The Macbook Pro Fund?

As time progresses, a once mighty workhorse of a laptop becomes a computer who is in the autumn of its years. My trusted Lenovo T60p purchased in 2006 is now 3 years old and showing its age. Despite a healthy diet (virus free, spyware free), liposuction (a reformat/reinstall of the OS) and adding on some more muscle (+2GB of RAM) my laptop can't seem to function during the ever-increasing tasks which I need to complete.

Recently, I attempted to make my 40" x 60" final board for my office project and found it barely able to move around the high-res renders within the board. I moved to the more powerful Mac Pros in DAAP's CGC and was able to move much more fluidly.

Other more daily tasks in the CS4 suite are also crippled. Manipulating multiple photos for image boards or portfolio at 300dpi has become a slog. The lucrative "rotate canvas" feature, which would be great for sketching with my wacom tablet, slows my pen strokes to a delayed crawl, making sketching impossible. InDesign, when making my most recent portfolio, became increasingly bogged down as my portfolio grew in size.

Other programs, such as Solidworks 2008 and Google Sketchup 7 are slow to act, rotate, and manipulate, which obviously becomes a hindrance when wanting to model an idea quickly and increases the chance for the ever-present program crash. Hypershot, an intensive rendering program whose performance is based almost entirely on processing power is understandably slow to render. Having a multi-core processor, 4 or 8, would be great compared to my dual core, cutting the render time by 1/4 or 1/2!

Finally, there's the OS issue. My laptop is running the classic Windows XP. While a fresh re-install of it a year ago certainly sped things up, I'm realizing that even with defragmenting, registry cleaning and conservative storage habits (I keep most everything on external drives, backed up in duplicate) the problem is hardware. Its time to upgrade to a newer OS that works well with the hardware and can grow with increasingly more powerful software.



For these reasons, I'm saving for a 17" MacBook Pro. I plan to purchase it in the summer of 2010, hopefully using my current laptop for a then solid 3.5 years. Now you're a smart person, you're probably thinking "But Brandon, you know Apple will have a brand new Macbook Pro by then... how will you predict the price?" Well, you're right, I can't predict the price. But I know a few factors: 1) The UC student discount given has remained at $300 for 2 years and will probably stay the same. 2) Apple Care has remained at $350 for the past 2 iterations of MBP. 3) The current price of the 17" MacBook Pro 17" will most likely not go up drastically, as it hasn't gone up at all for the past 2 iterations.

Nevertheless, the price of a new Macbook Pro, 6 months down the road will still be rather substantial. I predict the amount needed for a new MacBook Pro (with Apple Care, Student Discount, and tax figured in) will be about $2800. This is steep, but considering the quality of machine I will be using, I feel it is worth it. In addition, the machine will be a great help to me as I start my senior year thesis project in the fall of 2010 and I fully expect this laptop to last far beyond the T60p's lifespan, for at least 4 years without showing major signs of age.

So, with humble hands I open the "Brandon Leedy - 2010 MacBook Pro Fund". Haha, just kidding... though, if a generous philanthropist or wealthy patron would be willing to donate funds towards my cause, I will gladly offer a substantial amount of my time or talent (design-related) to a charity of their choosing. In all seriousness, I would do so gladly. Times are indeed tough, for college students like myself and others, and its becoming more apparent that we all benefit when we pass on the good fortune we receive from others. [If you are seriously considering a donation, my email is on the second page of my portfolio (for security purposes). Contact me, and we can discuss it. Thanks!]

Now, assuming the likely chance I don't receive that magic donation, I will at least be contributing parts of my paycheck into the fund on a regular basis during the co-op quarter. The real challenge will be in spring quarter when we will be asked to make a fully functioning (and well designed, haha) chair. The chair project is known to be rather expensive, sometimes reaching the $1000 mark. However, we will press on, and I hope that a blog post such as this will help me remain accountable in this endeavor.

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Currently, the fund stands at:

$750 / $2800

Wish me luck!

Still Worth Showing...

Despite my feelings toward this quarter, I did enjoy my work and the reception it got from those observing during end of quarter show.

