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I knew coming to Umeå Institute of Design would be hard work, and, well, it is! (Excuse the exhausted expression, I’ve just finished the weekly volleyball match and returned to UID at 12am to wire up my electric screwdriver for interim presentation – yeah so it’s not all hard work, but at least that’s why this blog went a tad quiet…)

 

Obviously this blog has missed out on my attention for a fair while, but I am still alive and kicking, and do intend to revive it in good time.

Where I’ve Been

I’ve never been so busy and so inspired at the same time, so simply the chaff has taken the cut. I’m currently squeezing in volleyball, learning Swedish, and some good nights with friends, but not this blog as well. And now barbeques are fighting for the remaining minutes, but at least the midnight sun makes more time!

In terms of my studies, it’s going great. I’ve developed my skills massively, and had a hell of lot of fun along the way. I’ve loved every single project, and this final project for the year is just as exciting. I’ve worked on a mail delivery vehicle for the Swedish postal service, an interaction/sound/light design project which is currently submitted for a competition, a realistic-for-manufacturing electric screwdriver, and now a home-monitoring system for asthmatics.

My Spring 2011 portfolio is hot off the press and available for viewing at alastairwarren.com, so you can check out the projects there.

What I’m Up To Now

So it’s now one month to go, before another awesome chapter to fill in. I’m taking a year away for internships, returning in August 2012. The details are yet to be decided, but no doubt it’ll be a blast and I’ll have the opportunity to live and work in some pretty exciting places. It boggles my mind that I’ve been away from home for 11 months now and it’s only just beginning.

In reality I expect to fire this blog back up in about September, so until then, ha det bra!

Cheers, Alastair

Awesome Digital Puppet Show Using Xbox Kinect

Very cool little project, apparently produced in one day. I wonder how this kind of technology will integrate more into our daily lives.

Concept and production by Emily Gobeille and Theo Watson of Design I/O. Via Engadget.

Making the Tube Social Again

When I was living in London I was struck by how antisocial travelling on The Underground is. Everyone is busy on their smartphone, reading the tube papers, cranking their iPod, and doing basically everything they can to avoid eye contact with other commuters and heavens-forbid possibly sparking a conversation.

I’m sure some people want to have a conversation, but if they’re not having one they’d rather listen to music than do nothing. However interrupting people with headphones on, or “disturbing” someone by saying “Hi” seems to be a social no-no, so these conversations don’t happen. I’ve talked with mates about this, and it’s definitely not the case everywhere, i.e. in India where on some trains you basically make friends with everyone nearby every time you travel.

Enter the Design for the First World, The Rest Saving the West design competition. The winner, Brazilian designer Layla Cavalcante, was announced late September but I’ve just come across it.

I love the concept.

I’m not entirely sure how it would be realised, but I’d love to have some sort of subtle indicator like this. I’ve recently left London after a two-month working holiday, and it would have been great to sometimes have spent my two hours a day on the tube meeting others and having a good chat. It’s something that afflicts the whole First World that I’ve seen, and apparently is a emerging trend in urban areas of developing nations such as India as well. Time to return to casual friendliness.

View the winning entry.

How to Make Organically Shaped Gears

Not entirely sure what the use of this is but no doubt there are some good applications, will have to file this away in the brain locker. Well worth spending three minutes learning how it works.

Tutorial by Clayton Boyer, found via Monkee Design.

Awesome Re-Invention of the ATM by IDEO

Designed by IDEO for a Spanish banking group called BBVA, found on Fast Company’s Co.Design.

Awesome 3D Light Painting / Motion Graphics Made with Ipad

Definitely watch this. Made by Dentsu London, found on Core77 via my classmate Dogan Sekercioglu.

Creepy but Awesome Robot Snake Climbs Trees and has a Gander Around

Not much more needs to be said but it comes from the smart people at Carnegie Mellon and I found it via Monkee Design.

The Gestures of Reading a Book

Produced by João Machado via Swiss Miss.

Benefits of Gender Divide? Ladies-only Carriages on Mexico City Subway

Really interesting little article about how a gender divisions on the public subway create a more open and social environment for women. Seems the environment this creates is far nicer than the subways I’ve been on, where no one talks or makes a disturbance and quickly pulls out their phone/newspaper to get into their own world. It begs the question is gender division necessarily always bad thing? Seems not.

Photo and article from Eleanor Davies’ Frog Spawn blog on Frog Design’s Design Mind.

How to Combine Fonts: Type for the Rest of Us

Having never had type training I’m slowly learning about it myself, here’s a really useful article I stumbled across recently. Looking forward to giving it a shot as I’ve never really combined fonts, let alone really different styles. From Typography.com.