Elvis Hsu - Creative Portfolio | Growth documentation by elv7s

Creative portfolio | Growth documentation

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This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my p

Elvis Hsu

This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selec

m 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio w

This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selec

y portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected fr

from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2

cted from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my por

m 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio w

This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selec

Hi, my name is Elvis. I study industrial design in Taiwan. This is my portfolio. This book is entitled Creative Portfolio as I do not wish to limit myself as an â&#x20AC;&#x153;Industrial designerâ&#x20AC;?. I am interested in the manifesto of creativity whatever the contex, artistic, commercial, or any. I designed this portfolio to be more than a just a display of my work, but also a documentation of my growth and a media for my philosophy.

from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2

y portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected fr

Preface

cted from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my por

m 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio w

This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selec

Steve Jobs

from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2

y portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected fr “Everything around you that you call life, was made up by people who were no smarter than you. Shake off that erroneous notion that life is just there and you’re just gonna live in it. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

cted from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my portfolio with works selected from 2015-2019. This is my por

Contents Me Goat Relieve Dobo Synble Flow Intership 2018 Xue-Lin Su Workshop CreativID Initiation Circular Materials Workshop 「層」 JackJack brella What next ?

To tell my story and show my growth pattern, I arranged the contents based on chronological order & reflection significance.

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e Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me M

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me M

Who is this guy?

On My past, present & future Understanding was never a problem for me. I had always loved science and philosophy; I am in pursuit of an engineering degree too. But I was unfamiliar with creation, up until I came across design school. Here I fell in love with doing, designing and creating. Now I am working to combine understanding and creating, interweaving crystal clear interpretations with incredibly precise and beautiful creations.

On My approach Personally, I take an approach of learning, not achieving. To me, a mindset of achieving is limiting, it is binary, and there’s no part for growth in its’ description. On the contrary, learning is freedom. There are no boundaries, limits, genres, professions or any other box. It’s all about growth, and there’s no ending!

On Design Design to me is all about “How”. How you do, make, draw, create anything. Though seemingly having considerable overlaps, design and art is different. Design is about meeting demands, whether it be commercial, artistic, emotional, design needs to meet the designated demand. Therefore design can be evaluated, priced and examied, in retrospect to how well the demand has been met.

On Art Art to me on the other hand, is about expression. In whatever context. Standards in art are subjective and cannot be judged because expressions are meant for connections, not evaluations. Art can be designed, which is fit for evaluation, but the art itself is fully subjective and is free from judgment.

On DedicationI have dedicated myself to learning. And I learn well. I learn fast and thorough, and the more I learn, the better I get at learning. Whatever the environment, whatever the topic, I’m in. Give me a role, and I will soak myself in it. Offer me an opportunity, I will say yes regardless, than learn and outperform myself.

elieve Dobo Synble Flow Intership 2018 Xue-Lin Su Workshop CreativID Initiation Circular Materials Workshop「層」JackJack brella Goat Relieve Dobo Synble

e Flow Intership 2018 Xue-Lin Su Workshop CreativID Initiation Circular Materials Workshop「層」JackJack brella Goat Relieve Dobo Synble Flow Intership 201

Goat

Enter my journey to creation

Background Goat was the first milestone on my journey of creation. Before design school, I had literally no experience in any sort of creation; to me, even basic drawing was exotic. Goat is the last project of my first semester in design school, where I learned to draw and paint, making some basic creations in 2D. Ink on paper. Goat came into the real world in 2.5D. It was my first creation leaving 2D, and my first creation which engaged with others.

Project | Bookmark Goat is a project based with emphasis on transfering a 2D graphic into a 2.5D cutout. I first made the 2D graphic on a computer, which was a goat formulated entirely with circles only. Then I experimented with and adjusted the dimensions for a laser cutout on some Kraft paper. The finished cutout was to serve as a bookmark. Though unplanned, after finishing the bookmark I thought it resonated with Tainan, the city where I grew up and studied in, very well. Kraft paper felt like the iconic wooden window frames of Tainan, and paper cutouts were always in Chinese blood.

Reflection | The doors are open Goat opened a world for me. After I made the bookmark, I gave it to some of my best friends as a gift. It was all warm and charming, but what struck me the most was discovering the fact that I could create things which other people can use, engaged with, and have a connection to. In fact, I just did. When I saw my friend still using it and keeping it near him even after 2 years, I was moved. I learned to not take myself lightly, and to not limit my own possibilities. I realized that if I kept learning and practicing, I too, can create works of great significance.

