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Contact

    Balázs S. Bognár 

    b.bognar97@icloud.com 

    Product Design

Position paper

Form follows function. They taught me for this everywhere I learnt the basics of product design, and I have always felt the sense of this sentence. The surrounding of an average person’s life contains much more inputs than we can receive. As a designer, my vision is that we must be able to decide that if the outcome of our project is really a need for the world, or just a 1000th disturbing factor in our already overcrowded environment. If the answer is yes, it is an answer for a real problem, then we can talk about my craft.

My craft is to find the best form and shape for these ideas. As a designer, we have a big responsibility about our own future. We are, who’s making new object, systems and analog or digital products. We have to think everything twice, other way the effect of our product can be more harmful than helpful. When I engage into a new project, I put more effort into the system design than the design of the look of the final object. Why? The question is quite easy: form follows function. In my opinion this sentence means that if you have a well-designed system or plan, you don’t really have to care about the design itself, because it will be borne by itself by following its function. I always try to keep the shapes and design clean, to make it easy acceptable and not disturbing for the eyes. I did some successful project under this mentality, but there was a point when I had to face with a problem.

During my previous semester at Budapest, I had to design a smart home system from the idea, thought the way of how the system works till the final look of the object. There was a good plan in my head, but when I started design the shell of the system I couldn’t be efficient anymore. I was not able to think about any shape which would fit to my idea. In the end of course I finished it, but to be honest, that was my first outcome that I was not satisfied at all. I passed, get my grade and have not though about what was the problem there until the digital craft.

When I started to make my projects to digital craft I was not sure what is my position here, and what exactly I want to do. I saw people around me making their own digital stuffs, but the only think I was able to recognize was the cables. I tried to build something, but without any electrical or technical background it was not easy at all. I didn’t really enjoy it, because I had no idea what is happening in that devices and what I’m going to do about them without knowing anything about tine inner parts. During the project, called black box I started to understand what I am doing exactly. I wanted a find a kind of popular gadget which did not develop since its invention. I did not have to think about a lot to figure out that the answer is our most popular sextoy, the vibrator. I took it apart to examine how does it works exactly. When I understand the system, I decided to develop it, but now the system itself, the technical parts, not the shape and the design only.

I bought an Arduino and start modelling. During the process of making my own vibrator I had to start to be familiar with a lot of different gadgets. After every piece of electrical gadgets, I got to know, a new door opened. I start to see hundreds of projects around each of the technical parts. Finally, I got the chance to explore, play and be a child again without afraid of the aesthetic of the final outcome. I was not stressed about the design, the colors and shapes, now I could only care about the magic which happening hide away from our eyes. And I think that was the point when I start to understand a lot of new thing about product design and me as a future designer.

Firstly, I understood the failure of my previous projects, and the reason why I was not able to create a stunning shell for my system. Because I had no clue what was in that black box. How could I design anything without knowing what’s happening inside? That was the second thing I understood during the digital craft. And the answer Is so simple. I can’t. I can’t design a shape for a magical thing I don’t know about anything. I must examine, understand, and study the magic which happening in the wires and different transistors, resistors, and lot of other complex physical parts. Because yes, it is actually magic. A new playground I found in the deep of the wire wood. 1111000110 1110000111000110001110011111101111100 11110110110101100 010101010011010111011010 1111001011100010111011101110 zero, one, codes which are not just numbers but the whole soul of a digital product we try to bring alive.

In the end of this course, another eye of mine opened. I had to face the fact, that in the future the technology will explode into every areas of our lives (if it’s not did it already), and we, designers can’t close our eyes and crying that we are not IT people and don’t want to care about the technical systems. Technology is a tool just like pencil or paint that we have to study to use, because it’s really able to open new dimensions for a designer. The extended vibrator was my first project I experienced with a really new design attitude. It’s taught me that imagine and design a system without knowing the working method and components professionally, gives less freedom than knowing them well. First and last, I not just got to know some new technologies gadgets, but I got the possibility to be a more conscious designer in the field of electrical devices.

Critical Making Exercise

Dating App for Trees

How to build a Dating App for trees?

Nowadays people meet online – it has never been easier to show your interest then swiping right. But how could a tree make decisions? Do trees make decisions? What if trees would talk? After a short research, we discovered that trees are actually able to talk. They use the networks of fungi that grow in the ground and inside their roots. Through this system, trees can share resources with each other furthermore plants use fungi to send messages to one another!

Inspiration [1] from BBC If this is true, what happens with the flowers and plants in pots? – asked ourselves. Struggling with total loneliness? As a solution, we decided to create a system that would allow indoor plants to communicate and fulfil their social need. Using the concept of wi-fi – we designed the network called the TRI-FI.

Mapping

MAPPING