Acetylene into creativity

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Here’s a welding quiz: When the Acetylene is gone from the tank, what is left that is important to remember when you go to replace it? (Answer is at the end of this article)

Seeing that the needle on the Acetylene tank gage was leaning low to the left, I figured I’d better get up to see my friends at Ferguson Gas and Welding supply here in Frisco.  It’s a family owned business right in the old part of town.  It’s nice to take a break from suburbia and big chain stores and have some home town style service by real people. I won’t say its Floyds barber shop, but it does remind me of the professional shops  in my home town in Oregon  I used to go with my Dad when I was a kid.  Guys who do what they do for a living, not just a temporary job.

On this Saturday, I got to meet Nick Ferguson who was running the store.   A little conversation and we quickly discovered we have in common the sense of excitement in response to the smell of burnt metal.  It means something cool is being created, something powerful, something awesome.  Sitting on the corner of the workbench of my dad’s welding shop in Oregon when I was a toddler, I got to see useful and magical exciting things take shape from pieces of steel welded together.   That makes welders some of MyFavoritemachines.

These days the exciting things happen in a digital world that didn’t exist in those days.  Still, I haven’t lost my love for metal, flames, and sparks.  To me it is so very similar in fact that it is no wonder that I blend expressions of both in my art.  It’s all creative, useful, innovatiove, and exciting.

So take some inspiration in this, and if you ever do need welding supplies, stop by to see the guys at Ferguson Gas.  Maybe just to just look around the shop at all the cool welding stuff.  This is real stuff, no virtual downloads, no cloud, no 404 messages.  I’m talking real hard hardware.  You can call them apps if you want to, but the software, the programming, the intelligence, is you.

I left Nick with a memento of appreciation, a MyPhoneStone, second from the left in this photo. If you stop in the Lewisville location, you might get to see it in person.

Its got a real adjustable wrench embeded in it so he could almost use it for tightening or loosening regulators. Righty tighty lefty loosy, except of course…(read quiz below)

-          roger

INDUSTRIAL GASES & WELDING PRODUCTS

Welding quiz Question: When the Acetylene is gone from the tank, what is left that is important to remember when replacing it?

Answer:  The threads on the regulator are left.  When you disconnect the regulator from the tank, remember that the threads are left-handed.  This is for safety sake to help keep from connecting the tanks incorrectly. Forget this and you’ll be tightening instead of loosening.

What year is this?

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Ya know, when I was three years old, I knew how to watch TV.  Now its a struggle.  I’m a technology guy and I can’t figure out the stupid menus on this TimeWarner DVR.

I have conducted enough analysis to determine that the primary usability problem stems from the odd mixture of on-screen menus, which are incomplete, sort of randomly dependand upon unorthodox controls on the remote. Who came up with this stuff?  And what was their basis for this design soluttion (if you can call it that?)

Certainly, I’m not the first person to complain?  Do they have a clue?  how do they stay in business delivering crap like this?  I’m going to ask my question (that I ask when I feel things are not what they ought to be).  “What year is this?”

No User Left Behind

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Wildebeests migrating across the Serengeti.  During this annual migration, the grueling challenges serve to weed out the weak and thereby strengthen the herd.

Just remember when designing products, users are not Wildebeests and we are not trying to thin the herd. A truly great user experience design doesn’t pit one against the other.  It makes the novice into an expert and the expert into a freaking genius.

Then there’s these guys. Wildebeests learning via an unfriendly experience

- roger

Roughly More Minimalism

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It occurred to me that MyPhoneStone that has a plug for an IPhone didn’t necessarily need a surface to lean against. So, I went for a little more low profile look. What d’ya think?

Like the others, it still has the deliberately rough aesthetic. That probably won’t change for a while, though someday you might be surprised that I do have a taste for extreme minimalism too. Just not yet, Not now. I am still pretty much in the anti-slick rebellion and there is so much to say and do with it.

What you are likely to see is a migration from the utterly rough to an intense industrial motif that is only slightly rough just by way of materials and manufacturing methods.  That’s not the same as the very rough, some say “crude”, finish that I have been doing, but it is still a strong contrast to the slick glass and brushed titanium electronic motif.

At some point you may see me launch an actual product, I mean using mass production methods and all.  Then you should expect me to aim for a minimalist and highly functional design, one that aesthetically offers some contemplative novelty.  It won’t be a rebeelion against the slick, but perhaps may still poke fun at the seriousness of the electronic aesthetic.  I will aim for a rich design, yet the celebration of endless deliberate and random variation of the unique works of art that is these pieces, will of course be impossible unless, ……  Hmmm. that gives me an idea…..

If you are still reading this, I am impressed.

-       roger

My Flaming Post

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I spent the evening bending wire and pouring little bits of concrete, but I’ve determined that photos of messy goopy cement is not nearly so interesting as seeing me play with a white hot flame.  So I’m posting this photo instead that Mary took of me a few days ago.

For non-welders out there, this is an oxy-acetylene torch.  It’s very old school, but works great!  Its very hot and makes metal flow in little tiny rivers that I can direct this way and that to shape into art.

Tuesday I’ll go back to being Clarke Kent, making user experiences for tax preperation. Or is this Clark Kent?  Oh, maybe they’re both Clark Kent?  Do I slip into a phone booth to change into another Clark kent wearing differnt clothes?  Whatever.

