ShaoFei Xu's Blog

Midwest conference 2010

2010-04-28T06:04:00.001-07:00

IDSA( Industrial Design Society of America) 2010 Midwest chapter conference.
I didn't have many pictures of this event but some of the speakers were Trek, Ziba, and Radio Flyer. However the ending reception was held at Harley Davidson museum in Milwaukee, WI.
I also went to the Chicago Field Museum a week prior ro the Conference. so there are some cool dino and animals at the field museum.

and funny video.

the chinese characters say "anytime"

Exciting new photoshop feature-puppet warp

2010-04-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Man walk 3000 miles across China

2010-03-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

For real?

2010-03-09T15:39:00.001-08:00

someone tell me if this is real....

Portfolio Book and Model Assembly

2010-03-05T18:03:00.001-08:00

First prints of the portfolio is out. you can purchase your own copy at:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1208991

For the pool cleaner model I am at the final assembly stage. I will post up final pictures soon. Stay Tuned!

awesome

2010-03-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

bee can sniff out bomb?

2010-03-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

"Scientists at a U.S. weapons laboratory say they have trained bees to sniff out explosives in a project they say could have far-reaching applications for homeland security and the Iraq war." -MSNBC

here is a design by Will Usher called the sniffer bee.

Website Update

2010-02-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

I recently made my website into a flash site, check it out. I also updated the portfolio section with a new project.

SUSHI!

2010-02-20T21:26:00.001-08:00

Made sushi for a party tonight....

Model Update - Feb 21 2010

2010-02-20T21:17:00.001-08:00

I had a fallout this week as three pieces of my model broke. I wanted to reprint them but the 3-D printer is broke.... So the only way is BONDO! I was able to salvage most of the three parts. Look at the main cap it use to have an indent for the solar panel part but now it doesn't....

Some people in the workshop....late at night
Some of the painted parts.

Right and left leg unit, painted yellowish white.

Loading dock out side of the building, I thought it would make a nice picture.

More painted parts.

Primed model. somewhat assembled.

2010 Portfolio

2010-02-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

New 2010 portfolio is now updated. I will work on Sketchbook VOL 2 as soon as I get things scanned.

go check it out! www.shaofeixu.com

Thesis Model update

2010-02-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

All the images are reversed in time, please scroll down then scroll up for the right order.

cool angle.

sanded top cap. I use a lot of sponge sanding block.

Filler Primer sprayed again to fill small holes and cracks.

The gap between the two pieces are filled with Glazing spot putty.

Rough part of the top cap.

Two parts are glued together with Loctite Ultra Gel Super Glue.

Before and after intense sanding

This is what the parts look like right out of the 3-d printer- very rough and very fragil.

To make it strong CA Ultra Thin Super Glues are applied on to the 3-d print forming a very strong bond.

Thesis sneak peek

2010-01-19T17:56:00.001-08:00

Bucket 100 Bicycle Ride.

2009-11-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I did a charity bicycle ride from Lafayette IN to Bloomington IN to benefitHabitat for Humanity. The total ride was 129 miles and I did it in two days. Day one was around 65 miles and everyone stopped by Danville High School for the night. First day was particularly hard due to a strong head wind. Second day was around 58 miles, there were a few big hills to climb but overall second day was a lot easier. I rode my Single Speed Specialized Langster Comp, the bike worked great for this flat terrain ride. Once we got to IU we were notified that the bus that was suppose to take us home broke down....so we had to wait until 9pm to go home.

Here is a map of the trip, It's not the actual trip route but gives people a sense of distance.
Lots and lots of country roads, and that is me in the picture.
We had a police escort out of Lafayette, it was really cool.
camped out on the track above the Danville High School Gym.

Thanks Connie for the pictures!

