Week 1
5. August 2010
After settling on the name "Super Cell" for our Synthetic Biology Supermarket we are working on new products and details of the webshop. Discussion about what products will enter the shop and what to keep in mind when we´re working on developing ideas individual and as a group. Going away from a practical or userfriendly design process and thinking on products that can play a role in the remodelling of society. This can show impications and gives a motive for discussion. Also different cultural methods or surroundings come into play, as we want our shop to be in a possible future and not in a future present tense. To clarify these undefiened statement - an example: categories for the shop: they offer a way to tell a complex story by combining different products. To tell this story we want to leave usually, already known categories. These categories can be defiened after or within the process of creating the products. As Andreas stated, the variety of a supermarket also expresses the needs and feeling of a society. His ideas rouse around space travelling and products for an adjustable environment useful against sickness in space or the reduction of bones. Another big point in the discussion was the unification of the products. As most of them are developed individually, this is how they will look like and be represented. For comparison and a general overview which is like a cover we need to find a consistent look and a unified coorperate design. But as said - when going into details each product has it´s individual approach e.g. video, photo,animation. Bernd is working on a guideline defining the modus operandi for our products in generell, something every product in the shop has to pass. One point was to have a discussion with real scientists in HD and get their opinion on realizabillity. His ideas circle mostly about future sex life and it´s consequences - contraception/child-planning in combination with 23andMe and a modern chastity belt working with modified bacteria. Mila works on a visualization on BactoSafe - a individualized security system. I am tinkering on an idea which combines cuisine and perfumery - a fantasm of synthetically enhanced farts. Also I´m brooding on the visual realization of the DNA-Pet and the Yoga-Blob. late night-thoughts: Talking about the visualizations of Christian. Great to see a first image and start getting deeper into it. Thoughts of making it more organic and less industrial. So naturally the owner could be a farmer, with special interests. As the real shop would get more important this way, our webshop would transform into something else - more a representation, a platform, a guideline, an explanation to see the farm/shop , the whole experience. Less mass products - more individual, nicheproducts, small products.
6. August
Morning meeting with Patrick, web-design. He showes us his first draft for the page. We find it´s a bit harsh to start with the products on the first page. A intruduction needs to be made- with a static image, some explaning words or another media -> VIDEO. Main part will be a slide-show allowing the user to go through the different products of a category quickly. The feature of the slide-show will enable us to put the products in an order that makes sense to us and leaves the static view on only one product but gives an impression of a sortiment, a line, a social construct. By clicking onto the product in the slide you will come to the detailed product site. Video may be working in the slide-show as well, maybe - will be checked…
The brainstorming of the meeting with the Heidelbergians in July is finally packed in a textfile - a pool for future ideas or extensions of already existing ones. New projects are pinned on the wall and open to discussion.
9. August
workshop for Cinema 4D by Sebastian Hundertmark. I´m getting deeper into the research of farts and how they could be designed...
10. August
Skype- meeting with the guys from Heidelberg, concerning our new ideas of the basic shop conceps. We´ll meet again in person on the 26. August, which marks a milestone in the project. The process of finding new ideas is coming in it´s last round. Starting next week we will focus on the realization of the products. In the meantime Bernd, Christian S. and Christian K. will work on the storyboard for the introduction of the webshop.
11. August
First visualization trials and final collecting of ideas.
12. August
Meeting with Bernd, Mila, Andreas and Christian S.. Talking about the different products everybody is working on individually and bringing them together by presenting them in an order that makes sense in a product-line/category. Bernd made a first draft of an bacterial fridge. The fridge is very personal and differiated for the user. Unwanted food in the fridge (e.g. E 350, pesticides, peanut, etc.) could either be marked with a color or , in the more extreme version just rot away super-fast. Mila worked on BactoSafe, a biological security system. This system could maybe work with color system, as it 1. enables to see where someone entered the building and 2. does something to the possible burglar. Andreas is still in outer space, getting into the mechanisms of space adaption syndrom and possible solutions with SynBio. Concerning Mila´s security system I was thinking about the safty of your identity in form of DNA. In two forms: 1. coding of DNA sequences for electronical/digital transmission and 2. coding or distroying of DNA that is about to fall off and leave a trace. Another idea of Bernd is vegetables growing a spike to be able to personalize by taking a blood sample. Actually this spike could also be interesting for the DNA-pet. Mila explained her idea of the balcony garden and the way she wants to create a diversity between organic, vegan and synthetic manipulated lifestyles. As we were talking about vegetables we touched trecking-veggies > super-fast growing vegetables for tracking and camping enabling you to grow breakfgast while sleeping. We thought of cancer-manipulated veggies and have to research if that makes any sense. For the product "Odor Cuisine" we kind of agreed to show it in the form of a cookbook, containing also pictures of methodes and new applications concerning olfactory output :) . The Drug delivery system, an iGEM project from Emperial college in 2009 could be very helpful to place the manipulated e-coli bacs. Last two topics were Baby´s best by mila , a product which is already pretty clear , but needs some decisions on the visualization now, and the Yoga--blob by me which is contrarily a picture but needs more work on the idea itself.
Week 2
17. August 2010
First meeting with Anna and Jana, both involved in the filming for ReCoBrain. We discussed the timetable for the film-shooting and postproduction - the deadline is set very close before the flight to Boston. Ass we´re all busy, there won´t be much time for it and filming needs to be done fast. One point on the agenda for the meeting on 27. August has to be the presentation at MIT. We need to figure out when excactly it will take place (at what hour and what day) and prepare our presentation accordingly to it. Second round ot the meeting was between Vanessa, Andreas, Bernd and me. New projects from Vanessa were discussed - rest of it was bringing up ideas from last week in a nicer wrapping.
