Science Museum

SWOT analysis

Strengths:

1. Talented and unique. Our products are customization of individual character, each product is unique. So the customers don't worry about their products are as same as others.

2. Customers will be able to participate in the design process.

3. We provide one-to-one service. Each customer have their own designer to meeting individual requirement.

4. A strong sense of commitment to every client.

5. Reasonable charging standard. Material cost + design cost + process cost. It means that if the customer can provide the material, we just collect the design cost and process cost; if the customer can provide material and detail of design, we just collect the process cost.

Weaknesses:

1. The small size of the company.

2. The limited initial funds.

Opportunities:

1. The opportunities  to achieve customer's idea.

2. Most jewelry company just design their product without customer's individual idea, so we can solve this problem.

3. Make jewelry to be a kind of 'personal logo', not just a product.

Threats:

1. As a small company,  the individualized customization for jewelry will have long working process to satisfy the customer's idea.

2. Property rights problem. Because all the products are unique, so it is hard to protect our property
right. The enterprise culture and the designer process are not easy to copy, but the products are easy to copy.

Brand positioning diagram

Vision Mission and Value

1. Vision:

We aim to be a popular online gallery store selling unique design jewelry  around the world.

2. Mission:

-commitment to consumer satisfaction with high cost performance.

-let more people can enjoy the custom of fine jewelry.

-be unique, be fashion.

3. Value

We promise to be unique, valuable and elegant.

Object

My object is the Panda USB. It is a normal USB with very cute protective jacket. In my opinion, the main value of design design is to change our daily life more interesting. We don't need to change the main practical purpose of the product, just make it more interesting.

mood board

My project is about 'Mind Your Money',  and I want people 'keep calm when shopping'.
So, in my mood board, I use different kinds of money, shopping bag and ice to show my mind.

collect between 10 to 30 brand/ organization logos for one sector

I collected 16 fashion brand logos.  The circle and foursquare are the most often used in these kind of logos, maybe because of the high symmetry of the shapes. The typography of these logo are lear and understandable. In most cases, the name of the brand is under the symbol.

Visual Identities

For this week, I had to chose two brands/organizations that  I admire and describe their visual identities. I chose the Corel Painter and Wechat.

About the Corel Painter:

Corel painter is not a specific brand, it's just a software that belong to the Corel brand. Among these four images, we can see that during several years, the main factor of the images is the paint bush. The paint bush can directly express the use of the software. The symbol of the paint brush can make us easy to distinguish the painter and other vector illustration application.

About the Wechat:

Wechat is a popular social networking software in China. 

Firstly, the symbol use green color, I think green is very suitable for this kind of software. Because in our daily life, green always means unobstructed (such as green light). Psychologically, this color can make people think this software is good for communication.

About the pattern, there are so many kinds of meaning about that. You can say the icon is about two face, or two dialog box, even two suspension points. But all these meaning are related to communication.

The diagram

10 names of the company

1. Linda Zhu   (Zhu is my family name)
2. Linda Jewel
3. Vampire dentist
4. Create nothing
5. Binomial
6. Random thought
7. Light and shadow
8. polar pop
9.Venn win
10. Sea see

My favorite top 3 are
1. Linda Jewel
If I can create a jewelry brand, this is the most suitable name for the sole-trader company, and Jewel's pronunciation is similar like Zhu. Luckily, in Chinese, my first name "Ma" means "carnelian", it's also a kind of jewelry.

2. Binomial
It's come from Binomial tree, a kind of mathematic way which used to analysis the possibility. When we design something, there are lots of possibilities can be produced.
The binomial tree is look like:

 3. Sea See
Sea means the wide range, and See can represent the visual experience.

my project----------Money management

Design Research Method Task 1: an example of 2 designers I'm interested in.

Example 1:
Leo Ming Pei: an famous architecture designer.
One of my favorite Leo Ming Pei's work:  Suzhou Museum.

Architectural appearance:

1.1

Leo combine the traditional Suzhou building elements with modern elements very well.

For example, about the appearance of the museum, the white wall , dark lines and the moon Gingested are very traditional Suzhou element.  But he also use some modern elements, such as the completely geometric modeling, the glass fiber reinforced plastics.  Photo 1.1 shows the details.




The photo 1.2 shows the traditional Suzhou architecture. Compared in these two photos(1.1 and 1.2), it's clearly that the two architecture are similar but not same.