Here's my final board:

(Click to enlarge)

Here's a photo of my final model:

(Powder Print & Hand Crafted)

...and a photo of my deliverables at show:

(The easel held storyboard images of current problems, which I used in my presentation to critics. They were hand painted in Photoshop.)

Critiques and comments welcome. Thanks.

Evaluate

My Work:

Well, I feel like I've made some headway in terms of understanding why I do certain things... as for improving them, it is a daily process. I need to be more loose and fast with my sketches which sometimes border on line renders. But, I am aware of the problem, and that's the first step to change, right? ;)

I feel I had one of the most enjoyable renders (and projects) this quarter in my Fleur coffee maker. I actually learned to make a decent HDRI environment so I could control lighting in my render and get a highlight where I wanted it. I feel like that really gave me some in-depth experience with Hypershot.

I also enjoyed my paintings I did for part of my storyboard. I seem to have found a method that is impressionistic and fun to do in a digital painting environment. I hope to try my hand at that for products in the future as a way to show an in-use emotional shot.

As for ID work, I think the critique for all of us said it well: "You need to all push it farther. We don't see anything new here." First, I must justify my project's existence: the use of historical time period as a design cue had a purpose. Also, there will be a niche market for high-end executive furniture that isn't pressboard, plastic and alien forms (no offense to the knolls and steelcases, but there will be).

That being said, I had recognized too far into the quarter that the area for innovation was in collaborative environments, not in the executive. So I corrected my focus and I feel, adjusted my project well despite being in the wrong end of the spectrum. If I had to do it again, I would have never gone down this historical route, but it was a good study of the period. And despite a lukewarm critique, the general public at the end of quarter show seemed to enjoy it. As I sat back to relax, I noticed many people stopped to get a more detailed look. I received compliments on my render, model, and choice of time period... (proof at least that I'm not the only one who enjoyed things like Mad Men from that time period). While public opinion doesn't necessarily justify my project as good design, it was a nice emotional counter to the critique. I believe one of my critics put it best:

"You've researched this thoroughly, but I think you're trying to solve a problem that a lot of people are struggling with... Herman Miller, Knoll, all of them... and they can't solve it yet either. 'How are we going to work with each other in the future?' Now you've got a solution here that solves one part of it, but not the rest. You have a good start for a next stage of design, and better yet, you already know where not to go."

DesCom As A Course:

I cannot endorse this course highly enough. I truly enjoyed this quarter of descom. There was a great balance of teaching via lecture and teaching via demo. Then that teaching was followed by active learning where we were applying knowledge from the demos/lectures. The portfolio and presentation lectures and subsequent class conversations were extremely helpful. Having such an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and interested professor in Michael Roller was key to the great in-class experience. Even when class had ended, Mike would stay to discuss a concern or talk about projects in I.D. (which wasn't even his class!) and that was truly helpful this quarter, I'm extremely grateful for his help outside of the course.

My only discrepancy was with the order of projects, I felt the storyboard project and dining project should have swapped places. If earlier, we'd have more time on the dining project which required sketching and rendering. Also, the storyboard project would be better suited later in the quarter when our solutions were nailed down and could be better utilized. However, that was a minor concern, the class was truly a highlight of my week and proved to be one I learned an immense amount from.


ID As A Course:

This quarter's I.D. class was much like most every critique we received at the end of quarter: lukewarm. While I take responsibility for some of my aesthetic choices, there was a severe lack of critical help this quarter. The process utilized in the development of the workstation project was front-end heavy, moving so fast that I feel many of us settled on mediocre B and C stage renders that were completely unlike the finals we turned in. Instead of the steps we were taking in design actually making a difference, they were merely "finished" to meet an arbitrary week apart deadline. The amount of work was not the problem, as we knew and acknowledged that it took around that amount to decently explore a problem in the quarter. However, the work was so compressed by time, that the quality and/or concept development suffered.

