Main Project Design Review Report

Students have been thinking all semester about what they want to create for their main project this semester. They know their own time and cost constraints, and the only imposed constraint is that the artifact be dynamic in some way. For students who are still undecided, I have added a final constraint to narrow the possibilities: it must illustrate balance.

Here in this Design Review, students are expected to reveal

What will it say upon a first impression?
What will it do?
- How do these add up to aesthetic and functional specifications/goals?
List your inspirations (OK to cut/paste from prior blog). What are you adding that is new?
What will the hardest/trickiest/critical part be? The part where if it fails, your project fails.
- Do this first, preferably by March 2
Can you create a rough prototype including your critical component? Do it!
Cost estimate
Map out your timeline, including shopping, ordering, testing and revisions.

Personal Tattoo Machine

Joseph Graff

Introduction The sharing of ideas between individuals is a beautiful thing, but it has the potential to be rather difficult. Taking the idea in your head and adequately expressing it in words is the most direct and accessible means of expressing one’s own ideas, but the complexities and finer details of the idea can often…

Cafe Racer Final Project – Redesign

Chad Alvarez

I posted earlier how I was going to make a dynamic dart board but was still looking for a bike to build a cafe racer. Well… somehow at the last minute I was able to pick up a good running bike within my budget and now have the perfect platform to begin a dream project…

Liz Design Review

Elizabeth Whitman

For my project, I have decided to make an LED light fixture that is powered by an Arduino. Inspiration I have always really liked LED art instillations. I think they are very captivating and beautiful in their simplicity. For example, artists Jim Campbell creates LED instillations. Below is a picture of his instillation Scattered Light…

Design Review Report – Reactive Branch Divider

Daniel Rankin

For this project, I’ll be constructing a woven branch dividing wall that will be featured in the set of “Quantified Self”, a theatre production that some friends of mine are producing here at CU. The play takes place in a dystopian near future, and the aesthetic of the set is largely centered around something we’re…

Mirrorless rear view system design review

Shen Shu

BMW just showed a concept i8 called i8 Mirrorless at the CES. The car gets rid of the traditional rear view mirrors and adopted a whole new rear view system. The left and right rear view mirrors are now replaced with two cameras. The real time views of the left and right cameras and also…

LED Mirror Design Review Report

Yusen Ji

In my main project, I decide to make an infinity LED mirror. An infinity mirror has three main components: a standard mirror, an LED strip, and a one-way mirror. The way we achieve the one-way mirror is by applying mirror tint onto a piece of glass or acrylic. The mirror tint faces towards the standard mirror…

Project Design Review | Peter

Peter Brunsgaard

First Impression I decided upon a Space Age and Futuristic aesthetic while focusing on trying to highlight the levitation aspect of the motor. I want to try and replicate the large curvature of the SR-71 Blackbird and F-16 fighter planes, as they are two of the most iconic futuristic designs. SR-71 Blackbird F-16 Fighter Jet…

PDR: Nick’s Surreal Stirling Engine

Nicholas Flood

For my main project, I have decided to make a stirling engine. I’ve wanted to make my own for a while now, but never got around to doing it. Stirling Engine Example I’m a fan of surrealism (especially Dali), and I might try to incorporate that aesthetic to my engine. There are a lot of…

Blue Tooth Speakers

Erick Pena

For my project I wanted to work with speakers, but it seemed to simple and so I thought that it would be really neat to do a wireless speaker system. I always wanted wireless speakers but they wore all really expensive and I did not like how they look. By creating my own wireless speaker…

Nixie Clock | Design Review

Kevin Martin

Introduction Bold, elegant, simple, and retro. These are the first impressions I’m aiming for in my home built nixie clock. I’ve been obsessed with this archaic-yet-elegant technology for over a year now, and this project is my chance to finally dig in. My goal is to blend two polar opposite aesthetics- Cold War era “outdated”…

Brandon PDR Post

Brandon Boiko

Introduction For this project I am planning of building a bladeless fan. You may have seen fans like the one featured above. dyson is a company that makes many unique products. I like the smooth curves in conjunction with simply geometries that give their products a modern aesthetic. For my project I will attempt…

