exposed to the arts. So, when I was told about ID, everything seemed to click for me. It all made sense - using technical skill and thinking with creative more artistic thinking.
Intel Juice Concept by Spencer Nugent
?: Where has the world of Industrial Design taken you (literally and figuratively)?
Spencer: Mmmmmm ID has taken me many places literally. I've been to several states, and even as far as China for manufacturing purposes. I think more so however, ID and my related pursuits have allowed me to meet many influential people and spread good will amongst my peers.
?: Has your background in ID enabled you to be creative in other ways?
Spencer: I certainly enjoy dabbling in new things. I think being trained in ID has allowed me to definitely be a more creative thinker, and I always try to take a fresh look at that which is familiar to me. I was trained in the school of thought of just trying "it" and seeing what happens, so in that sense, I've been able to dabble in a a lot of things - illustration, web design, video editing, and web coding.
Spencer:IDSKETCHING.com was created in an effort to provide some decent quality tutorials for free to those trying to improve their skills. I saw a youtube video online once of a car sketch and it was horrible, so I thought hey, I can do better than this, and if I do it , I'm going to do it right. SO I hunkered down, learned html, php, javascript and css and built the site from scratch. It was tough - I spent many a night up until 4am coding away and editing video.
?: What is your favorite/most rewarding part of the blog?
Spencer: I think the best part of having IDSKETCHING.com has been receiving emails from people who visit the site and have benefitted from it. Nothing beats a thank you after spending so much time building this is a resource. I also quite enjoy traveling and doing workshops or working sessions with others on site.
