Honours Project
As a final year university student, I am currently working on my honours project and balancing that with my dissertation. Here is a link to my project booklet PDF.
You can find my design process and any updates on my instagram page @g.des.ign
You can find my design process and any updates on my instagram page @g.des.ign
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RSA: Press Play
This year (2022), one of our design briefs was from the Royal Society for Arts. The brief was to get children learning by a more playful method than normal classroom activities. Here's a link to the full brief. My response was the 'Colour Synth'. My interest in music really helped me with this project.
I ended up creating a synthesiser box that uses colours to help children understand the relationship between music and notes. The synth used a mixture of Arduino and MaxMSP which is a sound engineering software. It has been one of my favourite projects so far as I really enjoy designing for fun ways to learn.
This is a light hearted video showing the main ideas and functionallity of the colour synth: https://youtu.be/UnDD25ZF8hY
Below are the boards that I came up with whilst doing this project
I ended up creating a synthesiser box that uses colours to help children understand the relationship between music and notes. The synth used a mixture of Arduino and MaxMSP which is a sound engineering software. It has been one of my favourite projects so far as I really enjoy designing for fun ways to learn.
This is a light hearted video showing the main ideas and functionallity of the colour synth: https://youtu.be/UnDD25ZF8hY
Below are the boards that I came up with whilst doing this project
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This was my final piece for this module. It uses an RGB sensor which connects to the Arduino. The Arduino then gets the results from the sensor and sends it to MaxMSP. MaxMSP then plays a certain note depending on what colour is under the sensor. There is also a motor that rotates the disc on top, taking inspiration from a vinyl player.
There are also knobs to modulate the sound. This is also done by sending the signal to MaxMSP which then alters things such as volume, filter eq, compression, and other things. The buttons at the side toggle whether or not a colour will make a sound if it passes under the sensor, allowing for dynamic beats to be created. |
I am very pleased with the final outcome of my project. It was a challenging process, especially when it came to getting MAX to work with Arduino, but I am happy with the results. Looking back, there are a few things that I would do differently in future projects, such as focusing more on the form and brand identity of the project rather than solely on the functional aspects.
In the future, I plan to focus on creating projects that are not only functional and innovative, but also have a strong visual identity and brand consistency. I believe that this is an important aspect of design and can help to differentiate a project from others in the market. Overall, I am proud of my project and look forward to continuing to learn and grow as a designer.
In the future, I plan to focus on creating projects that are not only functional and innovative, but also have a strong visual identity and brand consistency. I believe that this is an important aspect of design and can help to differentiate a project from others in the market. Overall, I am proud of my project and look forward to continuing to learn and grow as a designer.
Design For Living
In this module, we had the opportunity to use the DJCAD foundry facility. This was an excellent experience as it was so different to what we normally do at university. As I still wanted to include modern design methods in this project, I chose to create a cast out of a 3D printed design I created in Autodesk Inventor.
It was amazing to see how precise and clean looking the casts were after it was all polished. I was inspired by other brass designers to create a contrast by using a method called patination. This is where heat and certain chemicals are applied to the metal, which then oxidises it and changes the colour. I used a chemical compound which turned it a really dark brown/ black colour which contrasts really well with the golden finish on the outside.
My final piece was a set of bowls that fit together seamlessly but also look great separately.
Our pieces of work were then displayed at the local shopping centre in Dundee, Overgate, where STV came and interviewed my course leader and me. I had a great time speaking to the public who were all quite interested in the mini exhibition. This has definitely been one of my favourite modules so far as it was so different to anything else I’ve done.
It was amazing to see how precise and clean looking the casts were after it was all polished. I was inspired by other brass designers to create a contrast by using a method called patination. This is where heat and certain chemicals are applied to the metal, which then oxidises it and changes the colour. I used a chemical compound which turned it a really dark brown/ black colour which contrasts really well with the golden finish on the outside.
My final piece was a set of bowls that fit together seamlessly but also look great separately.
Our pieces of work were then displayed at the local shopping centre in Dundee, Overgate, where STV came and interviewed my course leader and me. I had a great time speaking to the public who were all quite interested in the mini exhibition. This has definitely been one of my favourite modules so far as it was so different to anything else I’ve done.
Atilier Maker
The brief for the maker module was very open, and we could decide to go down any route we wanted. I was in a group of 5, and we decided to go down wearable technology that aims to assist the visually impaired.
After doing user research via various methods such as interviewing visually impaired people, we obtained some very useful insights. One insight that we didn’t expect was that they often have trouble in their own home getting around without bumping into corners, tables, chairs etc…
From this, we decided to make a prototype device that has a proximity sensor on it and uses vibrations for feedback.
The goal of this device was to alert the wearer via vibrations if they got too close to an object, aiming to help give more confidence and ease for a visually impaired person walking around their own home.
I designed the housing for the electronics in Autodesk Inventor, and 3D printed various different models. I also wrote all the arduino code and did the wiring for the prox sensor and vibration module. Overall, I managed to get it to work fairly well, and I was happy with the outcome.
After doing user research via various methods such as interviewing visually impaired people, we obtained some very useful insights. One insight that we didn’t expect was that they often have trouble in their own home getting around without bumping into corners, tables, chairs etc…
From this, we decided to make a prototype device that has a proximity sensor on it and uses vibrations for feedback.
The goal of this device was to alert the wearer via vibrations if they got too close to an object, aiming to help give more confidence and ease for a visually impaired person walking around their own home.
I designed the housing for the electronics in Autodesk Inventor, and 3D printed various different models. I also wrote all the arduino code and did the wiring for the prox sensor and vibration module. Overall, I managed to get it to work fairly well, and I was happy with the outcome.
Skateboarding Magazine
This was one of the tasks we got given near the end of first year where we had to design a magazine on a given subject. I enjoyed this as it was my first-time using Adobe InDesign, I managed to pick it up quickly and found it fun using it. The front cover of the magazine is a photo I took of my hometown skatepark using my drone. I liked this as it made the magazine feel more personal and it was a different perspective on a skatepark.
I now use InDesign frequently and am very familiar with it. In third year, I was part of the team that organised our end of year exhibition. I used InDesign to collate everyone’s hero images and text description. I then worked with the print unit at DJCAD to ensure everyone had their work. This was a great experience as there were over 60 people taking part. The exhibition went really well and there was a great turnout.
I now use InDesign frequently and am very familiar with it. In third year, I was part of the team that organised our end of year exhibition. I used InDesign to collate everyone’s hero images and text description. I then worked with the print unit at DJCAD to ensure everyone had their work. This was a great experience as there were over 60 people taking part. The exhibition went really well and there was a great turnout.
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The image on the left side of the side of the spread is a stock image from Unsplash. I like how the magazine turned out however the left page is a bit text heavy and I could have done something a bit different.
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App Concept Sketch
This is a concept for an app that I created with soemone else. It was meant for people who wish to remain anonymous whilst talking about certain problems or issues such as mental health. We came up with this idea during covid, as peoples mental health was a pressing matter with isolation, social distancing, and all the other issues that were created by covid.