Levitation Audio Visualizer Design Review

Thomas Brunsgaard

Inspiration (from previous blog post): For my final project, I want to create a dynamic sculptural-like device that allows a user to interact with music in a new way. My initial inspiration for this project came from the original implementation of frequency spectrum audio visualizers. These visualizers break the audio spectrum in to discrete chunks,…

Design Review: A Living Room 3D Printer

Chip Bollendonk

Introduction Over the next few weeks, I will be designing* and constructing a 3D printer, focusing on an aesthetic which will fit in my living room or even kitchen. So many home-built 3D printers and printer kits are bare skeletons of extruded aluminum and rods, with tangles of wire harnesses and exposed components. While this is typically the…

Cold Brew Coffee Maker

Ben Yorkey

Initial Proposed Design What will it say? In the end, I hope that this piece says that the user takes his/her coffee seriously. That the individual respects the craft of the brew and that he/she is willing to take the extra time to brew the best cup of coffee. I also hope that it stands…

LED Ball

Shawn Sprinkle

I have wanted to work with LED’s for a long time so for my project I will be making an LED rotating ball. It’ll be a challenge for me as I have very little circuit and coding experience, but I am motivated to do well on this project. When I first saw an LED ball…

Design Review

Katie Hortik

First Impressions When I first began this project, I wanted to make sure that my personal style was obvious. I am a light hearted person who loves colors and gold. I talked about my art and love for jewelry in my previous posts. Jewelry, especially statement jewelry, is my favorite form of art because it…

Sand Picture PDR: Aly Badran

Aly Badran

Introduction: I have been inspired by the Sand Pictures frames for my final Project. Some call these frames as dynamic/moving sand or magic frames, they really are. As I introduced that I first saw the frame in the Denver Art Museum’s shop and that it was the art piece that resonated in my mind the…

Meridith’s Main Project Design Review Report

Meridith Richter

INSPIRATIONS: Trimpin is a kinetic sculptor and sound artist who visited the ATLAS Black Box theater last semester (Trimpin’s Website). He installs exhibits where embedded microcontrollers around the room and within different components send MIDI data back to his computer and digitally produce sound. Some of the components produce live sound as well, as a…

Main Project Design Review: Desktop Radial Engine

Brendan Warren

As I begin to finalize my design for the final project, the excitement is building. On first impression I hope for people to want to understand how such intricate relationships between parts work together to generate a seemingly simple operation, a spinning shaft. I have been designing my engine in a way to show off…

Alcohol Stove Design Review

Kenzy O'neill

I have chosen to create an alcohol stove following a modern and minimalist camping aesthetic. Since I was a little kid I’ve been intrigued by the designs of minimalist camping gear such as stoves, pots and pans, silverware, and multitools. This summer my buddy and I made some crude alcohol stoves from aluminum cans and…

Useless Joe’s Useless Box (Design Review Report)

Joseph Yoshimura

For my project I want to make something that I recently found out is called a useless box. What it is is a box that has a switch on top of it. When this switch is flipped a “creature” will flip the switch off and go back to hiding in the box. I’m sure that…

Carbon Fiber Expanding Table Design Review

Gardner Nichols

For my final project, I’m going to build an expanding table. As much as I’d like to build an expanding table with an intricate system, I’m going to keep it simple and completely manual. Again, I’m going to play on the aesthetic of mixing organic and inorganic materials and shapes that I explored a little…

Spider Toy: CDR/PDR

Tyler Smyth

COOL! That is what I want people to say when they see my final project. My overall goal for the Aesthetics of Design course is to fabricate a toy spider that can walk or jump across a table. I do not want to create a creepy realistic spider, in my mind that is boring. I…

Creating a Barn Door

Laura Bonney

The barn door can be an attractive and functional solution to the real challenge of dividing rooms where architecture and/or space don’t allow for a traditional door. For my class project I have chosen to create a barn door for my home, partly out of necessity and partly for the challenge. My guest bathroom…

