Famous architect, and indeed designer, Mies van der Rohe once famously said “God is in the Details”. The products we interact with everyday are full of detail; detail that often goes unnoticed but is crucial to the structural integrity, function or even visual aesthetic of that product.

Product design is broken down into several phases of development, the final stages of that development include detailing a product and ensuring that it can be both manufactured at the desirable cost and that it satisfies the original defined specification as well as user need. Detailing products is however not simple. As the aforementioned implies: ‘God is in the details’. Getting those details right is a complex and difficult creative challenge. Getting them just right, I think, is what defines a great product from a good product.

Whilst working through the final stages of the design process for Onzo, the team has spent a significant period creating and detailing the intricacies in our product that will ultimately hold it together come mass production. The average consumer, you might argue sadly, is never privy to these intricacies. The design work that provides us with the outside or external facing ‘A’ surface of a product is in some cases a result of intense iterative design development on the internal ‘B’ surface that we as consumers might never see. A great example of this is the newest Mac Book Pro Laptop and it’s machined aluminium casing. In the documentary ‘Objectified’, Apple’s head of design Jonathon Ive discusses that much of the time developing the new casing for the laptop was spent on devising or designing features that would enable the computer numerical controlled (CNC) machine to hold the casing in place whilst the material was cut away. A process people buying the laptop for its sleek exterior or famed ‘Good Design’ reputation might never consider or realise in the high street store as they hand over their cash.

I believe that truly ‘Great Design’, much like Mies van der Rohe once said, is more often than not partly buried in these fine details of a product, or building for that matter. It is the products that are seamless and that we use everyday but never consider because they get the job done without creating any additional friction; the unobtrusive products that we can truly say are great design.

Posted by Sam Weller on Jun 19th, 12:06 p.m. in Design | Comments (0)

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I recently fulfilled a challenge - to eat meat and bring to an end a commitment to vegetarianism that I have held for over 20 years.

HOW IT ALL STARTED - THE INITIAL CHALLENGE

I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years.  Not eaten any meat since I was a child. 

This is about to change; I am going to eat meat.... 

I started eating fish last year in order to ensure my body was getting enough protein, omega 3 etc. and also to broaden the variety of food available to me.  For the past three months I have been trying desperately to increase the iron (ferritin) levels in my blood.  I need this iron to help the oxygen uptake of my blood when I am training, need it to help me improve my running efficiency and ability.

The body needs oxygen in every cell, the iron in hemoglobin (within the red blood cells) carry this oxygen from the lungs to where it is needed.  Also if iron levels are low, the body cannot use all the energy available to it, as iron is essential for the chemical reactions that produce energy from food.

I have eaten copious amounts of spinach, and green vegetables, taken vitamin tablets combined with iron supplements (vitamin C assists the absorption of iron).  It has not been enough.  I have always known that there is no replacement for the haem iron found in meat, other sources provide non-haem iron (cereal, bread, vegetables, eggs) but are not absorbed by the body as effectively as haem iron. 

My blood test this week proves that my ferritin levels are still low.  Three months ago I was advised that meat would give my body what it needs.  I responded by saying that I closed no door to what I might need do in order to improve, but it would be a huge challenge just to put meat in my mouth, never mind eat it regularly. 

I am now preparing myself for one of my biggest challenges yet - I am going to start eating meat.  I will do it as a controlled experiment over the next three months.  My future could change immensely if it proves successful.
I have researched which meats will fit best for me from a nutritional and also an ethical perspective and have decided that the first meat I want to eat is venison.  I apologise to all those dedicated vegetarians out there.  I choose to break a long-term commitment made as a child, in pursuit of a dream. 

I think I might watch Bambi one last time before I do........

Posted by Sandra Bowers on Jun 08th, 4:29 p.m. in People | Comments (0)

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"We're trending on twitter!" The cry went out across a roomful of self-confessed geeks and assorted hacked electrics (including 50 flashing rubber ducks).

