Hai Designers

Good Design For Everyday Living

2010-08-02T09:51:00.000+08:00

Dick Powell's NLB presentation on 22Nov2006

Router Tips

2010-05-18T10:05:00.002+08:00

http://www.routerworkshop.com/router_tip_glossary.html

Infraed Sensor Circuit

2010-05-18T09:40:00.000+08:00

D&T O-Level Answer Schemes

2010-04-22T12:03:00.003+08:00

Disclaimer:
1. These are not official answer schemes from UCLES and MOE.
2. These are my personal opinion on how I would grade my students if they were to take the paper.
3. There may be errors. Use at your own risk.

2009:

LightUp : Google SketchUp Rendering plugin

2010-04-09T08:41:00.001+08:00

The developer's website

Materials Choice

2010-04-06T08:43:00.009+08:00

1. Consider ALL parts of your product.

2. You can refer to this document for a start.

3. Refer to Chapter 15 of textbook, esp pages 311, 312.

Plastics - pg 330-331
Wood - pg 340-341
Metal - pg 350

4. Give justification why you use certain materials for certain parts of your product.

5. Consider using ready-made parts in your design, but please highlight the source and specify that it is not made by you.

IKEA products - (Catalog & Brochures , especially 2010 online brochure)
Tamiya car mechanisms - (Local distributor Stargek, Online seller Vellrip)
HomeFix hardware stores, Spotlight interior design & craft store
Electronic Hobby Kits - (FutureKit local distributor: Space Electronics Pte Ltd #B1-07 Sim Lim Towe, Tel: 62989194, Catalog)
Hinges and catches - (for reference)

Anthropometry Data & Ergonomics Considerations

2010-03-29T07:13:00.008+08:00

Some suggestions to get started:
1. Google search for "Anthropometric Measurements Asian"
2. Google image search for "Ergonomics"
3. Refer to Anthoropometry Databases - See "Designing for Humans", look at the oldest post.

4. Using Stikfas toy models to examine postures

5. Use of software modelling
- Make Human software
- ErgoFellow software

British Design Museum

2010-02-25T09:02:00.003+08:00

Saw this post in my D&T colleague's website.

The link is to the British Design Museum in London, which has a great page teaching us Design Awareness, and a portal on contemporary designers. Wonderful resource.

***

This is a great site if you want to find out how to write a good product analysis.

http://designmuseum.org/discoverdesign/index.html

Why do you need to do product analysis?

There are several reasons. Firstly when you analyse the product in terms of its aesthetics, functions, environmental impact, you analyse if there are any area of improvement. If there is, you can propose solution and come up with better designs. Thus, there is design opportunity for you to design a new product to meet users' needs. Are there useful concepts you can borrow from existing products? If yes, you can apply some of the good concept into your design. Remember, Never copy all the idea.

Handphone Charging Bay

2010-02-24T18:05:00.001+08:00

For sale @ Caltex too.
A charging bay to put your handphone and prevent messy entangled wires (coiled at the back) which can be hooked to your power plug.
An idea for Desk Tidy project?

Hanging Anti-mozzie Pot Design

2010-02-24T18:01:00.001+08:00

Saw this for sale @ Caltex. About $4.80 for the pot, $7.80 with cactus.
With hook at the back and covered water reservoir to prevent mozzie breeding.

Bridge Building Software

2010-02-23T14:30:00.002+08:00

Some interesting software to teach structures.

http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/download.htm
http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/bridge/virtual/virtualbridge.html

Earthquake Competition Briefing

2010-02-23T13:08:00.004+08:00

Link to video
Resources on Earthquake Resistant Buildings

"Electric" Personalities

2010-01-18T14:07:00.003+08:00

Benjamin Franklin

Franklin was an American writer, publisher, scientist and diplomat, who helped to draw up the famous Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. In 1752 Franklin proved that lightning and the spark from amber were one and the same thing. The story of this famous milestone is a familiar one, in which Franklin fastened an iron spike to a silken kite, which he flew during a thunderstorm, while holding the end of the kite string by an iron key. When lightening flashed, a tiny spark jumped from the key to his wrist. The experiment proved Franklin's theory, but was extremely dangerous - He could easily have been killed.

