Informally honest
Brian Jeffcock NSCAD design work 2009-2011
Why a graphic novel?
Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG) is a Danish architecture firm who developed a unique book showing how their projects were developed. This book is called Yes is More and it employs the story telling strengths of a graphic novel. A graphic novel is a great format for explaining how a design was developed. The design process is an ever changing and often chaotic thing. I wanted to use the graphic novel format to help tell the stories of some of my design projects. I hope you enjoy this informal glance into how some of my projects were developed. If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to email me at: brian@brianjeffcock.com
The greyed out projects are other projects I completed but chose not to include in this book.
I consider this project to be the start of my design education. I was in second year and only had three months of basic graphic and product design experience. This project introduced everything. Clients, user groups, user research, human factors, human interaction, system design, and experience design.
parent ch
The begin ning. 2nd year, 2008
ild atm
Can ATM machines be redesigned to make them easier and safer to use for parents with small children?
Interviews and observational research were conducted to help us understand the needs of the user.
parents are too pre-occupied to watch kids. system is complicated. takes eyes off child. must fix.
how can we keep the kid calm, entertained and safe until parents finish banking?
BAD It became apparent that the parent needed to feel their child was safe and secure when they were looking at the screen.
GOOD
young children already have video games... so lets give them something they enjoy to keep them occupied.
first we turned the ATM around so it faced outwards. This allowed the parent to have a full view of anyone in the bank (which will reduce the chances of someone taking their child while using the ATM)
The child needed to be entertained and kept stationary while the parent was using the ATM.
For bigger kids, an interactive screen was placed lower and to the left of the real ATM screen. This allowed the child to play along with the parent and turn the ATM experience into a game.
drawing by victoria lane
a seat with a belt allowed the parent to keep both arms free while keeping the child safe.
Environmentally friendly cardboard packaging Stores everywhere are switching to re-useable bags. The bags were just part of the problem, the packaging of products is a leading cause of waste in the food industry.
Grocery stores all over Canada have been making the switch from plastic bags to a more sustainable reusable one. While this is A great start, much more can be done to reduce the food industries environmental impact.
This means that the majority of this plastic packaging ends up in landfills. Having worked in a bakery, I know the amount of plastic that goes into packaging cookies and muffins.
I wanted to reduce the amount of harmful packaging used in a bakery
BAD
After reviewing the properties of each material, I decided to use cardboard and plastic. Cardboard for it’s recyclability, and plastic for it’s transparency.
To do this, I studied materials such as bio degradable corn based plastic (PLA), polymers, cardboard, waxed cardboard, and molded fiber.
GOOD
I designed the window to be easily removable so it would make recycling a breeze.
3 Steps toward making the world a bette 1 2
Tear off plastic window
Toss it in the tras
N
available in three sizes which are multiples of each other to allow stacking.
er place.
sh
3
Cardboard Recycle the cardboard
Nobody’s perfect so do what you can. Please Recycle.
Pet ownership can be a hard job sometimes, especially if you are elderly or of limited mobility. I decided to design a few products that made things easier for pet owners of all types, but specifically the elderly.
After researching the problem through interviews and hands on experience, I found a few problem areas that could be improved. The first was finding a way to make the feeding process easier.
I wanted this new design to make it easier for the owner to feed the pet if they had trouble bending over.
refills are tough when you can’t bend over
To do this, I developed a model that allowed the bowls to be raised up to waste level with a simple pull of a leaver.
Once this model was finished, I turned to a bigger problem... the pet carrier
After talking with elderly pet owners, I quickly realized that these animals were more than just pets to these people. One lady I spoke to lived alone with her dog, and she said that when her husband died, her dog (named Panda) really helped her through that tough time.
a day with panda..
This emotional connection between the owner and the animal was not being translated into the way they were transported.
X
Existing pet carriers are essentially cages with a handle. They are also hard for the user to open and close.
When small children or babies are transported, they aren’t put into cages‌ they are put into strollers.