1.2

Inside the building:

1.3

 Inside the building, Leo also combine the traditional Suzhou element----hexagonal window and the geometric modeling. Seeing the photo 1.3.
Especially, traditional hexagonal window in Suzhou is look like photo 1.4, so he also simplified the window pattern.

1.4

1.5

 about the ceiling of the museum, he design it look like the column-and-tie construction, but not the real construction. The diaphanous ceiling can make the building close to nature.


Photo 1.5 show the ceiling of the museum.
Photo 1.6 show the real column-and-tie construction.

1.6

1.7

There is an artificial waterfall  at the end of the hall.
When you enter into the museum hall, you will feel the visual and the auditory at same time.  See photo 1.7.

















Leo Ming Pei can combine the different kinds of elements very well, such as traditional and the modern, the provincial and the international.  As an architecture designer, he can not only use the visual element but also use the auditory element in the architecture. He let me have a new understanding about the architecture. That's what I'm interest about.


Example 2:

Els: a young female jewelry designer.
My favorite works: 3d printing products.

 

 

This series of product use new technique-----3D printing, and new material------nylon.
Her ideas are very fascinating and special.
Generally, jewelry is made by some precious metal and rare gems. But Els changed the material and add interest in the jewelry,  and also reduce the cost.
That's what I'm interest about.

Design Research Method: Task 1 my own diagram explaining the design process

1. Design research

Quantitative: large number of participants

Qualitative: individual interview or small group meeting

2. Discover

Identifying needs

Managing the process, such as collecting the data.

Investigate approach: identify the questions.

Applying research.

3. Define the design problem

Pinpoint in issues.

Define

Examine

Develop

4. Feasibility: focus on the pros and cons

Evidence

Overview

Benefits

5. Get ideas

visual research

6. Resources

More knowledge

Creates: based on the understanding of research topic

Enables collaboration

7. Documenting the process

Discover

Reflecting

Key insight

Define strategy

Develop

Test:      if the product is not good enough, then analysis the problem and re-design.

              if the product is good enough, then

8.  Deliver.

9.  Collected the feedback and analysis the result.

Business for Design: Task 1 list of 20 designers

Part 1: Fashion designer

1. Alexander Wang  (1984)
Characteristic: focus on the  spirit of freedom.

2. Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel/ Coco Chanel   (1883----1971)
Characteristic: focus on the women's right, comfort of a garment.

3. Milena Canonero (1946)
Characteristic：create design by using the characteristics in particular period.

Part 2: Architecture designer

4. Leoh Ming Pei (1917)
Characteristic: create design in different culture, use light to do design.

5. Tadao Ando (1941)
Characteristic: source of inspiration is from the blend of culture. He believe a nice building should contain three elements: reliable material, completely geometric form and feeling seems to be nature.

6. Zaha Hadid (1950)
Characteristic: a famous female architecture designer, deconstructionism master.

Part 3: Jewelry designer

7. Theo Fennell (1982)
Characteristic: his jewelry collect the whole world.

8. Philippe Tournaire (1984)
Characteristic: his jewelry use some architecture element, and combine jewelry and architecture very well.

9. Baobao Wan
Characteristic: she use traditional  Chinese architecture element in her work.

10. Xiaoyu Zhang
Characteristic: her work show the past and future element.

11. Tara Ko
Characteristic: all her work use the organic glass. Her main idea is : I'm transparent，but not fragile.

12. Els
Characteristic: she use new material and technique, such as nylon and 3d printing.

Part 4: Graphic designer

13. Gunter Ram bow (1938)
Characteristic: try to use graphic design to show his artistic ideas and consciousness concept. He use normal image to show some deeply meaning.

14. Naoto Fukasawa (1956)
Characteristic: unconsciousness design, just use simplest element to show all functions of the product.

15. Kyosti Varis (1933)
Characteristic: he think the graphic design product is a kind of art which has high level spirit of innovation.

Part 5: Industrial designer

16. Marc Newson (1963)
Characteristic: soft and minimalism. Source of inspiration is the sea, because of the elegant lines.

17. Luigi Colani (1928)
Characteristic: the design must comply with the principles of nature law.

18. Masayuki Kurokawa(1937)
Characteristic: always focus on the life and sex, and also the origin of life.

19. Philippe Starck (1949)
Characteristic: use simplest curve to make the amazing shape.

20.  Kenya Hara (1958)
Characteristic: people don't necessarily have to be the pursuit of famous brand, but their way of life. So the product should back to the simple and nature.