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Just a quick look of the product with the logo - I think it looks pretty good!

More Renders

So far so good

Today's been a good day! Just a couple of little adjustments - moving the hinges to the bottom due to lack of space & filleting some corners to allow for easier construction.

The only problem is the sheer weight of the steel & the strain it will put on the wall, but I've been told it will all be fine!

I'm a bit anxious getting the plans sent away to construct my viewer because it will be out of my hands, but I think its ready...

Le Dial

Here is the form of the channel selector plate for the big dial. There are no numbers on it as they will be displayed on the status screen.

Render (Part III)

To make my viewer more intriguing & more professional, I have offset the eyepiece & made most of the features flush with the surface of the body. I am keeping the grey colour to make the viewer more public looking. I think it's almost ready for production - just waiting for the arrival of the metal.

Observer Prototype

The final form will be cylindrical, but to make construction easier I made the body octagonal. It is just to show the size of the object.

Product Render

Looks very graphic novel-esque, but I like it!

Getting It On (Part II)

The next step was to check if the screen & housing could be mounted to a wall. I drilled out another two holes in the housing to fix it to my "wall" (which happens to be just another bigger bit of wood).

The results were great! The two screws held the housing safely & securely. Now to build a better housing...

Visual

Just a cheeky photo of how the observation unit would look on a wall...

Industrial Facility

I really like the simple aesthetics of Industrial Facility- clean lines with a limited colour scheme. I think it might be too simple for the style of my product. I want to have some nice details on it with possibly contrasting colours to make it more interesting.

Sketches

Here are some sketches that I was needing to post up. Some form development & extra details such as control locations...

Peep Rig MK V.

Here are some pictures of (what potentially could be) my final form & interaction. More info on this will be posted soon e.g. video, sketches etc.

On Top Form

On Monday, the class did a little exercise to help us understand our personal styles & product semantics a bit better. We each put on a wall a selection of objects that have influenced us during the project. I put up images of work from Troika, Dunne & Raby, Alice Wang, Stasi devices, Braun & Deiter Rams.
After a little deliberation, the class decided that the main identifiers of the products in question were:
Boxy, modular, simple, basic, bland..., clinical, highlight colours, sheet metal, cold, laboratory, pseudo-scientific, 1950's, modernism, form follows function, honest.

& the main characteristics were:
Masculine, modern, serious, expensive, technology, science, rational.

We then had to try to mix two of the words together to sum up my personal stlye.

So far I've got 50's Pseudo Tech - still working on it...

The Curious Home

After talking to one of my lecturers about the form of my object, reminded me about The Curious Home project at Goldsmiths in London, in particular, the Local Barometer. Their forms are very basic, but honest - they do what they look like they will do, display information. I want my product to have these qualities, but have a darker look to it...

Brains & ...

Braun! I really love the work of Braun, especially when Dieter Rams was the in house designer. I would like to take references from these great industrially designed products & use them in the design of my object - nice clean lines, good use of product semantics & a limited range of colour.

The Lives of Others/Stasi Objects

I was recommended to watch the film "The Lives of Others" for the style the observation unit that I will be making, & found it very inspirational - both in the objects & the story. I want the user of the product to build a deep relationship with the content via the interaction of the object - starting with an ordinary, even obligatory usage to developing an emotional bond with the machine, letting them live out someone else's life through it.

After watching the film, I want the object to look very functional & serious - harsh lines & no curves, with an array of different, but identical looking buttons & dials, so the user has to learn how to manipulate the machine (creating the first step to developing a bond).

Here are some pictures of German Stasi (Secret Police) surveillance objects from the 1980's - just through the way they look, they feel cold, calculated...

Early Form Prototype

Here are a couple of pictures of the original form of the observation unit - I wanted the aesthetics to be very simple & angular (to be slightly threatening, as if you shouldn't be looking into it).
The whole idea of this shape was so you could put your whole head into it to totally immerse yourself in the experience - along with the web feed, surround sound would make you feel like you were in the room with the "subject".