As many of these pet owners treat their pet like their child, I wanted that care and affection to be apparent during transport.
goodbye cage.. hello comfort and style
The Sicuro pet carrier has been developed to protect the pet while making travel easier.
The removal of the cage like bars and small latches make it easier to use.
√
friendly holes replace cage like bars
The Pulse pedometer rewards its users with iTunes credits. The more you walk, the more you earn.
obesity is the pandemic of our generation. this project was done in with the gracious support of the heart and stroke foundation of nova scotia.
to combat obesity, teens need to become more active. my job was to increase the physical activity of 14 year old girls.
X √ the heart and stroke foundation wanted to get teen girls more interested in walking and the use of pedometers.
existing pedometers are boring and ugly... plus who cares about how many steps you take?
14 is a tough age for girls due to physical development and body image. I decided to take a tough subject and pair it with something they love... and there is nothing teen girls love more than justin beiber!
with a pulse pedomter, the more you walk, the more iTunes points you earn. These give you access to exclusive content and special songs... even from beiber!
simply plug your pulse pedomter into your iphone/ipod or computer to use points.
available in a variety of colours and designs to cater to as many girls as possible.
idea could be designed for boys as well
The Heart and Stroke foundation was so impressed with the pedometer project that they requested a redesign of an office building staircases. Office workers are becoming increasing inactive, and the work environment does little to promote health. Can revitalizing the staircase environment promote use and better health? SITE: Summit place Halifax, NS
existing staircases are ugly, dirty and often scary places. No wonder they aren’t being used... will they hear you if you scream? large room for improvement.
these are some office stairs in halifax. why are they so terrible?
FAIL
these are photos of our site. the building is beautiful, yet the stairs are baron and industrial.
stairs have lame signs printed on inkjets.. and the elevators are gold!
What can we learn from chocolate? everyone loves a break! make the staircase a destination.. a retreat!
Give the left brain a break by engaging right brain activity with abstract patterns.
GOOD throw in some herbs to engage the sense of smell without triggering allergies
light quality is another major problem. replace old bulbs with full spectrum lights to help reduce headaches.
the site: Summit Place in downtown halifax. nice lobby.. terrible stairs
proposal:
new stair signage.
graphics lead the user down the hall and towards the staircase.
new staircase is bright, clean, cool and refreshing. far from the current inustrial look and feel.
basic package: new flooring, full spectrum lights and signage.. this is our low cost option.
search “brian jeffcock� on youtube to view a walkthrough of our redesigned building
premium package: wood flooring, full spectrum lights, herb planters, abstract wall coverings and signage.. this design has great value for its cost.
Blue sky package: take premium and add a green wall, windows, and a waterfall.
Urban car sharing program
Plus One Auto is a car-sharing program that addresses traffic and parking problems in dense urban areas. This system employs a new type of vehicle that only uses half a parking spot, thus doubling a cities parking capacity.
This project spawned out of the worst Traffic jam in history. In August 2010, an 8 day, 100 km Traffic jam occurred outside of Beijing. It became very clear that something had to be done to reduce these traffic issues.
roads are huge!! what a waste of space...
Every year China adds 15 million cars to their roads, and road production simply can’t keep up. Transportation infrastructure takes up far to much room as it is, so expanding it further was out of the question.
YES!!!
√
There were really only two options that could be taken to help the problem. One was to build more roads, and the other was to reduce the number of cars. To save the city and the environment, I had to reverse this massive increase in cars and somehow get people back onto public transit.
Cars offer freedom, excitement and adventure, and that’s exactly what the emerging middle class of china want
X
This isn’t fun or exciting.. what happened to driving?
This Sucks!!
So how do you reduce the cars on the road while still giving people what they want?
√
Car Sharing! Car sharing is exploding all over the world, but it could still be much better.
The vehicles used by Car sharing programs are designed for private ownership, not car sharing.. .. so imagine how effective a car sharing program could be if the vehicle was actually INTENDED for car sharing.
I had my plan, and I set off researching the best way to achieve this goal.
√
It became apparent that I didn’t need a big car, as the average family size in Urban China is 3 people.
what do these peop need?...