48-2 Design Competition - Children Playset

2009-10-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

48-2 Design competition is a annual Industrial Design competition held at Purdue University. 5 teams composed of Seniors, Juniors, and Sophmores competes in this event. The topic this year is design for Haiti. Haiti being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere require many outside help, this case a group of Haiti missionaries approached Purdue University for help.
Each team were given 48 hours to come up with solutions and build a working prototype, and for my team we slept about 8 hours this weekend....
The design challenge:
PlaygroundProblem: children in Haiti lack fine motor skills and problem solving skills. Currently in Lamar there is no playground. Children love to play soccer and have lots of outdoor space to explore. The children have plenty of opportunity for gross motor skill development, but do not have as many options for developing fine motor skills. The children at the school are from 4 year old to 15 year old.Create a locally producible playground for the school in Lamar Haiti. The playground should encourage problem solving abilities and fine motor skills. Also of course, it should be fun.
My team roster:
Senior(design leader): Nora Flood, Leah Kenttamaa-Squires, and myself
Junior: Steve Duffin, Alex Padgett, Alex Hill
Sophmore: Elizabeth Reuter

The team!

Concret fun wall, and musical wall made out of trash and stick.

Math wall made out of bottle cap and scrap wood

We couldn't find any bamboo in 48 hours so PVC pipes were used instead. This is a tilting

machine. The child would play in teams to try to tilt the beads through one of the three

obstacle courses.

Very simple tire climbing play things. Idea being the child can climb and kick soccer

balls through the tire.

Overall we had great success in this event, every team member performed exceptionally. The winner of this competition will be announced shortly so check back soon!

West Virginia October Break

2009-10-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

So I went to West Virginia last week camped at Ace adventure "resort" for 4 days. Did a lot of mountain biking. West Virginia was beautiful with the autumn leaves and muddy ground. Enough said here are some pictures and videos.
heading back looking for lost members

Me and Grant deciding if we want to ride down that hill....

mud everywhere

Paul Robinson and funny incident

2009-09-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

A person at PAO locked someone else's bike with his/her bike.

I was fortunate enough to attend Paul Robinson's Presentation regarding his Mount Everest Adventure yesterday. It was a very inspiring adventure.

Little bio of Paul Robinson:

Dr. J. Paul Robinson, PUCL Director has just returned from Nepal having successfully summitsthe world's tallest mountain at 29,035ft, The effort was closely related to raising awareness of the devastating problems of AIDS in resource-limited countries, with the goal of raising money for Purdue's nonprofit Cytometry for Life program. The Cytometry for Life program is developing low-cost diagnostic equipment to help HIV/AIDS victims in rural Africa receive treatments. You can follow the timeline of the climb on this blog.

Thesis Project Update #1!

2009-09-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to do my thesis project on Automatic Pool Cleaner. Incase you are not familiar with auto pool cleaners that are the machines that crawls at the bottom of swimming pools sucking up dirt and leafs. As of now I am working closely with Seth (manager R&D) at AquaProducts in designing a new more user friendly Robotic Pool Cleaner.

So far I have done research regarding the different types of cleaner and common pool problems. I am doing research on biomimicry and infield interview right now. I went to two Leslie's pool and spa store last weekend in Indianpolis, the store clerks were very helpful. Hopefully that will be completed this week. Having a history paper due in oneweeks does not help at all... here is my planned schedule for this project.So far I have done research regarding the different types of cleaner and common pool problems. I am doing research on biomimicry and infield interview right now. I went to two Leslie's pool and spa store last weekend in Indianpolis, the store clerks were very helpful. Hopefully that will be completed this week. Having a history paper due in oneweeks does not help at all...

here is my planned schedule for this project

Mountain Biking in IL

2009-09-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Went mountain biking at Kickapoo near Danville IL last weekend. had a great time,

Note: part of Kickapoo is actually closed off, I think between Trail 4-6, there were no sign though.

48-2 t-shirt design

2009-09-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge and see all of them!

Purdue ID has an annual design competition, I design couple shirts for this competition.

New semester!

