Bad Design is Inspiring Too
10+ Epic Design Fails That You Will Find Hard To Believe Actually Happened
Student Work
Students in Aesthetics of Design will be posting here about their work all semester. Please read and comment.
Links
Here we show examples of the intersection of engineering and art that have inspired us.
Material source for upcycling
They have a warehouse in Denver. Would be a good place to browse for an upcycling project. http://www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com/
Golden ratio sculptures
Spiral sculptures by John Edmark http://www.johnedmark.com/ Trained in computer science and then product design at Stanford.
Artist and Mechanical Engineer: Arthur Ganson
Also see the article in the April 2017 edition of Mechanical Engineering Magazine (for all you ASME members).
The Four-Letter Code to Selling Just About Anything – What makes things cool?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/what-makes-things-cool/508772/
Laser cut automaton
I wish I could give better attribution for this! Can anyone read the artist’s name?
Silver Swan Automaton 200 years old!
http://www.viralvo.com/silver-swan/ I wish I had any confidence that any of our current technology would still be working in 200 years!
Solidsmack
There are plenty of tech and design blogs out there, but this one seems well-curated, with frequent and interesting posts: Solidsmack
Product Design: 365 Knitting Clock makes time more tactile by making a scarf
Siren Elise Wilhelmsen is a Norwegian product designer based between Bergen and Berlin. She produces objects that challenge the concept of traditional functionality and transform natural materials into intricate mechanical objects. Through her practice she seeks to find ‘a conceptual way to stimulate ideas and discussions around our everyday objects, rituals and culture.’ Source: Product…
Steampunk vision of New York
“The Old New World” (Photo-based animation project) from seccovan on Vimeo. BY Alexey Zakharov
Bathtub to couch
Диван из старой ванны. Афигительно!! Posted by Видео БУМ on Saturday, April 2, 2016
Today’s Influential Designers
Unfortunately I cannot make it to class Wednesday to hear about today’s influential designers, but I thought I might share who’s work I find inspiring. I’d be interested to see who’s currently inspiring you too. I don’t find Martha Stewart terribly inspiring, but what other female designers are influencing product design? Marcel Wanders http://www.marcelwanders.com/ known…
Chairs of China
Since we’re talking about chairs as the classic design case study, I thought you may enjoy my chair book featuring the chairs of China. Some are up-cycled, some are at end of their life, all are rad. Have a seat and enjoy: http://www.blurb.com/b/6437590-have-a-seat
A dress with parking sensors…
Anouk Wipprecht integrates parking sensors and headlights into 3D-printed fashion collection from Dezeen on Vimeo. I wonder how big the battery pack is, how long it lasts and where it is in the dress.
99% Invisible – A Podcast About Design
I’ve been listening to this podcast for a while now, and it has quickly become one of my all-time favorites. If you love podcasts, design, history, interesting stories, or just some strange amalgam of them all, then you’ll love 99% Invisible. Recommended Episodes: – Episode 110: Structural Integrity – Episode 114: Ten Thousand Years –…
Marble Music Machine
I ran across this video and thought it was worth sharing. I think it is an amazing intersection of engineering and art. Enjoy!
Military Surreal
Several students chose military hardware as upcycle source material, and made benign objects from it, like Ethan Gehring’s nutcracker from a grenade casing, Shen Shu’s toy cannon, and Chad Alvarez‘s string of shotgun shell lights. Here is a full scale example from Kris Kuksi, a “post-industrial Rococco master”artist. Many layers of meaning here.
Dynamic tables
“Top 10 Intelligent Wooden Tables”. Fun ways to make the static table into something dynamic.
Yarn from plastic bags
My sister in law crochets grocery bags out of other plastic bags; very robust creations. This woman takes it further and makes fine thread.
Giant pinecones from shovels
From RecyclArt.org. Looks like a good site for upcycling inspirations.
Beer can costume
Someone in class mentioned that they had a lot of soda cans that they were thinking of using for the Upcycle Assignment. Here is an example of upcycling that I can’t find the origin of, but it looks like a Brazilian Carnival troupe: I found it shared on Facebook.