Galvani and Volta

In 1786, Luigi Galvani, an Italian professor of medicine, found that when the leg of a dead frog was touched by a metal knife, the leg twitched violently. Galvani thought that the muscles of the frog must contain electricity. By 1792 another Italian scientist, Alessandro Volta, disagreed: he realised that the main factors in Galvani's discovery were the two different metals - the steel knife and the tin plate - apon which the frog was lying. Volta showed that when moisture comes between two different metals, electricity is created. This led him to invent the first electric battery, the voltaic pile, which he made from thin sheets of copper and zinc separated by moist pasteboard.

In this way, a new kind of electricity was discovered, electricity that flowed steadily like a current of water instead of discharging itself in a single spark or shock. Volta showed that electricity could be made to travel from one place to another by wire, thereby making an important contribution to the science of electricity. The unit of electrical potential, the Volt, is named after Volta.

Michael Faraday

The credit for generating electric current on a practical scale goes to the famous English scientist, Michael Faraday. Faraday was greatly interested in the invention of the electromagnet, but his brilliant mind took earlier experiments still further. If electricity could produce magnetism, why couldn't magnetism produce electricity.

In 1831, Faraday found the solution. Electricity could be produced through magnetism by motion. He discovered that when a magnet was moved inside a coil of copper wire, a tiny electric current flows through the wire. Of course, by today's standards, Faraday's electric dynamo or electric generator was crude, and provided only a small electric current be he discovered the first method of generating electricity by means of motion in a magnetic field.

Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan

Nearly 40 years went by before a really practical DC (Direct Current) generator was built by Thomas Edison in America. Edison's many inventions included the phonograph and an improved printing telegraph. In 1878 Joseph Swan, a British scientist, invented the incandescent filament lamp and within twelve months Edison made a similar discovery in America.

Swan and Edison later set up a joint company to produce the first practical filament lamp. Prior to this, electric lighting had been my crude arc lamps.

Edison used his DC generator to provide electricity to light his laboratory and later to illuminate the first New York street to be lit by electric lamps, in September 1882. Edison's successes were not without controversy, however - although he was convinced of the merits of DC for generating electricity, other scientists in Europe and America recognised that DC brought major disadvantages.

George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla

Westinghouse was a famous American inventor and industrialist who purchased and developed Nikola Tesla's patented motor for generating alternating current. The work of Westinghouse, Tesla and others gradually persuaded American society that the future lay with AC rather than DC (Adoption of AC generation enabled the transmission of large blocks of electrical, power using higher voltages via transformers, which would have been impossible otherwise). Today the unit of measurement for magnetic fields commemorates Tesla's name.

James Watt

When Edison's generator was coupled with Watt's steam engine, large scale electricity generation became a practical proposition. James Watt, the Scottish inventor of the steam condensing engine, was born in 1736. His improvements to steam engines were patented over a period of 15 years, starting in 1769 and his name was given to the electric unit of power, the Watt.

Watt's engines used the reciprocating piston, however, today's thermal power stations use steam turbines, following the Rankine cycle, worked out by another famous Scottish engineer, William J.M Rankine, in 1859.

Andre Ampere and George Ohm

Andre Marie Ampere, a French mathematician who devoted himself to the study of electricity and magnetism, was the first to explain the electro-dynamic theory. A permanent memorial to Ampere is the use of his name for the unit of electric current.

George Simon Ohm, a German mathematician and physicist, was a college teacher in Cologne when in 1827 he published, "The galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically". His theories were coldly received by German scientists but his research was recognised in Britain and he was awarded the Copley Medal in 1841. His name has been given to the unit of electrical resistance.