Relieve

Babysteps

Background Relieve is my first product design project. The realm of creating products is much more than just simply giving form to 3 dimensional objects, and I was just about to learn that. Relieve is also a project based on a â&#x20AC;&#x153;5-axial CNC product designâ&#x20AC;? competition which was hosted by a CNC company, so the concept of manufacture application is very important.

Product | Nightlamp Relieve is a nightlamp designed to elicit warmth from people. Those who live alone, who come home late, and who needs some peace, Relieve is for anyone who feels lonely sometimes. The lamp is one complete unibody CNC-ed from wood. It is entirely seamless while light gently emits out. It also falls in your hands like a newborn baby. Relieve is operated and charged with a touch switch module. All is made possible through the advanced manufacture technique, 5-axial CNC. It is my honor that Relieve is honored the first prize of the "5-axial CNC product design" competition.

Project | Focuses Manufacturing advantage One focus of Relieve is to show the manufacturing advantages of 5-axial CNC, which is extreme precision and agility of machining, in the form of a product. Relieve shows this by making a solid block of wood capable of hosting a PCB module and emit light through the surface without a single cut on the actual surface. The technique is to drill one single hole at the bottom of the block, then drill â&#x20AC;&#x153;light channelsâ&#x20AC;? through that opening.

Form giving & exploration The other big focus of Relieve was the form. What form is comfortable to the hand, approaches as gentle, and provokes warmth and peace from a person? To me, this project also serves as a form-giving practice. For Relieve, I identify the form as a combination of the shape of the body and the shape of the light. To explore, I started with thumbnails, then drawings. Then I made numerous models out of paper, clay and polyurethane foam. The final model is made from polyurethane foam with putty filler for surface.

Reflection | First babystep Relieve was the first product design project I did. I really like this production because through it, I can see my raw techniques but also my pure intentions. It is as if looking at the first leaf of a young sprout, not knowing what it will grow into, how big it will be, or will it even survive this harsh world. But you water it, and you want to see it survive, you want to see it grow. The picture on the right was taken by accident. I was in a pitch black studio by myself, taking a long exposure photo while holding my model in one hand and a camera in the other. I fell.

Dobo

Process as a subject

Background When encountering any design task or challenge, how can I approach it ? What can the journey look like, form start to finish ? Processes are now something which I value immensely, and Dobo paved the road as it introduced to me design methodology, to processes as a subject. This project was part of the curriculumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s project-based-learning.

Design

Thinking

Project | Methodologies Design Thinking and the Double Diamond are the systematic methodologies introduced to me. They frame the entire process and give us coordination during the execution. The other methods which we practiced during the Dobo process are listed below. Techniques for user research: AEIOU observations, shadowing, user interview, card-sorting, persona, user journey map. Techniques for analysis: KJ method, weighting matrix. Techniques for ideation: Brainstorming, storyboard, bodystorming, sketch.

Reflection | ProcessThrough Dobo, the power and impact of processes rooted in me. My greatest gain from Dobo was not any of the techniques or mindsets. It was realizing how important and powerful processes are, as it is the only thing which can effects the result. I also learned that coordination within a process was utmost important, being able to take control over it as a tool, and not fall into the cargo cult of a method.

Synble

Making things happen

Background Synble is the second milestone on my journey to creation. Goat is my entrance, and Synble prepared my mindset and approach. The project requirements set by our professor is an interaction based product with a model able of function display. Our expectations for ourselves were higher, we want a full scale working prototye. Synble is my second product design project. We had been provided with no resources of any type, and the timeframe is just 3 months.

Product | Status Table Synble is a food-court table which can display itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s status to help people navigate within the food court. The main problem we face is that customers are having a hard time navigating within the food court. Sometimes they spend up to an hour just to find a seat. We followed the double diamond process, and the insight we found was "To help customers navigate better, we need to help the janitors too." Helping janitors work easier and faster can solve the issue of messiness, which we found is what is causing the customers difficulty navigating around. Synble displays it's status with a color-changing tabletop; yellow, red and white; signifying available, clean-up and in-use; helping both customers and janitors navigate in the food court.

Project | Making things happen To finish Synble, we really had to make things happen. We wanted to make a working prototype for an interaction based product but we had no no coding background and no resources. So we learned all we could about coding and in search of help to actually code and Arduino, we rode our motorcycles out 80km to and fro, once every week. We wanted the model to scale 1:1, but we don't have the budget to buy a real table. So we turned and made our own table from scratch, at one point riding 100km to and fro an IKEA for cheap componets, tying the componets on our bikes. These are just a few examples. In general, the cirucumstances were real and the help was minimal, but we were dedicated to make things happen, and thankfully, we did.

