Fazil Akin has created several design projects that connect everyday objects to the internet or use technology in novel ways. These include a Weather Cuckoo Clock that plays different bird sounds based on the forecast, a Singing Frog audio player that plays songs associated with RFID tags in toy flies, and a Table Talk kit to educate families about global food issues through activities and discussion. Akin also does work with coding, animation, material research, and scenario planning to support design work. His thesis research and master's projects explored how designers can anticipate future needs through scenarios and how to provide relevant material information to students.
2. DESIGN BRIEF: What
happens when a very classical
everyday object is connected to
the internet? IDEA GENERATION: First
we thought what happens
when internet is connected to
random objects like:
picture frame, washing
machine, wallclock, table etc.
THE IDEA: We thought that with
this project we could make
people who normally wouldnât
use internet benefit from it. With
this aim we focused on elderly
people, how can we make those
people use internet with
mundane objects? Being in
Switzerland we choose a typical
Swiss object: the cuckoo clock.
Elderly people are very
interested in weather forecasts,
so we could combine weather
forecast with a cuckoo clock.
Weather Cuckoo
Clock
2014,group
project with Seena
Peethambaran, in Certificate
of Advanced Studies in Interaction
Design Program, Mentors: Massimo Banzi,
Giorgio Olivero, Lugano / Switzerland
MARKET RESEARCH:
Later on we examined
succesful Internet of things products
and services on the market like
LAPKA, Zuvo, Atooma etc.
3. PROTOTYPING: The
weather cuckoo clock is
powered by an Arduino Yun
and the data necessary for
the forcast is obtained
through Temboo from Yahoo
Weather. To control the two
stepper motors and the
servo motor a motor shield
and an Arduino UNO is used
as well. All the
physical parts of the model
is produced through digital
fabrication. And all the data
necessary for the
production is availible on
the gitHub account of the
school.
WEATHER CUCKOO CLCK is
similar to a normal cuckoo clock
but instead of having one kind of
bird: the cuckoo, our clock has 8
different birds. Each bird is
associated with a weather
condition. For example When the
weather is cloudy the rave will
came out, when the weather is
very cold the pinguin will came out.
From the clock also the
temperature could be read. With the
help of the chain the users can
adjust the date so they could get
also a weather forecast as well. It is
also possible to get data for
5 previously selected cities.
8 different birds for
several weather
conditions:
-Pinguin: very cold
-Desert Eagle: very hot
-Rave: cloudy
-Sparrow: rainy
-Seagull: windy
-Owl: clear night
-Cuckoo: fair weather
-Snow Owl: snow
temperature indicator
electronics: Arduino Yun,
Arduino UNO,
stepper motors and a
servo motor
video and detailed information: http://www.maind.supsi.ch/portfolio/2013-2014/weather-cuckoo-clock/
4. Table Talk
2014,
graduation
project, in MA in
Design / Product Design and
Management Major, Mentors: Christoph
Zellweger, Stijn Ossevourt, Luzern / Switzerland
DESIGN BRIEF: How can we
make children be aware of the
problems related to global food
production and consumption ?
IDEA GENERATION: First
we defined the problem:âWe
donât respect food anymore.â
Why:
-food is cheap,
-food is easy to obtain,
-we have lost the connection to
nature,
-we donât see the activities be-
hind the food production,
-we have a general lack of res-
pect to everything
Over 20 ideas were generated
around those starting points.
THE IDEA: An info-kit for
families to talk about global
food issues. This kit will be
open-source and could be
produced everywhere in the
world through digital
fabrication methods. It will
consist of several objects and
activities.
RESEARCH ON SIMILAR PROJECTS:
25 projects about making children aware of
a certain global problem from various fields
were examined, thouse projects include
exhibitions, books, toys, websites etc.
5. TABLE TALK has three parts. In the first part
children are thought to understand how much
we eat, in the second part children and their
family are going to discuss the relation between
food and global problems related to its
production and consumption, in the third part
children are going to think about the future of
food with their parents.
PART 1: In this part
children will understand
how much we eat. This part
consits of stamps and
activity mats. From a
statistics we got the
numbers how much an
avarage grown-up eats in a
year. The children are
going to envision this
number through stamping
on the activity mats. In the
first mat they will just see
the amount of food we eat
in one year. In the second
mat which is 5 meters
long, they will compare this
amount of food to other
objects: like a small car or
a walrus. Each stamp and
the mats are proportional to
each other.
PART 2: In this part children are
going to discuss with their family
the relation between food and
other global problems. A world
map with some activities on it will
serve as an underlay for a meal,
some accomplaying objects will
help children envision the topics.