"Model Your Town" GoogleSketchUp Competition

2009-12-21T23:06:00.002+08:00

What makes your town an incredible place to live?
Show your civic pride (and maybe win a prize) by creating a 3D portrait of your community and sharing it with the world. You have the power to get your town on the map – and there's no bigger map than Google Earth.
See what other towns have done (Google Earth file)

The Google Model Your Town Competition is open to people from all over the world.
All you have to do is build 3D models of the buildings in your community. Model whichever structures you think are necessary to show the planet what's special about your town.

Be recognized by your community for doing something great.
Having a 3D model of your town in Google Earth helps residents and visitors understand it in a way that flat maps and photographs can't. You can be a local hero by making a contribution to your town's future.

More details below:
http://sketchup.google.com/competitions/modelyourtown/index.html

Singapore Design Festival 2009

2009-10-30T13:57:00.000+08:00

Announced: Singapore University of Technology & Design

2009-10-30T12:14:00.002+08:00

SINGAPORE: Singapore's fourth public-funded university, which is scheduled to open its doors in 2011, has been named the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SU).

Its founding president is Thomas Magnanti, who is an institute professor with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Professor Magnanti's appointment was announced by the new university's Board of Trustees on Thursday. During his three-year term of appointment, Prof Magnanti will be on leave from the MIT faculty and will devote his time fully to the new Singapore university.

The new university will admit its first intake of up to 500 students in two years and students will have four degree programmes to choose from.

These will be in the areas of Architecture & Sustainable Design, Engineering Product Design, Engineering Systems & System Design, and Information Engineering & Design.

First-year students will be exposed to foundation studies in the areas of mathematics, science, introductory humanities and social sciences – all in the context of design. They will also get to learn about entrepreneurship and management during each of the four-year degree programme.

The medium-sized university will eventually cater to some 4,000 undergraduates and 2,000 graduates.

Prof Magnanti said the university will be well-poised to serve Singapore, the region and the world.

"We'll focus on trying to create what we call technical grounded leaders - people who have technology in their hearts and their soul and who will go out to the marketplace with a well-grounded education, and be able to lead all of us, economically and socially, to the future," he said.

The Board said choosing the right person for the top post of SU president was a lengthy process.

Philip Ng, chairman of SU's Board of Trustees, said: "Tom Magnanti is an eminent academician. It was an international search for the founding president that spanned from Singapore... to the far reaches of the world, and we found the right person in Tom Magnanti."

The Board said Professor Magnanti was also chosen because of his familiarity with Singapore. He had spent a considerable time in Singapore over the last 10 years with the Singapore-MIT alliance. He was also the former dean from the School of Engineering at MIT.

His appointment also reflects the close relationship that SU is expected to have with MIT.

The new university is looking to collaborate with MIT in the form of getting experienced professors from MIT to play a leading role in the development of SU's curriculum and exchanging research and education activities with one another.

On discussions to collaborate with a top Chinese university, the Board said details are still being finalised and will be made known before the end of the year.

The university may do away with traditional academic faculties and departments. Its Board said the university may be organised according to technology and science clusters instead. This means academics may not be organised or separated into the four different programmes offered in the university.

The Board said the move will support the inter-disciplinary nature of the university's programmes and encourage collaborations across disciplines.

It said details on the admission process and school fees will be finalised at a later date.

The SU will be located at the Changi Business Park, by 2015. The location of its interim campus will be announced by early next year.

- CNA/so/ir

The Gadget Show

2009-10-30T10:45:00.003+08:00

The Gadget Show is a British television series focusing on the world of technology, currently in its twelfth series. Originally a thirty minute show, it was extended to forty-five minutes. Each week, the show previews and reviews the latest gadgets, and broadcasts the latest technology news. The show is aimed at giving the mass consumer an insight into the gadget world and in addition, it aims to give enough information for the more "geeky" audience, but still making it accessible to the more casual viewer.

