Designing Dream Machines

This video gave me new insight in to what being and industrial designers really means. most of the past videos we have watched have been about designers practicing what i like to call "selfish design". for example, ross langrove and his stairs.

This video, however, focused on teamwork and the process that industrial designers take to reach the final product. one of the eye opening things that i noticed was how much research and time was spent in investigating the product. its not all just about waiting for the perfect idea to hit you. As well as this, the designers have to work very closely with the client as well as each other as its not an individual that matters but the needs of the client and those the design is ultimately for.

Going through this year and designing for myself has given me almost a false understanding of industrial design, but after watching this video some wrongs have been righted.

Treasuring Time

This is the memory mug. i find that the time when i usually reminisce about memories the most is when i'm relaxing with a cup of coffee so i designed a coffee mug that would aid with that process. this mug is made of thermo chromatic material and has writing on it in black and white that would stimulate memories of different events in a persons life.

Bad design

The bad design that i have chosen to focus on is this elevator controls located in china town. Looking at the buttons of this elevator you'd be forgiven if you thought that the buttons with the arrows are actually the buttons. in reality the button is that white square at the bottom of the panel.


This bad design is misleading in 2 ways. first, the real button that you should be pressing to summon the lift is right toward the bottom of the panel making it hard to notice. secondly and more obviously misleading are the arrows located on the two "buttons" at the top of the panel which actually are just there to light up and show you that the lift is either going up or down.

One way to fix this would be to make the real button more visible and obvious and try to cover up the other two misleading buttons. I personally would completely take this panel out and replace it but the cheaper option which you can see being taken here, is to is to physically put a piece of paper indicating where the real button is.

Flat Packed Present

For this assignment i designed a cardboard DIY camera for children. This inexpensive camera allows the child to spend quality time with their parent(s) building the camera, learning about how a camera works as well as the satisfaction of taking and developing real photos using the camera they made.

The story of stuff

That was quite an interesting vide although I have no idea what to say about it. What I got out of it was that we are damaging our planet really badly, but I guess it’s kind of been said so many times that it isn’t really anything new. What I did like about the video was the animations. It kept my attention even though I didn’t particularly enjoy the video as a whole. I guess since the past few generations of designers have created this system of consumerism it is our duty as designers now aware of the problem to fix it.

Product Redesign

Product

The magic spoon and chopstick for children.


Purpose

To help children keep interested at meal times and teach them how to use the chopstick in a non frustrating way.


Target market

Children from ages 3 to 6


Design features

1. Chopstick on one end, spoon on the other to allow the child to pick which they would prefer to use on different types of food.

2. Polydiacethylenes spoon head that allows the spoon to change color at different temperatures which would amuse and hopefully engage the child at dinnertimes.

3. Safe blunt tips on the ends of the chopsticks to prevent the child from stabbing themselves.


The 4 pleasures

Sketches

Embryo Chair by Marc Newson (Inspired! Design Across Time)

I loved the bubbly nature of this chair and how it only had 3 legs. It looked so playful and fun that i decided to sketch it. it also allowed me to practice sketching curves.

Michael Hirst Chair by Clement Meadore (Modern Times: Modernism in Australia)

This chair drew my attention to it because of how fragile it looked but how sturdy it really was.



Kambrook Electric Kettle (EcoLogic: Creating a Sustainable Future)

Although this kettle doesnt look that interesting, i decided to sketch it because i loved the simplicity of its design. doesnt the function its set out to do while having a very simple design.



'PV-1' Exhaust Fume Filtration Unit by Brook Tait Styles (Australian International Design Awards)

The thing that drew me to this product at first was the colours and just the physical design of the object. I had no idea what it did until after i sketched it and found out that it was used to detect harmful substances.

Paul Bennett: Design is in the details

Bennett is very focused on the idea of the small details of life that people take for granted and using those small details to fuel design and solutions. Stuff as mundane as using a pole to rest your bicycle against or tying your teabag string around your cup handle creates an idea that can potentially become a design. He explains that a lot of designs are staring you right in the face and we don’t even know it which after watching this video, I strongly agree with.

