Design Thoughts/Tired Much?

-Toilet humour? ok, no, this is meant for all the designer types who appreciate nice design, and realize this in a lot of fixtures. In the NL, so many of the fixtures are so much nicer then in North America: the light switches (above the TP), the door hardware (which has a sturdy feeling and a nice tactile quality to it, which gives the feeling of quality), the Toilet itself, which you might notice is hanging from the wall -which in terms of cleaning is incredibly practical on top of looking simpler-nicer (ok, I have seen wall mount toilets in Canada too, but that's typically in some institutionalized setting) and the toilet flush, which seems to be different and interesting on most toilets over here (and I'm noticing with most newer bathrooms the use of dual flush).
(Note: this is the bathroom in the house where I am staying, and was recently renovated)


-Reno-shower, ok, despite the nice look of this shower, I have my qualms with it, as the single shower door you see in the picture doesn't really do a whole lot for shower spray.


-The occasional dose of me, although not the most flattering. Does anyone know how to get rid of that tired under-eye circle look?

Work/Studio @ van der Veer Designers

Alright, so being super sleuthy, or just early and upstairs before anyone else, I took some shots of studio.

-2nd Floor Overlooking streetside, This is the 2nd floor where the Industrial Designers work, it's fairly open, and overlooks an open space next to where the graphic designers work.


-Communal table, the bar height table to the left here is where the coffee/tea/water sits in the afternoons, as well as the cookies when they get brought up. Guess it's kinda like the company 'watercooler' in terms of how the spot acts, we've gathered around it once with 4 of us so far since I've been there, just to have a coffeebreak together.


-My Workstation, looks a little on the dark side right here, but that's because for some reason the light next to the one above my desk wasn't on, that and it's a grey rainy/drizzly/sleat-ish morning, (note to everyone: Aeron chairs are really comfortable, and I believe there are online articles that state how things like that will actually pay for themselves in like a month or so due to increased productivity, time to sell your bosses on them :)

End of week 1

Wow, so this was my first week doing ID work in the Netherlands. I love my job (so far), and haven't had any indications that I'm doing a bad job. My boss has only seemed happy with the results I've produced so far, and has been friendly and helpful with any questions.

Work is friendly, relaxed, and although professional, seems to have a somewhat just the right amount of laid-back-ed-ness feel to it. Lunches are provided at work, and involves the lunch table being filled with bread and all the toppings. The served beverage is either Milk, or Karnemelk (buttermilk). It ends up being a nice social time at work, which also happens in the morning from 830-9, when it's "coffeetime" in the lunchroom, available is coffee, tea, and of course the daily selection of dutch cookies.
(note to self, try to take some shots of this happening as well as other shots from around work without looking like a tourist, or like I'm trying to steal intellectual property)

-Treinstation, Geldermalsen
(this is the station that I walk to from work to go home, nice old building :)
I've now found the quickest (and possibly most ghetto) walking route from the station to work which is now under 10 minutes. It involved using a wooden shipping pallette (I think), constructed bridge to get over a water filled ditch. No wet shoes yet, hopefully she holds up for the full 3 months.

-Kerk, Boxtel
I walked home from the train station last night in Boxtel, enjoyed the walk, fresh brisk air, and some tunes as I went. I've noticed this big church a number of times already by bike, and really think up-lighting really does do a hell of a lot and isn't used well nearly enough. The thought of lighting makes me think, another place where I thought it was always nice was back at Carleton walking towards athletics, just before going under the catwalk, there was a planter with a small tree in it that had some uplit spots under it. This made for a really nice effect in the winter, for anyone else who appreciated the way it looked.

-I think I'll refer to this as: drunken view of 'centrum' in Boxtel.
Although I wasn't drunk (at said time, or yet for that matter), I have already taken a number of pictures and am still figuring out all the settings and features of the camera. Needless to say, with my shaky hands, I've produced a quantity of such calibre

Somebody pinch me!

-Van der Veer Designers

Today was my first day at work.
Holy crap!!! The place I work at is awesome, the projects they work on are sweet, and the studio space has gotta be just about second to none. What was running through the back of my mind most of the day at work? don't screw up, don't screw up, don't screw up.
I had a day today that involved 'research' which, I think reminds me something of what I heard Topher got to do at Springtime, google images of stuff and put it together as 'research'.
I got assigned a project today right away pretty much too, which is awesome, as far as I know no-one else is working on it besides myself which is really cool. Getting a 4 page project brief entirely in Dutch, despite my knowledge of the language did however involve a reasonable amount of consulting babelfish.
This is going to be the best work experience ever!!! (so long as I don't screw up)

These photos are nicked from the company website, showing the new construction/renovation they had/are having. Since they are posted on the website, I'm assuming I'm not doing anything wrong by putting them here.


-industrial design studios on the 2nd floor, the desk towards the left of centre with the dark monitor and chair is where I sit


-more studio pic, it's just so nice, yes, i do believe they are Aeron chairs

I love this animation, it's so well done.
Also, kinda saddening in it's blatant truthfulness.

Day 1

It all starts here, with me starting to practice noticing stuff and telling stories.
(for anyone who read the Core77 Hack to school guide, that's the jumping point for this)

-Departure Hall at Terminal 3, Pearson Int'l
Here is where the journey begins.
It really is bizarre how they carpeted so much of this terminal.
Oh, and a final note on Toronto's Airport, the GTAA logos/graphic work at the airport is horrible, flying into Amsterdam, the graphics differences are day and night.