Show more videos

Green Box

2009-10-30T09:53:00.001+08:00

Design IT: Shelter Competition

2009-10-29T07:48:00.007+08:00

On the occasion of the exhibitions Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward and Learning By Doing, the Guggenheim and Google SketchUp invited amateur and professional designers from around the world to submit a 3-D shelter for any location in the world using Google SketchUp and Google Earth. Over the course of the summer, nearly 600 contestants from 68 different countries submitted designs that met the competition requirements.

More details here.

Green project at business parks to keep energy costs down

2009-10-29T07:31:00.002+08:00

An artist's impression of the Green Roof Trellis project (Courtesy of JTC)

SINGAPORE: Forest canopies keep temperatures in our nature reserves cooler, so could a similar concept have the same effect in our business parks?

Singapore's leading industrial landlord intends to find out, and if it works, industrial clusters here are set to turn a shade of green.

The Green Roof Trellis concept by JTC Corporation aims to lower temperatures in these parks by 2-3°C – which would reduce energy consumption and, hence, electricity bills.

"Climber plants will grow from planter boxes along roof edges of buildings, to a wire mesh structure supported by cables from columns across the rooftops of two buildings," explained JTC senior planner Mr Yio Yang Huat, who came up with the idea. "Over time, plants will grow to cover the entire mesh and provide shade."

This trellis will provide better coverage than conventional awnings or eaves, he added. Besides less power needed for air-conditioning, the benefits include improved air and aesthetics, and a more pedestrian-friendly industrial park.

JTC will pilot the project at its Clean Tech Park in mid-2010. If successful, "there are plans to extend the concept to all buildings," said JTC director of engineering planning Koh Chwee, adding that it will work with the National Parks Board and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Ms Valerie Teo, chief executive of car retailer Pinnacle Motors which is located in industrial parks in Sin Ming and Ubi, said:

"Everyone is going in the green direction, so if this saves business cost and reduced carbon emission, it's a win-win. But if it's going to cost tenants, I'm not so sure." The project's cost is still being worked out, said Mr Koh.

Standard Chartered, a tenant of JTC's Changi Business Park, told MediaCorp the green project will transform the operating landscape for firms.

"Having a green building will become a way of doing business and companies will need to look into efficient and sustainable buildings in their portfolio," it said.

- TODAY/so

Designer Talks

2009-10-16T09:14:00.002+08:00

Philippe Starck: Why design?

Janine Benyus: 12 sustainable design ideas from nature

Eco-Dome: Sustainable Green Buildings

2009-10-16T09:03:00.002+08:00

The Eco-Dome is a small home design of approximately 400 square feet (40 sq. meters) interior space. It consists of a large central dome, surrounded by four smaller niches and a wind-scoop, in a clover leaf pattern.

Read more @ Cal-Earth

More related videos:
Sustainable Design - Green Skyscrapers

Operation Void Deck

2009-10-06T10:59:00.000+08:00

The Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) presents Operation Void Deck – an open competition to design an architectural intervention at the void decks of public housing estates.

The competition has been jointly organised by the SIA, the Marine Parade Town Council, the National Library Board, and Hong Leong Holdings Limited. It aims to generate unique, exciting ideas about how to bring something more to the lives of residents, and show how architecture and design can impact upon society.

More details here.

ULO 2009

2009-10-06T10:32:00.002+08:00

For the inaugural Unidentified Lighting Object (U.L.O) 2009, which is organized by whenlightswork collective and kindly sponsored by IKEA Singapore, we would be seeing a total of 25 invited designers, from celebrated creatives to emerging designers, all across different design disciplines, work their magic on a conventional IKEA item they would each choose. As part of the runway challenge (pardon the pun), the theme, “Masak Masak”, had been proposed. All designers are invited to translate an intimate part of their childhood memories into a tangible story through their designs.

With the interesting mix of emerging and renowned designers, coupled with the support from IKEA Singapore, one would certainly be anticipating a lot of “Unidentified Lighting Object”s from this experiment.

An exhibition cum sale of all the designs would be held at the Tampines IKEA store, from 24th of October to 31st October. Admission is free.