Another point Bennett made was that every aspect of a situation has to be considered when designing a product. Not only what the user perceives to be their need but also the uncurious needs that they do not notice. Two of the illustrations he used for this was when nurses felt they needed a new two handed gadget for spinal surgery but when more closely examined, they situation that most nurses found themselves in would only allow them the use of one hand and thus the brief and design had to be modified. The second illustration was that of one of the Ikea designers redesigning storage for kids. To do this he had to completely forget about the conventions of storage and think like a child which resulted in a very unusual way to store things.

Yves Behar: Creating objects that tell stories

Usually when one thinks design, they think ergonomics, function or aesthetics but very rarely do they think values. That was what this video was trying to drive home, the important of values in design. Most of his designs have human values in mind, for example the water bottles for more healthy drinks as well as a an ingenious “toy” that encourages imagination and the $100 laptop was designed with the thought of less fortunate children in mind which ultimately directed the design.

As well as values, Behar also touches on the “full human experience” which is what he kept in mind when working on a few of his projects. He didn’t want to just “reskin” the old technology but completely overhaul the design from the inside out working on every aspect of the design to create a completely new experience as well as a design. This is something I feel to be quite important as design isn’t just about stealing an idea and tweaking it but should be about a completely new way of doing something or thinking.

Ross Lovegrove: The power and beauty of organic design

After watching that video I cant get past how huge an ego that man has although not much can be said about it because he has designed and worked on some very beautifully and interesting designs. About his opinion about more organic design in the future I cant help but to wonder if that is truly the path the industry is taking. I do believe that design may become more environmentally aware and may use organic matter as inspiration but I cant agree on everything that lovegrove proposes. A lot of his designs seem to be more art than product and this may suit him just fine but looking into the future, the function and practicality of the product must be in a balance with the ascetics and sustainability of the design. I think the main take-home message I get from this video is that belief in ones ideas are essential to design success, however the ability to take onboard other ideas and opinions are just as important.

David Kelley: The future of design is human-centered

After watching that video I am quite inspired and excited about the direction in which the design world is heading. The ideas and concepts that were presented in the video all show a much stronger human centered and environment centered approach to technology that seems to be catching on and growing. From the Prada store becoming more interactive and becoming a completely new shopping experience to the ease of scuba diving without even getting wet, the advances in technology is quite refreshing and I can’t help but be excited about the future.

Good Design

Ezy-As





The Ezy-As is a pressure garment applicator that can be used for both arms and legs. It was primarily designed and manufactured to reduce the pain, time and effort involved in putting on these garments. The device itself is made from a durable, high-impact plastic and comes in three sizes, small, medium and large. It allows patients to put on a wide range of compression garments including knee high or full leg stockings either open or closed toe, tubular bandages including the shaped support style, travel socks and arm gauntlets as well as others.

Line – The lines are quite ridged and straight and although there are some curves to the design, the lines are there for purpose and functionality rather than ascetics.


Balance – The only point of balance for the Ezy-As is its larger “u” shaped base on which it is suppose to stand.


Contrast – The ridged straight corners and lines of the outer side contrast to the smooth round curves of the back side of the Ezy-As. Each has and serves a different purpose.


Form – It has a cheap, ridged looking, “get the job done” form that makes it look durable and simplistic to use.


Colour – The colour provides a quick reference to the different sizes while also giving it a lively feel in the hospital or clinical setting.


Texture – Smooth, durable plastic created by injection molding.


Proportion – Solid colour and shape. Larger at the bottom to allow for more balance when the product is not in use.

For more information about the Ezy-As please visit:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/video/default.htm?program=newinventors&pres=20070704_2000&story=1

http://www.ezyasabc.com/

http://www.designawards.com.au/application_detail.jsp?status=4&applicationID=3442

Shape of a scent

For our first class in ides 1031 we were given separate scents and told to create a container for them. The container had to reflect every aspect of the scent we were given. The scent my group was given turned out to be a perfume by Cindy Crawford. This is the shape I came up with:

The shape reflects how I interpreted the smell. The smooth fragile petal like base was my representation of the fragile, subtle and smooth smell I experienced when I first smelt the fragrance. After smelling the fragrance for awhile, however, I found it became a lot stronger and had a more raw potent smell. I represented this by the center “bud” of the shape which I made by ripping the plasticine to create a “raw” look about it.