Reflection | Make it happen Looking back, I think as a product design project, Synble failed. Although we had success in user research study with an on-point insight, we did not translate that insight into a legible product. The solution is underwhelming, the system has flaws, aesthetics is lacking, market position is unclear and in terms of hardware, it just lacks design. Even so, I consider Synble my first crowning jewel. Synble might not be fit for a product design portfolio, but it has an undeniable place in this portfolio. My experience of this project, helped me learn that the only person who can make things happen is yourself, that I have to get off my ass and get things done, and that if anything didn't work out you only have yourself to blame. I give all my thanks to Nelson Hsu, my partner who enlightened me.

Flow

Product, design, market

Background At our end-of-semester exhibition (the Synble semester), I started a conversation on design with some classmates, and that was when I got to know Andy. Andy was one of the best in our class and also someone whom I wanted to work with. We really hit it off that night, talking hours non-stop. and we decided to be partners for the next semester. I, once again, had the privilege to learn from an amazing classmate. This was the start of our collaboration and our friendship. Andy and I started this project with an intention of creating a bicycle. This was partly because our professor has experience in bicycles, but mainly because we wanted to approach something rather challenging. Beyond that, we had an especially challenging ambition, which was to produce a fully-functional prototype.

Research & Positioning | Users & Markets Within a few discussions, we quickly focused onto bicycles for city use. It was close to our own lifestyle, and we have no interest in rather futuristic or performance-focused designs. Then we went digging for who were the users of bicycles in the city. What we found was that in the modern day urban landscape, a group of people had evolved a new lifestyle around the bicycle. Whenever free, they go to surf the streets and alleys, cruising on their bicycles. Though they appear to others as randomly wandering, they are actually immersing themselves into the experience of the ride, opening their senses to feel and sync with their surroundings. They are understanding themselves and the city in their own way. We call this group of users the “City Explorers”. For City Explorers, there is no substitute to the bicycle. The movement, tempo and sensation. Their only trouble is range. City Explores go out on their bicycles to feel, not to sweat, and with the average bicycle ride range being 5km, the area they can explore is very limited. This may not be a problem for tourists, but for the citizen, it’s always the same 5km surrounding their residence. This harms their lifestyle extensively. Looking to help bicycles increase their range in the city, we realized the solution is obvious, mixed-mode transport. Ideally, it is a perfect solution, City Explorers can ride around, get on a train/MRT/bus whenever they want, get off and a new location is waiting for them to experience. But currently, this is not the reality. Why? Because transfers are a headache. We found a gap where the market isn’t delivering, and thus we formulated our goal. The name of our bicycle was also born. “FLOW: Transfer just as fluent as you ride.”

Designing After we have a clear position for our prouct, we started the design process. After discovering that many public trsportation only allows foldable bicycles onboard, we decided to design a folding bicycle. From there, we started sketching annd making models. Our goal was to devise and design a foldable bicycle with a new folding method which will allow users to fold and unfold the bicycle with uncomparable fluency.

Product | Urban folding bicylce Overview Flow is an urban folding bicycle designed for the City Explorers to experience every part of every city. Flow features 20 inch wheels and integrated head and tail lights, it is a comfortable and agile but also safe ride for the urban landscape. The transfer experience is our main focus. Flow lets users flow through the process with a swift fold-unfold method and easy maneuverability when folded. During our development process, we also conceptualized a new type of experience. When transfers can be as seamless and comfortable as riding the bicycle itself, city-to-city exploration could become a reality. Travelling from Taipei to Tokyo would essentially be like transfering from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

Bicycle

Pull head in

Lift down tube

Push seat in

Folded

Product | FoldingFlow has a new quick and easy folding method. The folding method consists of 3 steps: unlock main lock to lift the down tube up, then pull the head in towards you and finally slide the seat in. An extra step of folding the top tube makes the bike even smaller.

Main lock | Spring hinge | Slide groove | Top tube lock

Reflection | Full stack In the end, we failed to make a working prototype, but for me executing a product project starting from the very beginning of product planning to the very end of prototyping is a virtue. I get to participate in not just purely industrial design, but everything from market research to solving manufacture. This helped me gain a very wholistic view on understanding products and how it fits into the world. I can identity all the forces at play, the effects of each force, and their correlations. Through Flow, I gained a wholistic understanding of products. It also helps very much in the ability over process. We were just two amatuer design students, running the entire process ourselves. Through Flow, I gained a sense of coordination within the design process. I am always clear of where we are at and where we should be heading, utilizing the process as a tool. The importance of presentation was something I learn directly from Andy. He showed me how it was not about looking cool, but about communication. I still have a lot to learn and practice. Again, I give all my thanks to my friend and partner, Andy Cheng.

