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The looks come down to personal taste I guess, but I think the blocks just look icky, asymmetrical and unclean. LEGOs are at least minimalistic. Maybe its the holes on the side?
If you wanted to sell this exclusively as a toy, I would have been fine with it, but these tables? How would I use this 5 legged laptop table? In what possible position could I work on that? Don't even get me started on the iPhone table and the one for Yoga poses. The examples are just unrealistic.
And the price? I mean the laptop table that has no practical purpose costs $120 outside of kickstarter. Thats a lot! If I wanted to recreate 2 little bookshelfs it would set me back $300. Since you mentioned IKEA yourself, this is probably 10x as expensive.
I wish you all the best and good luck for your Kickstarter campaign.
Note: I edited the text as my initial comment was unnecessarily harsh. Apologies to the Dev.
@gopietz Hi and thank you for your feedback.
I admit, we have received critical feedback on the aesthetics of the blocks by some people who have seen the product online or in pictures but none from anyone who has seen in the "flesh" (including at the Sydney Makers Faire). Either it looks better in real life or people were just being nice and did not want to hurt our feelings.
We have much respect for LEGO, though we would like to think for what Aran Blocks does (build horizontally and have the ability to bear weight) the design is as minimalist (though perhaps a bit brutalist) as it can get.
Before we got into production planning, we had assumed that the cost of making these blocks would have been just a few cents each. But what we learnt quickly is that injection moulded plastic products price depends heavily on the amount of plastic used (i.e. weight). While we could have made the walls thinner and reduce the price, we decided to keep the original design as the heavy blocks feel really nice and would serve better to make small furniture items. Even then weight for weight we are still cheaper than LEGO's (dangerous comparison we know).
Thanks again for your feedback and I hope I have managed to answer them without sounding too defensive :) (Hey it's named after my son. Call it dad instincts)
At your service,
Dev
@gopietz It’s curious. You use words like “hideous,” “ugly,” and “stupid,” and then say “no offense.” Frankly, If I were Dev, I’d be quite offended—because your criticism is unnecessarily miserable.
Thoughtful and constructive feedback is a great thing. It helps creators get a sense for the market, and what people are thinking. However, snarky and deliberately negative responses—like yours—are of little use, and can even be destructive.
It’s fine that you don’t like Dev’s idea/implementation. However, he’s clearly put a lot of time and effort into it. There’s no need for you to shit all over his idea. Even if this one doesn’t work, his next iteration might be the one that does.
For the record, I don’t know Dev or much of anything about his company. That said, I applaud him for putting something together and getting it this far. Doing so is an awful lot tougher than trolling comment threads and posting insults.
Thanks for this, @karj.
I encourage everyone to share their honest feedback, good or bad, but please be respectful and delicate with criticism. Launch day is exciting but also one of the most vulnerable times for a maker. Disparaging comments can be incredibly demoralizing.
Many people never pursue their ideas. Few even ship. Like the product or not, I'll respect the determination.
Keep on, @dev_anand. 💪
@dev_anand@gopietz Dev, you handled this with absolute grace. I personally know plenty of students who'd love playing around with these. Congrats on launch and I wish you the best of luck!
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I like the apple watch and phone table. However, don't you think it looks a little... strange? A bit childish and thrown together. Nice idea though, looking forward to seeing it evolve!
@giacomolaw Hi I get what you mean.. for the photo shoot we were trying to make structures that could be made with the amount of blocks in thereward tiers.. and to be honest the charging station was a last minute improvision.. sad it shows 😔
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@dev_anand I love the laptop stand though. I still like the look of the charging station ;). Is it possible you could show some stuff you could make that isn't an improvisation? Nice product!
@giacomolaw Thanks! We can't add more photos here but will try and post more on our Facebook and Instagram soon. Essentially you can make any structures with 90 degree angles...
Hi All,
My name is Dev and I am the inventor of Aran Blocks.
I came up with these blocks after playing with my son (Aran) and his construction toy. Just didn’t like the fact these blocks only built vertically and not horizontally.
