My only friend, THE END

Contrast, instability, irregularity, complexity, intricacy, exaggeration, activeness, accent, variation, distortion, depth

Harmony, Balance, symmetry, regularity, simplicity, unity, predictability, neutrality, consistency, flatness, repetition 

What we are looking at here are two great examples of products that have utilized a great combination of visual techniques to convey their visual message. The first is the Troy Lee Designs D3 Speedwing bicycle helmet and the second is a pair of Electric EG2 snow goggles. I chose these two products because they both are conveying the message that the athlete that is wearing either of these is concerned with their style. To begin with the helmet, the vibrantly contrasting yellow and blue grab your attention right away and draw you into the instability and irregularity of the details of the helmet. The goggles have a more subtle approach, with a similar hue of blue used for all components of the goggle, and do not call too much attention to the little details of the ghost faces. Why I think that these products are working well is because they both have utilized the contrasting or harmonizing aspects to tie everything together. The helmet would not have the effect of looking like it were ripping through space if it did not have the activeness and accents of the line work throughout the design. The goggles would be a plain blue rendition of a snow goggle that has been done time and time again, but the surprising details around the frame and on the strap are what make this a successfully designed product.

◊CONTRAST◊

A design that shows great contrast is the Glenmorangie Pride 1981 single malt whiskey decanter and coffer. The glass decanter was designed by French glassware designer Laurence Brabant and the wooden coffer was designed by Dutch designer Wouter Schueblin. The contrast is seen in the materials chosen for the set, starting with the smooth glass set against the grainy wooden box. The clear glass shows the light tone of the whiskey inside, while the solid wooden box's dark sides reveal nothing until it is opened. The glossy metallic clasp matches the neck and cap of the bottle, but is offset by the rough texture of the suede liner inside the coffer. Even though there is a similar hue between the components of the set, their tones are are contrasting enough to push each subtle difference to it's own level. Even with all of these opposing and contrasting elements, there is a balance to each aspect of this product. Each component's contrast to another works as a complement for it at the same time.

As for a product that has a poor use of contrast, I am looking to a product that I personally have an issue with. I am a bicycle mechanic by profession and I use a set of hand tools on a regular basis, so I chose to buy Chraftsman tools because they have a lifetime warranty. I really enjoy most of the features of their tools, but one type of tool that I have a problem with are the screwdrivers because I can not tell them apart easy enough. While working on a bike, I often have tools scattered on a work bench and I need to be able to grab the correct tool from the pile without too much effort. This is a problem with the flat head and phillis screw drivers because they both feel the same in my hand, and the only way to tell at a quick glance is with the red stripe that is painted on the outside of the flat ones. There should be more contrast in the shape of the handles, possibly changing one from a round shape to a rounded rectangle on one of the styles, or making the sizes drastically different enough that it would be easy to tell the difference. With just a small tweak to the contrast between the different types of screwdrivers, I believe these could be much more successful products.

Gas, Brake, Drip Drip

The very first product that came to mind for me as one that has motion implied is the Yamaha R6, because I have always felt that this motorcycle looks like it is hauling ass when it is parked. I owned this bike when the current generation of the R6 was released in 2006 and was very compelled to make that purchase because of form and beautiful design of the machine. Starting with the shape of the body panels, having a sweeping curve rising up to meet a sharply aerodynamic tip, and the gas tank which has a larger rear end and smaller front, the form of the bike very sleek and weighted towards the front. The line of the rider and passenger's saddles is parallel to the exhaust muffler, the beginning of the swingarm, the line from the crease in the fuel tank to the bottom headlight, even the decals, all following the same upward angle. This gives the feeling like the bike is almost starting to fly away as it gets towards the rear of the bike, while still maintaing an aggressive forward-leaning stance. This is really the ultimate sport bike of it's generation because of Yamaha's stance that the technology engineered must conform to the aesthetic of the products design, not the other way around. They were able to design and produce a motorcycle that looks like it is moving at an insane rate when it is sitting, while also seeming to solid and motionless when it is zooming down the raceway.  

