DC_2016

Everyday is Pajama Day

I love wearing pajamas, maybe a little too much, as my fellow Currierites can attest. They’re warm and cozy, and occasionally serve as conversation starters. Nowadays, the word pajamas refers to a wi

Making Information Accessible

My homepage is fairly simple, with large images of relevant news stories that the user would want to read. Along the bottom, tabs allow users to switch between different filters for information. Click

The Travel Scooter Experience

Traveling shouldn’t have to be a pain. Make it an experience. Before: After: The Product: The wind whips through your hair. Colors blur around you as you push yourself, faster and faster, between wa

What I’ve Got: Lucky Cat

This is a Chinese Lucky Cat. You’ve probably seen them in the front of restaurants or stores in Chinatown. My parents bought me one on my second trip back to China. I thought it was really ugly for lo

Tea and Chips

I did tastings of different teas and chips. Teas I love tea. Because of this, people frequently bring me teas when they come back from places. I decided to pull three teas from abroad and one from a l

teasplit

tea

chipssplit

chips

I made a thing

Here’s the pillowcase that I created. I really like this pattern because it is an interesting pattern that really catches the eye when placed on my solid red futon.

What I’ve Got: Virtuoso CardsI really love cards. When I was younger, I was became really interested in cardistry (click to see a video demonstrating it), an interest that eventually evolved into a love for collecting playing cards. My favorite deck that I own is the Virtuoso Spring/Summer 2015 deck. Everything about these decks is custom made, including their colors, their pips, and all the face cards, and it is designed specifically for card flourishing. The box has a design that allows it to be combined with other boxes to form patterns (incentivizing people to buy multiple packs instead of just one). It is also limited edition, increasing its value for collectors. Before each edition is released, the Virts (the company that produces these cards) produces a flurry of videos demonstrating amazing cardistry in order to generate hype. This is especially effective because these videos are short enough to be shared quickly, occasionally even going viral, attracting even non flourisher to these cards. The Virts also gave away one free deck to everyone who signed up for one, giving them goodwill among their customers.The two most notable design decisions about these cards (for a card flourisher) are their feel and their back design. These cards are designed by card flourishers, so they’ve picked a paper and finish that is really smooth and durable. In the third image, the top half is Virt cards and the bottom half comes from a generic Bicycle deck. It may be hard to see in the image, but the top packet is thinner and lighter, as well as more flexible, while not being as slick, making it ideal for flourishing. I try to showcase a few of the advantage of the back design. The lines trace out patterns during flourishes and displays (such as the giant fan), and the rotational symmetry makes spins really pop. The marketing and deliberate design of these cards make them really desirable for cardists. 

Glow-in-the-dark Stars

Ever since I was in elementary school, I always put up glow-in-the-dark stars in my room. I think it might be a little cliche since I’m an astronomy concentrator, but it makes me happy to see them lig

Shoe Design: Fashion-conscious and Practical

GraphGear 1000I have been using this pencil for over two years. It’s one of the best writing utensils I’ve ever used. Its metal body makes it durable and gives it enough weight to make it stable when drawing or writing. Its retractable tip protects the tip from my pocket and vice versa, and stops the lead from breaking when not in use. The grip is nicely textured, making it comfortable to hold. The shape and metal makes it easy to find by touch, when digging through a pencil bag or desk for example.

Node Chairs by IDEOThese are the Node Chairs designed by IDEO. They’re actually used in Quincy as well, in its Innovation Room. IDEO designed these chairs to be very flexible for how people want to use them. The three unique features to these chairs (other than just the shape of the seat itself being quite comfortable) are the desktop swivels wherever you want it, the chairs roll easily, and the bottom provides a lot of storage space for things you want to have on hand at all times. For example, if writing something, you can swivel the desk to its usual location in front of you or to the side if you are taking notes from a laptop on your lap. But if you don’t need the desk and are just talking to someone sitting in front of you, the desk can be swiveled out of the way for that interaction. The wheels on the chair allow the room to be rapidly rearranged for either individual work or group collaboration. We use them in the Innovation Room to break up for group work and then, when each group presents, we slide to wherever the group is presenting. This makes the working environment extremely flexible. Finally, when moving around or switch seats with normal chairs, you always have to pick up all your things and carry them with you. The pocket under the node chair keeps everything with you while you move.The threePhotos from: https://www.ideo.com/work/node-chair

