3D Mouse
The traditional mouses are all about moving on two-dimensional surface. However, new applications like Google Earth, Google maps, and games have more freedom in three-dimensional cyber world which is limited in conventional two-d mouse. In this project, the client wants to build a mouse with convenient three-dimensional controls in six DOFs (Degree of Freedom). The model come up with three joysticks (on both sides and top) for X,Y,Z rotation and movement. The joysticks detect the hand gestures of rollng, pushing and pulling, and respond to the computer to simulate the same moves in cyber space. For the appearance, we go with clay model to build the hand friendly shape and translate that into 3D program. A detachable wrist rest is also applied for long term using.
Utility Bag
The bag is designed for versatility purpose like bicycle riding, short distance mountain climbing, and daily use. The bag can transform to fit different usage such as a music backpack, hydration backpack, and messenger bag. It has a main compartment for bigger staff like water bag, folder, or tablet at back, and a organizer for gadgets at front. The bag is perfect for sport activities. The adjustable belt length and stable band can hold your body tightly. The part of bag is made by EVA material that can support the bag’s shape from collapse.
Details
To achieve the utility usage, we design two small pack ets at lower right and lower left corners to storage the belts and clips, All belts connect to a high impact PP(polypropylene) clip which perfect for quick disassem bly and assembly. Straw gate and cable gate also being added at the top of the bag. Further more, for outdoor sport usage such as fishing and photoshooting, a small semi-rigid plattform made by EVA heat press foam hold by strapes at both sides could be applied when wearing the bag at front. A plattform can be used for operating simple tools or holding light weight equipment.
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Kick Stool
This project goal was to build a multi-purpose stool for home and library. There are wheels at the bottom allow you to “kick” the stool to move it. Special desgined suspension connect to wheels which can lock the wheels from moving when apply enough weight on the stool.
For multi-purpose usage, we make the top stool detachable which can separate into two lower stools, trianglular shape also release more room for stepping on while using it together. Speical doom shape construction beneath the upper stool offer Three times stength for vertical pressure.
Dissembled for Storing or shipping
Dissembled into two lower stools
AVITA INFRARED THERMOMETER
The product was designed for small size organizations and for home usage. An elegant and ergonomic shape to adopt hand gestures for long-term and short term operations are the first priorities for this project. We came out of the concept with the body housing blended in with a handle, it is leaning forward with the enlarged scan button for one or two fingers to press/operate. Rubberized coatings were applied to the buttons and the middle strap for better grabbing.
The project was completed and eventually went into production in 2009 and has been sold in Asia, Europe and North America with different brands at the price around 60 US dollars.
Material: ABS, rubber, acrylic, led screen
Specifications:
Specialized LED screen display
Non-contact infrared sensor
Human mode / object mode
2 AAA batteries
Engineering and ergonomic design
The forwarding 15 to 30 degree angle is designed to prevent Ulnar deviation and Radial deviation when holding the handle which offer the most comfort grabbing gesture. We worked very closely with Avita’s mechanism design team to make sure all parts, parting lines, and the assembly of the product were exactly what we pictured and modeled. The scale and proportion of the product were designed for one hand operation. We went from T0 test injection all the way to the final production with suppliers in Taiwan and mainland China.
The 50 Young Professionals
The 50 Young Professionals
Excellent Product Design Nominee
Excellent Product Design Nominee
Best Furnishing Design
Best Furnishing Design
Best Design
2017 Golden Pin Design Awards
Best Design
Short-listed
2017 Golden Pin Design Awards
Short-listed
2016 IFFS, Singapore
2016 IFFS, Singapore
BRICK LAMP
A minimal and portable interior LED lamp, is activated when raised(on) or laid flat(off). It is designed to mimic the moment when one reveals light and conseals light as the mechanism of switching light on and off. The side facets a natural handle which also directs the light when the brick sits on it’s side. The Brick Lamp is powered by LED panel lights and a rechargeable built-in lithiumion battery with a USB charging port. It can be easily connected to almost any power source.
Brick Lamp as a bedside night lamp, provide a solution for people to access lighting easily and intuitively even in complete dark without any glowing part. All buttom or switch are eliminated, and the light simply react to the movement of the object itself. A product that disolve user’s hand gesture into the mechanism of tunning light on and off.
In 2015, we finalized the design and put it on Kickstarter to raising fund and to test the market. We’ve succussfully raised two times the fund we asked and deliver the products in six months. Since then, HCWD Studio has been selling this product in MoMA Store, Toch of Modern, Desgiboom store and many other online and offline channels world wide.
In 2016, Brick Lamp has granted the US Design patent # D774683S.
Materials : walnut wood, concrete, aluminum
Battery : Rechargable Lithium polymer 8000mAh / 5+ hours usage Light source : 3.3 Watt LED light, 280 lm, 3200k warm white
Input : Charge through 5V USB outlet, 500mA~2A
Weight: 1.8 ~ 3.2lbs / 0.8~1.4kg
Concept development
This project was originally an extended study of my earlier project “Shift Light”. After the group show “Innate Gestures” in ICFF with Shift Light. We kept digesting the concept and researching how humans interact with light through other objects. In the past, light was manipulated by covering it or being revealed like we use a curtain to block sunlight or a cap to distinguish candle fire. I want to recreate the experience of people pulling up the curtains on the windows in the morning to slowly light up the room.
Integrated design template
We develop and use the integrated design template to design/innovate ideas and evaluate those ideas under different scopes. As modern product design goes beyond its function and form, we would like to involve different aspects such as market communication, consuming ecosystem, and future forecast as early as possible to make the design stand out and sustainable.
