Grab those supporting CAD files with GrabCAD

Hello ID students,

I've recently just come across this engineering community website where people share their CAD work, called GrabCAD.  As a member (free online registration), you have access to tons of CAD models and projects that may be very useful to support your own projects.  For example, you can download a model of a typical AA battery and another model of the battery housing, which you can then import into your CAD assemblies without having to build these off-the-shelf parts yourself!  Perhaps you want to create a scene in your rendering software where you have your model sitting beside some other objects; you can download these "other objects" and import them into your rendering environment!  For example, say you designed a new fancy pen holder and wanted to render it with some pens in it; well, download some pen models and import them into your renderer.  Done!  No need to make your own pen CAD.

So check out GrabCAD here:  www.grabcad.com

There are other sources for getting CAD files (predominantely STEP/STP or IGES/IGS), but this one is pretty cool based on my experience over the last couple of days.

You can even download a car model if you wanted!!  Have fun and good luck with all your projects!

- Tim

2012 Peeter Kruus Memorial Lecture: “The Joys and Challenges of Designing with Social Intent”

Interior Design Show Jan 24-27

Interior Design Show is coming to Toronto!

Register as a student to get discounted tickets.

INTERIOR DESIGN SHOW 2013

Call for entries: Next Generation Design Competition

The annual Next Generation Design Competition is open for entries. This year Metropolis challenges you to develop solutions that empower, advance, and include groups often overlooked in the design process (including but not limited to, our rapidly increasing aging population and citizens with disabilities). Consider how tech-savvy people are becoming and what devices, materials, and modes of transportation will stay relevant 20 years from now. Keep in mind what other groups will benefit from the design.

Think of the 1.13 billion people with different needs, think of your mom, your dad, your uncle or aunt, your friend, your kid brother or sister, your grandparents—any of your relations with special needs. And help them live better lives.

Solutions can come from any area and scale, systems thinking, sustainability, accessibility, materials, historic relevance, and/or technology as long as they are inclusive and empowering. The winner receives $10,000 and a lot of attention. The deadline for entries is February 18, 2013. Applications are open ...now! Good luck!

 Email NextGen@metropolismag.com with any questions.

Book Launch! Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design by Bjarki Hallgrimsson

Join Bjarki and the various contributors for an official launch of the book Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design at the Carleton University Bookstore in the UniCenter on Tuesday, October 30th from 4:30pm to 6:00pm!  Light refreshments will be served.  We look forward to seeing you there!

"Building prototypes and models is an essential component of any design activity. Modern product development is a multi-disciplinary effort that relies on prototyping in order to explore new ideas and test them sufficiently before they become actual products.

'Prototyping and Modelmaking for Product Design' illustrates how prototypes are used to help designers understand problems better, explore more imaginative solutions, investigate human interaction more fully and test functionality so as to de-risk the design process. Following an introduction on the purpose of prototyping, specific materials, tools and techniques are examined in detail, with step-by-step tutorials and industry examples of real and successful products illustrating how prototypes are used to help solve design problems. Workflow is also discussed, using a mixture of hands-on and digital tools.

A comprehensive modern prototyping approach is crucial to making informed design decisions, and forms a strategic part of a successful designer's toolkit."

http://www.laurenceking.com/en/prototyping-and-modelmaking-for-product-design/

http://www.facebook.com/PrototypingAndModelmakingForProductDesign


- Tim

InDesign Short Cuts

I hear a lot of people say they hate InDesign.. maybe this will help you hate it less? There's a lot, but definitely worth it to learn some. Like SolidWorks hot keys.

http://www.shortcutworld.com/en/mac/InDesign

Brighten up your internship!

As an intern you may not be first in line to the nicest office in the place, but with 1000 post it notes you can help brighten it up! A fellow intern and I spent our saturday making this post-it note mosaic on our office wall.

 

It helps if you have everything all planned out

 

And make sure you have a ladder, or a very tall friend.

MATERIA - Materials Database

Hey everyone, here's a really good materials database. You need to sign-up to use it, but it's free and defiantly worth it. It's very well indexed and up to date. They also have material related articles.

materia.nl

Also, transmaterial.net is good.

And so is instituteofmaking.org.uk

Last one, materialstories.com has some good book suggestions and articles.

