June 25th, 2010 | Posted By Andrew Redman
Wow it’s been an intense week, with a number of projects reaching conclusions of sorts and some major developments for Realise we will tell you about soon… All this seems to have coincided with the World Cup, midsummers day, a bout of hot weather and the most extraordinary record breaking slog of a tennis match at Wimbledon. It’s as if the stars have aligned allowing things to resolve or develop all around us at breakneck speed. I feel as punch drunk as Isner, but despite all the tough challenges and good news this week, my favourite thing has to be this email from a colleague describing the World Cup situation (this has to be read with his wry gruff ‘grumpy old man’ voice):
It’s just like World War 2. France surrender early, America turn up at the last minute and we’re left to fight the bloody Germans”
Brilliant. With you there Ian.
Good weekend everyone - here’s to Summer and being alive!
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May 13th, 2010 | Posted By Fiona Innes
The Realise trio spent a fantastic morning out last week with the staff and students of Britford and Odstock Primary Schools in Salisbury.
The two schools are merging and from September the new school will be known as Longford Primary; so to accompany the new name, a new logo was needed and this is where we came in. Due to Andrew’s strong links with the school, we were the ideal candidates for the task and we decided to use the creativity and imagination of the children to help us with the brief of re branding their new school.
We planned the session well and produced a range of resources to help us with our lesson. We had a few worries that our pitch would not be suitable, however the young scholars understood the task extremely well and they produced a wide range of ideas that were both original and imaginative. Read the rest of this entry »
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March 24th, 2010 | Posted By Fiona Innes
The Realise team, their wives, husbands, parents, children and friends all met on the weekend to take part in the long awaited ‘Realise Gift of Growth’. As promised at Christmas, instead of sending the usual Christmas cards to our clients and friends we would plant some trees which gave us the perfect opportunity to do something good for the environment……and drink some beer!
The younger ones show us how it's done!
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March 24th, 2010 | Posted By Fiona Innes
Here at Realise we are very pleased about our latest magazine fame! New Scientist has written a fantastic piece about a recent product we have been working on which we refer to as the ‘Bee Hotel’. Working alongside ML Electronics, we designed and manufactured a bee training device designed to reward groups of bees with a syrup solution when they detect particular smells.
Bees have a fantastic sense of smell and after a few hours of using the bee hotel, they learn to associate the reward with the odour. The product is currently being tested by UK biotech firm Inscentinel. Have a read of the full New Scientist article, page 19 issue 2752, or read our previous blog article about the innovation & design of the Bee Hotel.
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March 17th, 2010 | Posted By Fiona Innes
Graduate designer Min-Kyu Choi saw a design problem and he’s fixed it! Last night Korean born Choi won the Brit Insurance Design Award for his folding plug . He has dramatically improved the present chunky design by creating a slim, elegant, inclusive design solution which could very possible be used universally in the future. The plug is less than 1cm thick and is very easy to use- simply turn the pins and open the cover.
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February 18th, 2010 | Posted By Andrew Redman
We’ve always loved the line from Codexx our innovation partner: “Business is a Bit like Juggling”. When things are going a bit mental around you, try saying this to yourself in a slightly sarcastic and wry tone. It always cheers me up!
We’re on a major quest right now to find a studio management system to help us juggle more smoothly. It’s a huge task just evaluating all the options and working out what we need. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 11th, 2010 | Posted By Andrew Redman
Yes of course they are, they have to be creative to imagine solutions to problems. Do they know how to creatively design a product? No I don’t think they do…
Now, please don’t get upset, Engineers come up with fantastic ideas, and the goods ones are very creative people. Perhaps if you want to generalise, designers are a bit more artistic, engineers are better at maths, but the really important difference is in training. Where engineers learn analysis tools to solve problems, designers learn how to use creativity to solve problems.
I remember various debates on creativity in an engineering and CAD forum, where Engineers have hotly argued that the felt tip fairies are all just coming up with daft ideas, whereas the engineers can be just as creative AND practical too. I’m lucky to have a foot in both camps, trained as an engineer and working as a designer. From this perspective I’d have to say that the engineers in these debates are wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 11th, 2010 | Posted By Fiona Innes
Inclusive Design- what does it mean to you? Has it become the latest buzz word that we (as designers) all talk about on a regular basis but actually forget to implement into the products being designed?
The English dictionary defines inclusive as “not excluding any section of society or any part” and when we link that to product design, surely it suggests that the products should be easily used by all. So why are there so many supposedly inclusively designed products on our shelves that have clearly not considered the needs of their potential users? This is a subject that has been recognised by the Engineering Design Centre at Cambridge University and they have subsequently produced a detailed tool kit which hopes to ensure that all readers will be able to implement good inclusive design into their products.
Who needs inclusive design in their lives? Well we all do in different ways, but some more than others. Statistics show that in the UK 17.8% of the population have less than full ability in one or more of the following areas- sensory, motor and cognitive capabilities, and a large percentage of this group are over the age of 55. It is also worth adding at this point that from the age of 50, disposable income and spare time increases dramatically. Therefore, this particular consumer groups needs to targeting when promoting the latest trendy new product as they have the time and the money to but it. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 11th, 2010 | Posted By Andrew Redman
Great news - Finally Google is phasing out support for IE6, sinking a nice big wooden stake through the heart of the evil browser…
Well OK maybe that’s overstating it a bit. But on occasions I’ve seen my colleague Ed almost reduced to tears when our latest W3C standards compliant site falls to pieces testing in IE6. So it was over a consoling cup of tea last year that we decided to stop offering IE6 compatibility to clients, unless they wanted to pay double for the web build and testing stage.
The problem has always been that IE6 ploughed it’s own furrow in a fairly typical Microsoft kind of way - it all worked, but just slightly differently from everyone else - making building a site that worked on all browsers like herding cats up a steep river.
So bye bye IE6, good riddance old chap. Great, now we can put that stinky garlic away.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here do not suggest that Google is a vampire slayer or that Microsoft turns out software with supernatural powers to offend web designers.
Tags: Internet
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February 4th, 2010 | Posted By Fiona Innes
Augmented Reality (AR) is a hot topic, but one that has for some time been considered too futuristic and advanced for us tech followers to get on board with. However, AR is now becoming more real thanks to some well known companies using the technology to their advantage.
Augmented Reality Application - Image Courtesy of Wikimedia
Augmented Reality works on the basis that elements from the physical real world are combined with virtual computer-generated imagery thus creating a mixed reality. By using this advanced technology, the information that surrounds us in the real world can become interactive and easily used digitally.
AR is interactive in real time and registered in 3D, therefore we can harness this technology without difficulty into our everyday lives. We can now see AR being used in sport, film, documentaries and video games. The technology can enhance our viewing pleasure for Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Application, Augmented Reality, Interface Design
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