Teresa Tan

These are a few characters I made in an experimental game design course I took back in college taught by Paolo Pedercini (founder of Molleindustria). I hope to make more of my own!

Unlike many of us who enjoy music by the means of hearing, deaf people mainly experience music through their sense of touch and sound vibrations. Designed to enhance the music listening experience of deaf people, the Vi8e (pronounced “vibe”) bracelet amplifies the physical property of sound. The vibrating motors contained in each of the bracelet’s eight aluminum pieces pulsate to the intensity and rhythm of the music that the users listens to on their MP3 players. Sliding these pieces up and down on the bracelet not only adjusts the frequency to which these pieces correspond to in the music, but also allows the users to customize the look and feel of their own bracelets. These pieces are detachable from the bracelet and can adhere to any part of the users' body so they could experience the pulsations elsewhere.

Rough model programmed with arduino and several phone vibrating motors. Each motor was programmed to rumble to a certain frequency range in the music.

This faucet concept was designed specifically for modern country club, particularly for the club's dining or ballroom restrooms. The aesthetics of this design was inspired by the graceful, organic curves of a swan and the flow of the water fountain. One simple motion - the tipping of the faucet head - activates the water, which flows down the neck of the spout. The tilt of the spout determines the strength of the water. The further back the tilt, the stronger the water pressure. Users can control the temperature of the water by turning the water head to the left or the right.

Fun Fact: For some reason, some of my professors told me to exclude this piece of work during portfolio reviews. But this project has gotten the most attention on the web than all of my other work, especially on foreign design blogs, like this one in Latvia. Now my site has more hits from Latvia than from the United States. Guess it's worth keeping after all, profs?

Inspired by the bead maze children’s toy, the Night Light Beads serve as a source of ambient light for toddlers while they sleep, but also as toys to amuse them before hand. The beads light up in multiple warm colors, which makes the product more welcoming and comforting to children. The entire light set is attached to the wall, allowing the wire to stay still as the kids interact with and slide the beads around. The beads do not need battery replacements. When spun or moved around, the beads store the kinetic energy by the movements, which is converted to light. The beads can be turned on and off when they are squeezed firmly. Another way to turn on the bead lights is to bump unlit beads with the lit ones. However, the effect reciprocates onto the lit beads too. When the lit beads bump into unlit beads, they turn off.

Group members: Amy Chang and Youna Yang

This semester-long project was sponsored by the Material Science department of Bayer Plastics. The goal of our project was to redefine the concept of a senior center for a decade into the future; moreover, we aimed to create a positive notion of aging which is usually considered negative in this society. Our final products incorporate the 3D holographic equipment and various polycarbonates that Bayer produces, along with the Gecko technology developed by the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University which is to be produced by Bayer.

The CompactFlash (CF) Card Reader/Writer is used to view and transfer files to a computer from a CompactFlash Card, a storage device for digital SLR cameras. Most CF Card Readers are rather bulky (like the one depicted on the top left) and are open for many design improvements. The goal of this redesign project was to enhance the overall form and functionality of a product (in this case, a CF Card Reader) for a specific user group. The redesigned device allows users to access 2 CF cards at a time without having to use multiple CF Card Readers or a USB hull, thus eliminating the need for more cables and devices cluttering the computer workspace area. Having access to two CF cards at a time gives users the advantage of transferring and editing photos more quickly. The redesign is also more flexible to avoid the blocking of neighboring USB ports.

The geometry of this coffee table was partly inspired by torii (鳥居), which are Japanese Shinto shrine gates consisting of two horizontal layers held up by two vertical posts (they are curved in my table). The bottom shelf can be used to conveniently hold (or hide) magazines to keep the table top tidy. The table top and shelf are made of ash wood while the legs are made of cold-bent cherry wood.

This piece was built out of bent laminated plywood sheets with red oak and sapele veneer. Dressers tend to be huge and too heavy to transport when items are inside the drawers. I wanted to address this issue by separating each drawer into its own unit that is easy to carry, even with items inside; hence, the handles on both sides. It makes moving less of a hassle (and a great weight lifting item to boot).

I wanted to make a chair that would be an alternative way to correct my sitting posture. I noticed I tend to lean forward onto the desk when I work at the computer, so I thought something supporting me from the front might be an interesting subject to explore. The end result is this chair that could be sat in like a regular chair facing forwards, ot backwards to serve as a task chair when working at a desk. When used the latter way, the user could lean on the arm rest for elbow support. The chair is made out of maple wood and upholstered with burgundy cotton fabric.

This plant vessel serves the purpose of holding a dracaena deremensis plant and accentuating the long, striped qualities of the plant leaves. The top black portion was turned on a laithe, which was then split to be vacuformed using styrene to create the bottom holding vessel.

The premise of this project was to create a three-dimensional wooden form that demonstrates a hierarchical structure of planar surfaces at right angles in a well-balanced composition to serve as an integrated display for three candles. This geometric form was created out of a single plank of poplar wood split into four distinct parts.

This was a collaborative experimental form class project where each person was assigned to a chess piece and pawn. We designed 4 chess pieces to be printed in 3D: a kinetic and static version of our main piece, and a complementary kinetic and static version of the pawn. I was assigned the knight. Being the most literal piece on the traditional chess board, I retained the horse figure but abstracted it to instill more medieval armor-like qualities in the static pieces and greco-roman armor-like qualities in the kinetic pieces. All pieces were modeled and rendered in SolidWorks.

The goal of this project was to create a hand-held object and tool to be 3D printed in ABS plastic. The purpose of this Nintendo DS grip is to fill the dead space that is created when people with larger hands hold the DS, thus making the console more comfortable to hold for longer periods of time. This project was 3D modeled in SolidWorks. The second part of the project was to create packaging for our tool. This simple package was made to mimic the Nintendo DS, thus informing users of the product’s function. At the same time, it allows the product to be hung if it were to be sold in stores. This package was created out of vacuformed styrene which was then spray painted.

The goal of this project was to create a 'beautiful' object that can serve a purpose or simply act as ornamentation. This hairpin was modeled in SolidWorks and printed in ABS plastic. The curvature of this hairpin was inspired by curves of the cursive capital 'D.'