This next product was something that I had never seen before I started to do the research for this project and it does a great job of looking like it has movement when it is just sitting still. The Liquid Lamp was designed by Kouichi Okamoto of Kyouei Design in Japan. The basic form of the lamp looks like a the shade is a paint bucket  tipped upside down and there is a bunch of paint dripping out which makes up the stem of the lamp. What this lamp does really well to make it look like it is moving is that it has the drips of paint being different lengths and sizes, which gives it a more realistic look. The lamp comes in two different styles, one that is wall mounted and the drip looks like it is running down the wall. The second style has the drips holding up the lamp shade like a desk lamp, with a big puddle of paint on the table acting as the base. Both lamps have a drip that is detached from all the others, leaving a circular drip alone on the wall or desk. This shape being separate from the rest of the lamp gives the feeling that the red part is actually wet and dripping out of the bucket. For a product that gives the feeling of movement while being completely still, the Liquid Lamp is a great example.

Designers in SPACE

A great example of design operating in space and utilizing that space to it's fullest are the entrance corrals to the rides at Disneyland. Here is a picture of the Indiana Jones ride entrance maze, where you walk through an ancient temple courtyard on your way into the forbidden pyramid. A designer had to come up with a creative way to pack as many people as possible into this area as they wait in line, and utilizing space to it's fullest not only accomplishes this, but also keeps the guests entertained because they have something interesting to look at. For example, the pillars in the middle that have snakes twisting up their sides have the big wide top sections that are all the same height, giving the feeling that there is a roof or a limit to the area and that it does not go on forever. Another is how the props that line the outsides of the set, like the bunch of barrels on the left, are far enough away from the guests that they may look to be real. If they were right up close where you could get a good look at them you might not be as convinced of their authenticity. My favorite is the facade of the temple because from any point in this area it is going to look massive because it is much bigger then anything else in sight. Since you can not see any of the other attractions of Disneyland due to the large jungle canopy this is what you have to scale objects to, and it is pretty big.

Hey, are those new?

Here is a great example of how a product's tone and color, on this Troy Lee Designs Air Glove, operate to fulfill the user's, a motocross or bicycle rider, needs. If we first analyze tone in this example, the glove from the top has a very light middle section that is bordered by darker tones, defining it's edges. I have always like white gloves because they look classy when they are clean, and a big part of riding is style. If a rider feels confident in the way they appear, it adds to their confidence when they ride and lets them feel more comfortable.The darker tones are patterned on the thumb and pinkie occupy the whole finger section, while the ring and index finger have the darker tones inset in the light middle section. The palm of the glove is completely dark, giving it the opposite look as the top. Having a dark palm is necessary on a riding glove because if it were light it would show all the dirt that is constantly being rubbed into it. I think that there is a great integration of the light tone of the strip that lines the inside of the fingers that directs the eye from it's beginning at the tip of the index finger and moves to the pit and back to the tip of each finger. When looking at color, I think the first way I would describe it would be like a fun house. The colors all have a soft feel, with their hues being complementary. These types of colors work well for a rider because they are going to do a couple of things, the first is not being too vibrant. There is a point that color can cross when being worn by a racer where it starts to talk a little bit louder then they can, which can be a bummer. These colors can be seen, but are not so bright that you would be seen in the dark. I think that the color of the red and blue shapes on the fingers work well because they break up the big white area where the fingers are and flow well with the direction of the hand.
http://www.troyleedesigns.com/product.php?cat=61&id=19736

Product Designer

SHAPE:

The base for every design is rooted in the basic shapes, and being able to utilize their characteristics for what each of them have to offer. In this example of a rapid viz sketch for a new wood clamp design, it is clear that the designer has started with the basic circle, square, and triangle, and exaggerated their form to fit the function of the wood clamp. The handle is made of two semi circles for ergonomics, the clamping mouth has a square profile to make the bite more effective, and the hinge is made of two over lapping triangles. Without a grasp of the form of each of the basic shapes, a product designer will be unable to apply the user's needs to the reality of a tangible product.

SCALE:

For a product designer, scale is very important to the design process because it will fully effect the success of the end product. If you get the size of elements of the design out of proportion to others, the product will not have a consistent design language and the user will not be able to read it. One of the spectacular new advantages available to product designers today are rapid prototyping machines like 3D printers, which can produce design prototypes of an scale, smaller then the end product and even up to full sized components. This tool is amazing for a product designer because they are able to produce their designs into tangible objects at a fraction of the time it would take with traditional methods. With the ability to create each component of the design to full scale, a designer today should never have the problem of producing something that just doesn't fit.

