ID [PNW]

When Disney wanted to get people excited about the upcoming sequel to TRON, TRON: Legacy, they created this exhibit at ComicCon 2009 to reveal the design of the lightcycle. See video below. showcasing drawings by designer Daniel Simon and a full size model of the machine. This gives a great perspective of the exhibit. This one shows the drawings and lightcycle in more clarity. I find it interesting that the concept designer is given such prominence, even over big name actors, directors or other factors. But I'm not surprised.  I've been a big fan of the original TRON, which was released in 1982 when I was eleven. I was/am a computer geek, designer, video game fanatic, and sci-fi follower. Even then, I felt that the real star of the movie was the world that was created by legendary designer and concept artists, Syd Mead and Peter Lloyd. (To give credit, a whole team of computer programmers realized each image frame by frame using 1981 computing power.)

Kodak Brownie Junior - Photo by J.A. Morris This summer has been busy with new progress on the Teague documentary and biography.  Here's a quick summary: New Alliances             Thanks to Vicki Matranga , I connected with Charlie Myers , son of C. Stowe Myers, partner at the Teague New York office.  Charlie has compiled films, audio interviews, and photographs and is offering them for us to use in the doc.  I just received a DVD of digitized 8mm film of the Teague office from 1939 to 1943.  It has great scenes of employee designers working, drawing, rendering, making models, smoking pipes and having parties.  Awesome stuff, thanks Charlie!             Gifford Jackson was a designer at the Teague office from 1954 to 64 and I was recently introduced to him through Budd Steinhilber.  He was personal friends with the Teague family.  He lives in New Zealand and has offered to write stories about his experiences there. New Interviews             At the IDSA International Confere

A tapestry by William Morris in 1879. The theme of this year’s IDSA International Conference in Portland, OR was D.I.Y.   Some of the presenters were incredibly talented and interesting; others were a bit smug and self-important.    While listening to the creator of Etsy.com gloat about how “revolutionary” they were by selling handcrafted items on their website, I was reminded of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement of 100 years ago.  This Etsy-DIY can be described as people with internet access and spare time making expensive crafty non-essential items for other rich people with internet access.  That’s all it is.  This has very limited impact on only the richest 1% of the world.  In fact it is more elitist and limited than what a professional industrial designer can do who is designing a $20 mobile phone for Nokia, which today allows communication for millions of poor Africans and Indians. So, why is mass production inherently bad? William Morris tried to encourage th

Teague and his team designed the interior of this elegant aircraft, the Boeing Stratocruiser. Here's some great old new reel footage...

Teague: will be a sixty-minute documentary about the life and work of the founding father of American industrial design, Walter Dorwin Teague (1883-1960) Walter Dorwin Teague is considered one of the founding fathers of industrial design as well as one of the most prolific American designers in history. His most notable design work includes the beloved Kodak cameras, the distinctive Marmon 16 automobile, Texaco’s art deco gas stations, the luxurious Boeing Stratocruiser aircraft interior, classic Steinway pianos, elegant Corning glassware, and the futuristic 1939 World's Fair in New York. Although his amazing career is known among designers, very little is known about who he was and how he became “the Dean of Design.” How did a poor pastor’s son from a rural Quaker town in Indiana transform into a celebrity designer in New York? How did he go from checking hats at the Manhattan YMCA to being a successful advertising illustrator? What led him to create a new modern profes

This is an industrial design concept using Pranav Mistry's SixthSense technology. It is designed specifically for truck drivers by Mike Oldani. It is mounted on the side of the seats head rest and can be flipped around to project into the sleeper cab. Western Washington University Industrial Design Program, 2010. This is one of 13 projects done in the Junior ID studio.

