physical model

This is the physical model that I have made out of  wood and paint. I have also put it round the house to show how it would look in every day life.

First presentation

After the first presentation I got some feed back from the class. I of which was maybe I should change the shape of the design and also change the colour. Because even though I was trying to have the colours like the colour of a heart it was a to literal translation to the model. The reason why I needed to change the shape was because it could be to sharp to carry around. This is the new design I have come up with.

New model shape

This is the new model for my interface. This is instead of the love heart shape. However it has maintained the colours of a love heart so it will relate to the idea that it is the "heart rate" monitor for your house. It still dose the same thing as the love haert concept its just in a different shape.

Talk with Tutor and experiment

After talking with Paul. I realised that having the design look like a love heart might not be the right thing to do because it wont be targeting a big target audience (Males might not want to be carrying round a love heart). We discussed different shapes and sizes that would be a better than a love heart. I decided to choose the shape of the house for the design. This would be a great shape because more people wouldn't mind carrying round something shaped as a house so it is gender friendly which increases the target audience by a significant amount. Also we talked about the weight of the object and how I should consider how much it should weigh because the weight of the design could make it feel quite nice to carry around. I wasn't quite sure exactly how much I wanted it to weigh so I conducted an experiment. I printed out different sizes of a house and made little pockets out of then an started to add little magnets in then to test how it would feel if it was a certain weight. Im still not quite sure how heavy I want it but I do know that I don't want it to be light beucase it would just feel cheap and worthless.

Storyboard concept

Written description

For my project I am going to design a key ring that is like a heart rate monitor for you're house. This key ring will be shaped like a heart and have a few buttons on it which will let you navigate the interface so that you can find out how much energy you're house you are using. The technology I am going to use for it will be the same as the heart rate monitors that people use for exercising. But instead of it showing a heart rate it will show an energy reading. It will all so have a button on it which will turn on the "pulse" this will pulse faster or slower depending on how much energy you are using.

The target audience I am designing for would be for everybody who owns their own house who is looking to save energy (mostly family house holds).It would be best for persons from ages 16 on wards ( Younger kids might not care about energy saving) the reason why I chose this group was because a lot of families use a lot of energy with out any realisation on how much energy is being wasted and all it takes is one family member to want to save energy and then it usually starts to work for a while. But if they had something on them all the time like a keyring then it will be a continuous observation on energy usage in the house. I am going to use easy accessibility to attract the target audience. Because my device will be so easy to use and carry around with you and the only thing you need to do is clip it on to you're keys will attract the busy household of a modern family. Because most families don't have much time or they cant be bothered continuing with the energy observation this key change will solve this because it will always be there

3rd Idea

This idea has a meter on the light switch in every room so that when people leave the room they can see how much power they are using. There will also be a master meter which shows all of the meters in each room.

2nd Idea

This is my 2nd idea it is a website which shows how much energy you are using. The red dot shows how much power you are using. It spirals accordingly. then you can click on the spiral to show more parts of the house and get more of a specific outlook on you're power usage. I most likely will not use this idea though because i think websites will be boring and not many people will continue to use it

1st Idea

This idea is like a crack in you're wall which shows how much energy that you are using and the cracks get bigger depending on how much energy you use in each room. Also each crack is pointed to each room so you can tell where it is coming from.

Brainstorm

These are the ideas I came up with. Most of them are all wall mounted so that evrybody can see it in the house. I think that this would be a good concpet becuase if most poeple can see it then they would be more inclined to want to change it.

Energy Monitoring over the Holidays

This is my energy monitoring that I did over the holidays.I created a graph to show more clearly how much energy I used each day. I could see that in the weekend I used a lot more power because I was at home more. I also sketched plans of my house so that readers could see how much of my house I was monitoring. I also found when I gained all this information it didn't make me want to save any energy. It was just a boring graph which just goes to show how hard it will be to get people to save energy with our own desgins.

Energy saving websites

These are some websites that I have looked into to try and find some information on saving energy

http://www.energywise.govt.nz/node/1094

http://www.consumer.org.nz/reports/saving-energy

http://www.mainpower.co.nz/index.cfm/1,189,0,42,html/Energy-Saving-Tips

http://www.contactenergy.co.nz/web/business/energysavingtipsbusiness

Energy saving devices

These are some energy saving devices that I found which can be used in everyday house holds.

