Hey!
So I’ve been working on my Chindogu, and I’m almost done! And I feel pretty confident about it!
Here are the pictures, enjoy them! My guitar slider device fits like a glove around my guitar neck! So all that needs to be done now, is to make the slider. And then it is complete!
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I felt like this when I got it done today:
So, the last couple of days I’ve been busy with my Chindogu. really busy. But I’m making progress! Ive been working with wood, and its not been easy.
I messed up a couple of times, but i got the hang of it while I was working. And that is fun, learning while doing! Here are my pictures taken from my iPhone of what I’ve created so far.
Im stopping my work for today, since I have to wait for some glue to dry, and I’ve been standing in my cold, cold, COLD garage for 5 hours now, shaping the material!
Enjoy!
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Allright, currently I’ve been really busy with a Chindogu. The Chindogu assignment is kind of our exam in a way. This assignment is by far the biggest and most challenging assignment I’ve had in my history as an Graphic Designer. If you don’t know what a Chindogu is, here is the web definition:
The onslaught of crazy and normally impractical inventions which are introduced into the Japanese consumer market.
My idea is create a Guitar slider device. But its not with an easy mind I’ve come to this conclusion. We have been working for weeks with developing ideas for what we could make for a Chindogu. I had literally almost gone crazy over finding a good solid idea for this. We have had several presentations, where we present sketches and ideas. And it was very inspiring to watch my classmates ideas and thoughts around what could be a good Chindogu! My biggest challenge regarding the Chindugo project is finding an idea that is useless enough. So far I’ve come up with ideas that are either too commercial or to smart for being a Chindogu. One of the golden rules of a Chindogu is that it has to be non-profiatble. So I can’t earn money of my ideas. And when I say too smart of being a chindogu, I mean that its not really a chindogu – Its more helpful than useless.
But I’ve landed on my Guitar Slider Device. I do not have a final product name for this yet, but it is a name under construction. Basically what the Guitar Slider does, is sliding on your guitar strings. And you just have to tilt the guitar up and down. And this can look good when you’re playing a live show. (Ill show some blueprints in the slideshow below) This slider effect can come in many different forms. Im currently working on some new drawings for what could be a slider. My idea is to create 2 – 3 different attachable slider devices that can be dismounted. And all you have to find your slider sound, and go for it! I went to get my supplies yesterday, and it was fun actually! When I was walking around the stores I saw so many funny things that could help me improve the Chindogu I’m making. So i went on and bought some unexpected things. If you’re making a chindogu yourself, I recommend you go to Panduro, Clas Ohlson and some hardware store. I got all my stuff from these stores. And I’m really satisfied.
Ill be working at home on Wednesday and Thursday. And I’m kind of exited! I feel confident in my idea and I can visualize the whole thing in my head. Thats usually a good sign! Im lucky that I have all the tools I need at home, which is quite a lot actually. I already made all measurements and I’ve drawn up what needs to be done. Somehow, this is going to be a big challenge for me. Ive never ever done this kind of work before. Ive made some tree houses when i was a kid, but that is about how far my knowledge goes – when working with wood ofc. But I’m confident!
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Two weeks ago, we had kind of an “warmup” for this years semester at school. All the Graphic classes got together and worked on around the subject of waiting. The first week we had to look around for what we could do around waiting, and what kind of projects we could develop around it. The 1 & 2 graders where put into groups of 4 people. While the 3 graders where functioning as our guidance councilors. We asked our self questions of what waiting really is; Like is waiting for the bus the same as waiting to fall in love? What are we really waiting for? What is worth waiting for? What could I do while I wait? Lots of stuff where we had to find answers to difficult questions.
