Submission times for 8th November

Hi All,

Lots of questions going around about this - please show up to your "normal" class time of either 9am or 2pm.

thanks

Robbie

--
Dr Robbie Napper
Lecturer
Industrial Design
Monash University

Calming Colours

There have been many studies on colours and how they affect one's ability to sleep and relaxation.
Due to the fact that my device is a transport sleeping aid, relaxing colour choice is integral to the aesthetic of the product.

It is quite common knowledge that cooler colours are perceived to be more relaxing than their warmer counterparts.
For instance, Blues, greens and white are often colours that are recommended for bed sheets, as these colours can sometimes help mild insomnia cases.

However, what I didn't know before delving into some online colour research is that the colour pink also has calming abilities.
Apparently there has been extensive psychological testing using this specific colour, these tests have involved putting violent criminals
in rooms with pink walls and monitoring the subject's behaviour and mood.

Furthermore, the product colour scheme also needed to be carefully considered due to the fact that the target audience of the "Sleep-Easy" device is both male and females, young and old.
Hence, I found it important to utilise a colour scheme that represented both genders paired with a neutral shade for balance.

Whilst it is true that not all women like the colour pink, which is quite often stereotyped I felt it important to feature an equally feminine colour, especially to entice the younger female age bracket,
a group which would be fairly likely to experience difficulty sleeping during aeroplane flights for instance. I felt as though choosing the colour pink would discourage many male consumers from utilising the device which may already be perceived as "pansy" or "wimpish". Hence in order to satisfy all demographics of the target audience a compromise was made and the colour lavender was chosen for the feminine aspect of the colour scheme, a hue which contains pink in its structure.

For the masculine colour I decided to go with a light blue as research shows that blue hues are the strongest in terms of promoting relaxation and sleep, and also due to the fact that blue would compliment
the purple colour, I really wanted to avoid complimentary colours because I felt it was important to maintain a harmonious colour scheme, again to aid in creating a calming environment.

Lastly I felt it was important to choose a neutral shade to balance the colours, a third colour seemed to be necessary any way considering the many components of the device.
I avoided black because it would be too bold and would contradict the already pastel aesthetic. White was also avoided despite the fact that it is a colour often recommended for bed sheets.
I felt this shade would be detrimental to the overall design of the device due to the fact that white naturally makes things appear larger than what they are. Because the device's technical
package is quite involved the product is already bigger than most headsets. Hence, I wanted to avoid making it look larger still. Furthermore, if white was chosen, particularly for the region that comes directly in contact with the wearer's head, then the device would stain easily, due to the oils that exist in human hair - something which would be very displeasing.

Thus, after careful consideration the shade of light grey was chosen as the final component of the colour scheme. It was selected due to being close enough to white to still have calming properties, without being susceptible to staining, and farther away from black to not cause any depressive and morbid emotions which would be severely detrimental to someone with a fear of flying.

After such a careful consideration process I am happy to announce that I am content with the present colours and am confident that they support the function of the device effectively,


Ashlee Shepherd.

BD (breath device) color consideration

my design is a fresh breath test machine. The purpose of this product is help to detect the level of breath smell and give a result of the test,  it works with biological organism of human body and especially this product linked strongly with the feeling of fresh, because users want to achieve good results of their breath oder.

My first selection of colours would be blue, white, chrome/metal. Blue and white used frequently in cleaning product such as toothpaste, they provided closest feel of freshness and clean. The only reason of choosing metal is because i have included some parts (little circles button on the side) that very likely to be made out metal to look like a real product. I also considered about green, although i knew green represents sickness back in middle age in France and still does a bit now. Green is also associate with green tea and healthy. unfortunately it just dosen't look as good as other options in my color drawings.

After a reconsideration on my first color option. Maybe freshness is not the only answer to such product, i think there are some things that are more attractive for consumers to buy rather than a combination of blue and white ( this combination is too common seen in the market). In my drawing of different colours combination, the black and white really stands out of others. The white color seems like made out of ceramics and the black is very glossy. They look like a carefully designed product in the market.  Or maybe it is just stand against with these colors in my drawing, it is going to be hard to represent in the finally folio though.

YIFU (Sorry for late post, i did't manage my time well)

Colour scheme for moisture device

Sorry about the previous post. This is why I shouldn't have left my laptop unattended.

My device measures the moisture level in almost any object. There is a retractable sensor which is located at the tip of the device that comes in contact with the particular object. As the device processes, the other rings will light up, corresponding to the amount of moisture in the object.