2009-08-31T05:21:00.000-07:00

So I finished my internship with Hasbro last weekend. and Now I've just finished settling in to my new apartment. I live in downtown lafayette now, so the bar/ social scene is huge! oh, trip report from Rhode Island back to Indiana, I stayed at a KOA camp site so I don't have to unload my stuff, beside the little girl that like to hide around my tent when playing hide and seek with her friends, I had no problem sleeping. shower and bathroom are available. For $30 it doesn't get safer and cheaper.
Kitchen

View when you first walk in

living room, stair to my room

wilson''s room

my room

shower

my room from another view
KOA camp site

What I am doing this summer

2009-07-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

for those that are asking me about my summer.

I started my internship with Hasbro Inc. in june, and won't get off until august. Hasbro one of the largest toy company in the world, it's lines include Marvel (spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk etc), G.I. Joe, Transformers, Littliest Pet Shop, Nerf, and many more. I've been assigned as an design intern for the Marvel Spider Man team. My work hours are from 8am- 5pm, so it doesn't leave me with a lot of time during the week.

Cliff Note:

Current Location: Providence, Rhode Island

Current Job: Toy Design

Current Schedule: June to August 21st - Hasbro after Aug 21st - Purdue

Urbzoo summer 2009 release

2009-05-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.urbzoo.com/

summer 2009 release by Urban Zoology Apparel aka Urbzoo
please feel free to check it out and make a purchase.

http://www.urbzoo.com/

Renee Ngo 1988-2009

2009-05-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Renee Ngo, who passed away on thursday April 30th 2009. I've known Renee through out my highschool and college years, she has always been a joyful and fun person. I met renee while I was a hurdler at Arcadia High School. Renee was one of the few outstanding throwers on the team, my best friends Nathan and Tim were also on the throwing section that is how Renee and me gradually became friends. Needless to say, the passing of Renee is a tragic moment in my life, she will be missed very dearly. God Bless.

And to everyone else, please don't make decisions so carelessly. As long as your are here with us, there will be good times. I made a video regarding the good times I had with all my friends back in highschool, I hope this cheer everyone up a little in this grief period of time. Please excuse the bad quality, this video is 7 years overdue, I don't think anyone outside of the pillarz has seen it. If you would like to download the below video click: www.shaofeixu.com/memories.zip

Over due post

2009-04-27T04:44:00.000-07:00

It's been hectic in the past two month or so, i apologize for the lack of updates.

Update 1

Went to IDSA Midwest conference in Minneapolis! it was a ton of fun, great city and awesome bar. professional turn out was a bit low and dinner was a bit haste. Purdue's merit award winner Michelle Avelis placed 2nd among other school's merit award winners. needless to say less talking more showing.

Big Kudos to Joyce's parents, delicious meal!

Downtown Minneapolis

University of Wisconsin's famous ice cream store.

Update 2

Congratulations to the graduating seniors. They had a show in Chicago last weekend and it was a great show! If you didn't go then you are missing out. some highlights

Almost everyone at the show

Look what we've done to this place!

Mouthing off competition

before we raided the warehouse

can't have a party without booze right?

Portfolio is up and running

2009-03-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Go to www.shaofeixu.com and check out the new portfolio!

DOC OCK TENTACLE FORCE!

2009-03-11T22:02:00.001-07:00

Just a prototype of the toy. ugly, but works.

International Design Symposium 2009 INDY

2009-03-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to attend the International Design Symposium in Indianapolis Museum of Art last friday. The presentation/ lectures by Michele de Lucchi and Alberto Alessi was especially interesting. Michele said that the main purpose of designer is to create choices for the consumer. I find especially true, designers create design to offer a more suitable choice for the consumer and ultimately humanity. Alberto Alessi talked about the Italian Design Factory, including metions of various famous designers that worked under him.

The exhibit was also extremely well presented. With works from some of the most famous product designers in the world. Overall it was a good day of learning and experiencing good design.

Good Bye Jack

2009-02-14T10:57:00.000-08:00

I traded in my Mountain Bike the other day and got a Specialized Langster Comp used fixie.

