Aug 24, 2015

Studio3, Pro3 - Master plan for retail design

For my DESIGN STUDIO 3 class, I designed a master plan for retail spaces and office spaces.  

MODEL







Studio3, Pro2 - Retail space research

For DESIGN STUDIO 3 class, I researched and made a report about retail spaces.

REPORT

Studio3, Pro1 - Material space for paper supply company

For DESIGN STUDIO 3 class, I designed an exhibition space for a paper supply company. 

MOODBOARD

MY CONCEPT - komorebi (木漏れ日)

KOMOREBI is Japanese word to describe ‘sunlight filtered down through the trees and leaves’. My client is a company that supplies paper materials to the construction industry. My design displays their paper in a new and exciting way to maximise their exposure to visitors at the trade show in the Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre and allow visitors to appreciate the intrinsic virtues of the paper material and their inherent potential for innovative design. KOMOREBI is associated with air, pleasant, brisk, happy sunny day. At the place where you see KOMOREBI, you often see the shadow of tree branches and leaves cast on the ground. The shadow shapes constantly change when a gentle breeze passes though leaves. this stall is a sensory stimulation box—by ‘swimming’ inside this stall filled with paper strips, visitors receive real tactile sensations. Visitors touch and feel the texture of the real paper on their hands, face, and feet. Visitors see the light traveling through the translucent paper and hear the sound that physical paper would make. This stall provides an opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in KOMOREBI experience and refresh themselves with joy. 


PRESENTATION BOARD

MODEL

Methods3, Pro1 - Unit forms

PRESEN BOARD - PAGE 1


PRESEN BOARD - PAGE 2



PRESEN BOARD - PAGE 3



Aug 22, 2015

Tote bags - Custom orders for Bonnie(シドニーで、ハンドメイド商品を販売する:カスタムオーダー)

22, AUGUST 2015 -- 1ST PROCESS
(1) THE GROCERY SHOPPING BAG
ABOUT THE BAG:
- Square shape at base.
- It can hold a lot of things inside. 
- Lining fabric can be the colour of your choice.  


Lining fabric - can be colour of your choice

ABOUT THE SMALL LOOP AT THE TOP THAT ECO BAGS COMMONLY HAVE:

I went to Woolworth and Coles and looked at their eco bags.  I could see that a small loop would be quite useful to hook the bag onto the stand at the supermarket checkout. 


I have come up with the design 
below. The loop can be made with elastic - you can hook the bag onto the stand at the supermarket checkout.  

I added a cover button on the other side of the bag so that the loop can be hooked to this button to close the bag, too. 






ABOUT COVER BUTTONS:
I can make the cover buttons with any fabric. Here are some examples:

Blue fabric for the cover button. Same material from the outer fabric.
Green fabric for the cover button. Same material from the bottom outer fabric 

ABOUT JAPANESE FABRICS:
The client informed me that she liked the Japanese fabrics with some Japanese writings, Symbols, or Sumo images.  SUMO fabric is not currently available as I only have little piece left - not enough to make a bag.   I took all photos under the natural light. 

Below are my current stock:

(A) JAPANESE TEXT - BLACK TEXT ON OFF-WHITE FABRIC:
- AVAILABILITY: I can make 1 bag only. I don't have enough stock to make 2 bags. 
- COLOURS: Off-white - It may appear pure white on the below photo. But it is off-white. 
- DESIGN: They are vintage Japanese shop signs and labels. (e.g., Miso soybean paste company, Soy source company, Seaweed company, Jewellery company, Pickled vegetables company, etc). I love the unique font, shape, and layout of this design.   
     

Close-up

(B) JAPANESE TEXT - WHITE TEXT ON BLACK FABRIC:
- AVAILABILITY: I can make 1 bag only.  
- COLOURS: Black - On below photo, it may appear like purple or navy, but it is black. 
- DESIGN: Same design as above fabric, but different colour. 


Close-up

(C) BEIGE PATTERNS ON NAVY FABRIC:
- AVAILABILITY: I can make more than 1 bag.  
- COLOURS: Navy - It is a dark navy. Beige - It may appear white on below photo, but it is beige.   
- DESIGN: 'Kamon' pattern. They are family crests design from different samurai families.  

Close-up

(D) WHITE FISH ON GREY FABRIC:
- AVAILABILITY: I can make more than 1 bag.  
- COLOURS: Colours in below photos are pretty close to how it actually look on the fabric.  
- DESIGN: 'Koi' fish. 'Koi' is a carp. Carp is commonly seen in a pond at Japanese gardens. 
  

Close-up

ABOUT THE MATERIALS:
- JAPANESE FABRIC: Cotton duck (Cotton 100%) - Heavy, plain woven cotton fabric.  Bought from a local retail store in Sydney. $17 per metre.
- LINING FABRIC: Cotton 100%.  Bought from a local retail store in Sydney. $10 per metre. 