The colour scheme i have adapted on my device are blue and white. The majority of the device is blue in colour whilst, the outer rings depending on the moisture content will either be white or blue. The outer rings which are white in colour at first are what is utilized to determine the moisture content of a particular object. The outer rings are like the 'moisture-meter' of the device. Once the device has calculated the amount of moisture in the object, it will light up as blue depending on how moist the object is; if the object is a hundred percent moist, the entire outer rings will light up as blue. as a result, the device would look almost identical to the shape of a water drop symbolizing liquid or in this case moisture. This is shown in the above diagram.

At this stage, the white colour that i have chosen will be 'creamy' white. However, the colour blue is still undecided as i have yet to experiment the different types of blue. It is still a work in progress.=]

- Hannie Choi

hannie is stupid she has to get his boyfriend to do her blog

My device measures the moisture level in almost any object. There is a retractable sensor which is located at the tip of the device that comes in contact with the particular object. As the device processes, the other rings will light up, corresponding to the amount of moisture in the object.

The colour scheme i have adapted on my device are blue and white. The majority of the device is blue in colour whilst, the outer rings depending on the moisture content will either be white or blue. The outer rings which are white in colour at first are what is utilized to determine the moisture content of a particular object. The outer rings are like the 'moisture-meter' of the device. Once the device has calculated the amount of moisture in the object, it will light up as blue depending on how moist the object is; if the object is a hundred percent moist, the entire outer rings will light up as blue. as a result, the device would look almost identical to the shape of a water drop symbolizing liquid or in this case moisture. This is shown in the above diagram.

At this stage, the white colour that i have chosen will be 'creamy' white. However, the colour blue is still undecided as i have yet to experiment the different types of blue. It is still a work in progress.=]

- Hannie Choi

Colours

For my Pollen Counting device, I think I am going to go in the direction of light summery colours. I think this would definitely suit the product as it will primarily be used in the spring time when the sun is just coming out and the weather is warming up. It would compliment the colours of the blossoming flowers, however once you saw these flowers, then you would most likely have to move away because you would probably be allergic to them. However, I am considering beige colours, perhaps a beige green for the main body of the device and an off white to compliment it. But this is just planning out in my head. Some experimentation must be done. I really like the hue colours on the colour wheel and will be playing around with those colours to get a right balance and a secondary colour to compliment it. Like I said, the inspiration comes from the light summer colours and the blossoming flowers that will arrive in the spring time.

Raz

colours for recycle bin

I actually have not decided the colours yet.  I was having trouble with choosing colour always, when I dress up or choosing right and interesting colour for drawing. I am having Bit of struggling with colour. So I will write about the colours that I like for my recycle bin

Recycle bin has narrow choices of colour scheme. As It is a recyle bin, of course, green colour is highly recommended.  And the material of recycle bin is metal. So It probably has metallic colour. That is pretty simple and general colour scheme for recycle bin.

It gives such friendly feeling. The purpose of my concept recycle bin is to encourage people to enjoy recycling.Green and yellow are good choices. As yellow is analogic colour of green, they go well.

Colours!

Just to refresh, my product is aimed towards toddlers and kids - and yet, it's quite industrially designed so it needs to fit into both categories. I experimented alot with bright, vivid colours to attract young kids and while some looked borderline okay, most came out too strong and did the opposite by putting people off (it put me off). In my concept pin-up, I mentioned how I disliked the colour choices as I believed it made my design look too busy. The green with the blue and the silver; it took out all the simplicty I wanted to imply in my product. In photoshop, I dunk multiple colour combinations and came to a realisation that having two or more 'bright' colours destroys the design completely. It definately goes to show how much colour can impact on a design alone. In the end I went for the furthest on the left as the main colour is emphasized through the subtle shades in the body. It was, in my opinion, the best solution to fitting both target audiences utilizing the bright blue handles to attract the kiddies while still reserving the sophisticated design for the adults.

 

 

 

Karen

Colours.

So far, a choice of colour has not come naturally.

Hence the experimentation above, which unfortunately has not succeeded in identifying a specific winner. The difficulty is in the wide range of users. Diabetics are not a specific type of person and have no unifying taste. The glucometer is also a device which is used extremely regularly and is therefore a very personal device by way of familiarity.

Hence, I would offer the glucometer in a range of colours to cater to a wide range of individuals, some wilder in colour scheme than others. However, for my final design I will be keeping the colours reasonably subdued and professional for presentation. Robbie mentioned white was a colour many associate with cleanliness and hygiene therefore I'm moving towards while, blue, red and silver as my colour scheme to express the medical nature of the product whilst the silver connects the metallic watch component to the glucometer.

