JACK LENG
SELECTED WORKS 2012—2014
@ettubrutesbro jack

.

leng (at) gmail
i design and code interfaces, make 3d models, illustrate, and animate
but i'm happiest when i get to do many things for a project.
i like to play hoops and get emotional about video games
2014 Portfolio Reel

Video showcasing my design work and process from 2005 to 2014. Song is Fujiya & Miyagi - Uh (Lightbulbs, 2008).

IoT Alarm Clock Animation

Isometric animation demonstrating the functionality of an IoT alarm clock that uses an IR sensor, directional light, and parabolic speaker to wake a sleeping person without rousing their partner(s?). The Kickstarter pitch the animation was used for exceeded its funding target, raising $160,000.

Social Energy Sensing Monument

SESEME is a public data visualization object. Its goal is to raise awareness of building energy performance by visualizing energy metrics in real time with motion and light. An array of sensors, motors, and electronics embedded in the object enable it to be informative, dynamic, and reactive to human presence. Bluetooth LE allows us to communicate digitally with nearby observers, drawing them into a mobile experience where they can see data and learn about energy in greater detail.

As users browse through data, SESEME rearranges itself to reflect the queried information. Multiple simultaneous users can unlock new features together while the physical object will exhibit new behaviors. We think that this will turn even attention-deficit interactions into a highly visible public spectacle - drawing in others to speculate about the purpose and capabilities of this device while being exposed to energy information.

We believe SESEME can be a more emotive, engaging energy experience and capture the attentions of people otherwise disinterested in energy/environment while enlivening public spaces on campus. Progress is currently underway, requiring extensive web and database programming, mechanical design, and behavioral / experimental study. It is slated for installation at the UC Davis Student Community Center during Fall 2014.

I lead the team with Justin Woodjack and work on conceptual, industrial, and experiential design. We will be speaking about the design and the experimental results it produces at the 2014 Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change conference in Washington, D.C. in December.

SESEME is a project of the Consumer Energy Interfaces research group (cENERGI), and the acquisition of space and personnel in the process of building it has also led to cENERGI's development as a diverse, multidisciplinary center for energy interface innovations at UC Davis.

TEAM: Justin Woodjack, Armante Washington, Drew Ferguson, Jason Yu, Carlos Hernandez, Jordan Ramalingam, Timothy Stapleton.

Mars Mission Design Presentation

Presentation (video + powerpoint) explaining comprehensive design for a 2018 mission to Mars, from module selection and trajectory to mental stress reduction measures. Created in concert with an interdisciplinary team of students in aeronautics, physics, biology, etc. and designed to seamlessly complement 20-minute presentation in international mission design contest (placed 4th/37). It will also be shown at the NASA Ames Research Center in October.

* vimeo link and examples here are works-in-progress
** ISS is not in the final presentation (berthing found to be unfeasible)


Fruit & Nut Center Outreach

Sample of graphic design and illustration work from my time at the UC Fruit and Nut Research and Information Center.

Stories of Solidarity

Informational poster design for student research project: proposing a new social media tool for helping low-wage laborers organize and build solidarity. The project started at a hackathon, where I helped prototype concept, visuals, and code. The other members of the team developed the original prototype into a functional service, and I rejoined to help present at the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention and create promotional graphics.

SOS is a web based service that lowers barriers for marginalized workers with stories to tell by making electronic submission easy across every platform from SMS to iOS. Stories would be displayed as points on a map, allowing users to see both surveys of labor sentiment at large as well as stories at human-scale. The goal is to allow workers who would otherwise be disconnected to build solidarity through awareness, and also expand labor advocacy organizations' ability to rally and organize.

I worked on Stories of Solidarity with Profs. Glenda Drew and Jesse Drew, Katherine Fukui, Vivian Ho, Joyce Lue, Liz Shigetoshi, and Ashish Subedy.

visit informational portal
157: Gamifying Campus Climate Control

Second-year interactive design project: climate control and energy use feedback app prototype. Members of a campus community could use it to provide feedback about air conditioning to building administrators, who could then make energy-saving or comfort improving adjustments accordingly. The design aims to make submitting feedback intuitive while encouraging further exploration of energy data and the implications of A/C use. In-app rewards personalize the experience and incentivize repeat usage. Building comparisons and leaderboards introduce social competition (i.e. chemists vs. artists vs. administrators) and get the community involved. We tried to take an "irreverent" approach to app design, using graphics that reflect the hyperbole often used for temperature complaints, poking fun at the school (the cow loading icon references UCD's renowned bovine scent), and allowing users to express themselves through a random crowd-sourced "building announcements" ticker.

180A: Art Museum Design

Art museum design proposal & renderings, for institutional interiors class project. The design proceeds from intersecting 30-60-90 and equilateral triangles, with 3 large columns marking spatial progress, providing structural support, and drawing wind cooling as solar chimneys.

Stuffrage UI and Animation

Promotional animation and UI prototypes for a now-defunct social goods/services reviews startup.

37: Black Friday Simulator

An interactive faux-simulation, created for an intro to Processing class in my second year. Inspired by videos captured from Wal-Marts on Black Friday, stories of Foxconn (Chinese manufacturer of electronics) workers committing suicide, and Jonatan Söderström's Norrland. Clicking creates goods and generate demand - consumers consume, workers work harder.