Fling Machine

Our fling machine was inconsistent. The data wither was in the 60-100 inch range, or misfired and landed in the -20 to 20 inch range. Working with Jake went well, because we respected our ideas and were able to brainstorm many uses for the materials we were given. 

If we were to optimize the design, we would use a stronger base material to prevent bending, and thicker rubber bands to launch the cotton ball further. I don't think we can improve the effectiveness of the team because our team is simply this good. 

I think given the constraints of the fling machine, the teams solved the problem well for the most part. I think that the quality would improve given more time and more supplies.

Unit Conversion Project

For our presentation, in an attempt to teach unit conversion, we decided to make it in the Major League Gaming(MLG) parody style. Originally, we had lots of animated GIFs, but the sheer quantity crashed the presentation. Unfortunately, this meant the final presentation was more static than the one we originally put together.

Color Theory

A color wheel is defined as a selection of logically arranged hues. The primary colors red, yellow, and blue, are combined with each other to produce the secondary colors orange, green, and purple. Those colors are then combined with the primary colors again to form the six tertiary colors: red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, green-blue, blue-purple, and purple-red.

A color scheme is defined as a selection of colors which are arranged together for the purpose of design. Examples of color schemes are: monochromatic colors, analogous colors, complementary colors, color triads, and split complementary colors.

A monochromatic color scheme is composed of varying hues of a single base color.

Analogous colors are next to each other on a color wheel.

Complementary colors are colors, which when combined, form an achromatic hue(black or white).

Color triads are colors which form an equilateral triangle around a color wheel.

A split complementary scheme is a variation of a complementary scheme, in which instead of the color opposite, the colors analogous to that opposite color are used.

Multiview Sketching

1. The purpose of construction lines are to preserve dimensions across different views. The purpose of object lines are to define the shapes of objects and to reveal hidden portions of the object.

2. Hidden lines and center lines help reveal hidden aspects and proportions of an object in a particular view, and give the object in question depth.

3. The view shown in number 2 was a perspective view, as all the lines converged into a single vanishing point.

4. The view shown in number 6 is an isometric drawing. All the angles shown are 45 degrees.

5. Multi-view drawings enable quick and easy construction. Pictorial drawings often have details missing or distorted. With a multi-view drawing, objects are flat, detailed, and in proportion across multiple views.

Project: Mini YC

In my presentation, I outlined the problem, that I never have money to build cool things, and presented a solution. My approach would be a democratically controlled money collective, in which members would contribute money and vote on ideas. The full presentation is here.

Interview With a Designer

During the interview, what stuck out to me the most was that start-ups and tech companies differed in structure. In some, designers are in charge, while in others, engineers are. I had never envisioned that there would be different groups within the companies, and thought that everyone just magically got by in peace and harmony. So that was a surprise to me. What also popped out was that the designer we interviewed did not go to college. That would make sense, as there would not necessarily be many applicable degrees at his time.

Concept Map

The problem which I wanted to delve deeper into was that of money; namely that as students, we never have any spare money to spend on cool gadgets or projects.

I explored different ways to obtain money for ideas, including venture capitalism, just earning money through fundraisers or a job, grey-area illegal activities, and lastly setting up a collective grant system.

Problems to be Improved

• The current school website is outdated, ugly, and above all confusing to navigate. Kind of a bad sign when it takes 5 minutes to get to where you want, and even then it's in a completely non-intuitive place.
• The SchoolLoop app, ported directly from iOS, is  hideous, nonfunctional, and poorly optimized. Contrast these: 
  
• Finally, personally I have had many ideas which I thought would be quite interesting to build and test, but I have never had enough money for them. However, researchers seem to be quite well funded. I wonder where they get their money...

Lines

I drew my Nexus 5 in Inventor, making sure everything was proportional and as accurate as I could get it without a ruler.

This week, I learned that lines can communicate feelings of serenity, anger, sadness, happiness, and many others. The shape, shading, and composition of a line determines what people can feel while viewing it.

Diana said that my lines were very 'sketch-like', and generally conveyed a clear idea of what lines were where, and how they were used.

Self as Designer

As a designer, I would see myself as not especially good at drawing, but as better with words. During this class, I would like to learn to better be able to express my ideas through the methods of writing, drawing, and CAD usage.

Product Improvement

For the project, Austyn Coffill and I chose to improve paper, as it was the first thing that popped into my head. In improving this product, we brainstormed the weaknesses of paper. Namely, paper is vulnerable to water, fire, and tearing. We chose to address those weaknesses directly and not to add any unnecessary bells and whistles, since paper is, after all, just paper. To make the product fireproof and waterproof, Austyn and I made the paper fabric out of a blend of denim and cotton, like that used in US treasury bills. We also treated the fabric with an alum-based solution to make it fire-resistant.

Bridge Project

9/8/2014: Bridge Project

As I came to this project late, I don't really have any clear cut answers to the first two questions, though I do have some as of yet unformed opinions. As for the third problem, though, I believe a successful team encourages its members to generate ideas, and integrates them. It is important, however, to ensure quality control in a democratic way. If I were to start this project over with the same team from the beginning, I think I would have attempted to push forward a more elegant and refined design. The current design, while extremely stable and strong, seems to me like a brute force method to the problem, costing an enormous amount of resources and time-in other words, unlikely to get approved by government officials.