Julius Tarng

I design products and experiences.

Holistic, cohesive design expertise – from interaction to UI to code.

Branch

Curated conversation platform.

Project Modai

Humanizing mobile devices.

Current mobile devices are chunks of metal and plastic that end up in a landfill.

Photo by Matthijs Rouw

Users have no emotional bond with their phones.
Thus, the average lifespan is 18 months.

Just a tool

Modern phones are easily-replaced. Relationships are simply utilitarian and monetary.

Meaningless interaction

Humans adapt themselves to use electronics, making the relationship unnatural and sterile.

Technological advances

Technology advances at an exponential rate. Mobile phones become obsolete especially fast.

How can we lengthen and enhance the relationship between user and device?

Trusting bond

An emotional connection that turns the device from a tool into a trusted companion.

Human interactions

New ways to use your device, inspired by human behavior.

Sustainable ecosystem

Scrap the planned obsolescence model and plan for upgrades.

Your mobile companion: inspired by human behaviors, designed to last physically and emotionally.

Create a trusting bond to forge a meaningful relationship.

Paradigms

Modai's social (Fundai) and work (Prodai) paradigms help users balance work and play.

By sorting incoming content into the respective screens, Modai helps users focus on what's important.

Like Superman

Switching between Fundai and Prodai is like Superman and Clark Kent. Simply zip up Prodai to put on your "work clothes".

Avatar

Not the blue ones. The avatar is a visual representation of the device's status. It deepens the emotional bond by giving Modai a face to relate to.

Modai's avatar can represent anything from the paradigm you're in, to the battery status, and even the current volume.

Contextual prompts

Modai knows where you are and what you are doing, and prompts you with helpful suggestions, whether that's the bus schedule, the lunch specials, or your project deadline.

Day & Night

Modai only displays content relevant to your situation. For example, it greets you in the morning and shows you the day's weather widget. At night, the visuals change and since the day is over, it no longer shows you the weather.

Behavior learning

Modai is smart and learns your behaviors. If it detects you often oversleep or are late to your meetings (via GPS), it adjusts your alarms accordingly.

Enforce emotional connections by humanizing the interactions.

Peelstand

The muscle-wire mebedded Santoprene Peelstand enables Modai to move on its own. This enables many opportunities for human interaction and for Modai to express its status.

Santoprene

Muscle wire

Wake up!

Throughout the night, Modai slowly "wakes up" with the Peelstand. It sounds the alarm at its apex, which you can snooze by pushing Modai back down.

Gentle notification

With a slight peel, Modai can signal an incoming call or text without disturbing your meeting. In your pocket, the peeling gently prods you in the leg.

Shh...

Modai draws its interactions from human behaviors. For example, silencing the phone is as simple as putting your finger to the earpiece.

Feed me!

Modai's mouth-inspired charge port magnetically opens when the battery is low. The avatar also echoes the device's hunger for electricity. Plugging the charger in fills Modai up, leaving it with a happy face.

Enable a long device lifespan through ecosystem.

Modular internals

Peel the Peelstand all the way to lift out the modular internal pack. You can replace or upgrade any of these internals to prevent obsolescence but keep the same phone.

Upgradable hardware

From batteries to the camera, from the RAM to the CPU, most internals that evolve quickly can be upgraded.

A sustainable ecosystem

Modai employs an ecosystem that allows you to return your old module for disposal or resale after you buy a new one.

Project Modai is an exploration into what could be, and how, with new technologies, we can begin to think of our devices as more than a tool, but a friend.

3 month solo project.

TripCollab

Collaborative trip planning web product.

Planning a group trip with family and friends is very stressful.

As the leader, coordinating a trip for different types of people is very difficult.

Communication

Keeping everyone in the group updated is especially difficult with emails, phone calls, and texts.

Consensus

With a group, there is always a diverse opinion and it becomes painful to make decisions and keep everyone happy.

Being on the same page

Even after the trip is planned, not everyone has the same knowledge of the plan, and it's hard to keep everyone on the same page.

Current solutions also struggle with a simple, intuitive solution.

Yahoo! Travel Trip Planner

+ Highly customizable, detailed plans
+ See/share trips
– Constricted to Yahoo! services and partners
– Unintuitive collaborative planning

TripAdvisor

+ Lots of reviews
– Need to know what you're searching for
– Subpar planning tool
– Visually overwhelming

How can a collaborative planning product reduce stress for stages of group travel?

Step 1: Plan.

When you create a trip, you can add travelers right from your Facebook friends. The Overview gives you a quick glance at the trip, new ideas, and the ideas you've rated.

Ideas

In the planning stage, everyone involved in the trip can submit ideas of activities they've heard about.

Add an idea
Adding an idea is easy with instant search and the ability to browse by category or see what's popular.

Step 2: Decide.

Rating ideas

Each idea can be rated and commented on to make the decision making process easier.

Area of influence
Each traveler has an equal amount of influence on the total rating of the item. Hovering over the ratings bar reveals your range. You start off at a 'neutral' rating.

Your rating extends or retracts the total bar to give everyone a quick assessment of how much the group likes an idea.

The item is moved to the Rated Ideas section, which is sorted by rating to help aid in the scheduling process.

Step 3: Schedule.

Pick and drop

Rated ideas appear on the 'Travel Plan' for easy scheduling. High-rated ideas are at the top of the list.

Available times
After picking an idea up, the interface shows you available times based on hours of the activities. The Guggenheim is not open Thursday, but is on Friday and Saturday.