LINE:

Starting at the beginning of every design are lines, that are connected to make shapes. This process, as it may sound easy in the previous statement, is very difficult to visualize without the proper understanding of how individual lines will be able to construct a solid object. The image above is a CAD drawing that I made for the Intro to Computer Drafting class and I believe that it is a great example of how line is used in the design process for a product. To start this drawing I had to join lines at their endpoints perpendicular to each other in order to form the square shape. I also had to utilize parallel lines to project the top view of the component to the front view. 

My visual puzzle partner was Kyle, my friend and coworker, and I chose two puzzles from the list for us to try that looked like they would be fun to figure out. The first was to count how many squares could be made by connect dots that were in a cross shape, and the second was to see which of the patterns could be traced in a continuous line without crossing back over the same path. We both took about ten minutes to work on each of the puzzles, and these are the results:

With this puzzle the strategy used is filling in because you must be able to see that there can be a series of squares made be connecting the dots with lines. If we were unable to close in on the connection of the dots in the blank space, we would not be able to find all of the squares that are possible. Neither of us were able to come up with the correct amount and both came up with 17, when the actual solution is 21 squares. While finding this out, I read that when this puzzle was created in 1893 the original solution was 17 and it was not for several decades before the solution was updated to 21, so I did not feel so bad about not finding them all.

The next puzzle was a little bit more tough, and the strategies employed were first finding the correct way to travel through each of the patterns without having to cross over the same path. On some of the patterns it was easier to close in on the correct path then others. The next is pattern completion because even though there are many different starting points for tracing each pattern, there is only one correct way to trace each one, if possible. This means we had to complete the pattern from the start to finish.

There is a hierarchy

Looking at a hierarchy of feature channels, I find the Aaron Ross Pro model complete BMX bike from Sunday in the Watermelon colorway to be a great example. Starting with the parts that jump out the most, the pink wheels are the first thing that grab my attention because they are big, bright pink circles. The bright pink contrasted on the solid black make this the feature channel that is at the top of the list. Next my eye follows the neon green frame to the pink cranks with the green pedals. This happens because the pink color seems to just explode off the green frame, making these parts really stand out. The pink grips that sit high up on the handle bars are one of the last places that my eye travels because they are one of the smallest areas of the color on the bike. The pink parts seem to be the first channels that are visible because of the popping color, with the eye flowing from back wheel to crank, to front wheel, then up to the grips. The last channels that are visible are the black seat because it sticks up above the rest of the bike, hanging out by itself. The eye seems to trace from the left bottom corner to the right, then up to the top, back to the left until the middle, then following the frame back to where the handle bars meet the the frame, ending the flow of feature channels.

From the Top...

Looking at top down perception influencing product design, I found some great examples in jackets made by The North Face (www.thenorthface.com), with the exemplar being the Men's Gonzo Jacket. The contrast of the bursting orange outer shell on the solid black liner in the hood command your attention at first glance, hinting at the notion that this is the most important aspect of the garment, since this is where the consumer's face will be. This is very important because that is where the consumer wants the attention, on themselves. The next movement made by the eyes is down the chest of the left side, where the split in colored fabrics travels in a vertical line. This feature leads the eye down the front of the jacket until the edge of the orange section starts to head right and crosses the middle of the jacket, where the zipper is. Having the contrast of the vibrant orange zipper on the dull grey leads your eye in a vertical path again, until you reach the waistline, where the material ends. At this point your eyes have reached the bottom of the product and begin to go back upwards along the orange sleeve to the hood, and the process is complete.

To Succeed or Fail

For a product that succeeds in applying the guidelines of a targeted user group, I would like to look at the Polaris Ranger RZR. When anyone looks at this machine, the first thing they are going to perceive is that it is very sporty and rugged because of it's aggressive stance, the front end sitting slightly lower then the back, and that the working components are all visible. The RZR has a great balance front to back with the seating area having as much room in front as it does behind, and the top to bottom balance is slightly weighted towards the bottom, which gives the machine a lower center of gravity, giving it higher stability. The stress is seen in the way that the bottom half carries a lot of bulk in plastic covers and metal parts, while the top half is very light and airy. The front end of the machine definitely shows the more level end with it's solid flat edges and calm colors, while the rear end has a more sharp feel because it grabs your attention with it's bumpy surfaces and bold graphics. Even though there is a large area for the operator to enter and exit the cockpit, the mesh door panels keep the feeling that the body is solid and connected, while also being light and airy, contrasting the heavy feeling front and rear.