What I’ve Got – GreenBoxEverything is awesome about pizza…until you have to clean up. Pizza boxes are greasy and awkwardly large to dispose of. Many a late night, you can find a trash can with three pizza boxes clumsily folded and crammed tightly inside. Furthermore, the pizza is usually either eaten on a plastic plate or by hand, both of which are problematic. Plastic plates are just another thing to have to dispose of while eating by hand can be messy and greasy. GreenBox solves these problems by allowing you to use the box itself as a plate. Breaking up the box makes it easier to eat the pizza without needed extra plates and also makes it much easier to clean up afterwards. It’s also eco-friendly!Images from:http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2013/04/clever-new-ways-to-eat-your-pizza.htmlhttp://www.amazon.com/GreenBox-Pizza-Length-Width-Height/dp/B00D0N6P12

Daniel’s Drone And Design Aesthetic

My Design Aesthetic – Deliberate Design I want to design things have a very specific purpose and nail that purpose as perfectly as possible. The designs that I admire most don’t seek to impress, but i

What I’ve Got: 3D Tic Tac Toe

In the spirit of designing fun, this is a 3D tic tac toe board that I made under the direction of a math professor at Missouri University. Designing for fun is a really interesting problem because it

Rainbows After Rain

Our strategy is to reduce anxiety by evoking feelings of “rainbows after rain.” The song and headphones are not for everyday use, nor they items you bring to a raging college party. Instead, these are

rainbow headphones (student-made)split

rainbow headphones (student-made)

anxiety-reducing song (student-made)split

anxiety-reducing song (student-made)

What I’ve Got: Tecknet MouseThis is the mouse that I’ve been using this year. I’m picky about my computer mouse because I use it so much. I really liked my previous mouse and when it died, I was sad to discover that it was no longer sold. Instead, I found this mouse for really cheap online. I bought it to serve as a temporary replacement until I found time to buy a mouse in store, but once I started using it, I decided I didn’t need to switch to another one.It has a programmable DPI switch that allows me to control how fast the mouse moves. This is useful for switching between normal use, when I’d like my mouse to be set to a high sensitivity, and precise drawing or designing, when I need the mouse to move slowly in order for me to make small details. The fabric cord is more resilient than plastic cords and the extra programmable buttons on the side are exactly where my thumb lies and allows me to be efficient when working on the computer.

Rainbows After Rain: Headphone Edition

Our headphone design resembles a rainbow: the earphones are clouds and the headband is the multicolored rainbow arc. Rainbows elicit positive emotions because they symbolize the silver lining after a

What I’ve Got: The Boat vs The Void

The above are screen caps from http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/. It’s hard to see from the images, but the entire website is dynamic and represents a fantastic use of javascript, as well as audio. It is

The Boat (interactive web story)split

The Boat (interactive web story)

Void (hi-res interactive website)split

Void (hi-res interactive website)

What I’ve Got: Classic Coke Bottle

The classic Coca-Cola bottle is an obvious example of iconic design. The image above shows all the designs that have been used throughout their history, but the famous design is the one labeled with 1

What I’ve Got: Paper Cutter

Paper cutters are a great example of someone identifying a common pain point and designing a great solution for it. Almost everyone’s used one while in k12 school and several people might have used th

What I’ve Got: Nikon D3300

The D3300 is the baby camera of Nikon’s DSLR series. It is designed to be someone’s first DSLR. However, I actually prefer this camera in most situations. It is noticeably smaller than Nikon’s higher

What I’ve Got: Stop Request Cord

We’ve probably all seen these cords on the Harvard shuttles. They represent a very elegant solution to a very common problem. Without a stop request system, you would have to communicate with the driv

What I’ve Got: Chinese Tea Set Container

This is a tea set that I obtained in China. The entire set, which is what I’m holding in my hand plus two additional components, fit within the box on my lap. The carvings on top of the box are not on