More Zippers, Different Context

An image of a project I am working on. 

Any guesses about what you are looking at?

Please ignore the obvious inaccuracies. 

Improving Bathrooms

Korean and Chinese and other bathrooms are really neat because they use a much more open architecture and contribute to a more designable experience for the user. I think there are a few important parts to this flexibility that make it really fun:

1. Water Room - everything is designed to get wet. It is easier and more fun. I think it could be a good design principal.
2. Feature full Floor - many bathrooms have wash racks mounted into the floor for people to do laundry. I think this could be extended to a few other features.
3. Continuous Experience - this is a bit less certain but it just seems that when I use bathrooms in Korea or China, whatever I am doing it feels that the tools are really built into the environment. I am not sure what I mean but I think it is a good feeling and I think it is something that could add to the experience of western bathrooms. Perhaps it is the really modular multi function nature of every aspect of this kind of bathroom. Each fixture seems to have distinct uses but also ends up emerging as a solution to many problems, just by the nature of the simple and elegant environment. 
4. Isolation from Dirt and enforcing Cleanliness - In these settings it is common for people to use small towels which is really nice for various reasons, and also use slip on shoes when they are in the bathroom. This is interesting because it combines to make a really fresh cleaning experience every time. That is to say; I think I feel a lot more clean after showering like this because you can concentrate on cleaning and you are sort of forced into cleaning. A small towel also works better to retain quality in your skin. 

That is all I can think of at the moment. I am trying to put together some ideas to make a bathroom design that ties a few ideas on washing together to create something that is a bit more efficient and a better experience.

Comments or stories about interesting washing experiences would be great. Especially if you know a lot about Japanese washing. 

iCar Initial Thinking

This afternoon I spent 6 hours in a KTV room and although I can sing a few songs I could not sing that many. The extra time I used to start thinking about what an anthropomorphic car is going to be and what kind of features it might have. I am still pretty lost in this regard but I have a few notions.

So my thinking was along the lines of a car that acted the way a car should act in order for it to parse correctly in terms of the human experience. This is a bit strange as it is hard to say what a car should do, however, I guess it is pretty obvious that it is a driving machine. So, a thing for moving people around. I am guessing it might park automatically. I am also trying to think of how one should get into and out of such a device. I think doors are a pretty in elegant solution but for now they may be the only option.

Next I tried to think of what is wrong with the state of existing cars. There are a lot of things, but the ones that are really important are the ones that people have not solved well. One is the power issue, so I have a feeling the iCar would be not that fast and pretty toy like. Its speedometer would go no higher than the speed limited of a road. I suspect it would also function mostly automatically. I am still not sure how to deal with reversing. I think that is a major point of failing in the driving experience. Another point I thought of is getting into and out of cars and loading things in and out of them. Other issues include things like safety.

I have very little idea of the driving experience for now. I think this will be hard. I am not sure how removed it should be or how familiar it should be.

I have also thought a little about the overall object of the car. I have a feeling it will not look a lot like a car and may look a bit more like the Scion box cars that exist in Japan and now the states, however I am not sure yet. I think because I suspect for it to be all electric I suspect there to be very little mechanical envelope. So the car may end up as basically a box (smooth or not) on wheels. I am not sure if it should be solar assisted. I am also not sure if it should be AL, Polycarbonate or Si3, or SS, but I think those might be the main materials. I do however want to incorporate a black plastic like is current at the back of the iMac.

What do you think? Comments Appreciated!!!

iCar - Thinking Agian

Soumitri has started blogging about making an iCar again. We had talked about this project a while back and done a few things for a competition along the lines of an iCar. The idea being worked with at the time is as pictured.

Since then I have become a little less stupid and realised more about what is really needed in an iCar. I in fact think this project is quite fun an interesting so I am going to try to create some kind of solution. I think the approach that I am going to start with is to start to get an idea of what makes a design Apples'. There is quite a lot of literature on this but for now I will just make a cursory list.

1. An obvious reaction to the norms of an industry or expected experience - I think Apple often tries to make the quintessential product of a sector. iCar should be the quintessential car.
2. Anthropomorphic - The user experience should parse logically to all users.
3. Intuitive - New users should have little or no trouble understanding what is expected of them
4. High Quality Experience - Where quality is not possible, design to remove the need for quality (or the perceived lack of quality) is important.
5. No buttons - Specific mechanical interfaces only, as much as possible or none what so ever.
6. Important controlls are really easy to get to. The things one would want to can usually be done with no digging in the interface.
7. Manufacturing is invisible.

So. Please add more things or ideas in comments or link to articles etc. that might be interesting for this project. Soumitri linked to an article on this matter but I think they writer is not completely right. I would love to see more info if anyone has found interesting stuff.