ArchiFest 2009

2009-09-03T17:09:00.003+08:00

The ArchiFest exhibitions serve as a showcase for built work and ideas, and a platform for contemplation. This year we seek inspiration through the spirit of humanity in the works of architects from around the world.

A number of exhibitions will take place at the festival hub at The Plaza, National Library. The exhibitions will be launched on 5 October, which coincides with World Architecture Day.

This year's theme: Architecture for Humanity

ArchiFest
FiveFootWay

SketchUp Rendering

2009-04-29T19:01:00.001+08:00

http://www.alexschreyer.net/cad/rendering-sketchup-models-with-kerkythea/

Deep Dive: Case Study of Industrial Product Design Process

2009-04-02T14:45:00.000+08:00

http://heythatsagreatidea.com/2009/01/ideo-product-ui-design-process-will-be-public/

Designer Products

2009-04-02T14:43:00.001+08:00

http://www.designspotter.com/products

http://www.ifdesign.de/awards_exhibition_index_e
http://thinkingforaliving.org/

No Problem = No Idea = Stuck!

2009-04-02T14:11:00.003+08:00

http://www.whynot.net/

http://www.halfbakery.com/category/Product

http://shouldexist.org/

http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/category.php?catId=29

http://www.springwise.com/ideas/

http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing/

Google SketchUp Resources

2009-03-30T13:40:00.005+08:00

Download the software here.

Some good resource websites for reference and self-learning:
1) http://sites.google.com/site/sketchupsage/Home
Google SketchUp for Dummies

2) Video guide for common actions:
a) Grouping

b) Creating section animations with scenes

c) Using Layers

I.Love.Sketch

2008-12-20T03:04:00.001+08:00

Amazing 3D software based on freehand sketching!

Rendering Clinic

2008-10-29T20:43:00.002+08:00

Recently attended a D&T clinic conducted by one of my NIE lectureres, Mr Jason Tan.
One of the techniques I would wish to learn is how to render using tablet PC and software, as demonstrated expertly by Mr Jason.

In the meantime, I will make do with pencil and paper :)

Took my watch to practise my sketching and rendering.

Step 1: Sketch using pencil
Step 2: Outline using felt pen, erase pencil marks
Step 3: Render using coloured pencils

2008 Project Highlights

2008-10-29T20:24:00.003+08:00

The Sec 2 "Light" Theme project has thrown up interesting outcomes, varying from Photoholder, Clock, to Containers and Light Night.

The Sec 3 Moving Toys project also saw students applying their knowledge of mechanisms to create unexpected outcomes. These designs were evolved from a standard wooden base that is used to teach basic woodworking techniques.

Design of Strida - Folding Bike with Triangular Frame

2008-10-22T11:27:00.000+08:00

MAS Design - www.strida.com

Objectified

2008-09-22T13:12:00.002+08:00

Movie premiering in 2009.
Wonder if it will make it to the consumer movie market...

Synopsis (visit the website here):

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?

Future By Design

2008-09-22T12:57:00.001+08:00

Movie Synopsis:

Future by Design shares the life and far-reaching vision of Jacque Fresco, considered by many to be a modern day Da Vinci. Peer to Einstein and Buckminster Fuller, Jacque is a self-taught futurist who describes himself most often as a "generalist" or multi-disciplinarian -- a student of many inter-related fields. He is a prolific inventor, having spent his entire life (he is now 90 years old) conceiving of and devising inventions on various scales which entail the use of innovative technology. As a futurist, Jacque is not only a conceptualist and a theoretician, but he is also an engineer and a designer.

Shape Borrowing: Architecture

2008-09-09T13:30:00.003+08:00

Shape borrowing in action!

Looking at the architecture of these luxury hotels, what are the original objects you are reminded of?

