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IDSA Western District - Student Merit Winner Gabriel Lam

By Carl Alviani - April 28, 2008

in design.edu | Events

There were several strong contenders for this year's Western District Student Merit Award, but Gabriel Lam, of California College of the Arts in SF edged out some strong competition with a combination of research, social engagement, aesthetic sensitivity, and thoughtfulness you don't usually get in a student portfolio.

The standout from his Saturday presentation was Miranda, a device supplying "Security for Civil Rights." First impression of the project is a marriage of personal passion with elegant design sensibilities; the small unit is simply a cheap video recorder with some flash memory and a 3-axis accelerometer, ruggedized with a Santoprene boot and blessed with clean, utilitarian styling reminiscent of early Peter Saville. As a recorder and protector for political protesters, it's a solution whose appropriateness is immediately obvious.

Lam's real thoughtfulness comes out in subsequent slides though, in which some fairly convincing staged photos depict not just protesters protecting their rights with the unit, but police officers using them as well to stave off false charges of police brutality. It demonstrates a willingness to really delve into the complexities of a meaningful design problem that's all too rare. Beyond all of that, Lam's remaining portfolio (a bit of which is posted here) is broad and uniformly well-resolved -- we wish him the best at the upcoming National Conference.

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Greg Schultz

16 years ago

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Congratulations Gabe! This will bring many good opportunities!
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Gabriel

16 years ago

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I completed this project in April 07, prior to the CES device, but thanks for bringing it to my attention. I looked it up and am glad to know police would consider this is a viable idea. However, it would be great to see that product consider use by the public; each side wants to deter the other from doing anything illegal. Miranda also proposes that we go beyond image/video data (for example, measuring impacts and force, near-field RFID identification of badges). As far as trying to tangibly secure civil rights, I believe we can't dismiss that as done yet.
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Cubby Golden

16 years ago

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Congrats man..good to see CCA in the spot light. Keep up the work man. CCA RULEs...
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Carl Alviani

16 years ago

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@jb: Can you supply a link to the product you mention?
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jb

16 years ago

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This product exists and was shown at CES 2008 - A police office invented it and it is on the market - around $400 retail.
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beverly darmour

16 years ago

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This Lam kid is something special! (but we've known that for about 33 years) Big congrats!
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