Marketing strategy
As a minimal, interactive, and novel product at the time, the product naturally attracted attention from young professional groups and especially males through our user research. We decided to try out the market with the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in 2014 and eventually raised up to 40k funding with 253 backers. Half a year after the campaign, the brick lamp was picked up by MoMA Design store to be one of their featured lighting products in 2015 fall catalog online and in store. Our marketing strategy has been focusing on young professionals who are willing to spend for better life quality which led us to focus on online retailing. Working with online retailers such as Touch of Modern, WorkOf, Gessato, and more. We managed to sell out all our first batch in six months.
Engineering
This engineering process of brick lamp was much more complicated than it’s look. The biggest challenge is the on/off mechanism which cost us four years to find the best solution. We tried tilt switch, acceleration sensor, pressure sensor and eventually found the best solution with micro switches. With the help of CAD tool, we designed a mechanism core housing with bent sheet metal to optimize LED heat distribution and to minimize production cost.
Material
Material study is another major mission that we spent countless hours on this project. We propotyped more than 20 different wood cases just to find out the best, most stable one to fit the mechanism core in different humidity and temperature situations, and 20 more tryouts for the best concrete formula. For the limited edition bricklamp for kickstarter campaign, we worked with a supplier to do small quantity CNC with anodized aluminum.
VALET
Valet is an all-in-one bluetooth speaker with iPhone docking/charging station. We designed the device after the key vibes we selected such as lounge theater, winery, and coffee store, and the final proposal was this compact size table top speaker that targeted young professionals who don’t necessarily work in a traditional office space.
TIME TILE
Time Tile is a highly customizable timepiece and wall tile system that is able to translate its structure into unique patterns for different spaces and environments. Two major modules, triangle and fan-shaped tiles, offer people to use them as wall clocks or to create a wide range of different figures and patterns on vertical surface as backdrops of terminal clocks.
This project was awarded 2019 NYCXDESIGN “Honoree” award. In 2020, we designed and installed a special version of Time Tile for Delta Airline Shagnhai office using abstract map of the US.
Materials: Anodized aluminum
Concept development
The concept originally came from dividing pizza. By breaking down a full circle clock into 30, 60, and 90 degree sectors with cardboard mockups, we quickly realized that it became a tile system that could do much more than a clock. It went beyond the circle form of a clock and could be figured into small or big panels that have clocks on. The freedom of the form gave it the opportunity to be customized for interior projects or to be pre-figured in alphabet letters.
Engineering
The modules have to be easy for production and less expensive. We decided to produce it with anodized bent aluminum sheet. To make it self balanced, easy to assemble, and to be hung on any angle. We tested different mechanisms and eventually went with a special reverse folded tag that can form hanging holes when two “slices” were snapped together.
SPLIT LAMP
The double-sided disc mirror, made of stainless steel, intersects with the hand-blown glass shade in the middle, splits the lights and creates the unique visual perception through the reflections of the lamp and the space around it. The floating mirror that is unparalleled to the interior brings a special and fresh angle/view of the environment around the observer.
The desgin was finalized in late 2015 and first invited to exhibit in “Fusion Power” in West Bund Art Center in Shanghai. The produced product was debute in ICFF 2016 in New York in 2016, May. As a pendant light for interior space, this item is highly customizable with differemt types of glass, wood, and mirror sizes. Since 2016, we have installed Split lamp in luxury apartments and commercial spaces.
Materials : 316 polished stainless steel, glass
Measurements :
Big disk : Ø 23.6 ” / Ø 60 cm
Small disk : Ø 11.8 ” / Ø 30 cm
Glass shade : 7.5 ”(l) x 5.3 ”(w) x 1.65 ”(h) / 19 (l) x 13.5 (w) x 4 (h)cm
Socket : max 75W E26 bulb socket
Concept development
We tend to combine objects that share similar philosophies together. In the project SPLIT, they are mirrors and lamps which are both functional with light involved, either reflect or create light. A real life example of the combination of mirror and lamp is vanity mirror for putting makeup, and our research is to explore more potential with these two objects bonded together.
Engineering
To test the concept, we started with card stock and 3D printed mockups. We work with the local glass blower for the initial fabrication in New York. Unlike machine blown glass, hand blown glass has variable thickness, bubbles and texture that we need to work closely with the artist.
LAMINA SOFA
The lamina sofa is a customized piece which its structure constructed with bent sheet material. The materials and the design of the sofa plays between two opposite qualities such as soft and rigid, warm and cool, and heavy and light, adding a layer of lining to set the boundary between furniture and space around it.
LOFT
The loft is a semi-modular sofa with a detachable back that can be set in different positions for different purposes. Depends on the configurations of the set, loft sofa can be used as regular sofa, bench, and double-sided bench. The outlines of the sofa are inspired by the forming method call loft which sections flow curves to form surfaces which provides the clean and neat presence of the furniture piece.
WOOD HEADPHONE
The wood headphone project was to build a headphone with retro sound quality use real natual hardwood as earcups. The form of the design paid more attention to create visual elegance to human eyes as well as physical comfortness for wearing it.
ELITE HEADSET
eLite headphone achieve both passion for excellence and ultimate performance. crafted for comfort, sound , and style, these innovative headphones bring a new sophistication to anyone who wears them. in-line microphone and volumn control allows you to switch from music to talking calls with one touch. be elite and experience audio superiority.
DASH
Charging Dock & Bluetooth Speaker
WARP
IPad Stand & Bluetooth Speaker & Conference Station
