Moving on, I guess I should not be surprised that the military uses PowerPoint so extensively that it defeats the “purpose” of PowerPoint.  I’m sure the designers of PowerPoint had a clear function in mind when creating the program.  If they thought for one second that PowerPoint would not be an effective form of communication, then it would hopefully have altered their design.  However, once the product is in the user’s hands, it is up to the user to determine how they are going to use the product.  I believe a good designer can minimize the extent to which their product can be “misused,” however; millions of products are produced daily.  Only in hindsight can the designer clearly see all the new problems he/she has created by trying to solve one problem.

This article also lead me to think about all the menial tasks we do in our life time.  PowerPoint is just one small example of the multiple products that aim to “help us,” when really it is just hindering our performance.  When the officers discuss the “agony” of sitting through a PowerPoint lecture, I cannot help but to think of all the lectures I have attended myself.  I could not tell you many things that I retained from these lectures, partly due to the way the lecture was presented, (PowerPoint or other electronic media) but also partly due to the fact that I don’t think most people learn very much by being talked at for 2+ hrs.

The idea that PowerPoint is being used to brief people, such as the President, is shocking.  People are actually making decisions that effect the world based on information that is thrown at them through a 30 slide PowerPoint presentation.  That is like asking someone to make a life changing decision without having all the facts.

Essentially, what it comes down to, is the principle that we are trying to communicate by using a tool that has proven to hinder communication.  We know there is a problem, yet we insist on using it since it is what is familiar to us.  Like Buckminster Fuller said – just because a piano floats doesn’t mean it makes a good raft (or something along those lines).

-Lily (smellslikepine)

Recently I made a fruit bowl that one can buy on shapeways.com!
Its pretty pricey at $ 804.68 however, its really a creative piece and a work of art! The concept behind it is that it references a flower. When you peel back the petals the fruit is inside. The fruit can also rest on the “petals” if you choose to leave it open.  It was modeled in a Rhino and rendered in Rhino as well

Here are some pics of it, and the link to buy it

Some quotes from the email:   “The big news of the day is that the blog www.uncrate.com will be featuring our first product from my other venture Adirondack Firestone. The product is entirely made in the USA which is also pretty difficult to pull off anymore as there are fewer manufacturers here in the states. You can learn more at www.ADKfirestone.com“  So make sure to check out ^^ that

“Ram is also now the creative partner for an up and coming clothing line called HoldTight. Check out our spring 2010 collection at www.holdtightclothing.com“   <— this is so cool because my 3 friends from Syracuse are the guys who are modeling the clothing.  Check out Tim Patch, Erik Krieder , and Jeff Gerlash!! OW OW!

“ram recently won two honorable mentions in this years World Kitchen International Design competition and we were also the only ID firm to receive any recognition.  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=167137&id=175297322076&ref=mf” AND they won last year

“I don’t know if you have heard anything about our recent project called D-Build, but we will be one of the featured articles in the next Innovation Magazine. We are building an online marketplace for reclaimed materials and products made from reclaimed materials. We have already been highlighted by FastCompany and Wired Magazine Online and been featured on Core77. It has been intense. This is the ultimate interaction/product design mash up and incorporates the power of structured data, state of the art scanning technologies and the future of the web. We will soon be calling out to designers to help populate the products marketplace. We are tagging reclaimed building materials (mainly lumber) with a rich interactive history in an effort to create a new industry around the tens of thousands of vacant houses (and commercial buildings) that end up in landfills every year. It is a powerful story from an environmental, economic and social perspective. We think it has potential to have a serious impact. www.d-build.org”

So everyone should definitely check out all of Rob’s accomplishments above!!!

Check out some of the bags/other items we’ve been working on:

The one below is for people to carry their groceries

The bag below we designed/modeled so that one could carry oddly shaped or heavy items more easily.

We also created an “inside out bag” that changed sizes depending on need.  Right now one can change the bag from a “normal sized” messenger bag, and then the user can transform it into a larger bag, (aprox the size of a laundry bag).

Anyways this is only the midpoint of our project, so we still have much more work to do!  Expect more to come

Ironically, we had to design something that could be worn around your wrist at Uarts… (I picked a watch haha) Here’s one that I did modeled in rhino and rendered in hypershot// The one below is the real version, that was made

In short, everyone in the room would have an elephant.  When there was a topic that was controversial, or someone was offended, or even if someone was talking too much and dominating the conversation; one person would squeeze his/her elephant.  This would send a signal to all the elephants in the room, making all of elephant’s eyes light up simultaneously.  This gesture would allow a person to anonymously call attention to  “the elephant in the room”.

We were so excited to get published in the New York Times, January 2009, under 23 student innovations!!

"the elephant in the room"

NY times publication

NY times cover page

Syracuse University Publication Online

CT scan of the internal parts

My sister who was working at a hospital at a time took these images for me!  She took a CT scan which just imaged the internal electric parts in the elephants (above) and she took an X-ray too (below).  I thought they were awesome images!

X-Ray scan of the elephant

User Testing