How to create a soundwave picture..................

So Marta in our office created some nice picture for my wife and I of our names as a soundwave.  We liked it so we asked her to write how she did it , so we could share with you.

First of all you need to record the name, sentence or whatever you want to print with a recording device.  For this picture we used our phones, and quality was good enough, just need some post production to make it look nice.

Now is time to download the proper software to transform our audio file into a wave shape vector and modify it in Illustrator. The best software I’ve found so far is praat, it allows exporting the wave into an EPS file and it is free.
First, go Open > Read from file; and choose the file you want to illustrate. Now in the object menu we have loaded our sound Casalina.

 

Now placing the mouse in the upper left corner of the Praat picture menu we press and drag to make the pink square bigger. Next select your sound from the object menu and select DRAW, it will pop up a menu, just select ok and our wave will appear in the picture menu within the pink square.

Now, from the picture menu go File > Save it as an EPS.
Done!

Now is time to modify it in Illustrator to make it look better.

First we need to delete the axis and numbers that we don’t want and “clean” the wave.
To remove the aggressive corners there is two options.
One is changing the corner shape from miter to round in the stroke menu

The other option is simplifying the path, but you might get some funny shape depending on your original wave.  Object > path >simplify. And play with the percentage of  the curve precision.

In this case we used the first option.
Now change the stroke weight to 0,25 pt. to get a more defined shape.  If you have CS6 or CC version you can apply a gradient to the stroke.
Go to the Gradient menu and set up three markers located in the 0%,50% and 100% using a darker colour in 0 and 100% and a lighter one in 50 %

The wave now is too thin and not so clear. To make it more visible we will apply the same gradient to the fill of the wave.

The wave is more visual but it looks discontinuous. To make our wave more continuous we select our wave: Right click and Reflect > horizontal, Instead of OK we select copy. Now we have our wave mirrored. We place the new mirrored wave aligned with the original, Right click and Scale > Vertical  and scale it to 40%. In that way we fill the gaps in our wave, but we don’t affect the general outline of our wave.

Finally, we choose a nice font and write the name or sentence we have drawn. Here we used Montserrat in capitals and added some dashes as a final touch.
Tará!

 

 

I don’t remember walking under any ladders………………

Have you ever had one of those trips where you wonder if Karma has decided you’re out of balance, god, if you believe in him or her, thinks you need a period of frustration, bad luck and a good kick in the guts to boot.

No……………you should try it, I can recommend a route to really find out if you are a patient person if you are into that sort of thing or are a masochist.

We have just completed our annual trip to Shanghai, to visit the big nursery industry show they hold there. Now its normally hard work, trying to get round to see lots of stands, some with prospective clients, some with current clients and old industry friends but fun, well as long as you don’t mind walking. 

For us it’s one of our main opportunities to try and un-earth new leads or introduce ourselves to someone who did not know us before. 

We get to see a lot of the clients that we have live projects with and are showing prototypes, so we can get a lot of work done in a short space of time.

We also look at what’s in the nursery market and see what new ideas are around and what trends are current.

So although I know it’s going to be hard work as we condense everything into two days, I look forward to it.

I have been going for the last four years and went a time before that so a veteran.  Now I have flown to Shanghai a few times from Shenzhen and am now convinced it’s the flight of the damned.

I think in maybe twenty return flights it has only been on time once across a range of carriers, into both Shanghai’s airports. The problem is the weather it disrupts the flight schedule almost every day. You grow to expect it and I guess even accept it, it’s just the way it is. Besides sometimes the turbulence can be good fun, I always loved roller coasters.

So getting into the car for the airport at 6am for an 8.10am flight, we should be in Shanghai by 10.30, at the show by 11, so in reality I am guessing we will be missing lunch and be there going through the gates of the show at 2pm. I feel I have been fair giving it a three hour window, I can be patient and understanding………………..

So the plane takes off two hours late with us having to sit in our seats trying not to lose faith that we could still get up there in our window.

We get to Shanghai but then get diverted to another airport where we land and spend a further four hours on the plane before we finally take off and land in Shanghai at 6pm, completely losing the show day, trying my patients and frustrating a whole plane load of people.

I guess I’m not so patient and understanding as I thought I was, still I have invented some new expletives for airlines, airports, the weather and people who snore in planes.

We got to the hotel hoping tomorrow would be better.

