Recent Blog Posts

Cockpit Clearances

Designing a cockpit to accommodate a range of rider sizes is more complex than laying out the controls to fit one rider; especially having a steering wheel control for such a reclined operator instead of underseat/tiller steering or a moveable yoke. To account for different height riders while still keeping the rider’s eyeline above the [...] read more…

Git Un-Merge

When I last merged a development branch of add-rel-lightbox into the master branch and realised that I’d not finished testing the changes, it was off to the internet to find out how to undo a merge. After a couple of goes at git revert -m 1 refused to do anything, and a little more searching, [...] read more…

Ce n’pas une entrée de blog

It’s crunch time for thesis revisions this week, so there’ll be no blog post. Except this one. Which isn't one. Back next week. As in: The Treachery of Images read more…

About

"The days of companies with names like 'General Electric' and 'General Mills' and 'General Motors' are over. The money on the table is like krill: a billion little entrepreneurial opportunities that can be discovered and exploited by smart, creative people."

Cory Doctorow, "Makers"

...maybe not yet, but it is already beginning.

The world still lives with mass-produced products; designed to averaged, normalised, focus grouped specifications, where one-size-doesn't-quite-fit-anyone. It buys proprietary products, locked boxes with stickers that say "warranty void if opened". But contrary to popular misinformation, products are never finished. There is no "best" design. How is what you need the same as what everyone else needs?

What if a product was open? What if you could see the work that went into it? If your ideas were as valid as the designer's and made-at-home was just as good as made-by-us?

That's what we do. Open Source Design Engineering.
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