:)

CIDSA Museum Outing: Canadian War Museum

Hire Me?! The Portfolio Handbook

Hello SIDer's!  This is a good post for all years, but especially important for first- and second-year students who are just getting into the swing of things in the ID world!

Check out this document that has been put together by senior students at UCID (University of Cincinatti Industrial Design), all about portfolio development.  Not only does it give you tips on how to build an awesome portfolio, it tells you the basics about presenting your design work.  These techniques need to start straight from first-year and continue throughout your years.  This book sums it up very nicely with little reading involved!

Click on the following link to download the PDF:
Hire Me?! The Portfolio Handbook

Good luck to all for this new school year!

- Tim

Survival Guide

Let It It Be

"Unbound by strict conformity to logic, the liberated architect breathes new life into architecture." 


I present to you Carleton's very own, Tom Ngo.

I met him a few years back while enrolled in Architecture. At the time, he was in his last year. Making quite an impression in our year, his character is as whimsical as his drawings.

His work will be exhibited at LE Gallery located on 1183 Dundas St. West. Opening reception will be held on Friday, July 6 from 6 - 9 pm. If you cannot make it, fear not, his solo exhibition will be available for public viewing from July 6th to the 29th.

In this specific exhibit, Tom looks at the theme of redundancy as a means of "fracturing the familiar". It expands on his masters' thesis of architecture absurdity, which can be found here.  

Be sure to check out his work!

Student Exchange, Adelaide Australia

Hello everyone! Heather here, I thought that now I have time to blog I should write to let everyone know how awesome student exchange has been and what I have been up to. I started studying at the University of South Australia in Adelaide on February 27th and today was my last day of the semester! (June 18th) My experience here has been amazing, and it was totally worth it. It really makes you see things in a different light and gives you experience with different cultures.

This semester I was enrolled in Furniture Design for Manufacture and User Design Studio 5. I was so thankful to have only two courses, it gave me plenty of time to finish projects and there was a bunch of spare time for me to just have fun while I was here. I am sure you guys are a bit curious to what I was up to here, so I will start with Studio :)

This semester, our projects were to Re-design a Stud Finder hand tool and to re design a portable projector unit that the lecturers use at the university. The portable projector unit started out as a group project where we had to research and analyze different areas of use of the projector unit. We had to create a use scenario where we would set it up and use it and observe difficulties we had and such. We also had to observe it using different techniques.. one was called 'master apprentice' where we had to watch an experienced user and learn from them. Another one was an interview, the 'fly on the wall' technique and one group even had to get the users to write love letters to the portable projector unit (which I thought was weird). This class was actually really similar to Lina's 3rd Year User Design course. There was a lot of repetitive observations and scenario analysis. Basically, this is going to sound bad but I didn't learn much from the studio here because I had already learnt it in Canada. We even did the whole post it note mind mapping thing... but they call it affinity diagrams here. I think that Carleton is slightly ahead of UniSA, but I suppose this could also be because of how their school year starts in February where ours starts in September.

For our final submission for the projector unit we had to make a website showing the development of the design from the very beginning to the very end. We had to use a free website making website called Yola, which is actually really super useful and customizable... I would definitely recommend it for a portfolio site. Anyways, here is the Link to my website if you guys wanted to see it...

http://heatherjeffery.yolasite.com/

So basically, that website will explain the project in more depth if you are interested. :) and the picture below is what my final design looked like..

(Video made with help of Dewar :))

While the projector project was going on, the stud finder project was going on at the same time. The stud finder project was just like any other project basically.. but one difference was that we learned about electronics! I learned how to make a circuit using a circuit board, L.E.D's, buzzers, vibration Motors, and switches. I did learn a lot about that actually, so that was neat. We had to do a bunch of user testing with this project as well. And Also tons of foam models. The thing about foam here in Australia is that they don't have the foam Canada has. Now that I have experienced Australia's foam, I really really miss Canada's Foam and I never thought I would say that. Here, they use the white low low density foam, like the kind of foam that is used in packaging. It is so hard to work with! and if you do happen to get ahold of blue foam (which is our pink foam) it is rare and everyone will want to touch it... 