1959 Cadillac Tailfin - photo by Christer Johansson I've been digging through the archives at the Teague Design office in Seattle, hoping to find the story of his life for a biography and documentary.  Once in  awhile I find some gems that are worth sharing.  This quote is from Teague's "The Responsibilities of the Industrial Designer," An Address by WDT to the Detroit Chapter, Industrial Designers Institute. Published in Road & Track, January 1960. In regards to american car styling of the late 1950's when the tail fins grew to extreme heights: "[I am] definitely and unreservedly hostile to recent trends in American automobile design... I agree heartily with millions of others that our characteristic car design has in recent years become lousy, ugly, vulgar, ostentatious, impractical, and excessively costly..."   "In my opinion, Detroit got into trouble because it got out of step with the rest of American industry and the taste of the

This is a design for museum visitors using Pranav Mistry's concept of augmented reality technology. Designed by Ian Mayhew of Western Washington University Industrial Design.

Winner’s Announcement Pay It Forward Furniture Design Western Washington University June 7th, 2010 Four judges have reviewed and selected their favorites among 22 designs.  In addition to our panel of judges, students voted on their peer’s designs to decide a “students choice” award. The objective is to design and construct a unique furniture solution for storage.  The storage is to be designed specifically for another person or organization for their current needs.  The furniture will be then given to that person or organization as a gift. Mount Baker Products has generously donated all of the high quality FSC hardwood plywood for the project and has also donated $6000 for scholarships for the winners. Here are the winners: 1 st        Noah Jack , of Corvalis, OR. for Pitter Patter, an umbrella drying stand for the Whatcom Children's Museum.  $2000 scholarship from Mount Baker Products. 2 nd       Ryan Hume of Bainbridge Isla

Here's the final edit of Form Function... Form Function , by Jason Morris and Western Industrial Design students.  This purely visual short film shows an industrial design creative process that starts with abstract sculpture and ends with a   functional object .  Music by Moby. Creative solutions are rarely found by using conventional problem solving methods.  Students must be encouraged to try alternative processes for attacking a problem.  Professional industrial design projects begin with a design brief, but because of preconceived notions the brief itself inhibits the designer’s creativity.  This creative process removes hindrances to creativity by restating the design problem in abstract, non-objective language.  This process begins with abstract form creation without knowledge of the design’s purpose. The form creation is done with guidelines made by the instructor, who creates the rules to correspond with the design’s objectives.  Only after these abstract sculpture

Jon Takao was recently hired as an industrial designer for Specialized Bicycle and is a recent graduate of Western Washington University's Industrial Design Program, class of 09.  He will be speaking on Thursday, May 27th, at 5:30pm in room 347 of the Ross Engineering Building.  He will be telling the story of how he ended up getting his dream job within a year of graduation.  (When most of us have to do some crappy point-of-purchase displays before moving on to something better....ahem.)  And his impressions of the cycling industry.  See you there.

Another design concept for SixthSense designed for those with autism. Tim is responding to the concerns of his brother, and sees an opportunity for this technology to meet those concerns.

Senior Industrial Design proudly presents, Vessels A Libatious Design Exhibition Presented June 3rd at 6PM by Western Washington University at Mithun Architects, 1201 Alaskan Way, #200, Seattle, Wa.

Here's Kyle's SixthSense concept for driving, focusing on amateur car racing, yet useful for everyday driving.

This is a design concept by Cecilia Forsgren, our exchange student from Sweden.

I was excited to learn about Pranav Mistry's invention, SixthSense, which is a gestural computer interface that turns the relationship between the computer and the user inside out.  Instead of people staring into a glowing screen, the computer is required to look outward at our physical world.  By cleverly combining a digital camera , a mini-projector, and a smart phone, Pranav has introduced a new future of information accessibility and of human/computer relations.  See his presentation on TED.com if you haven't already. However, this is still a prototype, albeit a brilliantly engineered one, it is clunky, awkward and heavy.  Seeing this opportunity, I challenged my Junior (3rd year) industrial design students at Western Washington University to design the SixthSense for ergonomics, ease of use, and aesthetics.  They were to focus on a specific user scenario and they had to use currently available components, which were fixed in size.  (No imaginary miniature electronic com

I just got notice that both of my short films have been selected for the Northwest Projections Film Festival !  One is Form Function , the one about my design students projects transformed from sculpture. The second is called The Tree Was Here, and that was my documentary project from last fall, about tree ring science.  It features the work of Chris Robertson of Western Washington University's Environmental Studies Dendrochronology lab.  That was done with my class partner, Ryan Christoffersen.  They will show at the Pickford Cinema in Bellingham, April 16th-18th.  

