Hywel Rh. Vaughan

In the last issue of this year’s Design Odyssey there were a lot of firsts.  First live project, first trip to a major design exhibition, first self started project…  Like a large earthquake, it was a truly groundbreaking start to the year.  My apologies, that was an awful joke.  Luckily, though my humour may be lacking slightly, the next third of the year 2009 was not…

> May

Moo MiniCard Holder

This project was amazing fun.  The project was to design a product and take it all the way to manufacture, including costings, profit predictions and proof of concept.  Deciding to redesign the plastic business card holders sold by Moo, I aimed for a more industrial aesthetic.  Something simple and clever in its mechanism, cheap to manufacture, but still stylish and dynamic.  It had to be a product that made you take notice when it was drawn from a pocket; because in the end what you want is for people to remember you.
What I learned >

• Design for the user, not just for the material.
• Design with the material cost, not just the user.
• Prototyping with aluminium can be a b***h.

> June

BDF09

In 2008, the Bristol Design Festival was one of the highlights of my design year.  This year I decided to become much more involved.  Teaming up with Verity Gough and others, I became a guest blogger for the event, as well as official tweeter.  I also helped manning the event, entered the Grafikea competition (unfortunately though was far outclassed by my own Sister’s entry) and exhibited.  This last part was the most fun.  Myself, Arthur Chan and Matt Ohman created an exhibition called ‘Three Stickmen and a Pile of Work’, showcasing some of our design portfolio.  Mine included my natural form speaker project, complete with a working model of the piece.
What I learned >

• Rapid Prototyping is a long and slow process.
• There is nothing quite as satisfying as showing off something you have designed.
• Rushing spray paint just will not work.

> July

Bloodhound – On Tour

And so my industrial placement began.  There is no simple way to explain the work that I do at Bloodhound, or for that matter no easy way to explain the project itself.  You end up doing a whole range of amazingly interesting and exciting things, and there is no time to wait to learn how to do them.  To say I was thrown in at the deep end would be an understatement.  I was hurled into the Mariana Trench.  Within two weeks I had presented to 8000 kids in Newcastle, talked in front of crowds at Rockingham and been blown off my feet at Goodwood Festival of Speed.  This is no ordinary job.
What I learned >

• Presenting to kids is scary.
• Children come up with the best and most thought provoking questions.
• Every single fact and figure about the Bloodhound can be easily burnt into your head with enough repetition.

> August

The Start of the steering wheel

Finally, the project that I had been waiting for got the go ahead.  The design of a steering wheel.  For a real car.  That will go faster than any car ever designed.  Awesome.
Like any project though, there are always the basics that you have to do.  Research was and still is ongoing, with lots of analysis of joysticks and a lot of table-tennis-esque discussion between myself, the systems engineers and of course the driver.  I expected this project to be completed by November.  I am still nowhere close to that.  It is progressing, and I am always discovering.
What I learned >

• There has never really been a steering wheel custom designed for one person, even in Formula 1.
• No matter where you go in design, nothing will ever beat blue foam.
• Andy Green has BIG hands.

It was at the end of this third that things began to change.  It was now that I was working full time with Bloodhound.  Early starts, late nights, and a more business and engineering slant on design.  This is still yet to come…
Stay tuned for some snippets from the rest of my year.  Were there any projects that really stood out for you this year?