Internship 2018

Industrial design: seeing why & how it came to be

Background This is the summer where we had just finished Flow. Andy and I both wanted to do internships because we wanted to know what it was like to â&#x20AC;&#x153;do design in the real worldâ&#x20AC;?. After some trouble with another internship application, I found this summer internship at Pinoh appliances, a company not too far from home.

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Pinohâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s process Pinoh is a OEM & ODM company. They have been around since the 1970s, mainly manufacuturing fans, coffee machines and other home appliances for brands like Tiger, Krups, DeLonghi, Oster and Philips. Being a stable OEM & ODM company, their design process is very established: Requirements - Idea Sketch - Internal discussion - 3D modelling - Proposal

My involvement I was an intern at Pinoh for 2 months. I contributed in a total of 5 projects, 2 coffee machines, 1 fan, 1 electric kettle, and 1 personal heater. The first four projects I produced idea sketchs, whereas the last project I completed the whole process, from recieving the requirments to producing a proposal.

Heater The background of this project was that Pinoh wanted to proactively pitch some heater proposal to clients. Therefore the requirements were simple: Heater for personal, desktop use | Use PTC ceramic heating units

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Reflection | A wholistic understanding I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t create much during this internship, but I did widen and deepen my worldview. Seeing an actual company functioning in this industry, taking on clients and going through their process to produce a design, I resonated with the history of industrial design. I suddenly understood how our teachings came to be, and what they really meant. Commercial interest plays a big part in the whole of this, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;demandâ&#x20AC;? is the keyword. When I saw the demand clear as day, the whys & hows of design came natural. The school system is very different to that of the industry, so I was blind to this crucial part of industrial design before. I also understood the importance of, communication, presentation and storytelling. Being able to send a creation out of my head into the world and received by another individual is indescribably important. And hard skills are the core of this, so I still have lots of practicing to do. My last influence was again how important process is. With a rather traditional process, creativity is easily dismissed here. I do not want that in my future activities, so I have a lot more to learn. If I want a better result, I need a better process, goes for a design and same with my journey. The photo is of the view across the street. Tainan is a good place to live.

Su Xue-Lin Workshop

Process; coordination & control

Background The Su Xue-Lin workshop is a 2 day workshop our university, NCKU, hosted as a tribute to Miss Su. Miss. Su Xue-Lin is a famous contemporary author whom contributed deeply to the May Fourth Movement, a culture shifting movement for the Chinese population. She later became a professor at our school, up until she passed away in 1999 at the remarkable age of 102. This workshop was for us to learn about Miss Su and design a product as a tribute to Miss Su and a media to educate more people of her legacy.

Product | Travel cosmetic kit Our goal was to design a product as a tribute to Miss. Su, and we thought the best approach was to design something Miss. Su herself would like. The final product is a travelling cosmetic kit. It contains a mirror, BB cream, solid perfume, a comb, lipstick and an eyebrow pencil. The contents are chosen for a easy tidy-up, not heavy makeup. The kit's style was based on Miss. Su's life journey and, hopefully, her worldview. It is elegant and classy with a tint of bleakness.

Product Process Understanding | 蘇雪林 Miss.Su Xue-Lin We learned about Miss.Su through her masterpiece 棘心, a novel she wrote as a journal reflecting her days in France doing college. We learned that she is very strong and independent, content about life, but emotionally isolated. Miss Su also valued principles and manners above all, and always kept herself neat and tidy whenever she is not private. She is also extremely frugal.

Translating | Design ProcessTime was short for designing, we only had 1 day. After having an understanding of Miss.Su, we quickly brainstormed and choose to design a basic travelling cosmetic kit. We felt it resembles Miss. Su‘s story and principles, and is also something she would be happy to have. We then interpreted her story and character into keywords; elegant, class and bleak, produced our mood board and extracted our color scheme. We still lacked a key element, something that can differentiate our product from other classy-looking travel kits and uniquely resemble Miss.Su. Then I had an idea, a little self portrait drawn by Miss.Su during her time in France. We extracted the hair section of the drawing to develop a series of pattern around this element. It turned out perfect.

