Nissan!

So they may not be the most glamorous car manufacturer but our visit to the Nissan factory was certainly insightful. The factory in Sunderland builds and assembles four models of Nissan's fleet; the Note, Quashqai, Juke and the electric Leaf.

(Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures...)

"LEAF" as a backronym for "Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car" This is the first time I have heard of a 'backronym' and honestly I feel the term is just embarrassing... I liked it better when I thought they were just trying to emphasise their 'green credentials'.

One aspect of the factory I thought would be especially interesting would be the paint shop, after previously having been to the JCB factory and missing out on seeing their's... Sadly I still haven't seen what mysteries the paint shop has to offer...

Our guide did describe the process in depth, especially detailing how much cleaning is required to ensure the paint finish is perfect as it leaves the factory. One interesting thing we heard about was how Ostrich feathers are used to to siphon the dust from the  bare metal car body.

The sheer amount of parts and processes involved was surprising, and a lot of this was done onsite.
It is amazing to see how the thin rectangles of sheet metal can become a robust family car.

Robotics were used for about 80% of the production line. There were hundreds of machines all programmed and operated to do specific jobs; which were surprisingly, and sometimes unnervingly, quick. I now have a real appreciation for all the work that goes into not just designing the car but all of the processes and machines that help build them, knowing that these all have to be designed too!

Checks were carried out on vehicles randomly but very often, it was difficult to see where problems could arise - and at a cost of £3,000 per minute for a major issue, its understandable why there was so much emphasis on this.

Juke Nizmo - This model was released the day before we arrived so we got a good look at it fresh from the production line!

On a seemingly unrelated note, we visited an unusual museum on the way out...

Interesting Thing I Found.

“The first traceable concepts of environmental designs focused primarily on solar heating, which began in Ancient Greece around 500 BCE. At the time, most of Greece had exhausted its supply of wood for fuel, leading architects to design houses that would capture the solar energy of the sun. The Greeks understood that the position of the sun varies throughout the year. For a latitude of 40 degrees in summer the sun is high in the south, at an angle of 70 degrees at the zenith, while in winter, the sun travels a lower trajectory, with a zenith of 26 degrees. Greek houses were built with south-facing façades which received little to no sun in the summer but would receive full sun in the winter, warming the house.”

This fascinated me; we tend to think of environmental design as a new ideal, one which relates to stopping global warming and saving pandas by avoiding bamboo. It also led me to consider how innovative the human race has been and we see ourselves as having progressed since then, the technologies we have may be drastically different but perhaps we have not changed much, only our exposure. Could this be detrimental to us? I mean yes we can adapt new things but do we almost neglect the world around us in this strive for new? Should we almost seek to emulate the way of life of our ancestors and see how our perception of what is important changes?

I believe we find ways to design around our world rather than to embrace it, we try to use materials that are eco-friendly but should we actually do more to live with our world. What do you think?

Colour - The Science behind the Sense

 

 

This lecture was given by Ben Craven, it was probably my favourite so far, the subject matter and interactive aspects were insightful and memorable. We started off with the basics of lighting and colours.

 

How light can affect what we really see and the intricacies of how our brain transforms this is a fascinating subject. It was hard not be mystified by  how we were not seeing things as the colour they should be and the way common practices are dealt with by our eyes without us even realising. Dealing with shadow and seeing true colours of objects is a much more natural response than I anticipated.

 

I discovered that the process of seeing colour was rather simple yet well refined, how we see the different wavelengths and the cones in our eyes allow us to identify what we see as a full spectrum of colours. Yet to a pigeon, we are effectively colour-blind. I've never found myself wishing to be a pigeon until today... Imagine what a rainbow would look like!

 

 I have always wondered if the colours each person sees are truly the same, is your red the same as mine? Today I finally got an answer - NO! There is no objective reality to colour.

 

2 lights were set up, one with orange light and one made from a mixture of red and green light. To most of us these appear the same. Yet a red object placed beneath the mixed light appeared vibrantly red whereas it was a dark grey in the other.

 

Orange light was chosen for a reason. Our sensitivity to blue light means we all disagree when the lights are of the same colour. Then again our eyes do not wholly agree with themselves, the colours we perceive at the periphery and centre of our eye is not the same...

 

It was hard to believe that, with a black projection, taking away the light actually make the screen appear brighter... yet we all witnessed it and could not refute it.

 

Colours and how they affects us is a more sophisticated subject than it first appears. The power of red in attracting potential mates, even in modern humans, and the way it affects the risks we take is something I have looked into before. Adam Alter's book 'Drunk Tank Pink' follows similar experiments and is an enjoyable read - I would recommend! (Especially if you prefer small anecdotes to a hard-core fact filled scientific journal)

 

 Overall, there were some amazing insights and an inspiring evening; showing those tiny details you miss in everyday life. Maybe we should all try to find out more about the intricate ways in which we work...  

