There are only a few categories of products as unsexy by nature as a heat pump system, the highly efficient HVAC solution more households are integrating as energy efficient updates. The impetus for buying a heat pump is need, rarely desire; you do so with the very modest hopes they won’t exist as an eyesore. But Y Combinator-backed US startup Electric Air wants to change that perception, offering a residential electric heat pump system that we dare say might do for HVAC as the Tesla Powerwall did for residential energy storage: make them covetable.
Electric Air’s heat pump system comprises four modules: a Condenser, Air Handler & Humidifier, wall-mounted Air Conditioner, and a Thermostat. Reimagined by London-based design agency Blond under the direction of James Melia, the Electric Air’s all-electric heating and cooling HVAC system features a design language more attuned to home technology devices than traditional clunky HVAC hardware.
The condenser unit can either be mounted to a wall, or transformed to reveal its legs to ensure sound operation throughout unpredictable weather conditions such as snow.
Blond made special effort to neutralize the most conspicuous component, transforming the traditional form of the condenser with an aesthetic similar to a home battery storage system. The unit is designed to be mounted to a wall or set upon legs to ensure sound operation where inclement conditions are a concern.
All four elements of the heat pump system exhibit a warm, minimal approach, with soft curved edges and monochromatic paneling done in either light or dark finishes, mixing matte, gloss, and textured surfaces to handsome effect. Crucially, the four modules are designed to seamlessly integrate into interior and exterior environments without becoming eyesores.
This warm minimalism is carried over to the brain’s of Electric Air system, the thermostat’s UI, which uses bold, rounded shapes, and an easily discernible typeface with contrasting color palette to improve legibility.
It’s obviously not all looks. Electric Air says their system is rated to be 3-5x more efficient than a traditional gas furnace and over the span of each year able to save hundreds to thousands of dollars with typical heating use.
The system includes a HEPA filtration system to control air quality and humidity and can be further upgraded with optional wall units eliminating the need for duct work.
Electric Air lists three tier of entry points of pricing for small, medium, and large spaces starting at $14,000 with installation (a 1-2 day process according to the company), including the Federal Tax Credit. The company is taking pre-order payments currently, with an estimated Winter 2024 ship date. For more information, check out electricair.io.
If you’re looking for a new way to electrify your social media channels, explore dizzying generative animation tools to enhance your art practice, or have a tight deadline for a campaign that needs a mind-melting visual effect, there’s a new graphics tool to add to your arsenal – and you don’t even need to learn to code.
Modyfi is a brand new world class design platform based entirely in your web browser that incorporates intuitive vector tooling, team collaboration, AI-driven art direction, and now motion graphics. Best of all, it’s totally free.
Simply launch Modyfi and without writing a single line of code, you can experiment with a range of modifiers, tools, and helpful tutorials that send you on a playful path of serendipitous creativity. While myriad animation tools are currently available for hardcore designers and programmers, Modyfi demolishes the barrier to entry to create an accessible and intuitive platform where eye-popping visual effects are rendered in real-time right in your browser.
Piers Cowburn, for Modyfi
We invited composer and multimedia artist Simon Alexander-Adams to try Modyfi to create some of the pieces seen here.
“I can see this as being really valuable for somebody who doesn’t have a coding background,” Alexander-Adams shares. Using native tools like pixel sorting and heat shrink, he spent a week experimenting and generating new ideas. “There are a lot of features that, as somebody who uses this kind of tech professionally a lot, I really appreciate that this [tool or feature set] has exposed,” allowing for a more powerful and experimental approach to graphics editing only accessible with significant time and training until now.
Simon Alexander-Adams, for Modyfi
Of particular note is the release of several new motion-editing tools available in Modyfi today. Artists and designers can now manipulate compositions, modifiers, and parameters, and the animation will update in real time, an editing process more familiar to audio engineers, where all elements of a piece are editable at any time.
Modyfi co-founder Piers Cowburn shares that he enjoys endlessly experimenting with many of the platforms’ tools that are ripe for serendipity and accidental discovery. “Using the app now, the piece of motion design I end up with after just a 20-minute design session is often wildly different than the idea I went in with. And always better.” He emphasizes how easy it is to quickly and easily create rapid iterations around a single idea, while a new path of innovation waits around every corner.
You can begin exploring Modyfi yourself right in your web browser, totally free, or follow them on Instagram.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Design Platform Modyfi Introduces Playful and Innovative Real-Time Animation Editing appeared first on Colossal.
A clever design to help avoid the clutter that horizontal surfaces seem to invite, the Triangle Side Table all but eliminates the possibility. Designed by SouleWork, the side table does hold space for the book you’re currently reading – it will even save your place – and a ledge to put down the beverage of your choice. There’s a small, grooved indent for a writing instrument and an open interior space that can accommodate a few coffee table books, a plant, or even a small pet bed. Beveled edges, decorative yet functional splines, and a minimal base finish off the sharply shaped piece of furniture that any minimalist will love.
SouleWorks founder, Matthew Soule, shared that the Triangle Side Table was inspired by his three-year-old’s wooden toy blocks. “We would build many things, and the triangle caught my attention because it’s not something that shows ups very often in interiors,” he said. In the spirit of SouleWorks’ experimental and innovative approach to design, once he realized the shape could hold a book in a clever way, the piece was born.
[embedded content]Video by DOPE Productions
To learn more about the Triangle Side Table, visit soulework.com.
Photography by Design Imaging Studios.
The variable most photographers overlook is composition. The only variable in a photograph is the subject. Set the correct exposure, then choose the focal length. Make sure the aperture gives the right amount of depth of field. Set the shutter to stop motion or add blur. Oh. One more thing: put your camera on a tripod.
Shooting handheld is the epitome of every photographer in movies or television. From Thomas, the fashion photographer in “Blow Up,” to an uncountable number of creators on YouTube, it is common to see them taking pictures while waving the camera all around the subject. Massive variable, that!
In the 1966 movie, Thomas shoots handheld. When he works as a professional, he uses a tripod. The photo above is wrong in so many ways. The lens is too long a focal length to focus that close. The film had much slower ISOs than today’s digital cameras. Shutter speed was limited. The lenses had smaller maximum apertures. And squatting like that to get a sharp image? Please!
“Blow Up” is still one of my all-time favorite movies. I recommend it.
“I want to be spontaneous, fluid and move when I shoot,” says practically every photographer living. It’s not surprising, but no human being can handhold a camera in precisely the same point in space ever. Camera movement can throw off the composition, focus and even miss or cut off what the subject is doing. Holding a camera in your hands makes directing a person very difficult.
Lock down everything else so it’s only you and the subject.
Mount your camera on a tripod and the composition is locked down. Your subject moves within the frame. Nothing else moves. This is perfection itself for working a composite in Photoshop. With the background frozen, closed eyes can be replaced with eyes from another shot.
A tripod slows down the process of making a photograph. This helps you be more deliberate about the important other variables. Camera shake goes away. Now, the shutter speed is set to stop the subject’s movements. Holding focus on the eyes is easier with wide-open apertures needed to create charming and alluring bokeh.
Step back from the viewfinder or monitor screen. Look at the subject with just your eyes. Check out what the camera sees again. Is it exactly what you want? If not, change the position until the composition looks right. Tripods are easy to move. Even heavy ones.
It takes practice to get used to using your tripod. When you work with it often, it becomes more natural. Photographs of your envisioned work are the payoff for the extra work needed to use your tripod.
Given the choice, I always opt to use a tripod. I pack one in my suitcase when I travel. Will you give your tripod a shot or two?