Isometric Java Sketchpad

2008-09-05T14:36:00.002+08:00

A very nifty tool for practising isometric drawing.
http://www.mathsnet.net/geometry/solid/isometric/index.html

Orthographic Projection

2008-08-18T11:30:00.005+08:00

Understanding what is first and third angle orthographic projection.

Overview : http://metal.brightcookie.com/2_draw/draw_t3/htm/draw3_2_3.htm
First Angle : http://metal.brightcookie.com/2_draw/draw_t3/htm/draw3_2_4.htm
Third Angle : http://metal.brightcookie.com/2_draw/draw_t3/htm/draw3_2_5.htm

Mechanisms: Moving Toys

2008-08-04T18:38:00.004+08:00

Wonderful interactive website to teach the common mechanisms.
Includes a game for you to try building machines :)

http://www.mystery-productions.com/hyper/Hypermedia_2003/Muirhead/website/main.htm

Watch videos of moving toys "museum".
http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/toys/moving_toys/index.html
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1482_moving_toys/toys_bband.htm

Woodworking Resources

2008-07-29T09:07:00.003+08:00

Currently, I am teaching my sec3 class on basic woodworking techniques.
The struggle I have internally is that nobody uses handtools to cut and shape anymore.
All the nicely finished products we see out there in the market are all machine cut.
Eventually, most of them will be machine cutting their projects once they hit N or O levels.

While I am teaching them the foundations, I also need to prepare them for the real world out there where we are training them not to be manual workers, but machine-trained skilled craftsmen.

But no school can afford 40 pieces of woodworking machines such that each student can practise on his own. It's not practical! So handtools will still be around to "occupy" the students...

Dilemma. It's a fine line to tread between idealism and practicability!

Anyway, some good woodworking resources:
www.getwoodworking.com
woodworking.about.com
www.woodworking.com
www.insidewoodworking.com

Shape Borrowing: Fractals

2008-07-21T16:41:00.003+08:00

Shape borrowing is an ideation technique to "steal" the form of an existing structure as a trigger point for further manipulation.

How about using fractals as the source of shape borrowing?

Fractals occur in the natural world. Snowflakes is one of these fractal structures. What makes them more pretty is that no snowflake is unique! The wonders of Creation!

Trying this Java Fractal Generator as a tool for your ideation process.

Simple Machines

2008-07-17T16:21:00.002+08:00

Try this flash quiz to see if you can identify the mechanical components.

Gears: A Puzzle Game

2008-07-17T16:11:00.001+08:00

Try this out and learn something about gears.

ThinkerToys

2008-07-15T23:04:00.002+08:00

Good reference book for ideation.

Lighting Devices Image Board Resources

2008-07-14T11:39:00.002+08:00

Some resources you can look through.
You can google for "stock photo" to find websites that carry photos.

http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/lighting-devices.html
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?text=lighting+device&action=file
http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?sortby=popular&search_group=photos&searchterm=lighting+devices

The Force Behind Star Wars: Turning Design Ideas into Reality

2008-01-28T00:58:00.000+08:00

| View | Upload your own

Deep Dive - IDEO's Shopping Cart Concept

2007-10-20T01:36:00.000+08:00

A resource to what was shown during class today, the movie on "Deep Dive".

"To demonstrate its process for innovation for an episode of ABC’s late-night news show Nightline, IDEO created a new shopping cart concept. The show concentrated on IDEO’s design process, recording as a multidisciplinary team brainstormed, research, prototyped, and gathered user feedback on a design that went from idea to a working appearance model in four days."

Link to the website
Link to the video (Nightline - ABC News)

Carl Liu - Chinese Designer

2007-10-20T01:29:00.000+08:00

For his website and works, click here.

MP3 Player - Sketching & Rendering Tutorial

2007-10-20T01:00:00.000+08:00

Check out the tutorial here.

Design Sketching by Erik and Klara

2007-10-20T00:41:00.000+08:00

Sketching book from Umea's Institute of Design.
Includes sections on basic theory, exploratory sketching, explanatory, and some tutorials.
Click here for details about the book.