Longboard PDR

Sophia Glik

PDR Presentation Video: https://youtu.be/4gHbGJgX8D8 What will it say upon a first impression? It will be obvious that it is a longboard upon first impression. What will it do? It will roll with humans on top. It should be strong, yet flexible for versatile turns and sliding. How do these add up to aesthetic…

Chad’s Final Project Design Review

Chad Alvarez

So my final project depends on a craigslist purchase in the works currently. In my inspiration post I talked about two ideas for my final project: a dynamic dart board and a cafe racer. After some further research I was able to find an affordable running bike within my budget that I can convert into…

Main Project Design Review

Jacob Mccormick

For my final project, I plan on making an engineering/aviation style set of wind chimes. Upon first sight the aviation aesthetic should really stick out, with either a model Super Hornet jet used as the bottom weight. It will be a functioning wind chime. My inspirations were the windy, windy weather in Boulder, along with…

Electric Guitar with Speaker

Ethan Gehring

When people see the outcome of this project there are a few things I want to come to mind: Rock and Roll Road worn Mismatched/accidental My intent is to make something that looks like it was put together in somebody’s garage or basement. It should be clearly a labor of love, something made out of…

Rock Em Sock Em Bicycle PDR

Daniel Moody

Introduction For my final project I am going to make the bicycle Hemingway would zip around with on his way from one post-apocalyptic Parisian cafe to another. It is currently dubbed the “SlickCycle.” A primary inspiration for my work is the feel and aesthetic of a punching fist, specifically Joe Lewis’s in the iconic Detroit art piece…

Macro Music Box – Design Review

Mathew Tabor

My final project is based on the concept of a children’s music box, the wind up kind that have been played for centuries (see below). I have a fascination with old school mechanical movement, anything from clocks to watches even to old pinball machines that don’t use electronics at all, but instead rely on complex…

The Electric Hourglass

David Holliman

Introduction For my main project, I intend to design and build an “electric hourglass”. The initial concept was to construct a custom wood stand and hourglass section in which a lighting display would imitate the movement of sand. However, this challenge seemed beyond the capability of the lighting options I found online. It was not…

Lazy Susan Kitchen Device (LSKD)

Alex Peters

When seeing this Lazy Susan Kitchen Device (LSKD), the user will think: “that is so convenient!” They will also think that this is an exceptionally useful and space saving Lazy Susan. The LSKD will act a rotating paper towel, spice, and kitchen utensil holder. It has four components: a base plate, a bearing, a frame/outer…

Ferrofluid Sculpture

Derek Sikora

For my final project I am making a dynamic Ferrofluid sculpture. I have been fascinated by ferrofluid ever since I came across it years ago in a lab and have always wanted to work with the stuff. There is an exhibit in the ITLL that continues to tease my interest every time I walk by. The…

Sami’s Main Project Design Report

Samantha Maierhofer

Inspiration (Taken from previous post) For my final project I knew that I wanted to do something with arrows. I learned how to shoot a bow with my grandfather when I was a child, and since then archery has become a favorite pastime of mine. For the upcycling project I considered using some old broken…

DIY Wind Turbine

Christopher Coffman

For my final project I have chosen to construct a wind turbine that I can actually use at my home. I came up with this idea from another one of my classes, where my group is creating a business plan for a hypothetical hydro turbine company. After doing plenty of research on small turbines, I…

Rena’s Final Project – Neo’s Parasol As An Umbrella

Rena Yang

Neo’s Parasol As An Umbrella Note: Most of this is from my previous post as I already planned out my report as of last week! The inspiration behind this idea is that I am planning on making this character’s entire outfit anyways for NDK. As background, this character is from the show RWBY and her…

The Wine Knife

Ryan Yankowsky

The final project I have chosen is to re-imagine a tool I use often, the server’s wine key. The classic server’s wine key (shown in the title image) has a classic high society feel with smooth lines, efficient function, and generally drab colors (maroon, black, dark green). I intend to reverse this feel, taking a…

PDR: Lugged Carbon Bike

Albert Como

What even is it? For my project, I’m building a bicycle frame. I’m trying to use a technology that was the cream of the crop during the late 80s and early 90s. Lugged carbon fiber. This process is essentially the use of metal to make the corners of the frame with carbon tubing adhered between…

