Now and then...

It has been a VERY long time since I updated my blog last. I think it's about time I look at how far I have come!

Award Winning Product

After working on the 'Sculpt Your Own Boyfriend' product at Bluw Group, London, I am pleased to find out it has been awarded as the winner of 'Gift of the Year 2011' by The Gift Association.

http://bluw.com/sculpt-your-own-boyfriend-prod-_-2831.do#

Raindrop effect on window...

Cereal Box Artwork

Experimenting with Type

Progress since Bluw Internship...

Since working at Bluw Group in London, I have worked for another product design company in Shoreham By-Sea called Paladone.

Paladone is a similar design company, producing consumer products. However, during my time here I worked with the New Product Development team researching new products. I had the opportunity to work on licensed products, such as Guinness World Records, and aid the product designers in meeting important targets and creating products above the current competition.

Feedback from Head of Product Design and Bluw...

On the last day of my internship, I spoke to my manager Matt Chapman who gave me some feedback on the work completed.

In general, He said:

• I was very hard working and the quality of my work was good and lived up to my portfolio!
• The projects I worked on with the other product designers was received well and everyone was pleased with them :)
• I had the opportunity to work directly with the product designers and the directors of the company too, who again were impressed with the work I produced.
• He was pleased some of my designs had been selected by a few large companies for sampling.
• I was an easy person to get along with and everyone warmed to me very well :) I became part of the team!!!
• I was always happy to do anything and consistently worked hard!
• My general up beat and happy personality fitted in well and that I had no problem communicating with everyone in the team :)

Recommendation from a Product Designer at Bluw!

“Eve is hard working and enthusiastic with a good eye for detail. Although her placement with Bluw was short she demonstrated a level of skill and determination that you don’t often see in graduates let alone someone who is half way through their degree.” October 25, 2010

Ian M, Product Designer, Bluw
managed Eve indirectly at Bluw

Product Design Internship at Bluw Group

My internship has just recently come to an end, but it was fantastic!

I have learnt so much through this experience and feel far more proficient in software such as Adobe suite. Shadowing the experienced product designers allowed me to work across a whole range of products. I enjoyed the variety of work from one day to the next and it gave me the chance to see how many different areas need to be refined to complete a successful product.

Brand awareness and understanding how important it is that the product always considers this was something I recognised early on. Briefs provided were specific in their focus and always outlined what the product had to achieve in order to be a success among customers.

Amongst other work, I took part in two briefs, producing conceptual ideas and designs, which went on to be selected. A company called 'Spencers' has chosen to send one of my designs to be sampled. And if its proves to be a success they would like to take on two more designs!

Mothercare/ELC selected two designs from a separate design brief completed recently. I have however come to learn that from the concept stage to completion, the design will adapt and develop in many ways. So I am very excited to see the samples of my designs, but also understand that these will most likely develop before final samples are produced :)

I experienced altering a product many many times before the final design was selected! But I viewed all these changes as positive and something that would add to the success of the product.

My skills in both Photoshop and Illustrator have developed very well. I feel very competent in these and find it very enjoyable producing artwork this way. Further to this, I often photographed and edited photos for sales sheets and packaging artwork, which has also helped develop my skills.

In terms of packaging, I had never ventured into this area at all! But at Bluw, I was immediately introduced to this side of the product design world and loved it! I came to realise it plays a huge part in the design role and is essential. I began by mocking up packaging and understanding how nets are designed. The product designers also took time to demonstrate how they can alter packaging shapes whilst still maintaining optimum function, and also to add artwork to these. I am very much looking forward to developing my own packaging now I know how to!

Towards the end of my internship, I worked on a product which required photographing models made by myself and one of the product designers. Along with these models, I helped design some of the inner packaging, including instruction booklets, and I am really looking forward to the release of the product next year to see my work in the shops :) I will definitely be purchasing one!!!

Overall, an excellent experience which I feel has given me the opportunity to experience product design in the real world! The variety has allowed me to view all different stages of the design process and see exactly what goes into producing a successful product!

It was brilliant!

Product Design Internship at Bluw

Today I started my Product Design Intern at a company called Bluw, based in london.

This morning I sat in on a meeting with the company's contacts in Hong Kong, which was really interesting! It gave me the chance to learn about all the core products as well as the new customer specific products. I also gained an insight to the importance of communication and how it can affect the progression of a product to market.

This afternoon I am being introduced to some work involving arranging artwork on product packaging and generally getting to know how they work here!

Playing with 'Smoke' Paintbrushes in Photoshop

I started with a picture of my boyfriend, which soon transformed into this abstract and colourful portrait made up of several layers of different 'smoke' brush strokes!

It was interesting increasing and decreasing the opacity of the brush to achieve different effects. I chose to increase the opacity of the brush strokes used around the face to intensify the facial features.

Drawing an iPod Shuffle...