 

 

Open Source Design (by Dr Paul Smith and Roy Shearer)

What is Open Design? "Open design is the development of physical products, machines and systems through use of publicly shared design information."  However, open source design appears to have a changing meaning.

It has become relatively popular in recent years; especially with the aid of devices such as the Raspberry Pi and the accessibility of information.  

One example is:

http://www.designspark.com/eng/page/mechanical 

It offers: free software, competitions with lucrative prizes, a community, a way to better your skills and create things you would love to own, as well as the chance to be noticed for your efforts. What use is an amazing design if it never gets to be created? It also has a huge amount of instructions you can follow and amend - make whatever you desire :)

https://www.opendesk.cc/ Has an interesting take on open design as there is only input from a few designers yet the output is free to be used and altered. I like these products and feel this approach works well here

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A lot of designers are apprehensive and unwilling to embrace open design. I mean you go to university for years to study and want a decent design job at the end of it - shouldn't you get paid for this work and ideas? I mean you wouldn't expect a trained plumber to give his service away for free.... but is that really how it works? There are plenty of online tutorials on how to fix plumbing etc - yet plumbers still exist. So why shouldn't we be able to design and create our own visions? 

There will always be those who want new exciting things yet don't possess the skills or time to make them. Those who love discovering the nuances and personality of new products they've bought. Design work will still thrive.

There always has and always will be an element of customization and attempts to recreate products - who are we to say people shouldn't use individuality to create something they truly love?

I believe all this will make the design community a more accessible place and with a higher level of understanding, better user feedback and more resources. These just add that spark of competition which should drive designs to be better.

Maybe design would be better without the pretentiousness and exclusivity....

Could this affect how products are sold? Would just buying the instructions be enough?

Ikea hasn't destroyed furniture design but some brilliant visions have been created from it. 

http://www.ikeahackers.net/

Ikea still make money and people get exactly what they want. This gives Ikea the potential for them to see what users really want and adapt - so why not, it gets everyone involved and excited!?

 

 

The Formula for Good Design?

One of the most frustrating questions to be asked is 'Is this a good design?'. It is a simple question that encapsulates so much and is so subjective...

There are many qualities by which we can measure a design; does it fulfil it's purpose, does it look great, is it desirable, how will it last and so on. But these are more questions and are again subjective.

Good design is generally a combination of these properties. Yet there is one constant - good design must do something useful. whether it is useful in that it saves lives or it gives an impression of wealth makes no difference. A new, innovative product which does something not previously possible is always bonus though.

Here is one anecdote that made me think of my role as a designer.
 

3M designed a new glue which could stick paper to a flat surface, but it was not strong enough to do this for any length of time. This makes it seem like a defunct product... yet one of the company's scientists was in church and  realized that the glue could have stopped his bookmark slipping from his hymn book. Thus we have the advent of the Post-it note - a product most of us use daily!

So who really is the mastermind of the post-it? The team who created the glue, or the one who found a useful application. In my opinion, both of them and again this raises the question of influence vs. intention... 

There was no intention to create the Post-it note in that form and without that one man's influences would it even exist?

Of course we are led to believe most design is well intentioned and a process has been followed in order to create the best product available...

Maybe influence creates ground-breaking ideas and intention creates the best possible iteration of the time?

 

 

The Aesthetics of Technology

The Aesthetics of Technology by Hugh Pizey of GSA.

This presentation was very image intensive, it encouraged us to look at the aesthetics and examine why they are the way they are. These images were in chronological order and to me, showed the lifespan of the technology.

The products varied in style, colour, price etc. but all consisted of the same technology. There is an argument for the style of the time i.e. 'futuristic' looks different through different times and cultures.

Personally I feel these images showed the cycle of a technology. There seemed to be a common theme where a device would first appear, looking very segmented and geometric and more of a case for the internals than a desirable object. There would be a few more iterations where the device steadily gets more sleeker and beautiful.

Then the styling would start to follow current trends and themes, this would seem to be the start of it becoming cheaper and more accessible, no longer specifically for those who are well off and enjoy new technologies but more suitable for the masses.

The final stage seems to be when the technology becomes almost universally-friendly, it becomes small and more colourful, with only a hint of the technology it encases. Here we begin to see integrations of the technologies into other areas, it is almost as though the market widens to accommodate all potential users. Often becoming less like designed pieces and more like plastic toys. 

At this stage all of the various options are available and people are free to pick designs which they feel suits their lifestyle. I feel this 'life of the technology' is one which has repeated itself in many different products and almost mirrors Apple's incarnations of the iPhone.

I'm not sure if this was the intention but I could not help seeing patterns...