Rolling through the bay
Source: Rolling through the bay A wonderful example of upcycled outsider art. Scott Weaver created an elaborate sculpture of San Francisco, made entirely of toothpicks, around 100,000 of them. A ping pong ball rides on tracks through the sculpture, visiting sites of importance to the sculptor. I saw this at the American Visionary Museum in…
Enter the annual DWR Champagne Chair Contest
If you want to get started with a pre-course warm-up project, check out this competition for tiny chairs made from champagne corks and wire cages. Competition closes Friday Jan 8, 2016. Happy New Year!
Course
Everything administrative. Syllabus, lecture notes, assignment requirements, schedule and more.
Schedule
Movie Night
Lecture Notes etc.
32 Wrapping Up
Hi. I’ll try to collect all of the end-of-semester details here, in rough chronological order. Make a post for Monday 4/24 with your project name as the title. This will be a placeholder for your presentation video only, so your pod can comment on your presentation regardless of the state of your final blog…
31 Design Awards
Today we finished our discussion of contemporary designers by looking at Steve Jobs and Jonny Ive, and their shared design philosophy. Then we broke into groups to sift through a variety of design competitions, looking at the winners. 31 Design Awards
End-of-Semester Final Portfolio Template
Hello everyone! I would like to provide a written explanation to be used as a reference for creating the final summary portfolio for your project. What you can expect from reading this is how to create portfolio (not a post), apply a template, and some of the available features for customization. This is simply a…
30 Current Designers: Hadid, Pagani, Jobs
We are all done with sketching instruction. Now it’s up to you. Notice what you are seeing around you, and practice! Today we looked at the work of Zaha Hadid (‘Queen of Curves’), Horacio Pagani and Steve Jobs. In Jobs’ case we were able to talk about early influences and how they were expressed as…
29 Current Designers: Stewart, Rashid, Lovegrove, Behar
Today we looked at how to represent metal in sketches; neutral, desaturated colors and fake reflections, suggesting a photography studio environment. We also looked at the work of a range of current designers: Martha Stewart – what is unique about her work? Organized clutter! Karim Rashid’s biomorphic shapes Ross Lovegrove: Captain Organic. Rejects biomorphism/blobism/consumerism, but…
28 Glass sketching and Phillipe Starck
Today we looked at how to represent glass in sketches; show something inside the glass, show its refractive effect, its shadow and glossy surface. Then we started discussing current designers; who comes to mind. Just a few from students: Martha Stewart Dyson Apple; Jonny Ive Elon Musk David Kelly IDEO/Stanford D-school Martha Stewart and Jonny…
27 Chairs: Eames Lounge, Monobloc, and Beyond
Did some sketching; how to represent a glossy vs a matte surface. Watched a video about making the Eames lounge chair as an example of organic design that blends the production process with the ‘good host’ chair aesthetic. Contrasted the Eames lounge chair at $5000 with the Monobloc plastic chair at $12. 27 Chairs Eames…
26 Timeline to Chairs
Today we did some sketching of spheres, and then looked at the work of Charles and Ray Eames. Above is a video about the Eames lounge chair. 26 Timeline to Chairs
25 Golden Ratio
Today we talked about schedule, final expectations and Expo registration. See the notes for full details, but here is the registration link. Deadline is 1 week, next Friday! April 14. We will probably all be grouped in the DLC, so we can have group music. Each student should provide one song for a playlist, no…
24 Anthropomorphic and Geometric Aesthetics
Today we talked about the Magic Factor of 7, needed for planning time management. Also covered a bit about sketching horizontal cylinders, and then finished the anthropomorphic aesthetics. Covered the geometric aesthetics except for Golden Ratio; that will be Friday. 24 Anthropomorphic and Geometric Aesthetics
23 Color and Anthropomorphic Effects
Today we did sketching practice: ellipses, useful for showing horizontal circles in perspective. Homework: practice drawing ellipses, as many and as quickly as possible. Practice to correct your errors. Here is a link to some good exercises for drawing ellipses: http://mydrawingtutorials.com/a-drawing-exercise-every-beginner-artists-should-do/ We talked about color spaces, including HSB, RGB and Pantone. Went over a psych…
22 Stuff and Color
Today we went over the schedule (Pictionary Friday!) and looked at a couple of UPS videos: Black and Red Effects. Came up with some answers to “why aren’t all products black?” Also looked at some color nomenclature; brightness vs saturation, and complementary colors. 22 Stuff and Color
21 Aesthetics Game Redux: Timeline Engagement
Today we had team time, including application of the major 20th and 21st century design movements to everyone's project, and suggestions of other aesthetics in preparation for this week's post. Students were also invited to the Zotero online library for the course. Make yourself a login at http://zotero.org, then request to join the AeDes group....