So I with this in mind, I wanted an efficient design to decrease the parking area needed to hold each car. I developed a form that allowed 2 cars to share a single standard parking spot.
can two cars fit in here?
It was at this point that I developed the name and the branding. I chose the name “Plus One Auto” because of the addition of the extra person in the back as well as the extra car in each spot.
Now that I’ve cut the space needed to hold the cars in half, I wanted to do even more for the environment by eliminating the carbon emissions.
X
ple
..not this!!
Personal transportation is the major source of pollution in cities, this car can drastically improve the air quality of a city. After researching zero emissions power systems, hydrogen fuel cells and electric power seemed to be the best options.
That left me with electric power, which is readily available pretty much everywhere.
At first I favored hydrogen, but the costs of implementing city wide refueling stations would make the system far to expensive to implement.
DIRTY
CLEAN
The downside is that electricity is currently generated in dirty, coal burning plants, but that is changing... ..Advancements in wind, solar, hydro and clean nuclear systems could soon provide the world with clean electricity.
Now that the basic requirements of the vehicle were in place, I began to develop a form that would cater to as many people as possible.
I wanted the vehicles to use as much of the parking spot as possible to give the passengers the maximum amount of space on the inside. (To avoid feeling unsafe or cramped )
2 cars, 1 spot
√
It is almost the same length as a smart car, except it is much wider. For the exterior, the form had to cater to both men and women, so I wanted something that was cute but aggressive.
√ Two’s company, three’s a crowd... and the average family size in china.
same length as smart car.. only wider and more roomy.
room for rear passengers legs
The car’s extra width is the secret behind the 3 seat layout. The front two seats are spaced in a way that allows an adult to sit in the middle of the rear and have their feet fit between the seat. The width is also the reason for the “Lamborghini” style doors. When parked, the cars are too close for traditional doors to work. These vehicles are designed for car-sharing, so it’s ok to double park. Users must become Plus One Auto members before driving the vehicles.
When I developed the car sharing program, I looked at existing systems and I decided to adopt a membership system similar to that of Zipcar.
join
find
rent
drive!
unplug
Plus One Auto is a pay per use system and doesn’t require vehicle reservation. Vehicles can be picked up and dropped off anywhere plus one auto kiosks are located.
cars too close for normal doors
Kiosks are located in each parking spot and include plugs for the two vehicles.
Designing for wear
Throughout history, a craftsman’s tools have Often been described as an extension of their body. They used the same tools day in and day out until they were worn in to fit their hand perfectly.
he’s probably used that hammer for 40 years
They would use these tools their entire life, developing a bond with them. This prolonged use gave the tool character and soul.
Each tool comes out of the factory the same, but once they are used, they all develop differently. I want to study the effects of prolonged use, and design a new line of power tools that have this lifetime of use in mind.
Modern power tools lack soul. As they are used, the plastic they are made of gets chipped or worn away.
UGLY
This wear does not add anything to the tool, it makes the tool look dirty and old. metal and wood on the other hand..
BEAUTIFUL
wood and metal have a certain feel that can’t be replicated
I reviewed and tested materials and arrived at a design that employed aluminum and wood.
GUILD Circular Saw, Jigsaw and a Drill
All tools are powered by the same 12V battery guild.brianjeffcock.com Because these new tools are intended for a lifetime of use, a repair service has to be designed along side the tools to provide repairs and replacement parts.
battery level
release button
A similar program with a lifetime warranty exists with the Ridgid power tool company. If your Ridgid tool breaks, you simply return it for a new one.
Everything is designed to be replaceable, and replacement parts are free under the lifetime warranty.
everything comes apart with ease
This repair service adds value and greatly reduces waste, as entire tools are not thrown out due to one faulty part.
Thank you for viewing
Websites brianjeffcock.com guild.brianjeffcock.com plusoneauto.brianjeffcock.com Behance brianjeffcock Youtube brianjeffcock LinkedIn Brian Jeffcock Email brian@brianjeffcock.com brianjeffcock@gmail.com