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Contents
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.
From devices to systems
I was always interested what exactly happening inside a speaker. It looked so magical to me that how does a 3D body able to crate sound. I decided to took a speaker into parts, and examine what is inside. What I found in the box of the speaker was unrecognisable for me, so I started to research on the web, what are the functions of this components. When got to the point and finally understood the mechanism of the speaker, I found a really interesting fact.
I was sure that the speakers and the microphones are working on a kind of similar way, but I did not expect that the two device is actually pretty the same. I was curious if I am able to turn a speaker I bought before in a second hand shop into a microphone.
I had to turn the whole process back, and handle the speaker as a microphone.
I used Arduino, because I wanted to see the graphical waves of the sound generated by my speaker. The speaker needed 15W but the Arduino has only 5V, so I had to build an amplifier in to make the system works.
After the wiring and coding, in a pop up window on my mac I was able to see the soundwaves if a did some louder activity close to my speaker.
The black box
During project, black box I wanted to examine a product which is really popular but the technical part is undeveloped. That how I come up with the idea of vibrator.
Mapping
The vibrator was the 5th household device which was upgraded into an electrical device. It was not uncommon for Victorian doctors to encounter female patients with hysteria. Symptoms included ongoing anxiety, irritability, and a bloated stomach. That was the reason why a doctor named Dr. J. Mortimer Granville come up with the idea of vibrator in the 1880’s, when his electromechanical invention was patented. Originally used purely as a medical instrument, its immense generator restricted the vibrator to permanent installation in the doctor's surgery.
Final project
The extended vibrator
in this assignment i wanted to create a new vibrator, designed from a new perspective. My purpose was to create a device, which stimulate not only the private parts, but the whole body in the same time by developing the technical part of this popular sex toy.
Where’s the idea come from?
During project, black box I wanted to examine a product which is really popular but the technical part is undeveloped. That how I come up with the idea of vibrator (more about in the mapping). When I took the device into elements, I was surprised how easy the way of working. At a design university in Berlin all of the product designer students have to design their own vibrators. The shape, color, design always bring something new into this company, but the technical part never really developed. My idea was to create my own one, but this this playing only with the electrical parts of the devices.
What’s are the erogenous zones?
Erogenous zones are located all over the human body, but the sensitivity of each varies, and depends on concentrations of nerve endings that can provide pleasurable sensations when stimulated. The touching of another person's erogenous zone is regarded as an act of physical intimacy. Whether a person finds stimulation in these areas to be pleasurable or objectionable depends on a range of factors, including their level of arousal, the circumstances in which it takes place, cultural context, nature of the relationship between persons involved, and personal history.
In my researches I found some experiments which showed that the erogenous zones of our body has much more job than giving pleasure. A small pressure or any soft physical contact on the different zones are able to cause some different relaxing, positive effect on the human body.
In the field of the already existing vibrators none of them are really focusing on other parts of the body but the private parts only. Maybe we can’t reach a screaming orgasm if we are playing only with our other sensitive body parts, but it will cause other positive sensations on the body. By the extended vibrator, I wanted to show the importance and moreover the existence of this spots.
How does it works?
THE GADGET
The system operates with 6 body patches which are connected to a microcontroller. Between the microcontroller and the vibrating motors there are diodes, transistors, resistors and condensators, to protect the motors, and help them to having the ability to work on different frequencies which leads to different strength vibrations.
THE CODING
The coding was inspired from a fade effect of led. As we can control a light to fade in, than fade out, we are able to do the same with the vibrating motors. We can control them, to run from the low frequency vibrations till the intense low frequency one. We have also the time as a tool. With coding I played a lot with timing. I didn’t want the patches to work in the same time, but I wanted to create my own code, which makes it possible to generates different felling in the body by delay. That means, that the vibrations goes through the whole body in waving feeling till head to toe.
To be continued...
Before I finished the extended vibrator, I was almost sure that in the end this device won’t be more than something what will be able to give a pleasure on a unconventional way. But after I finished the product and the coding, I start to test it on different people.
Most of the people said it was much more relaxing than pleasuring. Every people after the test felt the body of them surprisingly relaxed. The muscles slacken fast after the device started to run. Because of the waving vibrating sensations
