Aesthetics Of Design Portfolio: Daniel Carranza Valenzuela

My experience when it came to taking this Aesthetics of design class has been a wild but satisfying journey, and yet I know that I can still make some improvements. At the start of the class, we knew that we had to make two projects, one being an upcycle project and the other being the final project, with each being based around a type of aesthetic of my own choosing. For each project, I wanted the final outcome to be that the artifact had to serve a functional purpose within my own life, meaning that I should in theory, make an artifact that does work, I should use it in my own day to day life. 

Over the scope of the class, I think that I was really able to identify some aspects that happen to be part of my own aesthetic, and I was able to use my knowledge that I learn about my aesthetic through the early blog post to narrow down aspect that I happened to infuse with my product design that fit my project the best, though I would stay that didn’t come with challenge and grey area that I still have yet to answer on my own, but I feel that this class was able to set me along the right path if I choose to go further in my own exploration of my aesthetic and artifact making. 

Below are some bit of information that happened to sum up what I happened to work on throughout the year regarding the two projects. 

Upcycle Project: Ethernet Key Door Holder Rack

For my upcycle project, I happened to build a key holder that is mounted to the back of my door, similar to that of mounts that hold towels on the back of a bathroom doorway, but inspired by the design language of 1970s computers systems and electronics of the era. This artifact happens to be an old, non-functioning (probably) network security system, to metal hyco bars and a variety of color ethernet cables. Rather than just having a plain key holder, it serves to give pop to and have it relative to something that I am familiar with, that being technology. 

Building off the aesthetic of 1970s Electronics I chose to paint the main unit a neutral cream or gray so that it matches all Macintosh computers such as the Apple II  or older Super Nintendo systems of the late 1980s or 1990s. To pair with that I happened to choose a connector that has been around for a similar time that being the ethernet connector this was also chosen because of its property of being able to hook on and stay put and detach from the system when  wanted by the Press of the lever at the top of the header of the  cable.  all this culminated to have a piece that I feel captures vintage technology and happens to be placed and inconvenient spot as that’s one of the last places that I get to view before heading out the door so no longer will I be without my keys.

For more details, visit: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/02/18/vintage-technology-key-rack/

Final Project: Low Profile Microphone Boom Arm

For my main final project, I made a low profile boom microphone that is custom made to the dimensions and length of my current Table that I have in my apartment. I used cat software, specifically SolidWorks to make a mock-up model of the parts I would need to assemble in order to bring my project to life in tandem with the Markforged 3D printer.

The material chosen happened to be Onyx which is just a combination of Nylon and bits of carbon fiber.  The default color of this material happens to be black and this lean towards the aesthetic I was trying to go for that being minimalism. Overall I think that the prince were able to fulfill the function that I wanted to do with that being that they take a minimal amount of space and are compatible with my minimalist aesthetic though I do know I have a lot of improvements that I want to make going down the line. 

 For the reasoning and build process how I did, this is it the following: https://www.aesdes.org/2025/04/26/low-profile-microphone-boom-arm-the-what/ 

https://www.aesdes.org/2025/05/02/low-profile-microphone-boom-arm-the-how/