Brandon Marsh – NMP Jacket

This week I met with Raymond Lo, he is currently heading up the Glogger project. We talked about cellphones and wearable computing and I got some good suggestions and references for my project!

I’ve set up my own glogger, so you can check the feed here:

In the news, there was a few cool articles this week that I found really interesting. First was the British Invisibility Camouflage Tank which uses similar technology to the Invisibility Cloak being made in Japan. The second is the Australian Army Electric Shirt which can be used to store and provide electric energy, really cool idea I think!

Monday

I just got the first rough sketches from my artist friend Kent Burles! I am really excited to see my project visualized like this! I can’t wait to see where it goes! Remember these are just the first rough sketches.

If illustrations were a drug, Kent would totally be my pusher!

Also I got a message this evening from Ed Hutchinson, who is the Director of Sales, New Business Development for Sony Ericsson Canada!!! I am going to get in contact with him tomorrow to further discuss some assistance with some project materials!

Tuesday

I got this illustration in from Kent today!

I also phoned Ed Hutchinson this morning and spoke with him briefly about my project. I told him what I needed in regards to phones and stuff and asked a few questions about what style of phone is easiest to disassemble. He said he would look into it for me and give me a call back. So hopefully he can come up with some positive results.

Wednesday

I did my interview with James Fung today, I think it went really well! I got some good information and he is going to take a look through the project and give me more feedback. I typed up my notes from both interviews so you can read them here

I also sent my feedback to Kent the illustrator and it looks like I should be getting some sort illustrations shortly, I can’t wait!

Thursday

I got another pair of sketches from Kent today!

I also got word back from Ed today, he is going to send me a couple of phones to work with! This is great news, I am really glad I contacted Sony-Ericsson. They asked me to confirm that Sony Ericsson is not liable for any direct or indirect damages caused by ‘misuse’ of this product. I have no problem with that at all, I’m just grateful they were willing to give me some phones to play with 🙂

Friday

To cap off the week I talked to Josh at Cool Neon and got a quote for my order, so I will be ordering that this week probably. I also took some time to edit my Proposal a bit and include a project budget.

Overall I am really pleased with how this week has gone and I am really looking forward to getting into the experimenting/prototyping stage of the project!

I’ve been working hard behind the scenes

I put in my order for 20ft. of Blue Cool Neon, I hope it shows up before my presentation, that would be awesome! I’ve figured out the details for a cell phone plan, I just have to get my materials together to get my prototype. I’ve been slightly delayed because it is coming to the end of the month and I am also having to consider paying my rent.

I got a revised sketch from Kent Burles as well!

I should also like to take a moment to mention Troy Hurtubise an amazing Canadian doing all sort of interesting things in the wearable technology and beyond! I think I can learn a few things from his Trojan suit and perhaps apply it to my own work.

In addition my classmate Andre told me about the Lily Pad which sounds like it has alot of potential for integration depending on the amount of time I have!

I got this sketch from Kent today, I wanted to see what the helmet looked like versus the other headgear.

I probably won’t get much done on the project this week simply because I have finals coming up and I also have to wait until I pay my rent before I can think about buying any more project supplies.

This week I will be presenting my project to the class, so I am pretty excited about that. A lot of my classmates have been interested in what I am doing and are keen to see what I have come up with. I’m sure I will be getting a lot of good feedback as well.

I was talking to Jordy yesturday and she suggested I try contacting Toronto Craft Alert to see if I could find a fashion designer/textile artist on there. It’s worth a shot, I think I will also try Craigslist and a few other places while I am at it.

I sent Kent some more feedback from myself and my friends on his latest revisions. I think things are really coming together now. I really appreciate having him there to visualize the problems or ideas that I have when thinking about this project.

The rest of the week will be spent wrapping up my other class work and preparing for exams. Once that is over I can dedicate some serious time to getting my prototype done.

I got my Cool Neon in the mail on Thursday! It works great and looks cool! I can’t wait to start using it.

I presented my Project to the class on Friday and got some really positive feedback from the professors and my classmates. I have a lot to work with and a lot to think about with my prototype.

One suggestion was to incorporate a self-documenting system to gather part of my project documentation

Andre made a good point of dissolving the technology into the outfit, Jordy cautioned me against using a leather jacket for a base, since it will be difficult to work with.

Dave pointed out to me to think about the difference between a ‘Wearable Computer’ and just ‘Wearing a Computer’. He also wants the me to incorporate the Cool Neon into the system, not just for decoration.

Kathleen has suggested I steer away from the hardcore cyberpunk aesthetic since it represents a sort of anti-social disjunction, which is opposite to the type of atmosphere I want to create with my project.

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