Usually, I will draw my designs in Adobe Illustrator then transfer them for rendering to Photoshop.

I decided to work solely on Photoshop whilst drawing an iPod Shuffle. Some of the lines are slightly wobbly but overall a good final piece considering the drawing tools differ in many ways.

Short Tutorial on Adobe Photoshop

Having finished University, I felt the need to continue developing my skills in Design.

Using Adobe Photoshop I have created the Transformers logo (!) using different textures and lighting effects.

This is the final result.......

Graduating with a First Class Honours and two awards!

On Wednesday 14th July 2010, I graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a First Class Honours in BSc (Hons) Product Design and Innovation.

Seems that all the very hard work paid off! I also received two awards:

‘Project Prize BSc (Hons) Product Design & Innovation’ by the Department of Mechanical Design and Engineering, University of Portsmouth, 2009/2010.

And...

‘The Institution Best Project’ by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 2010.

All in all a fantastic day full of great achievements!

June 2010 - Unearthing some old artwork!

Along with Product Design, I have always enjoyed fine art.

I moved home from University recently and during a clear out I found huge amounts of my art work.

Here are some on my favourite pieces, several of which are artist studies.

4th June 2010 - Work displayed in the Design Museum

The work produced for the 'Design Factory - Ergonomics Real Design' competition was displayed in the Design Museum for one night only!

It has also been placed on Flickr .....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/designmuseum/4678578774/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/designmuseum/4677949261/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/designmuseum/4678578324/

3rd June 2010 - University Press Release!

Design student’s work on show in London

Thu, Jun 3, 2010

A Portsmouth student will be exhibiting her design for a kitchen scales for the visually impaired at the prestigious Design Museum’s ‘design overtime’ event this Friday evening.

Eve Bellamy is studying for her BSc in product design and innovation in the Department of Mechanical and Design Engineering. She has already won a university entrepreneur competition with her design for a sustainable water bottle.

Now her work will be on show at the London museum’s night show from 6-10pm.

Eve, 21, was given space in the Design Museum after she won a competition showcasing her skills and the ability of her products to meet the needs of users.

She said: “I have always enjoyed art and design but before my product design and innovation experience at university I hadn't imagined I would do so well. I had never studied product design before and it has challenged me but also the constant variety of units and briefs has encouraged me to be versatile in my work while also expressing my individual flair.

“Being selected by the Design Museum brings me a huge sense of achievement. It has given me an experience which not all of us are lucky to have and it’s also given me more confidence in presenting my work to others.

“The whole experience has given me the confidence that I am competent enough to approach different briefs and succeed.

“Designing products can be difficult because often someone else has been there and done it. You could have a fantastic idea, but it could be impractical for the user, so their feedback is essential throughout the design process. The sense of satisfaction at the end of a design process with the knowledge that you have provided something useful is a great feeling.”

For her final year show at the university Eve, from Shoreham-by-Sea, designed a tool for cranial osteopaths to enable them to make accurate measurements of children’s heads in order to gauge how effective treatment is.

Her tutor Lynsey Plockyn said: “This is a great opportunity for Eve to showcase her talents at the Design Museum. Eve has the creative and technical ability that make for a good product designer. She has always been determined to design products that make a positive difference to people's lives.”

5th May 2010 - Final Year Project Poster Day

On May 5th I had my Final Year Project Poster Day where I had to opportunity to present my poster and product prototype to both my dissertation assessors and visiting employers.

It was a fun day, although very tiring, but some contacts were gained and it was very enjoyable informing people about the benefits and uses of my product!

26th April 2010 - Design Museum 'Student Symposium' day in London

Having been successful in the first stage of the 'Design Factory - Ergonomics Real Design' competition, I was invited back to work along side the other winners and three designers.

The student symposium consisted of a day working in teams on a certain subject area - ours was to express the essence of sustainability.

Having been round the Design Museum exhibition, our product to take inspiration from was an electric bike which folded up into a carry case!

Several of us were interested in the idea of reusable and disposable water bottles and we decided to pursue this for a presentation. We had a few hours to come up with an idea to present to the rest of the winners and it had to be no longer than 3 minutes!

With the different expertise in our group, we created a short video to show how disposable bottles are far more harmful that reusable bottles. We did not intend to change peoples habits but felt it more important to make them aware of the problems and encourage them to make their own decision based on this information.

May 2010 - Ergonomic Can Opener handle design

Having studied the elderly and those with visual impairments in previous work, I decided to focus on individuals who suffer from Arthritis.

From research, I found that many sufferers struggle to open cans at ease. I found plenty of jar opener designs and did come across some ergonomically designed can openers. However, a major piece of my research revealed that for comfortable use, the wrist must be at a certain angle, which most standard products did not comply with.

From this I worked towards a new design for the can opener, and also incorporated other pieces of research, such as an increased handle diameter and length.

Images to come!