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In December of 2020 we sent out six trial boxes to our friends and family to receive feedback on varying aspects of our service. [Survey questions can be viewed here. (Yorston, Smith. 2020)]. The most prominent problem reported that 83.33% of our users didn’t have the necessary equipment needed to mix our cocktails the way it was displayed on the instructions. In our business plan we had imagined that we would reach out to potential business partners to supply equipment for our consumers. However, as creatives, we decided to redesign the traditional cocktail shaker to better suit the needs of our consumers.

The current market for entry level cocktail sets is relatively large. Our goal is not to lead this market, but to design a product that supplements our current boxes. To do so, the aim is to design a compact cocktail kit that utilises a functional modular design. The shaker itself will contain a modular ice strainer, Hawthorne strainer, & mesh strainer to negate the need for additional equipment. We aim to use utilise a minimalist & ergonomic aesthetic design process to create a sleek, comfortable, compact product.

In order to negate the need for a box of equipment, we had to look at what cocktail equipment is deemed as ‘standard’ or ‘necessary’. To ensure our re-designed cocktail shaker is functional, we had to reverse engineer the industry standard of cocktail kits. Most bartender sets come with a shaker, strainer, jigger, stirring rod, and ice tongs. In a way to minimise the need for such an extensive list we looked at what we as ‘cocktail enthusiasts’ carry at home. Standard in our cupboard are both the Boston and Cobbler style shakers, a range of Hawthorne and Tea strainers, as well as a Muddler, stirring straw and set of tongs. When designing our modular system, a key factor to bear in mind is convenience vs necessity. What aspects of the bartender's tool kit are needed for most cocktails? Which pieces of equipment are not needed?

Based on the forms of cocktails that we are offering (Stirred, Built, and Shaken), in order to provide the customers with a multi-purpose product we need to include the shaker, jigger, and strainer. The stirring rod and muddler can be substituted by common cutlery. The specialised equipment however cannot be replaced. Golden Cadillac Cocktails must provide their customers with a ‘bartending experience from home’. To do this, the core functions of shakers, strainers and jiggers must be preserved. By focusing on these core tools we are able to design a custom, high quality modular system without compromising on the integrity of our product. Combining a small selection of features rather than everything enables us to keep our product as professional and refined, not a gimmick.

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CTEC609 Final Video Script and Resources

VR is a form of entertainment technology that simulates a real life experience through the user’s senses, most commonly visual and auditory. The immersive environment can be built to be similar to the physical world or it can be wildly exaggerated and rooted in fantasy, providing the users with an experience not normally possible in the real world. VR has its roots in popular science fiction stories dating all the way back to the ‘golden age’ of sci-fi novels in the 1950s. It has always been one of those ‘futuristic’ technologies popularised in pop culture, seen as state of the art and almost impossible.

Despite the term becoming popular in the 1980s, it was largely a conceptual idea until 2010, with the invention of the first prototype of the Oculus Rift. Despite only being capable of rotational tracking, it provided users with an experience that had not been seen in the public sector before. This initial concept laid the groundwork for hundreds of VR tech based companies to spring up in the last decade. VR was developed as a tool to envelop the user’s senses and expand their experience in an artificial world. VR can be beneficial, providing immersive environments to train surgeons, and first responders by putting them into simulated environments to train, as well as many other uses. It could be argued that VR is a largely instrumental piece of technology, simply allowing the user to interact with a virtual world in a deeper way. However I believe VR has more intrinsic functions. The technology can change the way we see our own world, especially when combined with its cousin Augmented Reality. Virtual Reality is at its core the next step in how humans use technology to alter the world we see we perceive in order to suit ourselves. We have moved from building cities and physical environments into building our own virtual ones where we are capable of creating and doing anything.

However, despite providing a wonderful and out-of-this-world experience, VR can also be problematic and dangerous.

Vr could result in obsession and addiction. The ability to withdraw into a separate and unique world that provides experiences unable to be found anywhere else could lead to users losing touch with actual reality. The strong sense of scene in VR and incredibly detailed role playing/story experiences can lead to addiction, especially in teenagers and younger children. This can be seen through common addictions amongst younger generations to movies, games, TV/Electronic screens and even online gambling websites.