During that project, we also got some homework; Document everything you see that has to do with waiting on your way to school. So basically, take pictures of what we see that is waiting. I decided to make a twist for this homework, and I started to draw in my sketchbook while i was waiting. So on that monday we got the assignment, i started to draw whenever I had to wait. I use about 1 hour to get to school in the morning, and I spend about 30 – 40 minutes on the bus during that time. So what could i draw when I was at the bus, on my way to school? My sketchbook resulted in many good drawings, and i feel like i Improved a lot! Its was a bit funny though, when I was at the subway or in the bus drawing. there was always people looking what I was doing. I felt a bit artistic every time I dragged my sketchbook up for some drawing. And every time there was a person next to me, looking on what i was doing! In the slideshow below, you can see some of my sketches that I’ve made during my waiting!
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But, the last week of the project, we had to come up with a concept around waiting. We had to at least present 5 Ideas / concepts that we could imagine ourselves working on later. We had a big presentation at school where we could see each others works. And that was quite fun! So many cool and crazy ideas!
My group and I had an idea about how people all around the world could wait together. By using live TV screens from all around the world. So as an example – people in London could watch people in Paris and the other way around. And all by waiting together. People could wave to each other, or speak to each other. All trough this live screen. And since its all public, the “ChatrouletteJerkingOff” part of it goes away. I made an animation in After Effects, that explained the idea.
http://vimeo.com/36298585 – Check out the video here! 
My group and I won a bottle of Champaign for the best concept -proudmoment- And that was really fun!
Hello everyone! Sorry for a late update, but I’ve been busy! Really busy!
Lately I’ve been working a lot with vectors in Illustrator, and I feel like I’m improving a lot! Ive been putting all my focus on the technical part of Illustrator, where i try to improve my shading / coloring skills.
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Also, i completed the “Lazy Sunday Project” I wrote about a couple months ago, and I’m really happy with that! Enjoy!
Hello friends! This will be my very last post for 2011. And I think you’ll enjoy this!
2011 for me has been a very turbulent year for me, with many upsides and some downsides. Ive been working on a lot of projects this year. Many school related projects and many personal projects. When i work with school related projects i wanna try my best, explore new things, come up with a better idea than the last one. But when i work on my own projects, I often look away from those things and draw whatever comes in mind. its quite relaxing also, spending hours listening to music and just draw. I always have a side project going on, but i don’t always have the time to complete them.
These last drawings are a mashup between most of the “private projects” i have. So I hope you enjoy this! Most of the material, has never been seen by anyone else than a couple of friends and myself.
To my family and friends, thanks for all the love and support!
Happy new year!
Aleksander Schipper
The iterative user-centered design process:
The iterative design process goes by several names, depending on the field wich the process is applied, the name used most for the Web design field is “iterative design process
3 steps in iterative design process:
First we start off with an idea, and we make that idea. Putting an idea into realization. When we are finished with first part, we have to test it. Look for holes, and flaws with original idea. That’s why we test it. When we know what’s wrong, or what could be improved with the idea, we can redesign it. For a better user experience.
Its always important to improve. You hear it all the time; “How can I improve myself?” or “what’s it going to take to improve this business” etc. Testing our design / idea is really important for a better user experience. Also a crucial step is to analyze the user needs. What kind of Web site are you really making? Ask questions to yourself, who am I making a website for? And who is going to look at it?
The Strategy
Defining a strategy:
Some important questions you may ask yourself before beginning a new web project are
- What do WE want to get out of this product?
- What do our users want to get out of it?
My answer to the first question is like this:
As a creator, I want to learn more. I want to see flaws and holes. I want to see good sides as well as bad sides. I want to know exactly what people want. What they expect and what they need. And so on. So for my part as a creator I need to gather information, and some experience as well. So what do I want? Knowledge. But ill have to gather that knowledge that is the most appropriate for my vision of my final product.
And second answer:
For our users, what do they want to get out of it? This question can be answered in so many ways. It totally depends on what I am making. Lets say I want to target a group of users, lets say for example photo enthusiasts. I have to know my way around what they know, and the things they don’t know, about photography. So I have to appeal to their field of interest. If I can build a website, strong enough with information and stuff that might interest a photo enthusiast. Ill hit my group of interest. And my site satisfies the users.
