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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!
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.
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.
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. (more…)
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.
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 (more…)
Just seen some of the first pictures of the iPad. Great looking product design. Check it out…
The new iPad as a laptop thingy-ma-jig. Courtesy of engadget
Mr Steve Jobs of Apple ended by saying:
“We’ve always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts — we want to make the best tech, but have them be intuitive. It’s the combination of these two things that have let us make the iPad.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself!! Our thoughts on the new iPad to follow…
You may have caught some of the buzz about the Apple’s impending new product development announcement. Since Steve Jobs gleefully demo’d the first iPhone, the tech world has got slightly flustered every time Apple books a venue for more than 20 people.
This evening (UK time) Apple will announce what is slated to be a new Tablet computer. At this stage it’s 99% sure to be a new Apple Tablet, like this one mocked up on the T3 Site.
I’m really interested to see what they come out with, for three reasons:
1. Since buying a Toshiba Tecra tablet PC to experiment with sketching design concepts, I’ve been intrigued and frustrated by tablet computers. In typical Microsoft style, the tablet PC had some brilliant bits like the handwriting recognition, but overall it was really just some pen interface stuff tacked onto the top of windows, making it inappropriate as a touch sensitive user interface and disappointing as a user experience. So I’m very interested to see what the masters of user interface innovation have come up with. Remember it was Apple who originally invented the Mouse and the drag and drop Desktop metaphor we use so much today. They’ve certainly been busy over the last few years submitting a lot of patents for touch sensitive interfaces. With incredible timing the USPTO have actually today granted a patent for a proximity-sensing touchscreen.
Diagram from Apple's latest Patent for proximity sensing touchscreen.
2. I’m also hoping to see Apple remain loyal to it’s creative customers and for this to be a fantastic electronic sketchbook. I actually really liked sketching on the tablet PC. Everyone has different opinions about this, but I always found it much easier to sketch directly on the screen of the tablet PC, rather than use a graphics tablet, where my hand’s moving on the desk while I look at the results on the screen a couple of feet away. I’m not holding out much hope on the graphic drawing ability though, as Apple will inevitably have made compromises to reduce cost. I imagine they will have prioritised functionality like mobile internet connection to download ebooks, which has more mass market appeal and will leverage iTunes to sell books. This little old product designer will be disappointed though if it’s no good as an arty farty tool.
3. Finally I can’t wait to see what kind of lovely thing they’ve come up with this time. Apple are such a good example of a company that really ‘get’ what good product design is for and I love them for their bravery. It will be fascinating to find out what their strategy has been in selecting the balance of functionality and features. I suspect it will be a lot like the iPhone and have some crucial missing component (like the G3 was missing from the fist iPhone), and this one will only be a “nearly there” product leading to the fully awesome version 2 next year.
So let’s see what happens in the next few hours! We’ll report back what we find.
Sneak a quick look at SCDF’s (South Coast Design Forum) current newsletter to spot some Realise news in the wild! Our VORTEX 30m TV Camera Mast won the Guild of Television Cameramen seal of approval for best new product - lucky for us the SCDF are proud of this too!
The Vortex took Andrew and the team 3 years to complete and as with any new and innovative creation, the development process did not always run smoothly. However after months of careful planning and meticulous development the Vortex was launched. Winning the award was a great testament to the blood, sweat, tears and cries of joy that went into the Vortex. Well done team!
If anyone has seen the film Dorian Gray, and I don’t mean to sound geeky here, let us know what you thought of the camera work - the Vortex was used to film it!
Today we welcomed our new employee Fiona to the office. About 6 months ago Fiona approached us for advice on how to move from teaching teenagers Product Design and get ‘into’ the business of Product Design. After lots more discussion on the subject we offered Fiona the position of Business Development Manager, and fortunately she accepted. Amongst many other things, Fi will be developing new and existing client relationships, getting to grips with e-marketing and most importantly making sure that we all get paid on time! (more…)