PRICE TO MAKE THIS BAG = $85:
- Material cost: Japanese fabric - 1m ($17 per metre)
- Lining fabric - 1m ($10 per metre)
TOTAL MATERIAL COST= $27.

- Time to cut fabrics: 1 hour.

- Time to sew a bag: 2 hours.
- Total hours to make this bag: 3 hours.
LABOUR COST: $20 per hour x 3 hours = $60

- Material cost $27 + Labour cost $60 = TOTAL $87. But I can give you $2 discount. The ground total is $85. 


I'm aware that avarage eco bags in Sydney cost about $20 - $40.  My bag price may sound very expensive. This is the reason why:
- Cheaper material cost for big manufacturing factories. They order bulk of fabric; therefore, their material cost is a lot cheaper.
- Takes less time for big manufacturing factories. They use industrial cutting machines to cut out the fabric in a second. I use a paper template (which I designed) to cut out the fabric with scissors.  
- Low-paid workers make bags at big manufacturing factories. Bags are often made in China, India, Cambodia by a cheap labour.  If selling my bag for $40, I have to work at a wage of $13 ($4.30 per hour). People are paid, much, much less in China and Cambodia.
- I wish I could offer you a cheaper price... But this is best of what I can offer.  


(2) THE BAG FOR CARRYING BOOKS AND LUNCH TO UNIVERSITY
ABOUT A RECTANGLE SHAPE AT THE BASE, NOT SQUARE:
- Making 1 more bag in the shape of the brown/black bag the client showed me - which works well for carrying books and lunch to university. With the straps at that size. 
- I recommend to use lining fabric as it makes the bag more durable and stronger.
- I know that your brown/black bag come with a plastic baseboard to keep the bag bottom flat. I don't have such plastic material.    
- PRICE = $95.  In order to make this bag, my first process is to make a template with paper.  I need to think about margins to sew up for each fabric piece.  It will be helpful if I can have a sample bag that I could disassemble from you. It will take minimum of 1 hour to make a template.  So, the template design fee $10 will be added to $87. But I can give you $2 discount. The grand total is $95. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23, AUGUST 2015 -- 2ND PROCESS

ABOUT THE LINING FABRIC COLOURS:
The client chose: 
-'Japanese Text - White Text on Black Fabric, with a Red lining Fabric'. 
- Light orange lining out of various options. 

Red
Dark orange
Light orange
Moss green
A bit darker green than above
Purple

FINISHED PRODUCT:






I made the tote bag yesterday. I used the dark fabric with Japanese text (Cotton 100%) and light orange lining fabric (Cotton 100%).  This colour combination is so lovely. 

The small loop would be quite useful to hook the bag onto the stand at the supermarket checkout. The loop is made with elastic. There is a cover button on the other side of the bag so that the loop can be hooked to this button to close the bag, too. 


My wrapping style: 
Inspired by traditional Japanese gift wrapping style with 'Noshigami' (a gift wrapping paper) and 'Mizuhiki Umemusubi' (a decorative Japanese cord made from twisted paper), but with a modern twist



Aug 19, 2015

Good mouse for AutoCAD

I've been using AutoCAD for doing my school assignments.  I've purchased Microsoft 3500 Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse for $36-ish... Wireless is fantastic!!

BUT...

I realised this mouse is useless for AutoCAD. The middle wheel is crucial function for ZOOM IN/OUT or PAN in AutoCAD, but this mouse doesn't do what it supposed to do...  There are ways to do ZOOM IN/OUT or Pan without using the wheel, but it would be a lot slower and I didn't like it.

I had read many websites to fix those problems, and finally found the solution for setting up the PAN function. But not ZOOM IN/OUT...

Then I found the following link that show how problematic this wireless mouse was:    
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/microsoft-mobile-mouse-4000-scrolling-and-delay/f92382b4-133a-4114-984a-b26359c30fec?auth=1

I now gave up to fix the ZOOM IN/OUT problem. I asked around to find a better mouse and a classmate told me that her cheap $16 mouse works just fine. It is called, Logitech M90 Optical Mouse and $16 at the Officeworks (office supplies store) in Australia.

But I acidentally found an even better store in my neighbour today. The same mouse was sold for $9 there:


The store is called, MSY Technology (NSW) Pty. Ltd. This is their website:
http://www.msy.com.au/peripherals/6217-logitech-m90-optical-mouse.html 

The store is Chinese owned and interior design or shop display is not very attractive at all. In fact, most products are not on display. They are on back shelves behind the long cashier table where no customers can't browse. I couldn't go see what kinds of mouse they would have in the store. So, I asked a shop worker if they would carry 'Logitech M90 mouse' and the guy went to a back shelf and brought the product!!! WOW, I had never seen such an computer store where a customer can't browse the products by themselves!!!

But their products are a lot cheaper than other store, and I might go back again. I just need to do some research prior to visit the store so that I can just name the product and buy.