Hopefully I can nail down the colour scheme in the next few days, need to get painting!

Ed

Colour Clarity

Despite the title I am in no way clear on colours for my final design. The title refers to a prevalent theme that has hindered the later stages of my design curbing. As part of my design I need a section of to be clear in order for the user to observe difference of colours in a liquid; this brings up an interesting (but by no means overarching) question: what colour goes with clear plastic?

This question will not dictate the entire spectrum of decisions needed to choose a coherent colour scheme but to me it was the most endlessly perplexing (I dare you to find sense in the term "most endlessly something"). I will continue to push forward and look at nature and, scientific and biological research facilities to create a colour scheme that best fits in its environment and informs the user about the product at a deeper level… or I could make the whole thing out of clear plastic.

-Tahl

Pure colour

The colour scheme I have decided on for my water quality tester will use a dominant gray tone with blue highlight sections. I looked at different options for colours from scientific instruments due to the devices scientific basis, but also considered appliances and outdoor camping equipment due to the various environments it can be used in. The scientific and household appliances research lead me to using the cool gray, I have not yet determined if it will be a light or darker tone. The blue highlights will be on the buttons at the front and the logo. The blue relates to camping equipment as it often has one bright attention grabbing colour so it can be easily seen, but my blue will be less intense. The buttons will be contrasting to clearly show the user the intended way to hold the device.  The body and buttons will be painted using high gloss paints, but the grip at the rear will be painted using a black rubberised paint to replicate the material it would be produced from.

I looked at using other colour strips/sections and various colours, although I think they looked good they gave the device a sporty look. I ended up using blue as it relates to the pure water which the device is used to test, so it connected to the purpose of the design.

The colour scheme in the bottom left of the image is very similar to what I will be using, the tone of the gray needs to be considered, and the logo will go where the text is placed.

 

Jarrod Burge

COLOUR!

For my bacteria Measuring device, the colour scheme i have chosen is a light grey for the main body, and with a darker grey for sections around the hatch and the handle. I needed a colour that would match/compliment the colours of the light indicators Green, Orange and Red. Originally i was thinking grey colour for the Body with another colour for the handle and hatch. But this was hard trying to find a matching colour that suited. I was seriously considering a deep blue for the handle and hatch, but then it occurred to me that it was starting to look like a rainbow. Therefore, i removed the blue and thought of the darker grey, this way it all ties together nicely, and for being on the bigger size of the models i needed to be more cautions, because anything to drastic would be disastrous. At the moment i am sorting out the different colour sections which are indicated by the photos. 

Over and out Tegan :)

Hydr8 Colour Scheme

Although there are many brightly coloured drink bottles on the market today they are all made from opaque plastics and do not have the ability to change colour.  When deciding on the colour scheme for my design I had to be careful not to choose any colours that would clash with the light source which identifies the user's level of hydration.  As this can be green, blue or red there is no colour that would blend nicely with all of these. Since I didn't want a stark contrast between the bottle colour and the light I decided to select a tonal shade such as a cool grey. This will also allow it to be used in many different environments from the sports field to the office.

I am still deciding on the additional features such as the colour accents  and product logos. However, as the image shows, I am currently thinking of a pinstripe accent which includes the name of the product. I am also still deciding on the colour for the button and the reader however I think that a slightly darker gray with a bit more blue would work. I would appreciate anyone who knows a font that would work well with my design to comment.

James Meikle

Colours

My design, the atmosphere evaluator is a wall mounted device equipped with a remote control. Because of the remote control feature, I have designed the measuring device such that the colours and the lines of both components of my design match together. Therefore, it is easier to associate the remote control to the main unit.

Since the main function of the design is to help the user to create the best atmosphere to study, I have chosen the dominant colour to be white. White is a neutral colour and can easily be associated to wall-mounted electrical devices such as air conditioners, smoke detectors, etc. Also, I have decided to colour the patterns in either some light cool or warm grey. Those two colours do not contrast too much with white, and are very subtle. A colourful design would defeat the purpose of the device as it would most likely distract the user. I believe that the combination of white and light grey can fit in any environment, as it helps to create a calm atmosphere compared to some bright colours.

However, I intend to add a hint of colour to the design, to make it more original and less plain. I'm thinking about a different colour for the button, most probably blue or green. A coloured button will attract the user's attention when handling the remote control and make the user want to interact with the device.