So basically become you user groups hidden boyfriend / girlfriend / stalker
User Needs:
So designers has a good talent to fall in to their own design, and thinking that that design fits the purpose of the task in the best way. That is not always correct. We have to create something that fits the user needs. And the users are mostly not the designers. As the book says:
“We’re designing for other people, and id those other people are going to like and use what we create, we need to understand who they are and what they need”
Users can be a wide range of people, and a wide range of people doesn’t have the same ideas and thoughts as us. So you have to know your users, and they don’t have to know you. So we have to define our users, ask them questions. Get to know them really well. As I said, become a boyfriend / girlfriend / stalker.
Also, you can separate your users into smaller groups. When the author talks about “User Segmentation” he points out that you don’t have do divide your target group into different segments by demographic criteria’s. (Age, gender, lifestyle, education, life-situation and so on) But you can also divide them into different segments by looking for psychographic profiles. Psychographic attitudes and behavior that is the foundation of our target groups view on the world. So basically not by looking at our users demographics, but also look at how they think, how they view the world and how they choose to interact with it.
So by creating a web site, we have to look at our users. What is their attitude on the Internet? How much time do they spend surfing around? What is their opinion on a good website? What kind of platform do they surf the Internet on? Iphone, a computer or at a friends house? We have to ask questions to find out what their attitudes and behavior around the web platform we want to create something on is. By knowing these things, it is most likely that our project will succeed.
Also in addition to demographic and psychographic criteria’s, we have to know how much the know about the subject of the matter. So if I am creating a design site, with all kinds of stuff around design. And this site is for students. I can then expect that a design student have more knowledge about the subject than a group of law students, and the other way around. So if I want to create such a design site for law students, I have to make another approach. Where I have to explain the basics and where they feel like they can learn.
User research:
Understanding your users is very a crucial and important part of making your product succeed. User research can come in many different forms, such as surveys, interview or focus groups. But this technique only gives general information, and doesn’t really go in the depth of a user research. Test or field studies can give a more in depth and give better understanding specifics of our users. Getting a deeper understanding of your users can be very rewarding, but I can take longer time. Getting a general understanding can in some cases be rewarding, but not always the understanding you want.
Contextual inquiry gives understanding of your user in their everyday lives. Anthropologists use these techniques to study cultures and societies. But these techniques can also be applied on a smaller scale. For example this technique can give answers on how a foreign tribe functions, but it can also be applied to give a understanding on how people function. Basically trying to find out how a group of people functions, and trying to get an understanding on how and why they make the choices they make. But also how an individual person acts and functions.
The Scope
Knowing how my process can give results in the project is a crucial part. Knowing what I need and what it takes to get from point A to B. And what the rewards are. A process is valuable because it gives the chance to look for holes and flaws and trying to think differently while everything is still on paper. Playing with ideas and looking for creative solutions. It also helps to know what I know I can make, and what I might have to wait with until later.
The product is important because it provides the answer on how I can make things related to this project in the future. This is where I am able to talk about my product
Know what I’m building, and what im not building.
When working in teams of designers, project managers and engineers its hard to know if everyone is sitting with the same idea in their head. When someone presents a task to me, or a new project where I have to create. I get an idea in my head, where I visualize everything. Some ideas come later on in the project, but at first I have a visual vision in my head. But if im working in a group, and I present my idea to them. How can I then know that they are sitting with the same idea as I am? If I ask you to think of the colour green, how can I then know that you are thinking of same green colour as I am? The exact same green?
Underway while im creating, there always pops up new ideas and features that I cant let out of the project. Ideas that can lift the project up, or ideas that I think are cool to make. Those ideas might be good, and inspire me to make something new. But are those ideas really good enough to serve the purpose of the project? Or are those ideas even appropriate for the project? Knowing what the purpose of the project is, and knowing what im really making is crucial in keeping the ideas to the subject. Having a clear idea, and stick with that idea. And then later on, when the project is launched, then I can play with new ideas.
