New Pack...In progress

Hello Designers!!!

Pictures first? Sure!






This is my latest personal project/creation. I still need to make the harness and hip belt which shouldn’t take too long (subjective) as my MIL is staying with us for a month…! Anyway, like most things that I do for myself, this is a creation of “need something better for next time.”

I recently completed the vaunted Rim to Rim hike in the Grand Canyon. 10 miles as the crow flies… 24 miles for the rest of us. It was great and I learned a few things.

  1. Day packs are meant for slow easy hikes.
  2. Get the load up high or down low, just not in the middle… of your back.
  3. Electrolytes and calories are vital.

A few guys ran the Mountainsmith lumbar pack and had nothing but good things to say. A couple of other went with small-ish camelbaks and reported good things. The rest of us were mixed, most with day packs. Lumbar packs seemed to capture the most support, a few guys that owned lumbar packs said they wished they had brought/used them.

So I decided that I was going to build one. I’m sure some if you have seen me write about my design skills sort of “lacking”… here is proof. It took me three hours to draw this in AI and I stopped before it was done due to frustration. It took me about the same time +/- 1 hour to cut and sew the darn thing. Sad and bordering on pathetic… Yes, I’m painfully aware.

In any case, I’m going to keep on plugging away at my “sketching” and see what kind of fun stuff I can come up with. I think my definition of sketching should change to “cut and sewn!” The picture will be my “render.” Its easier for me to cut and sew from a picture in my head than to draw it up Industrial design style. That surely isn’t right, right?

Michael_

cool sample. Everyone has a different process, and in design, the ends surely justify the means! Personally I love your functional approach. Our processes are completely different, which is probably why your work kind of fascinates me. Sure, there could be some minor stylistic finishing and pattern tweaks, but I think you are a lot closer than you think.

I love the hands on approach to your design. And you are using the best of your skills to present your idea. This project has a nice “feel” to it. Maybe, it’s the very honest approach of you designing something better for yourself that gives this “feel”. Your basic aesthetics make it very appealing some how. And I think the setting of the pictures unintentionally ties everything together.

Like Yo said, I think you are very close!

I’m very impressed with your approach. There are a few things that I do the same way, no sketch just make it and edit as you go. I haven’t seen any of your work since the first time you posted some stuff, and I’d say you’ve done pretty well. One unrelated note as a heads up: http://www.caffeineindustries.com links to your “Coming Soon” page, even though index.php is your home page. Just thought you’d probably like to fix that link on your site.