Jack was in pretty bad condition, as the crank was bent, rear rotor warped and chain pretty much gone. It is still a great ride and took me many miles in the wood, however it's life was at an end.

Now welcome my new ride, 2007 Specialized Langster Comp. This is a $1200 bicycle when new, but i got a great deal from the people at the local bicycle shop. It's fast, i can go over 30mph easily. It's scary, fix geared bike is weird. I am still getting used to riding fixie but it will be a great experience.

Picture of Jack and I. Hope your next owner treat you well Jack.

New Site.

2009-01-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

As internship season begin i will make some changes to the website. so the website and blog will not be updated until then. stay tuned.

the best chair in the world?

2008-11-06T16:08:00.000-08:00

Over the past decade and a half Herman Miller has firmly established itself “the” company to go to with all your seating needs. The original Aeron Chair came to symbolize the dot com era. Any and everyone had to have one in office to be certified “cool.” The mesh design, fully adjustable design, and 3 sizes to choose from made it one of a kind. Flash forward 15 years and they’re set to do it again with the new Embody chair taking the one size fits all ethos by further improving a number of adjustable features. The design is striking, even a little futuristic. It’ll set you back $1,600 USD

Delta Design

2008-10-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

I finished the Delta project recently. my given design topic was indoor plant watering module. My approach toward this design is to attract younger generation into taking care plants, so i looked into trendy decorations and gadgets. My conclusion is that younger generation perfer sleeker modern design that is clean and flexible. My final design is a rechargable plant pot that is set on a base charger when water level is low, so essentially it's like an iPOD dock. The design can be mounted onto an clean smooth surface with the suction cup in the back. I hope you like it, it's a 1/1 model built qith foam, plaster and some paint.

Concept Sketches

Final Concept Drawing
Final Model

Winning Work of Opus Design Award

2008-10-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

About four month ago i showed you my children's sunglasses design for Opus Award 2008. Well, the result of Opus Award was announced couple days ago and my sunglasses was chosen as one of the winning works. This year Opus Award received 723 design from 50 countries around the world. I was chosen as one of the 50 winning works out of 723 entries. the award website can be found here. http://www.opus-award.com/en/awarded2008.html

My classmate Mladen Suleski was also chosen as one of the winner with his interchangeable lens design. congratulations.

I am currently working on a project for Delta Faucet company and International Housewares Design Competition updates coming soon.

48/2 design weekend.

2008-10-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

Well, last weekend i had to do a design competition hosted by Purdue University industrial design department. The competition was sponsored by a company called campus loft, they specializes in furniture for school and office. This year I was assigned to the charcoal colored team, team members consist of Ben, Sergio, Di, Amy, Steve, Justin, Helen, and Eric. The goal of this year's competition is to design 25 concepts within a 48 hour time frame. We started out by doing market research in dorms and department store, then we had a long ideation period. Following the ideation period we started to do concept sketch to refine various ideas, and finally we render the concept sketch. the following are some of the 25 concepts we came up with.

This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep....

other than that, we had a subaru meet the other day.

Backpacking trip in kentuky

2008-09-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend i went on a backpacking/ camping trip to Red River Gorge in KY. The drive was about 5 to 6 hours and I had a great time driving there. By the time we arrived it was around 2 am so we set up our tent as quickly as possible. The next morning we backpacked about 7-8 miles, it sure wasn't easy carrying a 35Lb backpack and walking 8 miles. We finally arrived at Gray's Arch at around 4 pm. Gray's Arch is a big piece of naturally formed rock, it's shape resemble a bend arch. On our second night of camping the forest ranger issued us tickets for camping within three hundred feet of an established trail. It's the last place in the world for me to expect a ticket, anyways everyone was angry because of it. Thankfully we built a fire and everyone had a lot of fun that night despite the $75 ticket.

I also did a photoshoot of my apartment complex.