Alongside this, VR opens the doorway for businesses to explore a new form of digital advertising/marketing. Compared to traditional advertisements, tv ads and movie previews, VR is a far more powerful tool when it comes to influencing people’s perceptions and reality. This could also lead to a stronger “brainwashing” effect. Users who are drawn into a false reality where every aspect of their senses is being controlled by the VR provider can easily be misled. Already advertisers use digital ‘nudging’ to draw the consumer’s eyes to what they want them to see on a webpage or app screen. This is used to great effect in targeted advertising. The potential for VR tech to be abused in a similar way is alarming, and could have adverse effects.

Images used in Video:

https://miro.medium.com/max/1686/1*CaVlkopX7pNkT6t7vQhKXg.png

https://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/man-using-virtual-reality-augmented-reality-convergence-Peter-Diamandis-shutterstock-1342435892.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51SecZP1eKL.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f3/49/a4/f349a4b65ac95a34717ef1dabf936566.jpg

https://exvr.center/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/38974684_378684776070796_2601013970911363072_n-1.jpg

https://cbi-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Chart-Final.png

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/magazine/rights-exempt/2019/04/future-cities/future-cities-shanghai-yanan-expressway.adapt.1900.1.jpg

https://ak.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/27145954/thumb/12.jpg

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*gQVf0RpFjaYfS7GJJtuzQg.jpeg

https://miro.medium.com/max/12000/1*fjsQpIJtKIFJStyzdwrXgw.jpeg

https://miro.medium.com/max/10944/1*EYv8hdLqXMvY7P5NzkHT-g.jpeg

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/567069c3d82d5e5d015ccbac/1505605890120-WW77LGNQ6QBPDPFHJVOZ/Screen+Shot+2017-09-16+at+7.42.44+PM.png?content-type=image%2Fpng

Sound used in Video:

https://youtu.be/bZr89T3jp-Q?list=PLwJjxqYuirCLkq42mGw4XKGQlpZSfxsYd

#ctec609

Ctec603 Digital Fabrication Process

In order to build my desired project for Digital Fabrication, I had to look into similar style wallets. There are a lot of different brands out there, with each doing their own thing. For me, the biggest focus would be on the ‘lift’ function. I started by trying to find any designs available to the public online. Sadly this was hopeless, as Companies keep their designs to themselves. This resulted in me building some prototypes out of cardboard in order to play around with the mechanics.

After exploring some of these low fidelity prototypes I took to sketching out a handful of designs. I eventually came to the conclusion that for my initial prototype simpler is better. If I could get a basic version working I would be able to move forward with a better understanding of how it worked. In order to achieve this, I decided to design a simple pivot-lever that lifted the cards upwards.

The next issue I ran into was dimensions. I had to make the dimensions of the wallet small enough to comfortably fit in a pocket, but not too thin as to compromise the structural integrity. I decided to make my initial prototype’s walls 2mm thick to explore the limits of the plastic printed by FDM printers.

After designing the prototype in Fusion360, it was time to print it out using the MakerBot printer. Upon completing the print I took my design and tested the pivot system and the strength of the walls/components. My decision to use 2mm thick walls was definitely a mistake, as the wallet flexed too much, and too much pressure began to crack the outer shell in two. Despite this, the lever system works perfectly. I will need to reassess the thickness of my designs moving forward with the next iteration.

#ctec603

Golden Cadillac Project Outline

Brief The main goal of this project was to create branding, a website, and a menu for our potential business. We had an idea for a Cocktail delivery business, and recognised that StudioIV would be a good place to create / prototype and conceptualise our ideas. Our previous project in Semester 1 gave us the foundations of UX/UI design that we could take into this project, however we wanted to explore the possibilities of creating a brand, rather than rebranding an existing brand.

Context The idea of Golden Cadillac is a cocktail delivery service that specialises in deconstructed cocktails in order to preserve the experience of creating cocktails whilst minimising the expense. It aims to deliver pre-bottled spirits, liqueurs, mixers and fruits to the customers’ door to limit the need for convoluted shopping trips. The main idea is to create a convenient and cost effective experience for everyone. However, for StudioIV we are focusing on the branding aspects of the business startup and leaving the business model side of it for another paper.

Statement of intent Utilising skills learnt from the previous projects, we will be constructing a brand for a potential business. This includes a functional website, menu and professional branding. In doing so, we hope to maneuver ourselves into a position to launch our business with future projects.