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20 Guest Lecture: Sketching Instructions for Travellers
Today (3/10/17) Korkut Onaran (Principal, Pel-Ona Architects and Urbanists, Assistant Professor Adjunct, College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado, Denver and President, Colorado Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism) gave a wonderful talk on how he learned sketching, and the role of sketching in his architectural process. He brought us some new…
Wood is Not an Aesthetic
Neither is metal. Go deeper. I saw some excellent expressions of aesthetics in presentations yesterday, and I also saw students struggling to commit to, let alone express an aesthetic. Wood and metal are merely materials. Once formed, all artifacts have an aesthetic. Aesthetics bring meaning to the artifact, and this can work on many levels….
19 Streamlining to Post Modern
Here is the administrative info for today (Wednesday March 8, 2017): This Wednesday Blog: What are your top 5 constraints? Aesthetics should be one of them. Friday: Guest Lecture: Prof. Korkut Onaran (CU Denver, Urban Planning), pel-ona.com Next Monday: Prototypes are due! Must show aesthetic design. Does not need to function. Small scale is fine….
14 Adam Agee guest lecture
Here is a partial recording of Adam Agee’s guest lecture to the class on 2/24/17.
18 Art Deco and Organic Movements
A look ahead: This Wednesday Blog: What are your top 5 constraints? Aesthetics should be one of them. Friday: Guest Lecture Next Monday: Prototypes are due! Must show aesthetic design. Does not need to function. Small scale is fine. Same presentation rules and pods as last time, starting Monday. Report blog Weds March 15 Following…
17 Bauhaus and Beyond
Bit of admin: Please post your Upcycle presentations! A little advice on posting videos: Post your video on Youtube or Vimeo. Make the link to the video the first text in your post, and select post type to be video. Now your video will show up with a play button as a featured image. Also…
16 Art Nouveau
Today we discussed the moralism of the Arts and Crafts Movement, then looked at the Aesthetics (Art for Art’s Sake) Movement, and then Art Nouveau. Love those whiplash curves. 16 Art Nouveau
15 Ideation and Brainstorming
Most folks are closer to choosing their main project, so today was ideal to do a bit more ideation, to get over the hump into a better idea space, or be more sure of their current choice. We used methods from Thinkertoys; a linear method called False Faces, that challenged basic assumptions, and an intuitive…
13 Arts and Crafts Movement
Today Admin/schedule Team time History of design: 20th Century Timeline Sketching practice 13 20th Century Timeline
12 Taking Stock and Sketching
Taking stock: looking back at Upcycle, and ahead at Main Project Some sketching UPS on color Tonight: Between The Folds Wednesday Blog: Info for team building – what are your skill sets, and what are your personal aspirations (not inspirations)? What do you want to do when you graduate? What do you aspire to be?…
Upcycle Presentation and Report Requirements
Upcycle Presentations In class next week, all three days, we will have presentations in pods, groups of teams. These will be the pods for the rest of the semester too, so remember your pod assignment, shown below. Your pod has an assigned facilitator/timekeeper/session chair to keep things moving along. Locations for the presentations will be…
11 More sketching plus…
Today we went over the requirements for the Upcycle presentations and reports (those will be in a separate post real soon). We also did a little practice sketching basic shadows of boxes. 11 Supernormal Stimuli
09 Aesthetics Game
Today we played the Aesthetics Game. Teams drew a random object and applied a randomly chosen aesthetic, and made sketches on the whiteboards around the room. Some awesome mashups resulted! Very popular: the Mob Culture electric razor, and the Sk8r Shoe Toilet. 09 Aesthetics Game
08 Team Upcycle Discussion
We went over the schedule: All blog topics are listed there blog posts are due every Wednesday, critiques due every Sunday; one on a teammate’s post, and the other on anybody else’s post. If you are late with your critques, Michael may assign you to a post nobody else has commented on. We talked about…