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Reflection | Validation I felt that through this project, I had some validation of my ability to coordinate in a design process and my understanding of products. Since the timeframe is so tight, every phase in the process must be taken efficiently without major error. Identiying the lack of a key element in the design and coming up with an idea for it was the most the crucial, and I was able to lead the team and overcome. I also learned the power of teamwork and division. We were a team of 4, each with different abilities. The project could not have been finished in this fashion without the collaboration of the whole team. It was an honor to take part in honring a figure such as Miss.Su, who made contributions to our culutre. This experience further sparked my interest on my own culture.

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CreativeID Initiation

Training creativity, embrace ambiguity

Background My 2nd year at the Industrial design department, I joined a team called “ID Creative Bank”. It was a team initiated 7 years ago, with the intent of bringing inspirations and creativity, something we as designers really need, to our department. But in recent years it degraded into a mediocre monthly journal with frequent delays in delivering. As two other partners and I head into our junior year, we took the title to run this team. Together, we reformed the team into the now CreativeID. Our first move is launching “THE WALL” initiative.

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THE WALL Initiative | Training creativiy “THE WALL” initiative is a series of projects designed to train creativity for us the creators, and bring inspiration to the audience. Every 2 weeks we would start form scratch, ideating a concept which displays creativity and then executing upon it. Below are 2 examples. Perspective (left) : We can choose we look at the world, and the perspective we take becomes our reality. Changing your perspective would bring you wonders even from the most ordinary places. This concept was for our team members to go out and view everyday things in a different perspective and capture it through a photo. The environment you see is our department building and our studios. Synesthesia (Bottom) : Our perception is is constructed in our brain, and our information comes from our senses. What are the relations between these functions, and what are the relations between the sense? This time we experimented with sound and color. Through an online survey, we asked people what each note looks like to them. We made the results into a graphic, with different colors correspond to each note, and the bigger the circle equals more people’s respond.

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Reflection | Embrace ambiguity Personally, the reform of CreativeID and “THE WALL” initiative was a big success. Looking back, I realize that I was actually training my creativity. Through the process, I also adopted an incredibly important ability of embracing ambiguity, and it has opened a new dimension for my brain. Ambiguity is creativity’s best friend. But I failed to lead the team. I failed to build a creative process where everyone can train and deploy their creativity. Since this project is not focused on products, I saw it as an opportunity to create our own creative process, but ultimately failed. Methods for myself and methods for a team are different. But I have gained experience, and I will keep trying. It still stuns me how a simple piece of black paper can serve as an ocean for the mind. We really can accomplish anything through the manifesto of creativity. Check out CreativeID ! FB: @NCKUIDBANK

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Circular Materials Workshop

Broaden my horizon

Background The CreativeID experience inspired me to explore different dimensions in my design projects. Materials was on my list, so when I saw this workshop, I signed up immediately. I hoped to learn about different materials and more importantly, the process and methods of how to explore materials.

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Workshop | Experimentation The workshop is about circular materials. We mixed different kinds of ingredient to create different kinds of materials. It was a continuous process of just trial and error, iteration, and experimenting.

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Reflection | The world is big This workshop showed me a different world. the people at Material Sense, the teachers who coordinated this workshop, really are exploring a dimension in design that I have not encountered before. It was eye opening. I think the process was fun, experimenting and testing each mixture, but I also realized that research development is a really long-term operation, so it requires significant dedication from both the advocates and the finances.

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「層」

Product as a media

Background When we talk about a product’s “function”, what exactly are we talking about? This is a time when I started to consciously question the functionality of a product. I felt like a product could have the capacity of bringing people something much more than just quicker, easier, more convenient, and other enhancements in that caliber. I went into this project with this belief.

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Tainan | Our story Tainan is the origin of Taiwan. Taiwan is an island, and the first nonindigenous people stepped onto this island through Tainan. Since the 17th century, Taiwan has been through 5 different government regimes, from being a colony to now being a country, and Tainan has always been at the heart. It is also where I have the honor to call home. The aura of Tainan is very laid back. We people of Tainan take a lot of pride in our identity, a result of our rich heritage. And our food and culinary culture is at the core of this pride and heritage.

Sugar Our food shows our pride, and sweetness makes our food distinctive. We use sugar in our sauces, in our dishes, and well, basically a lot. Sugar is a crop and commodity that plays a big part in Tainanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history and lifestyle, puncturing our entire heritage.

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Product | Sugar block Our final product is a sugar. A single block of sugar where we condensed Tainan’s entire history and injected the quiteseence of our heritage. A sugar mill designed for people to savour Tainan’s culture through time and flavour. A everday product which tells the story of Tainan. We call it「層」.