Project Plan The potential of a second lockdown had influence on our studio plans, learning from the last time we planned our workloads accordingly to ensure that we could effectively collaborate on the same project without the need for physical contact. We used Adobe software for this project, which allowed us to collaborate if needed. We learnt from last time that working individually on certain aspects of the project can be beneficial in generating new and unique ideas. Keeping this in mind, we spent time discussing the core ‘pillars’ of our design and went away to iterate on our prototypes. Afterwards, the work we created was put into a survey in order to collect feedback. The results of the survey will be used to cement the final designs moving into Assignment Two.

#ctec608

Website Designs

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Logo Concepts

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CTEC609 - Week Four

What areas in your field of interest or usage in regards to technology, that you can identify potential current or future ethical or design bias issues? What are those issues specifically?

Augmented Reality.

With advancements in AR/VR increasing exponentially, it is possible that businesses could impose advertising into augmented reality devices. This could cause ethical issues and distractions in HUDs and Augmented sight devices such as smart glasses etc. As well as this, it is possible that Augmented Reality could become the new norm, obscuring real life behind a digital lense.

Advancements in AR could lead to people losing sight/focus on reality itself. Becoming accustomed to exaggerated and digitised viewpoints. This could possibly be more harmful than advantageous.

#ctec609

CTEC609 - Week Three

Smart Body: Smart wallet, that you can load all your cards onto digitally. IDs, Credit Cards, Bus Passes etc. You can cycle through the NFC tag options. THis means you don't need to take an entire wallet everywhere you go.

Smart Home: A smart guitar, that makes learning the guitar easier for those who are musically inclined. Strings/frets light up in order to show the user chord progressions. The guitar has an interface that lets you download songs.

Smart City: Smart Bus Stops. Live tracking feed of your nearest bus, with the ability to top up cards or get tickets without needing to get on the bus to do so.

#ctec609

Beginnings of a Menu

The Menu is something we are going to have to spend a lot of focus on going forward. To start with, I came up with the idea of having a ‘pool’ of roughly 30-40 potential cocktails that customers can choose their custom boxes from. Lachlan and I spent a while listing the cocktails we knew on the whiteboard before deciding to input them into a spreadsheet for convenience.

Our list is based off of the cocktails we have had during our many trips to the bar Caretaker in Britomart, Auckland. Using our knowledge of classic style cocktails and prohibition-era drinks we came up with around 20 options. By using the spreadsheet we can list the drinks in a way that displays their ingredients. This makes it easy to see which cocktails would be redundant or a waste of resources to make. Our list is small at the moment, and already I can see some drinks which are unnecessary or too costly to keep the ingredients. These will be removed at a later date.

Our aim is to use as few ingredients as possible in a way that maximises the types of drinks we can offer. This means that finding drinks that share ingredients but are still different in flavour profile is imperative.

#ctec608

With my new enrollment into ENTR680 I needed to spend some time splitting the project into two sections. ENTR680 learning outcomes and CTEC608 learning outcomes. With Lachlan’s assistance I split the workload into what was needed for the two assessments. We drew up a map on the whiteboard in order to visualise it.

ENTR680 will be the business model side of the project. Focusing on brand values, brand image and operations. How will we structure the business, what kind of partners or investors would be needed? By focusing on all the logistics and operations in this paper we are able to focus on the website interactions in studio.

CTEC680 will focus on the UX/UI side of things. How will the customer interact with our business? What will our cocktail boxes contain? How does the customer experience our product?

Splitting the focus into these two streams will enable us to more efficiently complete the project.

#ctec608 #entr680

Market Research

Something needed in order for us to progress with our project is a lot of market and competitor research. During a brief look into the current market for cocktail/specialist alcohol delivery there seem to only be two major names in the business. These are Cocktail Collective and Black Pineapple.

Of the two, Cocktail Collective offers the service most similar to what we aim to cater our project to. They specialise in cocktail delivery, selling a combination of premixed solutions and bottled spirits for you to add together in a shaker. However, their menu only consists of 9 different cocktail boxes, with each box containing the ingredients for 10 drinks and costing between $100.00 - $140.00 per box. This means that their drinks are worth on average $12.00 each. Cocktail collective do however offer a NZ wide delivery service, which is where they hold the advantage.

Black Pineapple are not NZ wide, instead they are a small Auckland central based company which delivers premixed cocktails without the alcohol as well as vacuum sealed garnishes to the door. They have 3 boxes which can be purchased to make 4, 6 or 8 drinks. An 8 drink box will cost $149.00 not including delivery, and they will only deliver to Auckland Central. They seem to offer a wide range of Black Pineapple branded equipment and the focus of their business is catering to private events.

