Powerwall: A Critical Review

This project was one of the first I was given when I started my placement at Red Loop; I worked on this project in a design team of two with my colleague Harry Bradshaw, starter of SHED Design Studio. The brief was to make mobile computer monitor stands that could be put inline creating the effect of one large screen. The project had been attempted by a placement student last year but the design didn’t work. Part of what made this project so difficult was that we were trying to work from someone else’s design without having them there. For quite some time we tried to design parts or additions to the old design to try and make it work. After a lot of work and setting up the Powerwall we eventually gave up and started to redesign the monitor stand.

                This was when the project began to make a lot more sense. The original idea quite obviously didn't work and we had wasted a lot of time, energy and money on trying to fix it. It felt similar to trying to understand what was going on inside of an artist’s brain when all you have to look at is one unfinished abstract painting; without seeing the artist’s preliminary work you can’t begin to understand his thoughts. This early stage of the project I found very difficult.

                We started off, as any project should, by doing our own research into similar products already out on the market. Some universities had done similar projects, but their products were immobile. Our first design for the monitor bracket was simple and effective. The design was made of two solid pieces of material that would clamp to the pole and would screw into the fittings on the back of the monitor. We ran into problems when it came to weight and to usage of material. Having no experience in designing for manufacture we had to consult a technician for advice. These conversations proved very helpful in shaping our approach of the project.     

                It was talking to the technicians that really helped me to see this project clearly. It was comforting to be able to ask advice and work with an expert. Their knowledge of manufacturing techniques really helped us lay constraints on our design.

                Then we came to ordering material. Never before had I had to research my own material sourcing to such a tight budget. The art of googling was something that we had to firmly master in this section of the project. It turned out that the previous design team on this project hadn't kept a record of what material sources they used. Thus we had to start from scratch. In some luckier situations we found old receipts filed away in obscure places.

                I was out of the country for the end assembly and delivery of the Powerwall: I knew that it would be in safe hands with my colleague and the junior design team that had been raised to help. The final erection of the project ran smoothly much unlike our first attempts with the previous design. Despite this projects shaky start it finished smoothly. With plenty of time for mistakes and delays in the manufacture process the end product made it to the client in good time. 

A cartoon by me.

Inspired by recent events in the life of Boris Johnson, Mayor of London and hero by night.

Vitamin G

“Ugg.” says Charlie Brown.  The original grump and one of my favourite grumps.  He moaned, complained, and even shouted at times in an explosion of built up frustration.  Let’s face it, we love Charlie Brown because we all love to be grumpy ourselves.  We love to let out that selfish grown.  To moan at how aggravating we find life and its many annoyances.  We should admit it.  We should be proud of it.  

After all it comes with being British.  Stuck on an island with nothing but grey clouds for company.  Grey defines the weather.  Grey defines us.  Gray.  Grey, even.  An in between colour.  Not very black but not very white either.  Just sort of there.  Like those ever present clouds that block out our sun and deprive us of vitamin D.  Yet they bring us plenty of what I call vitamin G.  G for grumpy.  Grey and Grumpy.  We really are only a product of our environment. 

We are grumpy because the clouds make us grumpy.  We can’t get away from the clouds.  In order to do so we must use either boat, train or plane. Boats cause seasickness, trains are habitually late, and planes involves queues a mile long.  Not to mention your person being searched and your toothpaste being taken away, because it counts as a liquid and may be used to make a bomb of some minty, cavity free sort.  No we must deal with the clouds, but we will not do it happily.

No. No, we will groan about them until the sun breaks through.  Then we will moan about how hot it is. But lets not get onto that yet.  Don’t get me started on the hot, sticky, sweaty trains. Smelling of warm human bodies squeezed together into a carriage and jostled about. ( I said don’t get me started.)

Yes it’s very British to moan.  We feel together in our moaning.  It’s a bond, a grumpy bonding of fellow Britons groaning about life.  We complain about each other even as we bond with each other.

We are G.B.

Grumpy Britain.