Adjust length
A dropped idea's length can be adjusted with small tabs on the top and bottom.

On the same page

Hitting 'Export' on the 'Travel Plan' allows you to share your plans digitally, or you can print a copy for each traveler, helping everyone keep track of the schedule.

TripCollab is also on your mobile phone. Know what's happening, no matter where.

Step 5: Record.

Post updates, photos, videos; share your trip from abroad with the Journal, whether on your laptop or on your mobile.

Step 6: Relive.

TripCollab lets you relive and share your past trips, right on your computer.

Initially designed in collaboration with Melissa Acosta & Molly Lafferty, and personally redesigned in 2011.

Chef's Portmanteau

Softgood for carrying professional chef tools.

Professional chefs carry an enormous amount of tools daily for work.

Chefs are expected to bring their own tools. Most have an arsenal of knives, specialty cookware, spare clothing, bandaids, recipe journals, dictionaries, and more.
Image flickred by Matt Hinckley.

Chefs are very proud of their career and have a deep bond with their tools.

"I'd rather go through the trouble of lugging my knives to my Dad's for Sunday dinner than use someone else's steak knife."

However, there are no solutions on the market that address their needs.

Knife rolls

Although compact, "they are not durable enough" and "they don't fit everything [chefs] have".

Knife luggage

"[Chefs] need customizability" for their range of tools, and these are inconvenient, unwieldy, and ugly.

Tackle box

Some chefs "wrap [their] knives in cloth and toss them in" these. This does not reflect their bond with their tools or pride as chefs.

How can a practical carrying solution reflect a chef's bond with his tools?

This is the
Chef 's Portmanteau.

Durable, utilitarian, customizable,
and fashionable. "I am proud to be a Chef."

Dual compartments

The Chef's Portmanteau has two separable compartments: one for cutlery, and the other for additional tools, clothing, and miscellaneous items like dictionaries.

The compartments are attached by four buckles, which can be tightened to secure tools inside and prevent damage.

Cutlery

Miscellaneous

Customization

With camera bag inspired velcro dividers, Chefs can customize their bag to fit all of their precious tools safe and sound.

The cutlery compartment contains two trays which can be customized by moving the white clips.

Cutlery tray

The tray is constructed with layered fabric to provide a stiff but soft structure and slots for the rubber-coated separation clips. Both help ensure knives do not damage each other.

Clip slots

Foam with PVC backing

First aid

An easy-to-access zipper at the top is color-coded to indicate its function to provide chefs fast access to medical aid.

Stylish

The fashionable, culinary-inspired design helps chefs show off their pride in their career.

Dining cloth

Red is often used to simulate hunger and is associated with fine cuisine.

Chef coat

A durable (machine washable) white canvas exterior matches their daily work apparel.

Grills

Grill-inspired back padding is comfortable, breaths well, and adds a striking contrast to the white and red.

Classy cuffs

Cleans sleeves are a mark of a good chef, and they also inspired the fashionable backpack straps.

Chef's Portmanteau

Fashion, function, emotion.

Designed in collaboration with Dane Pieri & Albert Song.

Julius Tarng

A designer from California.

Hello.

I was born in Seattle, raised in Taipei/Palo Alto, and spent the past few years bouncing between Pittsburgh, Pasadena, Rochester, and Barcelona before settling in New York City.

After interning at Nokia and Kodak and graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, I spent a year designing products and interfaces at Smart Design. I now design Branch.

Design & me.

I design to improve lives and make humans more efficient. I am inspired by experimental, futuristic interactions that toe the line between physical and digital.

I practice holistic and cohesive design, doing everything from conceptualization to research/testing to implementation.

I like many things.

I am obsessed with new technologies, design processes, and typography.
I am especially interested in humanizing technology and the emotional connection between a person and a product.

I like dancing, Jeremy Lin, programming, Adventure Time, sunny windy days, In-N-Out, and the smell of fabric softener.

Get in touch.

I respond lightning quick (unless I'm stuck in the subway).

julius@tarng.com
@tarngerine

I am currently

Jetlagged.

Craving In-N-Out.

Now that you know about me, why not get in touch or follow me on Twitter?

This website was designed and coded by Julius Tarng with HTML5, CSS3, & JQuery.
Type is set in Arno Pro and Scala Sans.
© Julius Tarng 2013.

Just a tool

Meaningless interaction

Technological advances

Trusting bond

Human interactions

Sustainable ecosystem

Paradigms

Like Superman

Avatar

Contextual prompts

Day & Night

Behavior learning

Peelstand

Wake up!

Gentle notification

Shh...

Feed me!

Modular internals

Upgradable hardware

A sustainable ecosystem

Communication

Consensus

Being on the same page

Yahoo! Travel Trip Planner

TripAdvisor

Step 1: Plan.

Ideas

Step 2: Decide.

Rating ideas

Step 3: Schedule.

Pick and drop

On the same page

Step 5: Record.

Step 6: Relive.

Chefs are very proud of their career and have a deep bond with their tools.

Knife rolls

Knife luggage

Tackle box

This is the Chef 's Portmanteau.

Dual compartments

Customization

Cutlery tray

First aid

Stylish

Chef's Portmanteau

Hello.

Design & me.

I like many things.

Get in touch.

I am currently

Now that you know about me, why not get in touch or follow me on Twitter?

This is the
Chef 's Portmanteau.