Super to excited to be on Product Hunt and look forward to all your feedback. Thanks.
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Hunter
Aran Blocks is a patent pending building blocks system that can create useful weight bearing structures including small furniture pieces.
Basically it is what you would get if LEGO and IKEA met, fell in love and had a baby. Structures made from Aran Blocks are strong. The unique nestling system of the blocks allow horizontal surfaces you create to bear weight.
Hi Dev,
This looks very cool. I wouldn't say the aesthetic component is vital at this point. A modular system like this one needs to be functional, and as such I could see it evolve to include other components that allow makers give it the desired visuals.
I have some questions regarding materials and strength. You mention in the kickstarter page that the blocks are "heavy" and that they have a hollow core to allow cables inside. What's the material they're made of? What are the heating characteristics of the blocks? How well does it handle/dissipate temperatures? Does it expand with a lot of heat and how much?
From the videos I actually can't make out the precise design of the joints between the blocks, but how strong are they? Could I build an adult-sized desk out of these, and with how many "columns"?
Also from the videos, it seems like most example models you show are not very big. Probably the biggest one is the two-level shelf. What's the biggest thing you've made with the blocks? Could I build a small shed with them?
Thanks,
Antonio
@antonio_bustamante Hi and sorry for the late reply. Great questions by the way.
The blocks are made from ABS plastic (the same type as LEGO's). From what I gather it is amongst the most durable and heat resistant (with little to no expansion in real word heat) type of commercial plastic used today.
The connection between the blocks are not particularly strong. Right now we have designed in for about 1kg pull apart force. Structures made from them actually derive their weight bearing quality from the unique nestling system that helps spread any load placed on them across the blocks.
Up to 5 or 6 blocks joined horizontally can bear a lot of weight (think human adult). The small table/stool in the video is 5 blocks across and as you see easily supports an adult. Beyond that we recommend adding a support right in the middle (i.e. between every 7 blocks across or so) if you plan to put really heavy things (bowling ball?) on it. That being said we are working on an improved design that should increase this limit further, which will incorporated in the version shipped out to backers. So in essence, yes it could build an adult sized table but it would take too many of the current sized blocks to make it stable.
That being said we would love to make much larger sized blocks or large unique pieces that employ the same nestling system that can be used to create larger structures such as adult tables and sheds. The largest thing we have to date is the castle. I know it there is nothing there to give a perspective of its size, but my 5 year old son can sit within it.
At your service,
Dev
I really like this concept. Great job! Here's a couple thoughts you can take with a grain of salt.
- could you scale them up a bit? The example table in your gif is tiny, seems impractical
- the name Aran is likely to be misspelled if people only hear it, and not read it. They could hear it and then they might google "Erin" or "Aaron" blocks.
- need blacks and grays, greens... basically more colors! Being from Denver I immediately think of the Broncos with these colors, which is probably a plus for many, but not others.
@inorganik Thanks Jamie. The design could be absolutely be scaled up to make larger more practical structures. We made it small for now so it would be suitable for desktop furniture and as a children toy. A proof of concept if you will. By the way have you checked out our Kickstarter campaign page? There are some more examples of what the blocks can make.
We already have the blocks in black. Grey and green are definitely in the plans.
I think my son Aran would be very very disappointed if I changed the name of the blocks :)
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I can definitely see my son loving these blocks and being so proud after building real useable furniture! Kind of like Melissa & Doug Mega Blocks meets Ikea meets Lego :)
@joannagiselle@kullar Thanks guys. Just to share with you a story on how much kids like Aran Blocks: During the Sydney Makers Faire parents would come to our booth with their kids and frequently would have to either drag (I exaggerate but not by much) their kids away after a while or leave them at our booth to play with the blocks while they explore the rest of the faire. One kid was at our booth for literally 2 hours straight (his mom kept checking on him of course). Not to make too much of a sales pitch but our Kickstarter campaign is a great way to get the blocks at great discounts. Thanks again and hope you have a pleasant day.
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