Dwayne Chung

Colour Scheme Variations

My design consists of a lot of glass, probably 2/3's of the design is a just glass. This means that my design requires a colour scheme which will give more emphasis to the glass sections as they are the main part of the design with which the user interacts. I have considered colour schemes which are very subtle and dark. The colour schemes of the buttons and latches are brighter as they need to be noticed more than the main body of the design, but they also need to be subtle enough to not take away the emphasis put on the glass sections. My product is really a household product and i have taken inspiration for the colour schemes from dyson vacuum cleaners which are also household products. The colour schemes used in their products are also reflective of the same emphasis i want to put on my product. The subtle grey and the yellow and orange trims work together very well to give the user a sense of where everything is like buttons etc... 

Bishavjot Singh

the colours of sound

Hi all!

So the last blog post for this unit... I had better make it a good one....

My choice of colours for the body of my product has been dictated by the design and its environment. My sound measuring device is wall mounted and has two sections on either side where lights illuminate at different levels of sound to alert workers near by. I wanted these lights to stand out so they could be easily seen my anyone in the workshop/factory. This meant that the body of my design could not be a bright colour, say yellow for example. This would make the lights harder to view. I need a contrast of colours in my design. 

Consider traffic lights. The traffic light unit is black so that the colour of the lights can be read by drivers no matter what is behind the traffic light. I did not want my device to be black or white, as i think these colours are a bit extreme. I decided to settle for a darker grey which would provide the level of contrast that I wanted for my device.

I have chosen red, orange and green as the colours for the lights because they are easy to understand. Green refers to good levels of sound, orange refers to ok levels of sound, and red refers to damaging levels of sound.

Thanks for reading all semester!

Matt Harding  

HUEge Decisions.

For my device i need to keep the colour scheme low key and consistent.

There are many considerations to be made when producing sports equipment. As my device is aimed at more elite sporting induviduals, sporting team and institution colours are extremely important and you do not want the scheme to clash with current attire or send a mixed message about whos on what team to the external viewer.

Bottom line, colour choices are going to have to be understated and subtle however posess a certain boldness that shows off the product without hindering the visual communication it posesses as a sporting aid for teams and solo players.

-Robert Schoch.

Colour scheme

I have been mulling over possible design decisions for a while now, as I feel it is quite important in implying the design direction I have taken the device form-wise.

What I mean by saying that is that while my device needs to be discreet in order to effectively measure productivity, I also wanted to inject some personality and style into my measuring machine, both for the sake of prospective buyers and to make it more interesting to design.

As a result, I have imagined a device that borrows aesthetics from tactile 50s and 60s era products. The main inspiration comes from the microphone grill on the front, which has been taken from the classic 50s microphone. However, applying a chrome finish to the product would make it look garish and obnoxious. It is designed to look neat but ultimately fade into the background of classrooms and office spaces. I have have chosen to go with a cool to mid-tone grey with a tiny blue tinge to evoke the soft metallic look without being too overbearing.

The colour is also inspired by the industrial-looking cool blues of 60s and 70s sci-fi films, because I like the style and think it looks slick, but still very grounded and real.

-Tom Millward

Colour Choice....

Choosing a main colour for my bushfire warning system was quite easy when i did a bit of research of related devices. As shown in the above images and almost all examples of weather stations that i found, they are almost alway plain white. At first i thought it was just a boring result of a boring device but after consideration i realised its all to do with practicality and reliability. If you think about, these weather stations are constantly exposed to the elements and especially in Australia, a day of sunshine has a massive affect on the temperature of an exposed object and its internal components. For this reason, and to achieve a more realistic result, i have chosen to colour my device with a similar white with grey accents to break up the object. I also believe the white is a very neutral colour that will better fit in with its surroundings during all weather conditions compared to bright or darker alternatives. i have chosen to go with a polished aluminium case for the handheld device due to the fact that one of its key requirements is that is is always clearly visable.

Sean H

colour scheme

For my hydration measuring drink bottle, I wanted to use colours that could either be specific to a type of sport or exercise or be a colour that can relate to multiple sports. I wanted to keep the colours simple and that work well together, so not clashing colours. So I decided that I would keep the main body of the bottle white, grey or black, and the lid/mouthpiece and grip a colour. I experimented working many different colours together such as blue, red, green, yellow, etc.

The colour I found that worked the best and could relate to many different sports is green and white. This colour scheme would also include a dark/navy blue for the led indication of hydration level. These colours are also fairly unisex, so girls and boys, or women and men can use these drink bottles.

KATE