Daniel Icaza Milson Portfolio Panamanian and American designer and design engineer based in Austin, TX
CMF Design Engineering
Tableware Design
Architecture Design
Developing colors, materials, and finishes for consumer electronics and fashion companies involves knowledge of various industrial processes, design, mastering, and quality control. My work at DELL Technologies, PEARL iZUMi and Polychrome Design has trained me in color engineering and metrology for resins, anodized aluminums, textiles, among other materials. Through communication with diverse, global teams, I used these skills to execute companies vision.
Tableware design allows me to create hand-scale products, with creative colorways, in industrial batches. The two projects in this portfolio show design ideation and devleopment. The Nachtmann Project was a competition to create glassware for an international brand, while the mano collection is a small batch slipcast production. Both involved digital and analog technologies, attention to color, material, finish, as well as usability.
While working part-time at DELL Technologies, I began attending the University of Texas School of Architecture, to apply my experience in design and development at different scales. I view architecture as both a product and an urban gesture for people to interact in. The skills I have gained lend themselves to creating products for cities, buildings, and transportation interiors. Please find my online architecture portfolio here.
Quality Control Process Design Vendor Communication CMF Mastering
Form Development User Research Prototyping Solidworks, Keyshot, Adobe
Schematic Design Design Research Story Building Rhino, Enscape, Revit
Projects (1) DELL 2022-2023 CMF mastering, design quality control (10) DELL Powerflex CMF design, CMF mastering (15) DELL 3120 research, design quality engineering, CMF mastering (21) mano collection ceramic cooking tool design, color development (27) Overflow Collection crystal glass tableware design, market research
2022-2023
Notebooks
color-material mastering
XPS 13 Plus
Platinum: A Cover (anodized aluminum), glass composite trackpad (top and bottom rows on C Cover) Lead CMF designer: Jun Hyun
XPS 13 Plus
Solid magnetite: A Cover (anodized aluminum), glass composite trackpad (top and bottom on C Cover) Lead CMF designer: Jun Hyun
Notebooks
color-material mastering
Latitude 3540 Series 13”, 14”, 15”
Apollo: A, B, C & D Cover (resin), mylar trackpad (top and bottom on C Cover), micro texture revision Lead CMF designer: Ashley Holly
Notebooks
color-material mastering
Latitude 5540 Series 13”, 14”, 15”
Titan gray: A, B, C & D Cover (anodized aluminum), mylar trackpad (top and bottom on C Cover), surface texture revision Lead CMF designer: Ashley Holly
Notebooks
color-material mastering
Latitude 7330 (13”), 7740, 7640 (16”) Titan gray: A, B, C & D Cover (anodized aluminum) Lead CMF designer: Ashley Holly
Notebooks
color-material mastering
Latitude 9330, 9330 (2-in-1)
Solid magnetite: A, B, C & D Cover (anodized aluminum), glass composite trackpad Lead CMF designer: Ashley Holly
Keyboards
anodized aluminum mastering, packaging mastering
Dell Premier Collaboration Keyboard - KB900 Solid magnetite: anodized aluminum & packaging revision Lead CMF designer: Jun Hyun
Mice
resin mastering, packaging mastering
Dell Bluetooth® Travel Mouse - MS700
Orion blue resin development & mastering, packaging color mastering Lead CMF designer: Ke Chihteng
Dell Bluetooth® Travel Mouse - MS700
Solid magnetite resin development & mastering, packaging color mastering Lead CMF designer: Ke Chihteng
Dell Premier Rechargeable Mouse - MS900
Solid magnetite resin development & mastering, packaging color mastering Lead CMF designer: Ke Chihteng
Dell Rechargeable Wireless Mouse – MS7421W Solid platinum resin development & mastering Lead CMF designer: Ke Chihteng
Dell Mobile Wireless Mouse - MS3320W Midnight Green resin development & mastering Lead CMF designer: Yuhsuan Chiu
2019-2020
DELL Powerflex Outsert color, material, finish design
DELL EMC’s PowerFlex Servers offer versatile storage solutions for businesses seeking to redefine their IT infrastructure. Dynamic conditions require various tiers of data storage. The PowerFlex defines three different solutions in Dark Gold, Blue Steel, and Copper to enable maximum flexiblity.