TA Contact & Post Guidelines
Hello Everyone! As most of you are probably aware, my name is Michael and I am working as Professor Hertzberg’s teaching assistant for this class. I am making an effort to attend at least one session every week, time permitting, however I am always available through my E-mail if anyone needs help. The address on…
07 Sketching a block, and team behavior
Went over 0,1,2 and 3 point perspective, and then how to sketch a block. Based on Steur, Roselien, and Koos Eissen. Sketching: The Basics. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers, 2011. Then we listed to an excerpt from This American Life, #370, on how bad apple behavior (slacker, jerk, depressive) can ruin a group. 07 Sketching and teams
06 Process and Sketching
Today we talked about the design process, ideal vs real. Also looked at some design sketch examples, especially the ideation phase, where you make LOTS of quick little sketches. 06 Process and sketching
05 Sketching and Aesthetics Tour 3
Did a progress check on the Upcycle project. Most students (60%) have some idea of direction, but many are still looking. Did a little sketch/brainstorming, then the conclusion of the Aesthetics tour, including Arts&Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco. Plus glam, Gucci and Disney princesses. Pdf: 05 Aesthetics Tour 3
04 Critique and Aesthetics Tour 2
Today we talked about some posting details, and laid out the assignment for critiquing blog posts. Then on with the tour! Lecture in PDF: 04 Aesthetics Tour 2
03 Aesthetics Tour 1, and Upcycling
Today we reviewed definitions of art and aesthetics, and started looking at examples. We also spent a little time towards the end of the hour on what is upcycling. Lecture in pdf format 03 Aesthetics tour, Upcycling Lecture in OneNote format
02 Definition of Aesthetics
Plus Hertzberg’s Theory of Art: a vision instantiated. Lecture notes in pdf format: 02 Definition of Aesthetics
01 First Class 2017: Fresh again
Design, art, engineering: all iterative processes. This will be the third offering of the Aesthetics of Design course. The class is full, the students are eager, and I’m stoked to do this again: learning and presenting new content, expanding and honing what I already have, greeting students from previous courses and meeting new ones. Looking…
Is the Aesthetics of Design course right for you?
This is the letter I’ve been sending to students, both enrolled and waitlisted. The idea is to clarify expectations. Thanks for signing up for the Aesthetics in Design course. I’m writing to give you a bit more information about the course, and get you thinking about your design project for the course. An updated flyer…
Spring 2017 Enrollment is Open!
So excited to offer this again! There were a lot of changes and development last spring; I think we are getting to a good place with the course. Final tweaks will involve setting it in the context of our ME design curriculum for both grad and undergraduate students. Here is the enrollment info: Aesthetics of…
A Few Videos
Here are videos of a few of the class projects presented at the Engineering Design Expo last Saturday, April 23 2016, and at the ATLAS Expo, April 27:
24 Wrapping Up
Hi. I didn’t hear any screams of protest, so let’s go forward with the final page idea, due Sunday May 1 at 7 pm. Create a Page (not Post) for your work. Title it for your main project. It should have a featured image, a very brief description of the project (< 50 words), your…
Pattern Workshop by Kara Priest
We had two after-hours sketching workshops from Kara Priest, a local painter, portraitist and art educator. The first workshop focused on the human face, and on light and shadow, using pencils and shading tools. The second was on patterns, done with sharpies. We were given a number of skill- building exercises; repeating patterns to practice…
24 Current Designers of Note