-roger

Gardens & Glass

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I have long been an admirer of glass artist Dale Chihuly. A fellow University of Washington School of Art alumni, he is one of the great contemporary artists of our time. So, when Mary and I heard there was an installation in the Dallas Arboretum, it was not a matter of if, but when we would take a saunter through the grounds. It had to be after my own art obligations to the BIG(D)ESIGN 2012 Conference had been delivered and I had a chance to recover from the intense art creating time of the past few months.  So finally the day came when MyPhoneHenge was history and I was ready to go take in the spectacular mix of art and garden scenery.

The glass work, composed by a team of glass artists with Chihuly directing like a fine tuned machine, has become well-known for its organic forms and exuberant patterns as well as the vivid colors and light properties. The almost floral nature of the images has made the blending of these objects into a garden environment one of those mixes that makes you say, “Yes. Of course”.

Chihuly’s work can be seen in permanent exhibits in many public settings and the past few years has been seen in outdoor settings such as this one. The overcast day was perfect for getting some great photos of these pieces in the garden landscape. Here are some of my photos to enjoy here on my site.

Photographing art is also art. Photography to me is always about going in search of compelling compositions that show us some wonderful view of the subject that we might have otherwise missed. In this expedition, some of the images are of the glass alone while others are more about the unique view at the moment as the art interacts with light, shadow, and reflections, and other elements in the garden.

Some of these take on a painting-like motif, which I find particularly interesting since that’s how Dale Chihuly defines them in the first place, using quick spontaneous two-dimensional art to direct his staff in their creation.

As you can see, some of the most spectacular art in the gardens wil remain after the glass is gone.

- roger

Mature & Lean UX

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In the past, I have worn the hats of designer, or usability tester, and at times both. Its the both that brings the critics.

The real problem with usability testing my own designs is not the lack of objectivity.  Trust me, no one wants the honest truth about what works or not more than this designer in the quest for the best solution possible.  I believe the objectivity concern results from a combination of scientific folklore and the legacy of immature pedestrian designers from the past who couldn’t handle the truth.  A true professional knows the appeal of “being right” cannot come before the desire to “get it right”.

The real challenge facing me is that having just learned great insights in the lab, I must now choose between stopping to document and explain what was learned for others to understand or dig into applying it to design.

Trying to do both will cause delay and may diminish the timely effectiveness of having done the exercise. Ultimately, it is the design that we are creating that takes priority.  So, documenting will have to wait for someday.  Hopefully, no one will ask, where’s my report.  If they do, I’ll show them my better design and say “here it is”.

- roger

Geek Iconic MyPhoneStone

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So is this MyPhoneStone on steroids? Ouch, sore subject these days.  Coincidentally, the first of these pieces go to a bicyclist friend of mine from Texas.  No, not who you’re thinking of.  This Guy is also a motorcyclist and techy UX design geek,  AND one of my Kickstarter supporters.  Remember Kickstarter?  Yes, I am still diligently fulfilling my promises and most of them are met. And here’s one more.  And this one is cool!

I like it when I get excited about something I’ve created.  Trust me; it doesn’t always happen on the first try.  Much sweat and bruises and burns and ideas tried and tweaked and tried again until it gets to the cool.  I’ve got an abrasion from the wire brush wheel to prove it!

Making things that have function almost makes this into work.  But rest assured, though these are functional, they are ART first.  And that is what makes this fun.  Art + geeky tech stuff has to be fun!  Isn’t that one of the laws of thermodynamics?

Practical minded thrifty people – If you just want a thing to set your phone on, I’m sure Radio Shack has something just right for you. And be sure to show your card for your free battery.  Hmmm, do they still do that?  BestBuy has a whole freaking aisle or two of plastic gizmos and stands for your smartphone.  And you can borrow my Reward Zone card!  This is not that.

What this is? Remember when you went to see the Eiffel Tower or the empire State Building, or Statue of Liberty, or some other big thing?  Anyway, remember as you were leaving, you forked over a twenty for some plastic or tinny molded mini-me of the thing to commemorate your visit?   This is more like that.  To those who attended BIG(D)ESIGN either of the past two years and saw MyPhoneHenge or MyFavoriteMachine up close in person, owning a MyPhoneStone is like the mini-Eiffel tower experience except for one very important difference.  We are pretty certain that cute little tower you brought home from France was not actually made by Mr. Eiffel himself. Get it?

Every one of these MyPhoneStones is unique art, signed by the artist, numbered, and photo-documented.  No two are identical (How boring would that be?) The supply is limited to until I get too caught up doing other kinds of art to spend time on these.  And know that I have LOTS of other even more fantastic ideas in mind!  So here’s a tip – don’t count on there being an endless supply of original MyPhoneStones.

In case you still don’t quite get it (I’m sure you do, I just want an excuse to talk more about it) the motif blends the tall monolithic image of the large scale art with the icons that were contain in each one. Remember those icons made from real world objects that were intended to make fun of the metaphorical iconography of virtual devices? Its “physical virtual, low tech rendering of high tech subject matter, ironic, iconic art“.  I know, it seems I am having way too much fun with this!

Imagine making your own little arrangement of MyPhoneHenge using real phones!  They also work great for the classic iPod and totally killer for showing off your business cards!   And please please whatever you do, have fun!

- roger