2008 Summer Olympics at Beijing

2008-08-28T04:35:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to go see the olympic in Beijing this summer. Here I made a little photo album of my trip.

I landed in Beijing's new T3 Airport Terminal on August 23rd, and immediately i was flown to Qingdao where the Open Water Sailing Competition was held. After three days in Qingdao I went to Beijing to attend Men's Gymnastic Group Final. National pride exploded when the Chinese team took home the gold medal. Later on i got to see Women's 43K Marathon.

My overall conclusion of this trip is that Beijing has evolved from a traditional Chinese Capital to a Wold Class Metropolis. The air quality and overall cleaniness was unimaginable compare to years ago before the Olympics. I had a great summer trip and i hope everyone enjoy the photos i took. The full album can be found in my Flickr.

Another Summer Update in Pictures.

2008-07-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

Midterm showcase in South Campus.
My Show case
I cut my finger while making the show.
The work in progress.
Clubing in Hollywood
anyone know him?

little people art project

2008-06-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

i found this little art project on the internet today. quite interesting because the artist hand make every figure. here is the site: http://little-people.blogspot.com/

Edit. The pictures didn't show up, but click on the box and you will be directed to the pictures.

Summer sumo..

2008-06-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

I went to see World Sumo Championship USA open at Los Angeles Sports Arena today. it was awesome. Unlike any sport game the atmosphere is ridiculous, people are yelling, giants are clashing on the arena. It's one of my best sport experience ever. When the yokuzuno (highest ranked sumo wrestler) are battling for the final title the whole arena was trembling. some pictures below.

Motivation Inspired by Art Center.

2008-06-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

I met this guy named John Park today at Art Center. He showed me his portfolio and stuff which is crazy good, as expected since he is a legend at art center now a day. He is currently interning for scott robertson, google his name and you will find out that he a famous entertainment designer currently teaching at art center. Scott only hand pick a few student every couple of years and you have to be the best of the best to get his internship. a sample of scott's stuff is here:

John's stuff is even better than scott's in my opinion.
This bring up another topic, should I do entertainment design?
yes or no either way my drawing skill is no match at this point, ready for 10 hour sketch day? heck yes.

Note to self: Submit opus design pieces.

Summer vacation Update

2008-05-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

So summer has arrived. As of now i am in Los Angeles doing some summer school at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Went to Redondo beach today and stopped by a japanese mall called Marukai. I found this really interesting flashlight called the Forever Torch. First of all, this flashlight does not run on purchased batteries. Instead it has a few section of magnet and copper wire. Everytime the user shakes the flashlight up and down the magnet goes through the copper wire and thus produce electricity. The lightbulb is LED, so just a few watts of electricity is needed to make it shine. It's on sale for $17.99 which is an reasonable price. Below is a picture of it curtesy of made-it-in-china.com, and i've personally tried it, it works quite well.

Another cool product i noticed was the E-Z Fold Step Ladder. I found this one at a Korean supermarket, it was a copied product of the original E-Z Fold. I've never seen on in person before today and the way how it works totally blew my mind. It's simple yet very sturdy.

Pics below you can find the original one at Bed-Bath and Beyond.

As many of you have read a huge earthquake stuck China's Sichuan area last week, and the deathtoll has been in the tens of thousands. Just want to sent my regards to those people whos lives are affected by this tragic event.

Portfolio Review and new project

2008-04-28T10:30:00.001-07:00

Congratulation to those that made it through the sophomore portfolio review!

Friday April 18 8:30 am

As I walked into the door of POA building, i asked myself do you really want to be part of this building for the next two year? answer turned out to be a yes.

the review went smoothly, and now i can finally call myself an Industrial Designer.

so this was my portfolio showcase.

i designed a eye wear for Opus design competition. It's a assembly puzzle sun glasses made of recyclable and renewable materials. The design will be stamped balsa wood board with natural rubber clips and plastic lenses. IT'S TIME TO PLAY! (excuse the bad poster render, it's still incomplete)

yes, i painted the grill of my car

This was a art show at Purdue, some very interesting stuff

More update will come about my summer plans.