Mood Board Powerflex
Renderings
Sketches
Decrease value by 3.0 units, increase gloss 1.2 units to create gold ornament aesthetic
Dark Gold
Increase flake saturation, decrease gloss 1.2 units to maintain gloss across colors
Blue Steel
Increase value 1.2 units, make hue redder 0.6 units to increase pop and flop
Copper
Mastering
DELL 3120
material-finish design & mastering DELL 3120 is a solution for grade school students. The hardware’s color, material, and finish, feature force-resistant, bioplastic bumpers, and scratch-resistant covers. Scope of work includes material-finish development and mastering.
User Research
Inspiration
Digital Iterations
Supplier Samples
Mood Board DELL 3120
Microtexture Studies DELL 3120
The program’s value proposition was that its durability, bioplastic’s density and flexibility protect the system, as it absorbs shock better than a harder resin, which can be brittle while also reducing the program’s carbon footprint. We used the approved resins on the feet and bezel.
Bioplastic used on feet and cover bumpers
Bioplastic Bumper & Feet DELL 3120
hree primary vendors and different grades of organic content were speced and mastered.
mano colllection tableware & color design
Cooking can be magical. Recipies bring out bright colors, surprising textures, and bold flavors in food. The mano collection are cooking tools for ambiguous units of measurement commonly found in recipies. This series seeks to quantify subjective words that are useful in cooking. The project celebrates the humanity of cooking by making explicit its spontaneous, instinctive, intuitive aspects. The objects’ shapes were based on the shapes sound waves make when mouths say the words, further reflecting the presence of human idiosyncrasy in our interaction with our environment, despite our attempts to measure it.
Smidgeoner
Handfuller
Spoonfuller
Dasher Pincher
marseilles
bone
celeste
toulouse
bleu
Celeste and bleu are inspired by the crisp waves of the Mediterranean, they invite you with peace and focus.
versaille
Refined and warm, bone and versaille elevate your experience while cooking. They are protective and engaging.
burgundy
Marseilles and burgundy represent the French way of eating, a meditation on community and wholeness.
tournesol
Bright and bold, the tolouse and tournesol colorways are earthy, inspired by the sunflowers in Southern France.
smidgeon /ˈsmijin/
/ˈsmi
jin/
drizzle /ˈdrizəl/
/ˈdri
zəl/
/da
/SH
/pin
(t)SH/
/ˈhæn(d)
ful/
dash /daSH/ pinch /pin(t)SH/ handful /ˈhæn(d)ful/
Forms were created through an analysis of sound waves, derived from the words pronounciation.
Overflow Collection tableware design competition
The Overflow Collection was my entry into a design competition hosted by Nacthmann Crystal and its parent company, Riedel. Designs incorporated research into the study of water movement, a phenomenon known as cymatcis, and adapted shapes observed into crystal glass forms.
Travis Vase
Barrington Nut Bowl
Linsey Tumbler
Clayton Highball
textured ornamentation
* serving
Market Analysis Overflow
consuming
wavy ornamentation My market analysis revealed that the tableware Nachtmann lacked were for serving and which had more textured ornamentation. The vase, serving dish for appetizers, and different sized tumblers were selected for the final collection.
Process Overflow
Process included research into cymatics, a natural phenomenon that happens in vibrating surfaces. Cymatic conditions were more regulated than river studies and allowed for less subjective interpretations of water’s movement. Timed photographs of the creation of water beads was studied.
0.05s
0.10s
0.15s
1 shape from photographs cut in foam, stacked, and folded in paper
2 stacks aggregated to mimic water
3 stacks vaccum formed in PC, clear sheet to immitate glass
4 plastic vessels created using vaccum form pieces and aggregated
5 water poured out of vessels and flow of water detailed
6
detailed marks cut from which water flows out of vessel
Ornamentation is too artistic, and difficult to mold due to undercuts
Streaking blends artistic and textural ornamentations. Possible option
Design Considerations in Prototyping Overflow
Too textural, not loose enough. Does not resemble studies in water
Ridges may be too difficult to accomplish in glass molding process
22
Thank you! Please review my architecture portfolio, too. dicazam@gmail.com +1 617-943-6181