Requirements
Websites has different requirements. A newspaper homepage requires that were able to read the news in a clear and good way. And that users can get to the news without taking many detours and a website for a clothing company requires that the users easily can navigate trough the site. Mostly, the requirements of a webpage is given by the people that wants you to make a website for them. They have the information they want to share, and you have to create a site where the requirements meet up with their criteria’s.
The most appropriate place to get information on what kind of requirements is the people who gave you the job, and the users. In the bottom line, the users are those who view your page. The best way to find out what kind of requirements you need is to ask all of the people involved. For example: Xbox Live has a feature that you can create a little society with your friends that allows you to play with them online. Maybe this idea came from the users themselves. Where they wanted to get more social with their friends online. When Microsoft launched this feature, social gaming exploded. And friends where able to meet up with other friends without going out their front door.
At school we’ve been working with 2 projects at one time over the past three weeks. The first one is Calligraphy and the other one is Layout / Grids. The last week, we got an assignment where we had to make some spreads (4 i think) out of grids. The grids we made had to be inspired by the surroundings of the school. So my friend Hieu and I thought would look cool if we made grids out of newer architecture, and filled the grids up with street art from Oslo. So we went out, on a little photo trip around Oslo, and we ended up with around 700 pictures. Quite much actually. We found a lot of interesting places, art and textures. We had so much material to work with. The task that was given was to create a frontage, and 4 spreads. But Hieu and I made a whole book, with 40 pages and 20 spreads. And we where really satisfied with our book.
We named the book: Visible The Invisible. When you walk around in Oslo, you cannot look away from all the new buildings and construction sites. You know its there, and its very visible. Its everywhere. But if you move a bit to the outskirts of the travel central station and look around. You might find some hidden treasures. Street art. The invisible part of Oslo. Its beautiful! So our grid was inspired by newer architecture, and that grid would be filled with street art from Oslo. Also textures. Here are the photos, enjoy them as much as Hieu and I did making this!
Have a good weekend, and ill be back with more stuff!
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Hey people!
Here is my finished IMSDAL bottle. Christopher gave us a task to remake a logo for a product. So i thought it would look cool if Imsdal got a new logo on their bootle of water. Calligraphy is a hard thing, and you can easily spend hours on hours trying to get the right shape on a letter. My struggle was with the letter M, m for Mother****ing hard. But anyways, I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome
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Hey people!
lately I’ve been working on several projects at one time, and all of them are of great interest. Lucas and I are still working on his wall in his basement. And soon we are done with outlining the wall, so its only a question of time before we start coloring. Also, I’ve been working on a “Lazy Sunday Project” but I almost feel like i can’t call it that anymore. I’ve been working on that all days of the week, so lazy sunday project, naah. But I won’t reveal what this lazy project is about just quite yet. (if you know, STFU!) Ill just give you a little preview. (in the slideshow below)
Also, I’ve been working with a lot of stuff at school! And its quite fun! The last couple of weeks we’ve been doing calligraphy, with our quest teacher Christopher Haanes. Calligraphy is really hard, and it requires a great amount of concentration. Seriously, a lot of concentration. We’ve been looking at different fonts, and history of our letters. Christopher is really good at what he does, and is a great inspiration. Im sure that without him, i would make a lot more mistakes. Also at school, we’ve been working with grids / Layouts. One of our tasks was to make a version of a HENNE print with grids, fonts and pictures we got from a SE OG HØR print. and the other way around. That was hard. HENNE is a magazine for people who are interested in fashion, and its target group is mostly urban women in their early ages. SE OG HØR on the other hand, is a crappy, cheap and horrible magazine. Cheap colors, fonts and a messy layout.
This week I’m working with Hieu, a classmate of mine. Our task is to create a grid inspired by architecture around the school. or, in the school area. So we thought it would be cool to take grids from known buildings around Oslo, mostly the classy ones. The opera, the kings castle and national galleries works as a baseline for a grid. And then we want to fill it up with graffiti pictures. Its kind of a big contrast, the art and architecture that is accepted vs. the rejected and looked down upon. So basically a grid inspired by classy buildings, and a layout that consists graffiti.
Anyways, here are the pictures! Enjoy!
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