18. August
Bernd made a new mock-up for the page with structural changes, a new logo and improved design. Shortly after a meeting to update with the webteam: Sebastian, Patrick, Max. Picking out 5-10 projects to visualize fully and integrate it in the page until the 27. August. Again we have a checklist that every choosen project has to pass in order to get realized/visualized quickly : main points on the list are : is the idea fully relating to SynBio ? ; can it be described in a few words? ; are the expanational pictures also beautiful ? Selection is made and sent around… Would be great to have some more projects ready for the page within the next few days.
19. August
Working on webpage, writing product descriptions where needed, drawing sketches for the product fotos (of balcony menu and odeur cuisine). Trivia: we starting playing frisbee after lunch for 20 min and again after working on the pc - already feel muscles rising and brain-expansion due to amplified air-inducement.
20. August
Gardening and plant shaping/sculpturing. Writing on a story taking aim on a corporate identity.
21. / 22. August
Visualization for Odeur Cuisine and Contraception in combination with 23andMe. Texts for webshop.
23. August
Agenda for the workshop is planned by Sebastian and Bernd. Christian K. showed some nice new ideas ready to be visualized for friday.
Week 3
24. August
Christian and Florian are working on renderings for the webpage and christian on his project. Photos for Odeur Cuisine.
25. August
Version of the Homepage is online. The material for it is transferred into the right format. Photos are photoshopped…
26. August
Meeting with Mareike who plans a radio feature on the project. Putting the projects and pictures on the homepage. Welcoming the guys from Heidelberg with barbecue and beer…
27. August
Workshop with the guys from Heidelberg. Discussing the bacteria game, the supermarket and it´s products and reviewing the wet lab project by the HD team. Afterwards we worked in smaller groups on technical issues concerning individual products of the supermarket. The meeting helped a lot and pushed some of the ideas really forward.
--Ck schroeder 18:36, 18 August 2010 (CEST)
28/29. August
A weekend to awaken to the final product statements by transforming the discussions with the Heidelberg-crew to visual concepts.
Week 4
30. August
A week full of work began – but it was hard to get it started after the meeting with the Heidelberg-crew the week before. With this reached milestone our internal deadlines were gone. But as Prof. Ursula Damm wants to present some of our products on a conference called „life 3.0. and the future of evolution“ in Berlin on the 17th we have to hurry up anyway.
31. August
We had an interview with a guy from “BioTech TV” who wanted to get an overview about our project. Asking – of course – why we as artists and designers take part in a competition about synthetic biology. Well - I really do believe that we can start a discussion in society, to bring the new technology of synthetic biology to the peoples awareness by giving it a context , the feeling of “yes its here, its real, its every day life...”. Well – you may watch the interview online after the transmission in the beginning of november.
01. September
The products „Perfect Body“, „AphrodiTec“, „Pit Crisp“ and „AntPlantProtector“ should be visualized until the 17th, if possible also the ImageVideo about the "Super Cell Shop" – so each product developer concretized concepts, met photographers and spent hours at the computer.
02. September
Preparation of our next meeting. Working on the roadmap and structuring the papers on the walls in our working room. We made product categories and pointed out how far we are and what kind of products are missing. As we have the list of things a product should fulfill everyone gets things as descriptive texts, contextualization and visualizations ready.
03. September
On Friday we went through our new roadmap which includes the topics „wiki“, „super cell shop“, „jamboree“ and „PR“ and structures the time from now until the iGEM Jamboree in November. It says clearly what has to be done until when and who has the responsibility. There is a hell of a lot to do but we can make it in time if we stick to the timetable.
04./05. September
On the weekend and the beginning of the week we worked in our workspace, each on own products, to clear last open questions about the products to make the fiction feel real to the visitor of „super cell“.
Week 5
06. September
Two month until the iGEM Jamboree. Planning the image video of 'super cell' that should later on welcome the webshop visitors. Meeting with Jette who will take the pictures for some products and also meeting Tristan who might do the „ReCoBrain“ video spot. But as there are some problems in the coordination of the weimar people and the involved Heidelberg people the future of „ReCoBrain“ is quite unsure at the moment.
07. September
The tuesday went by with updating each other, as the team was not complete the last week. We discussed and concretized ideas and sketches which allows to make the 3D Visualizations for the Cover on the webshop.
08. September
Today: ticking off things to do: Doing microscopy and taking photos for the project „Odeur Cuisine“ and the Image Video. Creating an animation video about bacteria movements. Preparing the photo session for “AphrodiTec”.
09. September
In the very early morning we had the chance to make the session in the photo studio. Afterwards we had to choose one from more than 150 portraits that becomes the cover picture of “AphrodiTec”. Meanwhile in the project room sodium alginate and calcium chloride were mixed to take some more microscopy photographies afterwards that will end up in the “Odeur Cuisine” Images. Defining the script of the image video. Now the filming must start.
Week 6
14. September
The Product "AphrodiTec" gets visible - today we worked on a series of photos that tell storys around that product. Our project room became a photo studio and with some requisites and models we created the pictures atmosphere. Afterwards the first "pit crisps" grew in the armpit - product visualisations on the assembly line.