E-waste and the Recycling of E-waste

2008-04-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

So i read an article today regarding electronic waste.

The article states that a big chunk of electronic waste in the US end up in a third world country. What does this mean? this means recycling companies would pay big money to get the waste out of their country. So United States and many developed countries basically buy electronics manufactured in third world countries new, and sent back the old. In a world of capitalism and consumerism this process is totally justifiable, however the impact to earth is unacceptable. The decrease in price means increase in demand and shorter life cycle. A camera or cell phone are now designed to be able to withstand many years of abuse, but people are never satisfied with the trend. As designers must address this issue. How can we design something so stylish that it can outlive it's hardware life span? Also how can we minimize the components so it can be easily recycled?

The current project i am working on have to do with opus eyeware design competition. I hope this topic will be addressed in my design.

well, next time when you are thinking about buying a new ipod think about how you can make your existing one last a bit longer.

Metal Stool..and another bicycle

2008-03-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

So pressure is accumulating around the Purdue Visual and Performing Arts Building as portfolio review approaches. my review is set to be April 18th at 8:20 AM.

I just finished with my metal stool. I am very disapointed at the final stool mostly because of craftsmenship. I drilled some holes before i fold and somehow the holes do not match up. I am planning to make another stool before the review so i probably won't be updating this blog anytime soon. But here are some pictures, enjoy.

And here is a interesting bicycle. the company is called the 3G Stepper.

XtraCycle bicycles

2008-03-17T05:58:00.000-07:00

While doing some research i came across XtraCycle company. This company specializes in commuter cargo bicycles. The interesting thing is while most of it's product are add on to existing bicycle, Surly designed one bicycle frame with the cargo welded into the factory frame. They named the bicycle the "big dummy". There are pictures on the website showing people using the big dummy to carry surfboard, kayak, and even camping bags. I would imagine this bicycle will be very versatile in commuter bicycler circle.

photo courtesy of XtraCycle. www.xtracycle.com

Zinc Design Contest Entry

2008-03-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

I have recently finished my design entry for InterZinc corporation. This company hold a Zinc -Diecast design competition every year. Every year it's a different design topic, last year was lock, this year is water dispensing unit. My entry is called the Elephountain, it is a device designed to mimic waterfall and it's mist as if an elephant is spraying water. One problem i had to solve was how to mount this thing on to a certain height. I did not want to design something that have to be mounted permanently so i decided to use suction cup. overall i think this was a fun project, i am looking forward to next year's competition.

TOOL HANDLE DONE!

2008-03-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is my latest project, "tool handle design". I basically took off the old handle and designed my own handle. the process can be seen in the previous post. here are the final pictures. Enjoy!

Also Urbzoo's new line is coming out soon. stay tuned and here is a little glimpse of the new season. As this season we are having a girl line, so invite all your ladies and await the new debute in LA.

tool handle project.

2008-03-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

So i've been busy building and designing a very stylish handle. here are the progress. I tried six different types of paint and my conclusion is one word "patience". when it comes to painting patience is important. i've messed up four of the paint jobs due to lack of patience. I always assume the paint dries faster, so the first time i sprayed clear enamel the paint started bubbling. Here are some picture:

Oh so very busy...

2008-02-20T17:54:00.001-08:00

So i've been finding myself with a constant lack of sleep this semester. i ask myself why, is it school, is it friend, or is it work. I concluded it all of them, combined together as the ultimate sleep robbing source. I've been working on zink die-cast project, with two other projects coming alone. the new project is a sheet steel stool. I must design and make a stool out of sheet steel and iron rods. what's the catch you say? well...the stool must be able to hold atleast 250lbs, it must be created with only one sheet of steel, and 6 feet of rod, should be aesthetically pleasing. I found this interesting stool while doing research.

