Connor's Somewhat Bearable Design Blog

Hello, I am Connor White, and this a blog about my development as a product designer, the stuff I like, and my attempt to making myself intresting.

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Ain’t it the truth.

[itsconnorwhite]

Tern Water's crowdfunding campaign for The Smart Faucet is live! #itsyourtern http://thndr.me/XS2a25

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[pokemon-photography]

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This is the money Charizard. Reblog and you will money tomorrow.

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That first edition Base set Holo Charizard with shadowless border (meaning first print) is actually worth about $5k+ if in mint condition so hell fucking yeah I’ll reblog the Money Charizard.

[nuclear-slut]

someone tried to buy my nudes with a rare charizard card before

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Journal Update

So this has been a very eventful week for my project:

Monday I switched my focus from sustainable fun to exploring the problems with water in Philadelphia (and elsewhere) to focus more energy to my start-up Tern, which focuses on creating sustainable household solutions. 

Since then, I have been immersing myself with documentaries on water such as "Blue Gold: World Wars" "The Water Front" "Last Call at the Oasis" "The Great Culling: Our Water" (that last one was a little kooky). I have also been reading select chapter from "A User's Guide to the 21st Century."

Last Tuesday, we won a 60 second pitch competition at the Wharton school beating 30 Drexel and Penn Startups.

Last Thursday I visited Max Zanhieser at the Nexus center and he offered great insights into the future of sustainable technologies and he offered to allow my project into his living laboratory in Lancaster next summer once the prototype is complete (which would save months if not years of time filling out experimental permits). Something I hadn't considered before was the opportunity to operate at a neighborhood level and some of the legal issues around innovative sustainable products.

Friday, I created a survey http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/cwhite93/water-survey/ to help understand peoples opinions of their water and their satisfaction with their access to it.

Saturday, I worked with Paul Giardina to diagram the steps water goes through to reach the home to when it exits. Something we discovered is that most homes in Philadelphia combine grey and black water outputs, only newer houses separate them before going into the sewer system. We also discovered where the opportunities for household innovation could be.

Today, I am emailing the EPA some questions I have on the depletion of the watershed, their perspective on the world water crisis, and the challenges of recycling drinkable water within neighborhoods/ the home. My shower also is backed up so, I will be able to ask the plumber a few questions about Philadelphia plumbing, the biggest issues he sees with the water in the home, and if he has any experience installing filtration systems.

Later this week, Paul and I are trying to get access/tour the drinking water treatment plant and the waste water treatment plant.

I would like to get more home user research so I will need to find users to interview this week.​

[itsconnorwhite]

Time for an update... I've been up all night jamming on senior design research and analysis as well as the mid term presentation (which I'll upload a bit later). Anyway, here is my workspace. Bit messy, lots of books, kinda the way I like it. There's also a giant TV in the senior design room so Sean and I have been streaming Netflix since 9ish last night. Well that's all for now, better shower and grab a bite before my Mythology class.

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This weekend I visited my Uncle Bob, Aunt Mel, and their daughters Cassidy (age 5), Brooke (age 3), and Harper (age 1) to interview an average american family about sustainability and get understand a bit more about how kids interact on the playground. I got a ton of great information! I gave Cassidy a GoPro, and while I interviewed her parents she went off and explored the playground. I got a lot of great footage and have a bunch of new ideas of how to create a sustainable playground.

I also have some new artwork to hang in my studio!

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Okay, cool.... I'm working my senior project so I'll be uploading some research and all that jazz within the next couple weeks. I might start uploading personal drawings to this blog or I might not. We'll see about that...

My idea for senior design is that sustainability is not fun. While it is an necessity aspect of our developing civilization, for the most part it is boring and requires a lot of extra effort. I intended to make sustainability fun or to make fun sustainable. I don't want to be preachy, I want the project to be approachable and enjoyable. Sustainable fun would teach the basics of sustainability through indirect learning through interaction.

That's what I got so far, not a bad launch pad.  I grabbed a gopro from one of my housemates so I'll be doing a few interviews and interaction research this weekend.

Okay, that's enough update for now

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I can't stand themes, this is going to drive me crazy. I refuse to do actual "work" until I get this blog looking decent.

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Journal Update

Okay so it's been a while since I've updated this blog. So here goes everything! Just finished working at SHIFT_DESIGN. It was a great experience, learned a bunch, and make a few bucks. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. And I do... say so...myself. (You are overwhelmed with my comedic wit). Stop, please, honestly you're too much.

Anyway, I'll upload a few of the projects that I've worked on as they are released publicly. Need to watch out for the ever tricky NDA. I am also working on my senior design project so keep an eye out for some moderately interesting updates!

If you are still reading this, wow. Congratulations! You've made it this far!... I was not expecting that... Honestly, thank you for checking out my blog, I promise it will have more personality than previous posts might indicate. I know you have important places to be and characters to ship so go on, have fun, and use firewalls.

[itsconnorwhite]

Fairmount Living Tiles

Say hello to the FAIRMOUNT- A DIY green roof or garden kit giving city dwellers access to green space

Long time since an update, but here I go!

I've recently been working with SHIFT_DESIGN (woo) and have been working for a few months on this project, Fairmount, with a few of my new work buddies.

Fairmount is a modular green roof system that allows easy install and low maintenance. The benefits of our green roof system include alleviating the urban heat index, neutralized carbon emissions, and beautification of urban environments!

We have just launched our project on kickstarter!

Any help funding Fairmount would be greatly appreciated. We have a variety of rewards ranging from single to forty tiles! That's enough to cover 50 sq. feet!

With your help, we can redefine sustainable urban living!

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That Turtleneck is Choking You

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How pretending to be a designer is killing your career. 

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Old project from Multimedia Space which pretty much defines my life at this point. Such sigh.

[itsconnorwhite]

Sketch from a while back of shoes.