The layers 「層」means "layer". There are 5 layers for the 5 regimes of Tainan’s history, each representing the

characteristic and historic significance of that regime through its contents. There is no dedicated direction of usage, and the order of introduction is in sync with the photo. Republic of China :

At the top is the Republic of China, which is present day. The layer is created with a mix of different candies, signifying that we are living in the most diverse time in Tainan’s history.

Japanese empire :

Japan brought us modern civilization. From higher education to sewer systems, Taiwan was polished by the Japanese. With that, we made this layer crystal clear and highly posh.

Qing dynasty :

Nowadays, tea is like water to us. The Qing dynasty was when tea was first introduce to Taiwan. Tainan had a few major trading posts back then. This layer is a block of tea sugar.

Kingdom of Tung-Ning :

Koxinga fought off the Dutch and established his own regime with Tainan as the capital. He is famous for his navy forces and connection to the sea, so this layer is a mix of sugar and sea salt.

Dutch Formosa :

At the bottom is the Dutch regime, our first documented government, and also our first to plant sugar canes as a commodity crop. This layer is made with brown sugar, boiled down directly from sugar cane juice.

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Reflection | The capacity of a product Through this project, I validated that the capacity of a product’s function can be way more than merely “better performance” . It also gave me insight into what the other dimensions of function may be, in this case, it served as a media. We told the story of Tainan. In what way do I connect products of different kinds of functionality to the real world is something I have great interest of, and I will keep exploring this realm. Looks like I have found another fun thing to do ~ The photo is our Tainan train station in the 1970s. Built in 1936, it will keep serving us until 2025.

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JackJack-Brella

Expression through creation

Background Going into this project, I was very aggressive. I felt like my understanding of products up until this moment has been so extremely limited. I want to tear my entire worldview down and build it again. I knew that I could not elevate through just learning about different designs, I had to create something by myself. A need a creation which is different from day 1, a different mindset, a different approach, a different process. For this project, I partnered with a friend who had common interest.

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Approach | Answering a question From the start, we wanted to approach this project differently. Before, we were used to the mindset of solving a problem and creating solutions for a certain scenario. But we had never tackled a product with the approach of answering a question. Why not ? Together, we chose to design an umbrella because we saw it as an embodiment of the firm worldview we wanted to challenge. Umbrellas are ordinary products, but they are extremely well developed. Since times of ancient China, they haven’t changed much. The folding umbrella is worth a mention, but that is more an add-on feature than a fundamental change. So we started the challenge, and we asked our first question: “Why do umbrellas have to be like this ?” This not only questions the basis of an umbrella, it also questions the fundamental understandings of our worldview.

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Process | Idea, model, iterate After asking our question, we did our research on umbrellas. Why hasn’t it changed ? What are the advantage and disadvantages of the current design ? We found that, at the core of the modern umbrella, is it’s open-close mechanism structure, which is ancient. So we focused on : Structure. After that it was simple, but not easy. Idea after idea, model after model, and iteration after iteration. We can’t imagine everything on paper, so we made it. And I’m glad we did, because we discovered our final structure as an unexpected surprise from making an idea prototype, a splendid serendipity.

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Product | A new umbrella The JackJack-brella is a fundamentally different umbrella. We re-invented the umbrella based on an entirely new structure that is: flexible, as to resist damage ; simple, as consisting of only 14 parts in total ; eco-friendly, using only 1 type of plastic ; visually astonishing ; and creates an unimaginable experience with an umbrella.

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Reflection | Open again ! I think this project has been phenomenal for me. I have opened my imagination to all the possibilities once again. In a sense, I have taught myself how to be like a child again. Free, believes, and eager to grow up ! I think that products have the capacity of a media, and design be of art. This umbrella is more than just a different product, it is an expression, as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very exsistance implies a statment. In this case, it says that even the most mature product in our society can afford a remake, that even the firmest belief can be challenged and questioned. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m excited. I want to know what the world holds for me next, I will be ready to grab it. Stuff is Lit !

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next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next

t ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? What next ? W

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I’m free & open ! Learning has no boundaries. It also has no boxes. I’m free and open, and I will keep walking my journey. The arts, culture, fashion, marketing, business, economy, engineering and physics are all areas I have my eyes on.

Look out ! You know I’m looking for you and you’re looking for me. Well, I would love to talk about anything, so lets talk ! On social media as : @elv7s | elvis.0402@hotmail.com

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