My documentary about design for the other 90%, Hoima Bicycle , was just released on DVD on Amazon.com.   It shows the process of designing a bicycle for and with Ugandan bicycle couriers, known as Boda-boda. Filmed primarily in Uganda, it shows the realities of current day East Africa, from the chaotic streets of Kampala to the inside of gritty mud-thatched homes in rural Hoima. The intent was that it could be used in the classroom as a point of discussion about designing for social impact.  The project had it's successes and it's shortcomings, but many lessons can be drawn from it.  Especially a look at the culture of modern day East Africa for those who might want to do work there.It's only 30 minutes long and I'll be posting a list of discussion questions here and on the WWU ID site. I'll be presenting on the project at the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) annual conference "Open" in San Francisco on March 26th, 2010.

You are invited to the design presentation of  the Junior Industrial Design Studio project:  Inspiring Industrial Design for Pranav Mistry’s SixthSense Technology Wednesday, March 17th 10:30am – 12:30pm Academic West Building room 203 Western Washington University Bellingham, WA, USA the technology: “ 'SixthSense' is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information. “ the project: In its current state, the SixthSense device is a brilliantly engineered prototype.  However, industrial design can improve its ergonomics, its appearance and its ability to serve people in various situations.  This group of 13 design students each tackled a specific user and application and redesigned it to meet their needs. I've been shooting video of the design process and the results, and will post the edited video online.

Here's is Part 3 of 4 of Hoima Bicycle.  An experience in designing a bicycle with Ugandan bicycle couriers.  This part shows the reaction of the first prototype.

Here's the next segment of Hoima Bicycle.  An imperfect example of design for social impact. 

I've posted the complete documentary, Hoima Bicycle, on Youtube. This documentary shows the process of designing a bicycle for and with Ugandan bicycle couriers, known as Boda-boda. Filmed primarily in Uganda, it shows the realities of current day East Africa, from the chaotic streets of Kampala to the inside of gritty mud-thatched homes in rural Hoima. In Uganda many residents use cheap, clunky bicycles for their primary means of transportation. Through a unique collaboration between an American designer and Ugandan couriers, a new bicycle design was conceived and a prototype was made. The designer then traveled to Uganda to meet the couriers and to have the bike tested and critiqued. Would they like it? Or is it back to the drawing board? How can you use your talents and skills to help the poor of the world? This is part 1 of 4. If you would like a DVD of the complete documentary (30 minutes) it will soon be available on Amazon.com.  I'll be posting discussion questions

A Biographical Documentary about Walter Dorwin Teague begins Development. Walter Dorwin Teague (1883 - 1960) is considered one of the founding fathers of industrial design as well as one of the most prolific American industrial designers in history.  He established his design office in the late 1920’s, which continues today as one of the important design institutions in the world.  His most notable design work includes all of Kodak camera’s from 1927 to 1957, Texaco’s art deco gas stations in the1940’s, the Boeing Stratocruiser and the 707 aircraft.  His legacy led to the design all subsequent Boeing aircraft including today’s 787 Dreamliner.  He directed the design and architecture of the 1939 World Exposition.  He was also an architect whose work includes the Texaco exhibition hall at the 1935 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, Texas, the Ford pavilion for the California Pacific International Exposition (1935) in Balboa Park in San Diego, and the 1961 Civil War Centennial Do