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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!
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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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...
Starting to grow on me, loving it more are more by the second! Do you know a release date? :)
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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.
It always surprises me the things kids like. I took my nephew to the natural history museum and he was bored with the dinosaurs but spent an incredible amount of time in the geology room with rocks - most of them identical. Also, if a kid were to build a toy that an adult actually uses (laptop stand, seat) I reckon it's pretty damn cool for a kid to see it being used :) Forget toys, make real stuff!!!
Hi All,
I wanted to do this yesterday but was not sure if it was in the spirit of PH. But now that I have the go ahead, we would like to offer PH members the following discounts for backing our project:
PH backers will receive $5 off 50 blocks set, $10 off 100 blocks set, $20 off 200 blocks set, $30 off 500 blocks set. To pledge, claim the $1 reward & pledge the correct amount for the reward you want less the discount. Please do add shipping. Thanks.
@sandochee@bydanm I know you guys have backed us already and will figure out a way to get you a refund or extra blocks if the campaign is successful. I hope this would be ok.
Full disclosure: We made the same offer to Backers Club members.
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