Today we talked about current designers of note. Can’t use the term ‘modern’ designers; that gets you all the Mid-Century Modernists. ‘Contemporary Designers’ is a bit better, but focuses on clothing fashion. We listed famous designers, and then talked about Jonathan Ive, Philippe Starck, Martha Stewart, Karim Rashid, Ross Lovegrove and Yves Behar. Full Lecture…
23 Chairs: Eames Lounge, Monobloc, and Beyond
Today Workshop with Kara Priest: Textures and Patterns. Case studies: Eames lounge chair Ubiquitous Plastic Chair: Monobloc Updated schedule posted. Expo Registration is open now, and will close at 4:00pm on Friday, April 15th. Please register early. Register as an individual, or coordinate with your team to make sure space requirements will accommodate all of…
Tips on how to comment
Hi everyone! Prof. Hertzberg introduced me in class on Monday, but for those of you who didn’t catch it, my name is Thomas Briedis and I am taking over for Suchit as the TA for Aesthetics of Design. So far, I’ve read the posts and comments for the week before spring break and have started…
22 Chairs: Eames Lounge Chair
Today we had a bit of team time, and then looked at the first half of the 20th century furniture time line, using the Vitra Museum website. Then we looked at Charles and Ray Eames, and finally at the iconic lounge chair and ottoman. Full lecture notes:23 Timeline to Chairs
21 Timeline Engagement
Today we played the Aesthetics Game, but instead of the random aesthetics we used the major design movements of the 20th Century, as defined by Fiell and Fiell. Check the posts category Student Work > 2016 > Aesthetics Game > 20th Century design movements. We will continue presentations of the results on Wednesday. In other…
20 Pictionary
I wanted to give the opportunity to practice sketching concepts, so we played a home-made version of Pictionary in class. We had four teams of 3-4 students each (this was the Friday before Spring Break, after all). At first I used a ‘medium’ difficulty wordlist from the Game Girl. The artist from each team came…
19 Bauhaus and Beyond
Today we finished discussing the timeline of 29th century design movements. Everything changed around 1920; Modernism rose with it’s ‘less is more’ austere designs, lacking in ornamentation and cultural references. Now we live in the Post-Modern era, where the value of symbols in ornamentation is more appreciated. I had a lot of fun writing these…
18th lecture: 20th Century Timeline
Our current aesthetics are the culmination of influences stretching back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and beyond. Today we talked about economic, political and artistic influences from 1880 to 1930, when big changes happened. Full lecture notes:18 20th Century Timeline
17 Geometric Aesthetics
Today: Full notes here:17 Geometric Aesthetics All designers carry a sketchbook New TA starting next week: Thomas Problems posting video? Post to YouTube, then insert link. Clay workshop from Bernt Savig, local sculptor and art instructor. $20 per person in materials, modeling clay, armatures, tools. Options. Start with an Most Popular; I’ll arrange this for…
16 Anthropomorphic Aesthetics
Today: Full lecture notes: 16 Anthropomorphic Aesthetics Part 1, 16 Anthropomorphic Aesthetics Part 2 Last Presentations Shawn Sprinkle + ? Universal Principles of Design General Aesthetics 20 Aesthetic-Usability Effect Anthropomorphic Aesthetics 26 Anthropomorphic Form 34 Baby-Face Bias 242 Uncanny Valley 240 Top-Down Lighting Bias Included in notes, but not covered in lecture Face-Ism Ratio Waist-to-Hip…
Schedule
2017 Week Monday Wednesday Friday 1 Jan 16 MLK day, no class Syllabus, First assignments: Catme, blog, survey, then aesthetic, upcycle artifact Art History intro. Definition of Aesthetics 2 Jan 23 Upcycle examples, Aesthetics Tour 1 Aesthetics tour 2 Critique introduction Blog post 1 due: Aesthetic Explorations Sketching exercise, Aesthetics tour 3 3 Jan…
14 Color
We talked about a few design guidelines for using color, plus color nomenclature and color spaces, including RGB, HSB, CMYK and Pantone. Full notes: 14 Color Jason McGrath commented on the previous lecture w.r.t Pantone: Today (3/2/16) you touched on how industry tends to manufacture products in colors that follow Pantone’s color of the year….