During this meal children are go-
ing to do activities on the world
map and talk with their parents
about food issues: like where
does bananas come from which
county eats most of them and
etc.
PART 3: In this part children are
going to learn about what could
happen when we go on with
consuming and producing food
like we do now. Through reading
the future food drivers they will
learn what is waiting for us. And
making a future meal will make
them to question our current
eating habits.
detailed information: http://www.master-design-luzern.ch/en/project/table-talk/?student=6835
6. Singing
Frog
2011,
designig
interaction course final
project , in MSc in Product
Design, Mentors: Owain Pedgley, Gökhan
Mura, Ankara / Turkey
DESIGN BRIEF: Design an
audio player with a tangible
user interface for preschool
kids.
IDEA GENERATION:
Tangible User Interface is
essential for these children as
they hardly know how to
write or read. The children their
selves should also find the
device attractive. These two
issues were the starting points.
After developing several ideas I
decided to go on with a toy-like
audio player idea, as childrenâs
main activity is playing with
toys in those ages. They can
play with everything; they ex-
plore the world through
playing with the objects.
IDEA DEVELOPMENT: The idea first
was about a big flower, in which the volume
of the player would be adjusted with the
opening size of the leaves of the flower. As
I wanted to make a unisex device, the idea
turned into a singing frog .
THE IDEA: The singing frog
and the flies are a plushy audio
device, which can read RFID
tags inside its flies and
according to its memory it can
relate those codes to identified
songs and play them.
7. 50 cm.
60 cm.80 cm.
SINGING FROG has two parts. The main part
is the frog which is an audio player. The second
part are the flies which represent songs. When
you open the frogâs mounth and place the flies
inside, the songs are played. Each song is
reperesented with a fly. There are 20 flies with 4
different shapes and different colors or
symbols. The flies have RFID tags inside. The
flies are matched by the mother/father with
some songs. The songs are sent through
BluetoothÂź to the main device âthe frogâ. When
the flies are placed into the frog , the audio
device plays the songs which matches the fliesâ
RFID tags.
the frog is off
the frog is on
the volume is middle
the frog is on
the volume is at maximum
on/off
button
open/close
the mounth of the frog
adjusting the width
of the frogâs mounth
putting in/taking out
the flies from the frogâs
inside
playlist
volume
up/down
function operation
detailed information: https://media.allyou.net/3/39201/files/4303817/DesignReport-singingFrog.pdf
8. out of
textile
2009-2012,
self motivated works made
out of textile,
SHELLY is a project made for
the Index competiotion which
seeks products for people in
need. This project is aimed to
be produced with spare
materials directly where it is
needed. It is a bag and also a
sitting cushion for children in
countries where school
buildigns doesnât exist.
TEXTILES as material are easy
to use, they donât need
sophisticated techniques to
process them, this makes them
a very popular material both for
prototyping ideas and also
to realise them. SPIKEY is a colorful cushion
for teenagers which enables
them to hide personal or
treasured items inside its spikes
and act as a cuddle pillow.
PLAYFUL OBJECTS are a
series of objects with distinctive
shapes and fabrics. They can be
used as cushions or bags.
9. TUMBLE-BAG is a netbook
bag for kids with its
extraordinary shape and colors
it will make kids to like and use
it. With the help of its fillig the
bag acts as a protective
environment for the things insi-
de as kids are quite
energetic and active in those
ages.
PHYSICAL AND WEARABLE COMPUTING
WORKSHOP by Massimo Banzi from Arduino and Zoe
Romane from Openwear. In this one week workshop acted
as a introduction to prototyping for wearable technologies.
We dealt with the usage of Lilypad, conductive thread,
sensors made of special fabrics and sewing electronic
circuits. As a group of three we developed in the last two
days of the workshop a biking vest which begins lighting
when it gets dark. We used 15 LEDs, a Lillypad and a light
sensor.
10. Interactive
Prototypes
2009-2014,
in several courses and
workshops,
using Unity3D, Processing, Html, Javascript,
Css, Gamestudio
CODING is an essesntial tool
for industrial designers to
realise and prototype their
ideas. Since the second year of
my bachelor study I am
experimenting with different
coding environments.
GAMESTUDIO was quite a
popular platform when I was
doing my Bachelor study, in that
time we did an interactive car
demo and a virtual museum.
(Middle East Technical
University - 2009)
UNITY 3D is a powerful
platform to develop interactive
environments and games as
well. In a workshop I did a small
game where you try to escape
other balls which try you to drag
down into a hole. (Zurich
University of the Arts - 2014)
available on:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93774214/ballGame5/ballGame5.html
11. PROCESSING is an
entry-level programing
language especially developed
for artists and designers. In this
workshop with Andreas Gysin,
a collaborative and creative
approach to coding is used to
create a multiplayer game.