Ok so waking up full of optimism for the day ahead we went to a Starbucks near the show to have breakfast and redefine the master plan and then start the show.

(The Purflo Stand we designed and below: meeting with clients.)

 

Now the morning goes well and we start getting things done but by lunchtime we notice that all the exhibitors are starting to break down their stands, sell their samples, pack their bags and go home early. So before we can get really round to see everything the show dissolves in front of us.  At this point I was a little upset as a show should stay open to the time advertised but hey its Friday and I imagine everyone wants to get home or to a bar.  The show we go to in Germany is the exact opposite and strict funnily enough.  There if you start trying to pack up some big guy comes over and shouts at you for trying to escape!!! 

Now I am not really a believer in luck or other forces but I think we all felt a little like the world was against us, still not much we could do, we missed the best time for the show, always next year.

So now time for the return trip………………All I will say is it contained a lost phone in a taxi (that was luckily returned an hour later), a five hour delay and an argument because the hot water machine ran out of water as a disgruntled passenger tried to fill his free (because we are five hours late) complimentary pot noodle.

I finally got into bed at 4.30am trying to remember if I had seen a black cat, walked on a crack in the pavement, broken a mirror or opened an umbrella in doors.

So I have decided until I can get a train direct to Shanghai I am not sure I really want to go again.

Recomendations from the studio 1.

So this starts a regular idea we hope of recommendations, which could be anything and everything that someone in the studio has recommended to the others, we thought we would share them.

1.  Music - "Racing With The Sun" - Chinese Man (French Trip-Hop Collective)

2.  Website - http://www.icax.org - Chinese CAD Design

3.  Film - Infini - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3327624/?ref_=nv_sr_2

4.  Film - Monster Hunt - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3781476/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

5.  TV - True Detective (Season 2) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2356777/?ref_=nv_sr_1

6.  Restaurant / Bar - The Patio Live, Mission Hills Country Club

7.  Website - http://www.themethodcase.com/ - Ideas and the process behind them

8.  Film - Forever Young http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104291/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

9.  Book - "The Shadow Of The Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - http://www.carlosruizzafon.co.uk/

10. Music - "Zeitgeist" - Camo and Krooked - Good to sketch by Drum and Bass

Shanghai Bound............

So today the Children Baby Maternity Expo show starts in Shanghai. The worlds biggest sourcing event for anything connected to children, babies, or being pregnant.  It is one of two shows we go to each year to keep up with one of the main markets we work in. 

We go tomorrow a little mob handed, to meet old friends, meet new ones, talk work, look for new work and see what is happening within the industry!

It should be good, I am looking forward to the energy of it all, even though by the end of the two days my feet will be ready to drop off, the show is huge!!!!

So if your interested http://www.cbmexpo.com/?l=en

Maybe we will see you there.

Our stress relief......................

So we are very lucky here to have a good balanced team.  we have a good mixture of different nationalities, ages and an equal number of both male and female points of view.

Having the right team is essential in not only getting the work done but being able to live in the same space for eight hours a day, five days a week.

We try to organise "team building" experiences to help us build the right atmosphere, go on courses about it, all of which can be really expensive especially to a freshly started company.

So here is our secret.............I would like to introduce the other un-official member of our team.  Now although you won't find her mentioned in our team page, she is just as important as the other members of our team.

Now she cant use CAD, she does not do much in the way of sketching but she is important for all our stress levels. I defy anyone to stay angry or stressed when she is in the office. 

She is also great for customer relations as everyone loves her (with or without the tie).  I am beginning to think certain clients only come to see her!

Now I know this might not work for everyone but for us she helps unite as a team, eases the day to day frustrations and gives everyone a laugh chasing delivery men out the office.

I would be interested to hear what other unusual ways people have used to help build their team?

So please if you come here don't forget to say hello to Duffy..............she will be saying hello to you.

Well its a start.................

So finally after being in business for 4 years we have finally got round to start writing a blog.  The idea behind started as a simple one, we want more people to know about what we do, how we do it and who we are as we go about it.

The blog will have contributions from the whole team and so will hopefully make interesting reading.

We are hoping to give a view into living and working in the design industry in Shenzhen, with all the trials and tribulations that come with it.

If there is something as a reader you might like to know about please feel free to send us an email and perhaps we can show you (ian@hachi-asia.com). So here goes....................