13 Stuff and Color
Today (Friday 2/26/16) we had/covered 20 minute team time Housekeeping Schedule New text resources Universal aesthetics topics Red Effects It’s all here: 13 Stuff and Color
Build in Progress
Yesterday (Weds 2/24/16) we had a guest lecturer, Tiffany Tseng, tell us about tools for documenting designs as they are being created. In particular, Build in Progress looks like a nice tool that you might consider for this class. The design flow chart part will be helpful at a minimum.
12 Design Review Requirements and UPDes – Color
In class today we spent 5 minutes to set up typical week team meeting times, for trading labor. If you were absent, it is your responsibility to contact your team and get this done. A couple of other logistics: Please comment on Aesthetics Game post For examples of May 2014 projects see http://aestheticsindesign.blogspot.com/ This week’s…
11 Aesthetics of Design Game
What a blast! Today we played the following Aesthetics of Design game. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. RULES: Each team picks a slip of paper from two bowls. One lists an aesthetic and one lists an object. These are your assignments. Your team will have 10 minutes to sketch…
Upcycle Reports
Hi, here is what we talked about in class today; what the Upcycle Reports/Blog posts should have. Then we saw some stellar projects! I am so excited by the quality! Upcycle Reports/Blog Due Weds Feb 3 Set a Featured Image OK to cut and paste from Progress blog Describe your actual design process vs ideal….
Blog and Comments Policies
Based on the class discussion and voting, we have the following policies: A blog post will be due each week, Wednesday at midnight. If Prof. H. has not set a specific topic, blog about your progress on the current project. In weeks with a major design review due (CDR, PDR or Final), the design review…
05 Aesthetics tour concluded
05 Aesthetics Tour Conclusion Voted on comment policy (see next post), then Meet Your Team. If you were absent, contact your team immediately!
04 Logistics and more tour
04 Aesthetics Tour continued Much discussion of what comments are reasonable to expect, and what comments students are willing to make. Bring clickers, we’ll vote next meeting.
Idea Forge Resources
Idea Forge Info sheet 1.12.16 List of who's who, what's where, and when in the Idea Forge.
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03 Upcycle examples and Aesthetics Tour Continued
Lecture 03 Upcycle, Aesthetics Tour continued January 15,2016 Gave some examples of upcycling, using common or recycled materials for a higher value object. See the Links for other examples. Then continued the Aesthetics Tour.
02 History of Aesthetics
Today: admin stuff; ITLL and Idea Forge tour and workshop info. Then the History of Aesthetics, including the all-encompassing Hertzberg Theory of Art. Then we started a Tour of Aesthetics, to be continued on Friday. Many students wanted to see the rest of the Dance Vines 2015 video. 02 Definition of Aesthetics Lecture notes pdf.
01 First class
We went over the syllabus and initial assignments. At the end of the class I finally stopped talking and started asking questions: About half the class was familiar with WordPress as a blogging platform. Almost everyone has a clicker. I’ll bring a few to give out to the ones who need one (why doesn’t CU…
Initial Assignments
Initial Assignments pdf version Read syllabus, either hardcopy or online (AesDes.org). Return signed hardcopy syllabus agreement in class Friday January 15. Complete the AesDes Perception Survey by midnight Tuesday January 12! You will receive an email invitation from Qualtrics with a link. Your responses will be kept anonymous from me until after the end of…
Syllabus 2016
Syllabus2016 Pdf version Design is pervasive. The products of design surround us in all aspects of our man-made environment. More importantly, we also design our lives: every choice we make is an element in that process, whether conscious or not. The goals of design can be merely pragmatic; to optimize for best function, for minimizing…
Student posting guidelines
Post! Post! Post often! Do plan to describe your current project work at least once a week. Special posts will be requested for milestones like design reviews and other assignments. Outside of those requirements we are hoping that you will post links to interesting topics related to the course, and that you will comment freely….
Aesthetics of Design starting soon!
Aesthetics of Design is a course being developed at the University of Colorado Boulder by me, Prof. Jean Hertzberg (and thanks to Jiffer Harriman and Hunter Ewen, who co-taught with me the first time in May 2014). Grad and undergrad students from our Mechanical Engineering program, plus students from TAM and other programs will design…