Courtesy of Frank & Stanimira Rafaschieri (designer)
I think it is one awesome concept and should be put into manufacture. it's expandability is simple and it definitly works.
This is all I am going to write for now.

New toys

2008-02-15T06:52:00.000-08:00

I got some new toy shipped to me today. they are Buka, Buff Monster, and two be@rBrick. They are all blind boxes so I have no idea what designs I got. For Buka I got the Season one Hicalorie buka. for Buff monster i got blackie, and for the two Be@rBrick I got two Flag. pictures above if you like to see them. i'm now going to write a little review. I am very satisfied with the quality of Bukas, their graphic print is sharp, color is deep. however Be@rBrick also have good prints but their plastic was cheap, so the joint part was horrible. The worst would probably be Buff monster. I think this brand is over exposed, people expect great stuff from them. the blackie I got had a horrible paint job, the paint was not smooth and the print was off set by half a millimeter. The box design, Buka owns all. I find Buka quite amusing, the package says it's not a toy, but wait.....that doesn't make much sense. anyways, that would be all. I will be writing a installation instruction for my sound system later this weekend. stay tuned if ur into after market car audio.

InterZinc design competition.

2008-02-11T06:58:00.000-08:00

My new project is a design competition hosted my INTERZINC corporation. Basically we have to understand the process of zinc diecasting. every year a general topic is chosen and this year it's to design a water/ liquid dispensing device. My design approach to this project is not so much about zinc, but water. H2O can have 3 stages Liquid, gas, and solid. each stage have very unique individual properties. by incorporating water's unique properties wilth environment awareness i believe would make a great design. i will be doing some research on water crisis and world water problem in the near future and hopefully something great will pop up. The hippo water roller is an awesome example, it helped so many people in africa to solve their water problem, can this concept be improved or even interpreted differently? that shall be answered soon.

Weekend...did so much...

2008-02-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

Went to chicago yesterday. it was not a very good place to go during this time of the year, temperature hangs around 15 degrees or so but wind chill is like negative. I had lunch in this asian restaurant in UIC and I found a very interesting chair.

then I went to the Chicago Auto show. The chicago auto show was pretty good, but I didn't get to see too much due to the limited time. The buick rivera concept design by GM china was a great looking car. Honda also had a CR-X concept.

after the show I went to woodfield mall and bought a pair of Asic Gel-Trail Attack WR. great running shoes, tried it on this morning. it had a very interesting design.

Today I went to the Chinese New Year show hosted by Chinese Scholarship Association and Graduate students at Purdue University. Very entertaining.

as for dinner me and jen made Kimchi soup, fried rice, and yakisoba. I will do special recipe blogging later next week when I have more time to sit down and write.

it's going to be a new week, excited.

ET Foundation Design Competition Entry

2008-02-08T13:58:00.001-08:00

So ET foundation held this design comeptition that have to do with aluminum extrusion. All I have to say is that I was very frustrated by the rules set by the company, Aluminum extrusion process is a very useful process in producing straight objects such as beam and stair. enough with the design process. Overall I did not think my design is going to be a winning piece because I was pushed my the deadline. i hope i had better ideas; so here is my final product, I call it the poppy shelf enjoy!

Website Update

2008-02-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

So it seems that my personal website is still in progress. after 20 hours of intense CSS and HTML coding, photoshopping, data gathering, it's almost done. just when I thought it was done i ran into all kinds of problems. first, image link from thumbnails doesn't seem to work. second, the index page rollover image is offset in safari browser on mac. third, i got schooling to do. Life has been busy in the past couple days, i constantly find myself with lack of time to do anything. It snowed quite a lot here in West Lafayette, 8 - 10 inches in the past two days. I had some good fun in my subaru as it never gets stuck in snow and I can pull off sweet drifts like no other.

this is my first blog post, so i will keep it short as I am still not used to writing about life and things. blogger is quite an amazing blogging tool, big kudo to the guys who made this possible at blogger, you guys rock.

PS. as for my toys, I just got some new ones. pics coming soon.