Category: Expression

AVA preamp chassis

AVA “SLR” remote controlled preamplifier chassis

A recent chassis redesign project I undertook for Audio by Van Alstine is now in production.

This project pushed “constraints as creative resource” to the limit. The client specified that the design language and elements from the product’s predecessor be maintained—down to the knobs, faceplate treatments, and typography.

The project brief revolved around electronic and industrial design work to bring the client’s preamplifer platform up to functional parity with current market offerings within a framework that fits with the client’s existing manufacturing capabilities. The result is a platform that is significantly more capable than what it replaces yet easier for the client to manufacture. It is also amenable to comprehensive appearance changes if and when the client deems the timing is right.

So while it might not seem there’s much innovation on the outside, there is a lot of innovation for the client on the inside.

I write therefore I’m improving

According to Fast Company, John Madea is positing that writing skills are important for design because many interactions still depend on text. I’d like to approach this from a different angle. What I’ve found in my personal development is that the better command I develop over my natural languages, the better everything becomes. Visual thinking, musical thinking, engineering thinking … everything.

Some people have described my approach to design as linguistic. In addition, I think of coding primarily as an extension of linguistic skills. So the apparent close relationship between natural language skills and other skills might just be me. But since language is such a core part of how the human mind works, it could very well be universal.

So, yeah, writing.

Programming Fundamentals with Processing

Kind of a big day here. I’ve decided to put online what I’ve written so far of my book on Processing. I’m pretty sure this will motivate me to do more work on it.

I’m about 80% done with the first half. I’m sort of thinking that once the first half is actually done, I might try a Kickstarter or GoFundMe.

Feel free to kick my butt about this.

Acrobotic’s ESP8266 Tips & Tricks

NodeMCU devkit

There’s a growing series of good videos covering ESP8266 Tips & Tricks on ACROBOTIC’s YouTube channel. The ESP8266 has become quite a darling in the IoT world, and a seriously cool community is growing around it.

NodeMCU devkit picture by Vowstar (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Arduino: reunited and it feels so good

I am cautiously optimistic about the recently announced resolution of conflict between Arduino LLC and Arduino Srl. Back when the issue flared up, I took sides based on the information I had available, but I then decided to refrain from public comment as additional information on the issue did not seem to be forthcoming.

While I am hoping this announcement means a lovebath for everyone, I am concerned about some of the wording used in the announcement, specifically that, “The newly created ‘Arduino Holding’ will become the single point of contact for the wholesale distribution of all current and future products, and will continue to bring tremendous innovations to the market.” Does this mean that Arduino will shift its focus toward for-profit and more closed designs? In other words, will the hardware arm of the project maintain the project’s fully open culture? There have been signs that things have been closing up on the software side as well since Arduino LLC seem to be be in no hurry to answer questions regarding whether the code for their new SaaS IDE will be open sourced or not.

So, cautiously optimistic I am.

Keep AVR open

road-closed-sign

About a week ago, I posted on G+ my concerns regarding the impact that Microchip’s purchase of Atmel might have for the Arduino ecosystem. Turns out I’m not alone, judging from the comments in the post from the Arduino folks that followed the same day.

Communities build incredible product loyalty, and open source (in addition to its other benefits) is an incredibly easy way to build community. Here’s hoping that Microchip realizes this and leaves a good formula alone.