As for a similar product that I feel does not exemplify what a target user would want out of this type of product, I am looking at the Yamaha Rhino. When first seeing this machine, the perception is that it must be slow and unstable since it sits at a completely flat stance, giving it a meek attitude. The top to bottom balance looks a little skewed since the rider sits at about the midlevel of the vehicle, giving it a top heavy look and keeping the center of gravity high, making it appear unstable. The front to back balance is far heavier on the rear end, since it sticks out a lot further from the end of the tire then the front does. There is not much stress in the vehicle, everything is pretty much plastic covered and the same color, not leaving anything kept "untidy". This also weighs the level attributes higher then the sharp, since most of the vehicle is solid and flat, with the only variation being the ridges and polygonal cut outs on the door. There is little contrast in positive and negative since the doors cover up most of the small cut out, giving the machine a very boxy look.

I need a dollar baby, a dollar is what i need...

Line, men, women, waiting, huddled, dark, government, cement, gutter, no broken windows, society, wanting a job, building, street light, hats, coats, slacks, duster, windows, "United States Employment Service,"legs crossed, hand in pocket, out of options.

The setting is a street corner in a major city during the early 1930's. There is a long line of people dressed in business clothing that wraps around the block, everyone waiting in the line to see The United States Employment Service. There is not much commotion for the amount of people crammed onto this street corner, and there is not even a car in the street, the people seem as if they have spent all their energy. Two men stand out of the line, one near the street light on the corner waiting to cross the street, the other walks past those standing in line. He is wearing a lightly colored duster and has his hand in his pocket, as if he were safe from whatever is keeping those people so firmly in line. Nobody smiles.

Seeing Between The Lines

The product that I am discovering the meaning behind is a new concept electric bicycle from Ford, The Evos. The first visual cue that I pick up is the general shape of a bicycle, as seen by two wheels, a seat, pedals, and handle bars. This object is screaming bicycle from across the room when, and you don’t even have break it down into it’s fundamental parts. Most people will be familiar with the form of this object, even if they haven’t been around modern bicycles. Underlying  the representational elements are the symbolic forms that express the lightweight, high speed, state-of-the-art feeling of this product. The wheels and tires are the most minimal they can be and the frame is as bare-bones as you can get, giving the representational objects a very light look and feel. This gives the user the feeling that this bike would be effortless to pedal, and once you got going on it, is probably a very fast machine. What can only be abstracted from the visual cues is that there is something deeper in this object, something that sets this bike in a different category then similar machines, and that is that it is electric. Nothing about this right away gives the exact representation that there is a motor that is powered by an electric energy supply, but this can be deduced by the communication of the symbolic and the representational, knowing that this is a bicycle that is fast, light, and comprised of cutting edge technologies.

What Does It All Mean?

With Study of Proportions, Leonardo Da Vinci is giving and exact representation of the human body, and the proportions of its characteristics. What is first evident about this drawing is that it is of a naked male human being with his arms and legs stretched outward. It is also very clear that this person is standing inside of a square and a circle, which his fingers, feet, and head all touch. What is not so clear is that the torso, arms and legs are all segmented into parts of proportional length. This image does a great job of representing the human form because it is very clear that this person has a body that is symmetrical and proportional and that geometry is a definite part of nature.

Coit Tower is more then just a icon of San Francisco, as a lot of locals know, but to people who don’t know the history of The City might not know that there is a deeper meaning. This magnet for tourists is a memorial to the Fire Fighters of San Francisco, those of the past and present. What makes this building abstract is that the tower was inspired by the nozzle of a fire hose. You can probably see it now: the long, solid base is  the handle and the archways near the top are where the water escapes. I think this is a great way to memorialize the fire fighters in the city because it is a very powerful piece of architecture, but is easily recognizable as having a fire hose feel.

Since I ride my bike every day, sometimes up to two hours in the saddle, I have become very found of the bike lane symbol. It is a very basic line drawing of a torso with a helmet on, one leg bent, between two circles with and arrow above it. It is such a basic group of lines, but it is so easily recognizable as a bicycle. It is also a great symbol because it is pretty universally recognizable. Most any place that you go the symbol for someone riding a bicycle is going to be almost identical. This is not hard to accomplish when you reduce the the bicycle to it’s two wheels and have the rider with a bent leg to represent that it is on pedals.