Danika Designs

2008-12-16T00:16:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-16T00:08:00.000-08:00

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....

2008-11-23T22:26:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-18T00:05:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-10-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-10-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

Pop-Up Modular Housing

The real issue was deciding who actually needs emergency shelter quick and easy. It isn't people in western culture that can be put up in schools and churches or go see relatives...it is the people who are in rural areas where their entire community is destroyed and they need somewhere to stay until they can get more permanent housing constructed.
These communities need a easy-set up/self deploying structure that will provide them with safety from the elements. With this in mind my team and I started brainstorming.

Brainstorm Session 1:
From this we took our tons of ideas and shrank them into a more organized way to view the options for how to make this device. We organized all the main functions and all the possibilities into a morphological chart.

Morphological Chart

From this we started prototyping tons of ideas including housing that used bungees to pop up the structure, to balls that could be rolled and then collapsed into half dome shelters and string pull mechanisms.
In the end we settled on what seemed to be the most reliable solution that met the needs of the victim. We really wanted something that required no tools to set up, very little human power to open and was reliable enough for more than a few days of relief. We wanted it to be something a family could stay in for a few months while they built their home back along with their community.
We created a 1/2 size model of the regularly 8 x 8 x7.5 ft structure to test its ability to collapse and ease of deployment. The model was made of out PVC, bolts, and bungee cords in the vertical members to help force the structure into its open state for easy deployment.

1/2 size Model Set up

1/2 Scale Prototype Collapsed
Collapsed Structure: Sketch by Danika Patrick

Starting to Open Structure: Sketch by Danika Patrick
3rd Step in Deploying the Structure: Sketch by Danika Patrick
Open Structure: Sketch by Danika Patrick
In general though, the 1/2 size prototype had its flaws but the concept worked. It seemed to be a very good product that had potential for real life use. It is light weight, easy to manufacture, collapses small enough to be carried similar to a bundle of woods, expands with ease and can be modular to fit different families. It would be a shelter you could get the day after the disaster that would protect people from the elements and give them a place to be safe till more permanent housing was created.

My Team included Minjeong Kim & David Goligorsky.

2008-10-05T23:26:00.001-07:00

The Beauty of Uncertainty...

We discussed this week about the importance of being OK with uncertainty. It is problematic if a designer goes with their initial instinct and doesn't spend time thinking of the problem ftom multiple angles and prototyping these ideas. This problem stems from the power of iterations and building upon other designs. If you skip this step you limit the solution too early.

I'm an engineer....always have been and it can be seen in my methodical layouts, need for lists and urge to define. I don't let it limit me. I just do my best to sit it aside until a point along the way when the ideas are numerous enough that the solution really will be the best option.

Until I reach this point, I let my mind use other people's ideas to spark hybrids. I'm pretty sure when working on the self-deploying emergency housing we went through at least 40 ideas, all of which were slightly related but unique in their solution. The final concept we are working doesn't look like our initial prototypes but the background sure can be derived from them.

A great exercise for designers is to start the design process with voicing the most ideal situation whether it is technologically possible or not. This usually sets high goals for the project forcing iterations, development and challenging of the idea.
-What is the ideal deployable housing?
A 3 x 3 cube that slowly unfolds into a 7 x 7 x 7 shelter.
-What is the best way to solve the gas crisis?
Teleportation
-What is the best way to make a home video?
Camera inset in contact lens so it doesn't hinder your ability to enjoy the event

It certainly sets the bar high and gets the excitement running.

2008-09-28T21:17:00.001-07:00

Reflection 1: Mind Mapping Design

I think the whole PD crew of 2010 has been having problems fielding the question of what exactly we are studying. I've gotten responses to"I study product design" ranging through the following:

1) Are you like an industrial designer?
2) So you are a fake engineer?
3) What exactly do you design?
4) How do you study design?
5) Oh like fashion design?

etc...

So for this reflection my mind map includes all the different things I have been using for answers to the question of "what are you studying at Stanford?"

I'm getting a better feeling for what the goal of the product design program at Stanford is all about. Its not clear cut, which is the beauty of the program. Everyone of the 13 of us are completely different with a diverse range of goals, ideas and knowledge.
Here is my first written attempt at the definition, but ask me again in a week, it will probably have changed.

"What is product design?"
Product Design at Stanford is the education of the theory of design that can be applied to problem solving for anything from household products to world hunger. It is a combination of engineering, art, business, psychology and everything else under the sun that influences how people live their lives. I am studying human values and the needs of society to help me design more well rounded, thought out products that will work better and are more sustainable in order to create a brighter future for the user.

I'll keep working on it.

2008-09-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

DP0 - Dealing with the data divide and how to handle the influx of digital photography.

What do people do with the thousands of photos they have stored in photos on their hard drive?
Do they ever actually look at them again or share them?
Do the stories get lost when looking at others photos online without them being present to detail the context of the photo?

Why do people take pictures in the first place? They take them to brag or show others the things they have done. People can share memories with others who may not have been able to have the same experiences or they could be using photos to reminisce about past times together.

Everyone is different in how they use their old pictures. The photo scrolling picture frames are a new way to display a select few of your photos. Some people post pictures online or print their favorite photos for albums. Others may take on the task of scrap-booking their best pictures of their memories.

As one of the later, I scrapbook my memories, trips and adventures to share with others. It is still a burden on others though and convincing someone to take time out of their day to look at my scrapbook is intense. Pages and pages of my life and me trying to explain all the great moments. Though it comes in most handy when someone is planning a trip somewhere I have been and I have a map, photos and receipts detailing what I did making recommendations easy and trustworthy.

How do you show people your photos, share your memories without DEMANDING their time?

The Memory Deck:

A compact assortment off all your favorite photos that you can take with you and friends can see without you offering.
"Hey wanna play cards?"
"Sure"
"Oh cool, you've been to Prague!!"

Its a non intrusive way to share files, memories in a fun environment.

Decks could be associated with specific times as well:

Euro Deck
Baby's 1st Deck
Roadtrip Deck
Springbreak Deck
Family Deck

Reflections:
I liked the idea and the prototype got the point across. The product could easily be designed and implemented.

Things I liked:

Cards are intrinsic = no explanation necessary

Things I would do different next time:

Make cards exactly regular card deck size with rounded edges.

2008-09-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

Gaudi: 1852-1907

I chose Gaudi to do my presentation on because I wanted to emphasize my love for natural lighting and the use of good design in aesthetics. Its amazing when something can work well and look great at the same time.

The cascading colors in Gaudi's work was beautiful. The texture given by the tile alone showed his technique and artistic views but combined with the ability to draw in light made an even greater impact.

I think he emphasizes the concept of Art & Design that the PD program at Stanford with the Engineers & Fine Art students working together exemplifies.

Gaudi Quote: "Everything comes from the great book of nature."

Words I like to use to describe him:

Imagitiveness
Freedom
Individuality

Photos from the inside of Casa Batllo built 1905-1907 and still stands in Barcelona, Spain.