The End of An Era....
I hate keeping 2 blogs...it gets confusing for you and me.

I am going to do my very very best to keep my

www.justdanika.com blog up and running so than I can better mix personal and school.

If you are here...go to

www.justdanika.com

Ok so classes ended...whoa finally.
I owe everyone an update on everything.

Lets just start with ME203....the coffee table.

Yes...i finished it and it totally looks hot.
My welding by the last day was almost non-shilant...
NEXT...aluminum!

Regardless...my table looks great
and although it has a slight moment (much smaller once i tightened all the bolts and added an extra brace) it works surprisingly well. It looks great and if I actually had an ottoman I would get to use it.
Until then....

With the final project due in a week and a half, and with thanksgiving break intertwined I am nervous, excited and energetic about the presentation of the final product.
The lighting options we are researching and thinking about are innovative, not in technology, but in marketing. As we did our needfinding for this product we used our findings to drive us into many different directions trying to solve the issue of over consumption of electricity, and now specifically light and passive lighting.
Without getting all green on your butt we created a product that improves daily life, image and style and just so happens to save you energy on the side.
Well it does in my mind anyway.

Human-Centric Design

Designing products is so complex but I am so incredibly amazed by the ideas people come up with. Watching videos from TED (Technology, Environment Design) I came across David Kelly's design of a store for Prada. Its amazing how truly into the mind of the customer they got. The dressing rooms with video delayed projections so when you turn around you can see your back and know what you actually look like from all 360degrees.
These types of ideas are what takes design to the next level. I am continuously learning to develop my design skills but I truly appreciate those who are already designers. When you come across a design that makes you say, "Wow, that is just what I always wanted but never realized it," you know you have really come up with a great idea. A young designer can only really hope that they get the opportunity to come up with something that great.
I think about my small ideas and these things that I think would make a good design, or a make good concepts but never know if they would really excite people. I suppose a designer really just needs to believe in themselves, keep an open mind, and continue to really watch and understand people in order to have a chance to make something outstanding.

Tomas Maldonado

"Comfort is a modern idea."

Domestic life is changing and developing at a crazy rate. The bar for comfort is always being raised by new technologies, products and services. This has only really taken off at these speeds in probably the past 50 years. Comfort is strived for differently by people...but one thing that is common is that everyone thinks they deserve it. They work hard and come home and expect their comfort.
Comfort is a perception though. It is created and built up by media. Why do I think that I need a couch? Its just normal right? This is affecting how people spend their money, live their daily lives and how they interact with people. The mindset that you have a right to comfort creates an aura of elitism.
This obsession with comfort could possibly be linked to the use of energy. If you could change what comfort was percieved you could change how people used energy.

Drawing for Designers

For my birthday last week, my friend Rachel sent me a book, Drawing for Designers by Alan Pipes. I'm starting to further understand my design capabilities and with it comes an increasing need to be able to sketch out my ideas to help convey them to my professors, teammates and others who play a role in the design process.
What the book has shown me is that there is a complete range of drawings. Its ok for things to be messy as long as I am getting ideas onto paper and out of my head. There is a time for in depth technical prints or 3D renderings, but there are also a place for quick 4 line sketches that show a shape or general idea. Sketching is something that takes practice and I'm certainly up for the challenge.

Optimist...Pessimist...Engineer

We had a lecture last nite, Robin Chase the founder of zip car was here. I couldn’t believe when she opened up with the quote in response to the age old question: Is the glass half empty or half full?

“don’t see this cup as half full or half empty but as a question of how much water do you need.”

I have always said, the glass is exactly twice as big as it needs to be…I’ve always truly believed that and so I was immediately drawn to her. As she continued on she focused on the quickest solution to any high impact problem is most likely human behavior. Product solutions that will help stop the impact on the earth or reduce carbon emissions are years away from being truly feasible as solutions. The only step we can start taking today is to all be conscious of the fact that WE as humans need to make the change.

The questioned boiled in my mind, "How do you change the American Dream?" She responded with a smile that in the world where cash is queen you just prove the non-economic aspect of it and its the only way to truly make a lasting effect.

This was in general, inspiring. I had been trying to relay my feeling on commuting, poorly designed neighborhoods and public transit and its affect on the sociological and entire living experience of humans by preventing interaction and growth through communication. The poorly informed business school student told me that the real fix would be to make electric cars. He didn't even understand the social implications that the design that American's thrive for (big houses with giant yards & cars) and the limiting affect it has on how we live. Did he know that in suburban neighborhoods most people don't know who their neighbors are?

Is it really a good idea for a father to spend 6 hours on a Saturday mowing his lawn when he could be teaching his kids how to ride a bike or volunteering at the community garden? This lawn, a mass of green that has no positive effect on the environment, is given more time on a weekly basis than to his own children.

Cheers to the future...

Health & Wellness

Our newest project for ME313 is working alongside the innovation division at Humana (a health insurance company based out of Chicago). Our project has nothing to do with health insurance but everything to do with health, wellness and the general wellbeing of humans.
We need to come up with a product, infrastructure or system that will promote some aspect of health to those who come in contact with it. It is very open ended and I'm looking forward to seeing what all the different groups come up with.

So my team and I started our needfinding by conducting some interviews to try and get a more diverse feeling for how people deal with health. I spoke to a young lady, Lisa Marie, who is a yoga instructor in Palo Alto. A Stanford graduate turned entrepreneur, looking to influence people and teach them to accept themselves the way they are before trying to change it. She was energetic and motivated, wishing she could give free lessons and help people realize the they have control. She is transparent with her clients, telling them when she is tired or telling them about how much beer or chocolate she eats so they understand that she is no more perfect than them. Her tatoo says it all: "Release"

I went to a seminar on Mindfullness as well. It is a training in non-judgemental awareness. It is a process that helps you realize what you are doing so that you don't check-out of your own life and live it on auto pilot. By being mindful, you can learn to be present and experience and actually live. I love this concept and have mentioned it to some people about not doing things on auto-pilot. Really taking the time to enjoy a drive to the grocery store or my bike ride to class. Not spacing out allows me to see more things and enjoy more things.

I'm not really the healthiest person. I eat a good breakfast every morning, drink a lot of H20 and hit up the gym a few times a week. I do not get enough sleep, I eat pretty crappy the rest of my meals and I find myself stressed out so often I can feel it physically affecting my body. By seeing and talking with others about their health maybe this project will help me get more motivated to take more control of my own health.

Drink Water.