 

Energy saving reserach

Tips for saving energy if you’re staying home

• Defrost your freezer - it will run more efficiently
• Fix dripping taps
• Turn your appliances off at the wall when not in use
• Turn your lights down to the low setting, or turn them off altogether
• Make sure the temperature of your hot water is 55 degrees at the tap

Tips for saving energy if you’re going away

• Turn your appliances off at the wall - even appliances on standby use energy!
• Turn your heated towel rail off
• Sensor lights are great outside, they only turn on when needed and provide additional security for your home while you are away
• Turn the hot water cylinder off if you are going to be away for more than one week
• If you have a fridge that you won’t need to keep things chilled in, turn it off at the wall, but remember to leave the door open

These things can make a big difference, for no cost

• Use natural warmth from the sun as much as possible to dry clothes instead of the dryer. SAVE $40* every year.
• Washing powders are so effective in cold water these days, there’s really no need to do hot washes. SAVE $60* each year.
• Got a beer fridge? If you only turn it on at the weekend and keep it switched off during the week, you’ll SAVE $100* every year.
• Check that your hot water is no more than 55 degrees C at the tap. Every 10 degrees C higher than that, and you’re spending a hefty 10% more than you need to. SAVE $30* every year.
• Like your towels warm and dry? Your heated towel rail can do the job in just a couple of hours - then flick it off and you’ll SAVE $100* each year.
• Phase out standby mode altogether. It’s not just the obvious culprits like TVs, stereos and electronic equipment. Washing machines, dryers, and phone chargers left on at the wall can also drain a lot of unnecessary energy. Switch everything off at the wall and you’ll SAVE $75* a year.
• Try and reduce the amount of time spent in the shower. By limiting your showers to 5 minutes you could SAVE $100* per year.

$505 a year

eplace main light bulbs with fluorescent ones.

Initial Investment: Around $20 for four bulbs.
You Save: $84 a year*.

Install a water-efficient shower head.

Initial Investment: $60 - $200
You Save: $120 a year*.

Install a heat pump for healthy dry heat through your home.

Initial Investment: $2,500 - $4,500.
You Save: $870 a year*.

Install insulation in your ceiling and under your floor.

Initial Investment: From $2,800 (based on 100m² home).
You Save: $168 a year*.

5 photos

200 words

Mahan Christopher Spinning sound

My object is a spinning top that makes sound when you spin it. The sound is created by the scrapping of the different materials that are on the spinning top. And each one makes a different sound such as the drafting film compared to the metal. The user should experience the sound of different types of materials and see how they each make a completely different sound to each other. While choosing a material to put onto the spinning top the user should guess what type of sound the materials should make and then spin it and see if there guess was correct. Instruction -Grab the spinning top and put the choice of material on -Tighten the material on the spinning top by screwing the nut on the material -Guess what sound the chosen material will make -Spin the spinning top to see what sound it makes -Think whether or not you’re guess was correct -Try another material

Advice from tutor

After talking with my tutor she said that I needed  box of some sort to amplify the sound of the spinning top scrapping on the surface. Also I am going to replace the top of the spinning top with a rod that I can screw a nut onto so that i can secure the different discs on. This would be a much nicer way of keeping the discs on rather than the rubber bands.

Talk with tutor

After showing my small prototype to my tutor she said that my idea was good and that I need to do more experiments with different materials and shapes.We did some small experiments while talking with my tutor we both found that different shapes of discs makes different sounds. Also different surfaces makes different sounds. I also told her that I was going to make my final spinning top using a lathe and she thought that was a good idea.

200 Word discription

I plan to make a spinning top that creates a sound when you spin it. You will be able to change the sound that the spinning top makes by changing the disc that has certain features that will make sound when you spin it there will also be allot of discs that will make allot of different sounds also it will be easy to change the disc which means it will be satisfying for people of all ages such as little kids.This experience that I will create will be a fun and entertaining experience for the user  most people like spinning tops so I think it will be an enjoyable toy  . I think it will be interesting because when I took a spinning top to show my tutor group everybody liked playing with it and spinning it. The way I plan to make it is using a lathe that my grandfather owns. I think this will make sure that the spinning top is balanced and also look good. I will also need to learn how to use the lathe considering I have never used one before. The way I intend to make the discs is buy using different materials such as plastic, metal and wood I will carve them out of the materials and hopefully make it so it will balance well on the spinning top

Research before mockups

 

These are some of the spinning tops that i found that i think were made buy a lathe I think I will try to use some of these as inspirations and maybe use one or two of them as a base for my mock ups and see which one will work best

Plan for mock ups

Before I start making mock ups I will have to gather some materials to make the mock ups with. some materials that I will experiment with is wood, plastic, metal and parts form other spinning tops

When using wood I will use my grandfathers lathe to carve the spinning top and hopefully make it balanced enough so it can spin well.

Ideas for the spinning top

These are the forms I came up with for the point of the spinning top. The ones I think that will work the best will be the first one and the 6th one. The reason why I think that these will work the best is because Ive seen these work on other spinning tops before and they have worked really well. I will make most of these points to see how well each one will spin.

handel Ideas

These are some of the ideas I came up with for the handels of the spinning tops. I think the best two will be the first to becuase i think it will be easier to use. in my next step i will create these handels and test out which one will work better and create the best spin.

Storyboard

Brainstorm