So with the stud finder, we had to focus on ease of use and the interace. The point of it was to make it as clear as possible and as simple as possible, so it was a good project for interface design. For the final submission, our Prof (which they call lecturer) asked us to make our final model out of foam .. weird. I was expecting to rapid prototype it or something, but he told me they use foam for a lot of their final models.

Here is the first page of my final submission, 

Finally, there was the Furniture Design course. WOW.. all I have to say is wow, that Prof is crazy. But she was great, I have never had a Prof so true to herself. She just said what she wanted to and never held back to give her opinion. I remember one morning she came into class with a hangover (our class was monday mornings at 10 am) and she just said, "Okay, sorry guys.. I just need to take another 10 minutes, you guys just relax for a few, I will be outside taking a quick smoke break". I thought that was just so odd. She is "far out" as the Aussies would often say. But the way she interacted with the students and supported their ideas really turned out to be successful, and for all of the final Stool projects everyone's designs were absolutely amazing.
In Furniture design we had 3 projects and they were all fairly simple. First, we had to make a video about a piece of furniture, it's designer, their history and different pieces that they have created. I was in Linette's group as well as a guy named Rhys. We studied Hans Wegner's Papa Bear Chair even though our video turned out to be almost twice as long as the required time, it still turned out well.

Secondly, we had to create a wood joint but use two different materials to make it. Then we had to destroy the joint and analyze where it broke and talk about how it can be avoided in the future. I used laser cut acrylic and pine to make my joint, and I used dovetail type joinery but it was a bit different. (here is the picture below)

Finally, the last project was the stool. Which was pretty open, all we had to do was pick a piece of furniture that inspired us and then create a stool based off of that inspiration. We also had to discuss how we made our stool and how it can be made for mass production. My stool was made out of mailing tubes and left over tubes taken from a fabric shop. I painted it all white and then put graphics on the top... as seen below. 

Well, I guess that basically sums it up!. Australia has been great, I have traveled to New Zealand, Melbourne, a small town called Port Augusta, I have been to horse races and a zoo, a few Harbours and tons and tons of beaches. There is plenty more that I have done here, but if I were to say anything to future exchange students coming to Australia, I would say:

1. The weather here is actually pretty chilly in the end of May, June and July because its their winter (I didn't bring a good jacket so I have had to layer up a bunch)

2. Adelaide is a pretty quiet city, and Colder than almost all of the others. If you are interested in warmer weather and more up beat towns where shops don't close at 6 or 7 I would say try out Melbourne, Brisbane or Queensland. (Thats where I will be going next time I come to Australia)

3. Try to get a job (if you think you will need a job) right at the beginning of your travels because they pay a lot of money for minimum wage. 

4. Get involved in as much things as possible. I have kind of missed out on some things and 5 months goes by really fast! so make as much fun as you can. 

Anyways, I have also been writing a personal blog about my travels so if anyone is interested in what else Australia has to offer and especially Adelaide, here is the Link to my blog. 

See you all in September :)

-Heather 

the interviews

It's that time of the year again where everyone is scrambling to get an internship for the summer, or the next semester. What are some questions employers ask during the interview process? I've had some really difficult ones, and some surprising ones too. But I recall going into a phone interview with a list of prepared interview questions (I think she was trying to get rid of me) and having the interviewer not ask me a single one I was prepared for.

so, here's a list of THINGS THEY MAY ASK..
1. What are your skills?
2. Where do you see yourself in a few years?
   a. What do you see yourself doing/ what kind of work?
3. What kind/type of design do you like to do?
4. What is your favourite part of the design process?
5. Do you follow any blogs? If so, which/what?
6. What was your role in your previous job/design internship?
7. Can you speak any other languages?
8. How do you design? (maybe provide a scenario)
9. What do you do on your spare time?
10. Do you have any hobbies, if so what are they?
11. Tell me about yourself (I hate this question)
12. What are your weaknesses?
13. What was the most challenging part of your last semester/ previous projects?
14. How did you find us?

...Anyone else have anything to add?

In general, they just want to know you as a person and see how you react to things as well as what you know about your field and the company you are applying to.

Best of luck!

Cork Competition! - Call for Entries

Boisbuchet has an open call for entries for new applications for cork products or the improvement of existing products with cork.

