Rocky Bergen uses his many years of design experience to produce illustrations and visualizations as his primary form of expression. The most apparent theme in his work involves connecting with his past through appropriation of design forms and user experience from the 70's, 80's and 90's.
Arduwatch - Naturals Line - Orange and Green I am a fan of tiny portable handhelds, and one if the coolest and smallest, is the Arduboy , a 1-bit miniature game system. It’s the size of a credit card and features this impossibly crisp display. I bought a Arduboy a long time ago and still enjoy playing around with it today. I have also been making mock Arduboy game graphics for a years and I guess…
Book Box is a system of tiny outdoor library kiosks distributed throughout a city area. I was first inspired to create an outdoor library kiosk one afternoon back last summer while going for a walk around my neighbourhood. I stumbled upon a house that had a “tiny library” box in their front yard. I always like to take a peek into these libraries whenever I run across one. It then dawned on me that…
Cat in a pod in a loft I love cats, so every few months I try to think of a project for them. I have designed a couple of different play structures and a cat bed so far. Today, I introduce Cat Pods, made from 4mm thick paperboard in a variety of different colourways. Learning 3D is helping me to design objects that would have been practically impossible to illustrate or fully conceive using only…
LT-65 was designed as a portable Commodore back in the 2010 I was approached by a company back in 2010 to help develop a portable computer in the spirit of the Commodore 65. While I wish the experience had been more positive, I ultimately left the team and took my design with me. Now, over 10 years later, I finally have the 3D modelling skills to more fully flush out some of my old designs. The…
Get your fingers ready… I mentioned in a previous post, that my high school Computer Science teacher lugged his old PET machine to out school back in 1992 and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It’s easy to forget that without the ubiquity of the internet, the world was full of secret wonders. Even though I have grown up with a Commodore 64, I had never laid eyes on the psychedelic wonder that…
The New Vintage Chronograph blends modern styling with plenty of vintage cues. I am pleased to present my latest New Vintage Chronograph watch design. I am very happy how this design turned out. This is also the first example of a design that I have brought into the third dimension with Cinema4D. I am new to C4D and basically 3D in general, but the individual elements of watches are made up of…
Polish fans will recognize the Pixel brand in today’s papercraft and many will also be familiar with the retro publications released by Chris Wilkins. If you are at all familiar with the retro scene chances are fairly good you’ve come across Retro Fusion Books . Many of you will be familiar with Chris Wilkin’s popular “In Pixels” series of books (I have a few). Robert Łapiński at Pixel is heading…
Waxwings in our Mountain Ash. I noticed some pretty crazy bird activity in our backyard. It turned out a huge number of Waxwings were after the berries in our mountain ash. My car was covered in berry coloured poop. I think the footage I was lucky to capture was more than worth it.
I was first introduced to the blue Commodore PET with the colourful chicklet keys by my Computer Science teacher back in 1990 and the form factor has been an influence ever since. The link to the PET papercraft can be found at the end of this post. The Commodore PET has consistently been one of the most requested models but I have held off on making one as there already was a pretty great one on…
Bergen “New Vintage” chronograph design I am starting to see some positive momentum on the watch design front. Each time I re-approach this octagonal case shape, I happier with the refinements. The latest design in this series is a unique take on a vintage bicompax-style chronograph. This design is meant to house a Seagull ST19 chronograph movement, a clone of the Venus 175. Seagull ST19, Venus…
I have been trying to build my watch design skills for for several years now. My goal is to design easy to read, design-forward pieces that will stand out in a crowd for both their looks and build quality. I part of my design process I have begun to exploit my papercrafting skills to create true-to-scale paper representations. I am also beginning to swap out textures as you can see in the images…
The BBC Microcomputer was a staple of computer literacy for kids growing up in the 80’s in the UK. The download to the BBC Microcomputer model is available at the bottom of this article. I grew in Canada in the 80s and spent my elementary school years surrounded by Apple II computers. While not an official government scheme, I suspect many North American school kids my age will have seen the…
Apple Macintosh 128K - The computer that “started it all”, complete with bundled software. The free Apple Macintosh papercraft pattern can be found at the end of this post. The Macintosh came out in January of 1984, just one year after Apple launched the ill-fated Lisa computer. While Lisa introduced early adopters to modern computing, the Macintosh brought these concepts to the masses. Using a…
Papercraft computers on display in their new home. I teamed up with non-profit in Spain, Fundación Proconsi to help raise funds for people who have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. As you may know, Spain was a country that has been hit pretty hard by this illness. The retro papercraft designs were auctioned off and the organization received a food donation of 500L of milk in exchange for…
My girlfriend requested a VIC-20. I didn’t know but in the early days she grew up programming on one. This Commodore VIC-20 pattern can be downloaded at the bottom of this post. I wanted to send out a tremendous thank you to all the new followers and visitors to the site. I know many people might be looking for: 1. unique things to do 2. at home 3. on a limited budget 4. using available supplies.…
Bergen Octo - Stainless Steel Watch - Front View - Latest Version The Bergen Octo is an octagonal watch design I have been playing around with for the past few months now. Pictured above is the most recent version of the design to pass judgement at the “Bergen Watch Factory” which only really exists as an ongoing design exercise. Watches while simple to grasp as an object require a great deal of…
LisaGraph detail I recently completed an intro sequence for David Greelish’s upcoming documentary Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa . As my familiarity of the Lisa focuses on the system’s design language, I decided the best way to highlight the innovations of the the Lisa was through The Lisa Office System. The Lisa Office System is a collection of seven applications similar to Microsoft’s Office…
My Hero is the only Sega Card game I own, but it’s a good one. The Sega Master System papercraft pattern can be downloaded at the end of this post. I was probably 11 when I first saw the Sega Master System on display at our local Home Hardware store. It was the Christmas Holiday season and on display was the system kiosk running Hang-on. I had already seen the NES in action by then and I could…
The Dancing Demon has as much character as an ASCII-type creature can have and made for an excellent if unofficial product mascot. Some computers I know really well. I grew up around Apples and Commodores but when it comes to the Tandy / Radio Shack series of computers released throughout out the early half of the 80’s I don’t know much. When it came to Radio Shack computers I have always been…
Apple’s Lisa 1 was launched in January of 83. Geared towards the business market, Lisa ultimately was instrumental in the design of the more successful Macintosh line of computers. I am very happy to present to you the Apple Lisa papercraft pattern which can be found at the bottom of this post. This was the third pattern I created behind the Amstrad CPC 64 and Commodore 64. My confidence must have…