Coffee Book

Our last project for the year in BDS was to make a book based on an experience. Originally I had planned on doing mine about my best friend returning home after being gone for a year at basic and tech training, but I found that it would be to hard to create how i felt in a book so I decided to change to making coffee. 

This is my book

















This is the back of my book




This project was fun. I was glad I did so many models of the book. The only thing I would change would to be to buy more material to allow for A LOT of mistakes. I mean who knew you could almost be done with a project then realize that you glued the pages upside down on the back.

Chair!

This was by far my favorite project in BDS, but then again maybe it's because I LOVE working with power tools.

How ever in the beginning me and this project did not get along.

-the first thing we had to do was

 Using only one sheet of cardboard (4’x4’) design a seat that will hold the weight of one
person. You may use cuts and folds in the sheet of cardboard, but you may not remove any material. (When we unfold your seat, it should return to one contiguous 4'x4' sheet).
 Final Seat- must hold the weight of one person a min. of 6”off the ground.

So I did this but it frustrated me that we had to go spend money on a new sheet of cardboard when we could have used recycled cardboard and have been able to get the same project done. I must however say my chair was sturdy as heck by the way.

Next came building a cardboard chair based on duality. I did mine about my boyfriend and I. It was based on the fact that we both were really chill and enjoy being able to relax and watch a movie when we have free time. I would say it did its job. 

The Chair actually still sits in my hall way at my hall and gets plenty of use by other people napping it or during finals week i have caught a number of people studying in it. I defiantly plan on taking this bad boy to my apartment next year. 

haha... here is one of my house mates i caught taking a nap =D

















the final project was to build a chair out of wood based on minimalism. So I wanted to design something that could be taken apart and put in a small area. My final chair was amazing but I did how ever get frustrated with the cardboard mock up. I didn't see the point in doing it when it wouldn't be able to hold weight but maybe thats because I'm more key on scaled sketches.

by the way to anyone that has to do this project in the future be prepared to have a messy room. I'm still finding little cardboard slivers around my room.

Tree House Fun

We were given an assignment to design a tree house for a specific audience and place. I thought how fun it would be to design one for the girls in my hall and I knew of a perfect tree in our yard with a perfect view.

These are the Millerites

We live in a hall built in the 1930s. Mrs. Elizabeth Miller Watkins built the hall in hopes to help women continue their education in college and learn how to be strong independent women. It is the second scholarship hall built in the nation after our neighbor hall Watkins.

I wanted to design a tree house that would provide an extra quiet place to study and a place to relax and enjoy the view.

So in my design I decided that i would have 1.5 story tree house that would have a lot of windows and a balcony that would take advantage of the view to the east.

 This is a big triangle window the extends to both stories.













The inside view showing more windows and the 2nd story

The tree house from the front view. I tried to make it flow with Miller Hall as far as architectural style.











Since Miller is on KU campus I did want to bring in some school pride so the furnishing reflects the school colors.

Then I also designed it to have a card swipe so it would be safe for the girls.

This project was a lot of fun in the fact of designing something for my hall. I felt like maybe a little to much time was spent looking and drawing trees and i was never sure what exactly we were supposed to have done for class. But over all this was a fun project.

Wayfinding

Wayfinding encompasses the information-gathering and decision-making processes people use to orient themselves and navigate through space; simply put, how people get from one location to another.

My Group included: Lauren Cruz, Damon Simmons, Monica Shaheed, and of course Me

Situation: being able to find the location of a book at the Watson Library on the KU campus 

The Steps We Took

Step 1:Test subject ( We each found someone that had never been to the Watson Library and fallowed them around as they tried to find a predetermined book and took notes)

My Experience 

Test Subject: Annabell a freshmen from my hall.

-We started off at the computers to find the call number for the book (Thank goodness she knew to at least do that because I sure didn't) 

-After finding the call number she went to go search for the book but had no clue where to start ( I might have cheated a little at this pointed out the sign/map on the wall)

-Not only did she have problem finding the sign/map she had trouble lining up the call number with where they were located at.

-Once she figured out were she needed to go she couldn't find a sign to lead her into the stacks

-Once in the stacks she didn't know how to get to the next floor so she decided to take the creepy elevator. 

-Then once on the right floor she had to find the right row of books which was found difficult as well since there were signs missing. 

Groups Experiences

 Their experiences were similar to mine 

Step 2:Tested A Few Paper Signs (We made signs out of computer paper and marker and hung them up to see if they would help)

-the signs helped out finding the stacks faster but there were a few more things that could be fixed on.

Step 3: Solutions (Taking our signs a step further) 

Ideas: Here are a few sketches i drew up for some ideas we had before we put them into practice. 

<Brochure next to the computer
showing call numbers and
corresponding stacks

<Add a stacks sign leading to the 4th floor


















<A sign leading to the stacks


































     
<A sign with call numbers in the stacks

Here are what a few of the final signs looked like

Step 4: Test it out (We had a final test subject try to find a book)


Test Subject: Austen (he had the same task as the people before but this time around all the signs were hung up)

- Brochure helped Austin figure out where
the book was located
- The map directed him right to the stacks
-The signs made it clear he was in the right
place
- He found the book in less than 5 minutes

Over all I would say that our new signs were a great improvement to the old system.