Submission: 4 page pdf (details on website)
Deadline: June 30

Winners will be selected to attend a workshop to create prototypes, and a final winner will be selected with an award of 10,000 €. All the rights remain with the designer.

Have fun!
DETAILS HERE!

Studio is finished

Here is a shout out to all the third years that had their last third year studio review today, and all the fourth years that handed in the final report today (after much grief to get everything printed).

You may have noticed that the blog has been dead this past week or so, but that has been due to a crazy amount of work here at the school, finally coming to an end today for those of us in third year.

Coming up we still have a bit before we get to leave for the summer. Many of us still have exams. Around the school, in the next two weeks, we have our final pin-up, year end dinner and finally the annual grad show. So school isn't quite done, but I think we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

(^^^  I wish that was our summer!)

Free Universal Construction Kit

It has arrived.  I can truly die happy.

The Free Universal Construction Kit promises to make all construction toys compatible through their FREE ready-to-print adapters.  That means Lego, K'nex, Tinkertoys, and many many more of our childhood favourites can live together in harmony.

http://fffff.at/free-universal-construction-kit/

The Free Universal Construction Kit from Adapterz on Vimeo.
Thank you F.A.T. Lab and Sy-Lab gods.

Australian Update

Sorry I’ve been kind of neglecting you guys since I’ve been here. Moving to a new country takes a lot of work (setting up banking, cell phones, internet connections, etc. etc...boring stuff).

I’ve been in Adelaide, Australia for a little over a month now and am in my 4th week of school at the University of South Australia (UniSA). I’ve enrolled myself in 3rd year studio: focus on usability design, ceramic production techniques, and furniture for manufacture. 

First off, our studio actually has windows! I was really excited about that. The atriums on our campus are also all outside, since they don’t really have to deal with the same weather conditions that we do. It’s really cool, but also very strange.

Oh, hi Justin!

Studio:

• Worth double credit (like 1st semester 3rd year at Carleton)
• 2 projects in parallel:
• redesign a mobile projection unit (a cart with a projector, a laptop, and all the fixings)
• redesign a stud finder (focus on model building for iterations. Foam and simple electronics.)

Thanks to the stud finder project, I’ve learned to solder in the last 2 days. Built myself a snazzy circuit board too so I can test the feedback and usability of my models. 

The lights and speaker can all be inserted into foam models so I can use the
control board to replicate actual functions during user testing.

Ceramic Production Techniques:

• Basically a mix of techniques (like from mass pro) and an arts course
• I play with clay and mix up glazes

Furniture for Manufacture:

• Pretty much what the title says
• First project was a research project on a designer and one of their designs. We did our video on Hans Wegner’s Papa Bear Chair.
• Final project will be to design and fabricate a full scale stool.

So that’s a little update on ID life in Adelaide. If you’re interested in reading a bit about what else has been going on down here outside of school feel free to visit my travel blog, because Australia is freaking awesome.

-Linette

Third Year Birdhouse Review

After a few weeks or hard work, the third year ID students presented their finished birdhouse projects. Most students created full scale models, with a select few creating scale models. Students were divided into research groups centered around a local canadian bird and then came up with individual solutions to the design opportunities they found. 

Rylan presenting his Purple Martin Community birdhouse. 

Iris Wang's Children's Birdhouse (left) and Paul Chamandy-Cook's Refuge Birdhouse (right), designed to accomodate the needs of both blue birds and chickadees. 

Call For Entries Design Competition

SWITZERCULTCREATIVE.COM

MODERN LUXURY; SUSTAINABLE FURNITURE DESIGN

FIRST ANNUAL DESIGN COMPETITION

Call for Entries – Registration is Open

ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

Winner will be announced November 30, 2012

1. Submit your entry on the Official Entry Form provided.

2. Attach a description of your entry using a maximum of 200 words.

3. Each person may submit up to 3 individual entries. Each entry must be accompanied by a completed entry form.

4. Each submission must be accompanied by up to 6 image files of your project. Please note: use only low resolution jpeg images (72 dpi) maximum 150 kb each file, image size maximum is 818 pixels.

For further information LIKE our Facebook page www.facebook.com/SwitzerCultCreative and request an entry form by sending an email to:

renee@switzercultcreative.com

www.switzercultcreative.com