When we presented our professor with questions about his opinion on specific parts, he would ignore them and then focus on minor elements, further ignoring larger concepts. This constant focus on small details like radii and cushion thickness instead of larger concepts like interaction between parts of the system and general form was frustrating. [Looking back, we could have desperately used critique from people like those professionals in our final critique who called out key issues we wanted to address, but were told not to worry about.] In addition, many of our design choices were driven by research or human factors knowledge... these things were heavily encouraged by our professor to be "right" but the results were uninteresting and uniform. When questioned by critics, we responded with research or ergonomic claims... which many of them ignored, wanting a more innovative form/function, damn the research and consequences.

Many of us, by the 3/4 mark of the quarter were so fed up with it, that we moved to working without feedback from him. We sought critique from fellow classmates and our descom professor, Mike. While this did help, it was probably far too late for most of us. Finally, I believe there was an inherent belief (encouraged by our I.D. professor) that we needed to design "real" things that weren't "concepts"... however, in reality, the only one who wanted that was our professor. In hindsight it almost seems that our best course of action this quarter would have been to redefine the stages of design to our pace, doing what we wanted in all areas of design and receive critique from outside professors. This system would require more personal responsibility, but I feel if it is in exchange for a far superior design, it would be well worth it and more than capable of achieving.

Here's to next quarter of class...

Fleur - A Siphon Coffee Brewer

Click to enlarge.

Remember how I was intrigued by the Vacuum/Siphon Coffee Maker? Well, here's my take on that way of brewing coffee. My intention is to make this siphon brewer a sculptural centerpiece for the after dinner coffee ritual.

Modeled in Alias, Solidworks, and rendered in Hypershot.

Blog Posts - Vanity in a Vacuum?

Evaluate the use of a blog as a communication tool about design.

Well, I'm going to get down to brass tacks, and hopefully hit some points that other people aren't. I'm sure quite a few people will probably say this:

- Its instant desktop publishing. No mediation, no need to pay.
- In theory, thanks to Google, bloggers are on an even playing field with the big players in design news and opinion.
- Not only is blogging an easy way to self-promote, but you can show long-term development on projects in semi-real time and express opinions that are more complex than may be addresses in conversation.

These are all true, and wonderful. But there is a somewhat disheartening reality when one steps out into the digital plane of the web: you start at the bottom and working your way up is not easy. No one is listening for a very long time, and it takes consistent improvement to gain and keep an audience with the web.

Blogging these days is in a weird state. Especially if you want to be "successful" and have an audience. Few write for the web because few are willing to read things longer than 2 or 3 paragraphs. Small ideas are spat out as "statuses" on twitter or facebook and are generally undeveloped. So, as a blog you can either post a LOT of short articles at a fair clip (see Core 77) or you can sit back and write big, well crafted essays every month or so (see 43 Folders).

As for us as design students, I feel we all are apart of the white noise that exists in the world of design blogging. Student blogging (especially on assignment) is probably not too interesting to read unless you know the student. So, how to stand out? Focus. Merlin Mann of 43Folders suggests that instead of being "Design", "Tech", or "Star Wars" you need to be the go to expert on one aspect of those broad topics... because no one will find you if they search for "design". I think that's a reasonable theory to go by.

So, we are posting for ourselves mostly, in the vacuum that is the internet. But we don't have to keep on being the white noise... what are you an expert in? Good work or good writing will eventually rise to the top and gain an audience. So, what could you write about?

[Hint: When Christmas break rolls around, this blog (or another one completely) will have a new focus all its own.]

3 Approaches to Coffee

While doing research on the ritual of brewed coffee, I found three different ways to make it, each with its own distinct visual style.

First, the classic: Mr. Coffee drip-brewer. Its clean and sanitary plastic form belongs right on your kitchen counter.



Second, the cool kid: The French Press maker. It's utilitarian form comes in many materials and makes coffee more of a personal experience rather than a foreign one full of packages and filters.



Finally, the mad scientist: The Vacuum Press / Siphon Brewer. This form has been around for quite some time and embodies its odd, ritualistic, and somewhat magical, process of making coffee.



I personally had never seen the vacuum press and was quite intrigued to explore that method... more on that later.

3Q With A Pro-Designer

--Still Awaiting Response--

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