Mechanical Buffalo – Conceptual Design

Sreyas Krishnan

After considering several possible ideas for dynamic, fully 3D-printed toys, including things like transformers figurines and twisty puzzles, I have settled on creating a mechanical buffalo crank toy. The buffalo will have moving legs, at minimum, that will be actuated by a crank to make it appear to be running. I will ultimately create a printable kit with…

Information Display

Dennis Can

First Impressions Upon a first impression, it should strike the viewer as an object that is futuristic and robotic, but there should also be a feeling of being old and outdated at the same time. If such a thing exists, the design should convey a world where heavy machinery has become automated and robotic. When someone…

Jeff’s Final Project Report: Locket

Jeffrey Gay

For my final project, I wanted to do something that was creative, functional, good looking, and challenge me to work with my hands. After hearing that the final project had to be dynamic, I immediately started to think of a half-baked project that I have been thinking about for the past year. Inspirations/What it will…

MIDI Drum Pad – PDR

Jakob Oreskovich

For my project, I’ll be designing a MIDI drum pad. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is just a standard of connectors, digital interfaces, and protocols that allow musical instruments to communicate with one another and computers. My midi drum pad will be able to sense when a drum head is being hit, and transmit that…

Interactive Map: Design Review Report

Elyse Skinner

For my final design I have decided to create an interactive map of Pearl Street. This would be a smaller model of a design that could be implemented on Pearl Street on a much larger scale. I want the first impression to be one of awe and curiosity. Similar to how Natalie talked about interactive…

Desk Garden: Minimal Care Required

Ashley Zimmerer

The Idea So as usual, I’m having difficultly sticking with an idea. Originally, I kind of wanted to build a living computer case. However, I don’t need another computer, and acquiring all the working computer parts I would need is going to be way too expensive for it to be worth it right now. I’m…

Immersion Wheel – Design Review

Jason Mcgrath

Upon first impression, the Immersion Wheel will seem rather mundane, because at rest it will not be very dynamic. The main component made of perforated steel may appear more like a tool for sifting rocks rather than to provide visual stimulation. The wheel itself will be nestled vertically on a sleek base, triggering curiosity and…

Design Review Report: Swing Bike

Brendan Lee

As I said in my design inspiration post, I plan on building a swing bike. A swing bike is a bike with an extra pivot on the seat tube, which allows the front and rear wheels to steer independently of each other thus opening up a dimension of agility and fun that normal bicycles can’t…

Design Review – Backlit Panorama

Roshan Misra

Introduction For my project, I’ve decided to do what I call, a Sunrise/Sunset Backlit Panorama. Upon first impression, the piece would simply look like a static piece of backlit wall art, but over time, the lighting would change to mimic the lighting outside. The most drastic changes would occur during sunrise and sunset. I really…

Design Review Report: Glass Writing Board(s)

Matthew Sturm

The vision that I have for my main project is to design glass writing boards for the hallways in the dorm that I live on campus – Andrews Hall. This hall has been my home since I started my first year at CU, and the community there has allowed me to become better and feel…

Fiber Optic Chandelier Design Review

Brittany Warly

I have slightly changed my design idea from a mobile to a fiber optic chandelier. My inspiration for this project is the many memories I have growing up, star gazing with my Dad in the backyard. Star gazing is something I have always enjoyed, as it puts things into perspective, reminding me how small…

Infinity Mirror Design Review

Rachel Grosskrueger

My goal for this project is to create an infinity mirror that follows a certain aesthetic theme which will really help add to the illusion of the mirror. With that, my teammate Sreyas recommended a “time” theme, explaining how time is infinite much like the infinity mirror. After many dead ends in creativity and uniqueness…

Design Review – Mechanical Clock

Nick Ortiz

For my main project, I would like to build a mechanical clock that functions primarily as an aesthetic expression and secondarily as a time-telling device. Originally, mechanical clocks functioned as an important tool to measure time. However, due to the proliferation of inexpensive quartz clocks, computers and cellphones mechanical clocks are too inaccurate (+/- 15…

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