I will be following these up with an in depth case study of the two brand’s operations, as well as their website setup. This will give us a better idea of how to frame our business model and web operations.

#ctec608

Forming Ideas

The morning of studio was busy, with everyone immediately getting straight back into pitching ideas and forming groups. I knew I wanted to continue exploring UX/UI disciplines, but wasn't very interested in focusing on social/environmental issues, as a lot of my projects previously have centered on those themes. After a long time wandering around the studio talking to other people I came to the conclusion that I wanted to work with Lachlan again, as we both were keen to do UX/UI based projects. The only issue was our lack of ideas. After a couple hours of throwing ideas around we decided to head down to the bar and talk more over some drinks.

During that time we struggled to really bring anything major to the table, and our ideas felt weak and lacked any substance. It eventually devolved into a discussion about what we enjoy doing in our spare time, as it would be nice to build a studio project around something we were passionate about.

Of course, this brought up the topic of alcohol. More specifically, it brought up the topic of cocktails.We both agreed we enjoyed making and drinking cocktails quite a bit, which led Lachlan to come up with the idea for a service based on the ‘My Food Bag’ model; but for cocktails. We immediately threw ourselves into the basic planning of this concept, and came to the conclusion it had a lot of promise.

The next step in our project naturally had to be a breakdown of the learning outcomes. Having a great idea is one thing, but we needed to know exactly what we had to do to meet the requirements of our assessment. Lachlan had the idea to deconstruct the learning outcomes and use them as cards on a Trello board. This will enable us to have a project timeline built, and help visualise what work has been done and what work has yet to be done.

Lachlan is in the Entrepreneurship course, and he has informed me that I really should try to enroll into it. The idea is appealing to me, as it would help us focus on the Business model side of our project in a different course whilst we focus on the UX/UI side of things in studio.

#ctec608

CTEC609 - Week Two

Light Installation by Israel Randell

Cultural Context:

Using light to fill a space in order to provide a space in which to experience Maori culture through a different medium

Technologies:

Light wire crossing over each other forming Xs

Creative practices:

Utilisation of space, sound and light to provide a unique environment in which to experience the artist’s work.

Amphora by Ahsin Ahsin

Cultural Context:

Combining cultures and artwork. Personal take on ancient mythological creatures.

Technologies:

Painting, positioning of the artwork.

Creative practices:

Inspiration taken from Greek/Roman style artwork and myth.

#ctec609

CTEC609 - Week One

Mexico City by Pablo Lopez

Cultural Context:

Urbanisation, and the living standards created within large cities.

Technologies:

Construction, architecture, urban planning techniques.

Creative practices:

Urbanisation.

Summary

This image resonated with me because of the feeling of despair it creates. The waves of the city stretching out into the distance covered in pollution and smog generates a feeling of helplessness towards the expansion of humanity. The living conditions that these cities create must be questionable. The city doesn't look organised, it seems unrestricted, messy and chaotic. The dull colours of the photography drives home the idea of whether or not the way we build our cities is ‘wrong’?

Mardi Gras Parade

Cultural Context:

Differences in class and race in different areas of New Orleans, Louisiana. But both divides come together in appreciation of traditions.

Technologies:

Waste byproducts of human living (litter). Consumption. Urban Planning (class divide)

Creative practices:

Taken two photos in an identical shot composition, highlighting the differences yet similarities between the two.

Summary

This image stood out to me because of how they are framed in similar ways, yet vastly different. The quality of living between the two differs immensely, and the racial composition of the crowds also varies. Despite the differences though, both groups have come out to celebrate a tradition shared between them. The image highlights that despite coming from different backgrounds, humans can bond and come together to celebrate.

Macedonian Police Clash with Refugees at border

Cultural Context:

Refugee crisis, Governments control over borders. Is human life not worth spending the extra resources on?

Technologies:

Police control. Governmental policies.

Creative practices:

Framing children as the focus of the image creates more sympathy.

Summary

Refugee Crisis’ are commonplace in the modern world, as climate change and worsening social conditions force people out of their homes. It is often easy to forget the ‘human’ aspect of crises when the media reports them as numbers and figures. This photo highlights the human agony of misplacement and loss of life/family. The photograph manages to return ‘humanity’ to refugee problems and governmental responses.

#ctec609