This summed up the second Homecamp: bigger, broader and noisier. We had international visitors! (Bart Van Der Meerssche from Belgian community metering application Flukso). We had energy experts giving presentations from Spain via Skype! We even had a virtual Homecamp on ReactionGrid, OpenSim! And we had donuts!

It’s exciting to see the Homecamp space expanding in two ways. Firstly getting deeper into the tech. Joe Baguley spoke about his experience testing the GEO and Bart Van Der Meerssche told us about the community metering application Flukso, and our very own Ken Boak shared his gas metering experience. Secondly, broadening the appeal to non-geeks (gasp!), for instance Benjamin Ellis spoke about designing apps using behavioural economics.

For me it’s the tension between these two directions that keeps Homecamp relevant and inspiring. Thanks to Chris Dalby and James Governor and everyone else involved. We're looking forward to the next one.

Posted by Ben Maxwell on Jun 01st, 4:28 p.m. in Technology | Comments (0)

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As Neil rightly pointed out, energy is not an exciting topic to talk about in the pub or with potential customers. Electricity is like an underground tool - a means to do a variety of things without us knowing about it, other than the bill that is paid from our bank accounts every month. It's a basic. A necessity. It lets us lead the life we choose through the products that we use. And if something is so basic, so fundamental, we would assume we feel we have control over it.

Since starting at Onzo, I've spoken with 100s of everyday people not only in the UK but around the world about the notion of electricity usage. Although maybe not the most exciting topic to talk about, everyone joins in because it's a subject that affects us all. From the householder who pays the bill, to the kid who plays on his X-box all weekend, everyone has an impact.

Unfortunately, the majority of people I've spoken with are suffering from a feeling of lack of control over their usage, mainly because they do not have the tools to understand their usage.

Firstly, they don't know how much they're consuming. Although energy labels on products help, they only help when you're in the shop buying a new appliance; this knowledge does not transfer into everyday use.

Secondly, people don't have the time to sit down and inspect their bills and work out their consumption. We lead busy lives and this is the last thing we want to do at the weekend.

Thirdly, once they know how much they're using, people want to know how they can save. However, information on how to reduce consumption is not always accessible, apart from the usual generic advice.

And this advice must let people plan for the future, not just work out what to do now.

Talking with our future users is vital. I'd like to think that it's not just for our business development process. There's something deeper than a step in a long process. It is vital to our learning about how to be better designers, engineers and developers and about how our products will contribute to other people's lives. Just as understanding energy use is a basic to our future users, listening to people is a basic for the Onzo team.

Posted by Jessica Diniz on May 12th, 2:24 p.m. in People | Comments (3)

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1. Who is Neil and what are you referencing? Not the last few posts in this blog as far as I can see??

   Anyway, when is your product coming out?

   And, what is the relationship between the add-on meters like yours that you can get now and the "smart-meters" the government/energy companies have announced are going to be rolled out everywhere by 2020. The latter sound more for reporting back to the supplier, but also presume they are replacements for the current supply meters (i.e. not clamp on).

   Posted by Neil on May 12th at 3:40 p.m.

2. Hi,
   Neil contributed an article last year, apologies for the confusion – this reference has now been linked to the article in question.
   
   The Onzo smart energy kit will be launched later this year – watch our website for more information.
   
   You are right to distinguish between the sort of energy monitoring systems Onzo produces and smart meters. Smart meters will replace conventional electricity and gas meters and provide information about usage directly to the supplier, ending the need for estimated billing and manual meter reading.
   
   Real time displays such as ours, by contrast, provide a wealth of compelling and actionable information, enhanced by a web service, to consumers. This allows them to really understand and manage power usage, something conspicuously lacking up to now.

   Posted by Jessica on May 14th at 9:31 a.m.

3. Later this year?

   I remember your website used to say it would be launched in the beginning of this year, then it moved up to summer, and now we still don't have a date? Announce a date so people have something to look forward to, we can't just keep watching the site.

   And if you can't say a date, at least build some hype, show us more of the product, the web interface, anything..!

   Posted by Wesley on June 15th at 7:05 p.m.
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