(University of Applied Sciences
and Arts of Southern
Switzerland - 2013) JAVASCRIPT, CSS, HTML
were used to prototype an App
idea. Design brief was to
develop an App within the
subject of âQuantified Selfâ. I
have chosen to make an App
that measures your punctua-
lity, everytime you are on time
or you are late for a meeting
you enter the data into the App.
After a while you will see the
percentage of your punctuality.
video: https://vimeo.com/77492352
available on: http://jsbin.com/ixUnehU/11/edit?html,css,js,output
12. M.Sc.
Thesis
2013,
Master of
Science in Industrial
Design, Thesis Superviser:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Owain Pedgley,
Middle East Technical University-Ankara/Turkey
METHODOLOGY:
literature review of around 60
references
evaluation of 7 sample
information tags with 38
industrial design students
online survey with 17 material
libraries around the world
designing an information
system for the Material
Experince Library in METU
production of three sample
information tag for the material
library
OUTCOMES: Guidelines for
establishing a information
system about materials for
industrial design students. A
sample information tag design
to be used in the schoolâs
Material Experince library.
SUBJECT: Material
information needs of industrial
design students.
ABSTRACT: The material of a product is one of the most
important elements of product design. It is also a major aspect of
product innovation. Unfortunately, most of todayâs material
selection systems have been built on a technical basis and with
an engineering perspective on product design. Current research
shows that a physical environment allowing industrial designers to
interact with material samples would greatly enhance designersâ
material judgements and expertise and, therefore, the quality of
subsequent product designs. Such an environment is argued to
require different types of material samples and, in addition, to
provide access to supplementary sample information that can
support industrial designersâ decision-making. Through the thesis,
existing material sample environments and sample tagging
solutions, along with related literature, are explored and different
types of information systems are analyzed to arrive at a set of
specifications for a material sample information system
appropriate to industrial design students. Utilizing a research
through design approach, a solution for a material sample
information system is proposed and justified against the
developed design specifications.
available on: http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12616367/index.pdf
13. M.A.
Thesis
2014,
Master of
Arts in Product Design
and Management, Thesis
Supervisers: Dr. Andrew Polaine and
Dr. Axel Vogelsang, Hochschule Luzern- Switzerland
METHODOLOGY:
literature review of around 40
references.
interview with 3 designers with
professional and academic
experiences who use scenarios
in their work.
internet reseach of how
scenarios has been used in the
domain of design and other
fields.
three case studies how future
scenarios were used in
different contexts within the
design domain.
OUTCOMES: At the end of the
research these three aspects of
future scenarios were revealed:
Future scenarios act as a bridge
between future studies and
design, the benefits of using
future scenarios for designers
and the implication of future
scenarios in design practise.
This study also acted as a
gound research for my pratical
work in this Master program:
âTable Talkâ
SUBJECT: Future Scenarios as
an Appropriate Way for
Designers to Anticipate the
Future.
ABSTRACT: Designers are the people who build the future
through their activities. Imagining and affecting the future is a key
responsibility of designers.
There are many ways to anticipate the future such as trend
forecasting, Delphi studies, science fiction stories and so on. Also,
there are techniques which have their roots from the design
discipline such as design fiction, or design probes. In this research,
the focus is on future scenarios as a way to speculate about the
future.
This research aims to show the value of how scenario planning
methodology will increase the credibility of designers while they
develop their ideas and products for the future. Scenarios are a
powerful tool for discussing situations and showing the results
of our current decisions.
Through interviews with three experts, case studies and a review of
the methods for anticipating the future, the value of future
scenarios for designers has been shown.
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available on: https://media.allyou.net/3/39201/files/4303804/fazil_akin_thesis_final.pdf
14. Moving
Pictures
2008-2012,
in several courses and
workshops, using stop-motion,
cut-out, 3d graphics, 2d illustration techniques
ANIMATED PICTURES are a
very helpful tool for designers
to communicate their ideas.
Industrial design is also a
storytelling activity.
TUTINAME is an old indian
story where a parrot tells
hunderts of small stories to
rescue the marriage of their
owners. The project was
realised with cut-out animation
method and some drawings on
them.
HALLEY MONSTER is a very
short stop-motion animation
which was mainly produced to
test a scene for a longer
project.
15. KACIS is a mixed-media
animation in which household
devices try to escape from the
house where they work.
HAYALI is a group project with
other three designers. I was
responsible for the background
images. The stroy is about the
power of childrenâs imagination.
all videos available on: http://www.dailymotion.com/ifazil
