#bravac

[semifinaldraw]

glowing review; brandt/kovac

full image here; fun edited image that tumblr didn't like here :(

[charliehnz]

Slides for our Project Show Reel.

[charliehnz]

Ben and I have been spending some time developing our concept ideas for the Soundscape's aesthetic design. We have sketched our ideas onto paper and begun analyzing these to hopefully get and idea and come to an agreement on the layout and design.

[charliehnz]

Reflective Statement - The Bravac Branch

  From the beginning Benjamin and I knew that what we had chosen to do for our 3 week DIY project was very ambitious to say the least. There were going to be a number of skills to pick up and information that we were going to have to research and pick up in order to make our project a success. Luckily enough I can easily say our combined enthusiasm really helped kick start our creative process from day one.

It was obvious that one of the first things we were going to need to learn was about speaker circuitry and what actually makes a speaker unit/system work. At first I found this whole area rather daunting and I felt as if I was studying for high school exams again. Perseverance really proved key in this area and after a few days of drawing up concept circuit diagrams it all began to make sense. Benjamin and I both share a combined interest in woodwork and working with natural/organic materials which really helped us in the construction stage of the project. Additional knowledge, skills, tools and machinery were provided by my father Richard Hlavac. Having a workshop set up at my home for my father’s furniture business Hlavac Wooden Furniture really served as an ideal place of assembly where Benjamin and I could escape the chaos in the studio and have our own personal workshop space away from all of the other projects. This meant we could really get stuck into our project without any interference or interruptions.

Something we could have definitely done better was planning all of the componentry that would make up the speaker circuit inside of our speaker case. Initially we planned to make our speaker a portable unit. This would include a number of additional components as opposed to a speaker system that is powered through mains. What we found was that our ideal speakers and tweeters needed really powerful amp chips, crossover chips and batteries which would really raise the overall cost of components, money that we unfortunately do not have. It was a shame to scrap the portable speaker design however we still managed to achieve our desired aesthetic and sound quality through using an external amp unit powered via a DC power cable. This meant that our speaker would become more of a semi-permanent addition to a desired space (Desktop, Living room etc).

Another addition that I wish we could have made to the speaker casing was the laser engraving of our company logo on the front panel. We found ourselves getting too caught up in assembling the two speaker units ready for the 3 week hand-in that we didn’t manage to have time to take the two panels when they were separate from the completed units to the 3D lab. This was due to our many trips to and from the workshop at home in Warkworth back to the city.

Both of us were extremely happy with our Vernissage addition to the project due to the fact that we managed to actually finish the speakers. The log book allows for more of a deeper look into the creative process we underwent to get to the final product. A subtle yet extremely effective additional artefact.

All up however I most certainly feel as if the project as a whole was a success and Benjamin and I are extremely proud of what we managed to achieve. We are now hoping to take things to the next step and are looking at increasing our product range through sparking some interest on the popular website Kickstarter.

[charliehnz]

Some of the images we took for our Bravac Photoshoot the other day. ft. a sneaky collaboration with Lone Kauri Breweries

[charliehnz]

On Friday we managed to finish up our Vernissage addition to our DIY project. The addition is a Log Book that will sit alongside our speakers for final presentation. It contains a number of pages on concepts, sketches Etc so people can have a bit more of a look into our creative process over the past number of weeks. We feel as if the book really compliments our final presentation of the project and can't wait so see what other think of it.

[charliehnz]

Today Ben and I further developed our Bravac Logbook and actually managed to complete 3 of the pages that will be in the final edition of the Logbook. Our laser cutting and engraving is booked in for Thursday so until then we will continue to work on the pages and their content so they are ready to bind after the front and back covers are ready after laser cutting. Ben and I are still brainstorming different ways we could potentially get our logo on the front panel of the speakers themselves however it would have been a lot easier to have done this when the panels were still a separate piece rather than assembled as the laser cutter cannot cut something the size of our assembled speakers.

[charliehnz]

Today Ben and I began brainstorming the different iterations and additions that we could potentially do for our DIY project for the upcoming Vernissage next week.

Our ideas included making more speaker models, making the amp match the speakers with wooden plating, making a record player to accompany the speakers Etc etc

Due to our time frame however we decided to not get too ambitious and possibly save some of the bigger ideas for next year rather than trying to cram them into this small number of days we have left.

We decided on making a logbook displaying our creative journey of the Bravac Speakers which would have wooden front and back covers to tie in with our organic, wooden theme.

We believe this will be an effective way of polishing our project for submission as the speakers themselves will catch people's attention and then the logbook will be next to the speakers on the display for people that wish to have a closer look into the project as a whole.

We have sketched up a rough idea of the number of pages and what content we will be displaying in the book and have booked in a time later this week for laser cutting/engraving.