Reading Reflection Number 8 son!

In chapters 9-10 in Heskett's reading, he covers material about context and futures. About context, I found the three contextual influences to design practice interesting. I think this is definitely the most important element of design because this could make or break a product or could even bring up legal issues. Now along with futures, I got that design and methods are evolving every single day.  Designers should remember this because if we don't try to evolve products then nothing would get better.

Coleman Project Progress!

Links to group members' blogs:
Alex Niedzwiecki
Alicia Wyatt
Anne Deis
Catalina Hernandez
Zach Bobich

For our design project so far, we have toyed with the idea of something for the home, naturally. But we also want to incorporate Coleman's products that can withstand extremities, otherwise being durable. We also wanted it to be something that families can use.
At first we thought of coming up with a lamp/flashlight combination product. But Catalina came up with a really cool and innovative idea to make something to keep food warm. She drew out one that looked like a shamrock to represent the coming holiday. It had sections that could be removed from the base so it was easy to wash. These parts also keep the food warm and cold.
We then improvised this product to make it look more versatile instead of seasonal so it can be used at any time. We are still trying to finalize everything but it's going to work like the shamrock design.
I have been contributing with research on what materials to use for the design. So far everything is going good except there has been some tension and people getting offensive (Sorry, I'm not trying to start trouble but it's true). Regardless, we have made a lot of solid progress. Pictures coming soon!

Reading Reflection 7!

In this week's reading, the idea of a cradle to cradle model was introduced. Basically, a cradle to cradle model is the result of when something happens then it causes another reaction and the process goes back and forth. Basically, when something dies it helps the environment in the long run. This makes sense to me because new things in the environment can grow from that. As the chapters go on, a point is made that all things should be designed differently. I agree since different designs need to be adapted to certain environments. Finally, I realized that as a designer, I am going to work to create things that are going to benefit my environment and the places I live so not only I can live a healthy life but so can the people around me. If we don't do something now, we are going to have severe problems in the near future and they will come fast.

Class Reflection number 7!

Since I wasn't in class on Monday, I'll talk about Wednesday and what I learned. We watched a few short videos by Charles & Ray Eames, learning the ways of design which was very useful because it was almost like these films were a breakdown of different aspects of the design process. Also, we broke up into our groups for our next assignment that is making me very anxious.

Online Scavengar Hunt!

5 Links to Retailers/Manufacturers of Outdoor Recreation/Camping products(links):
- Century Camping
- Coleman
- The North Face
- Slumberjack
- VauDe Sports
3 Images from Outdoor Trade Show Booths:


Timbaland Outdoor Equipment


Deuter

Magnet Clothing

5 Manufacturers of Indoor Home Goods (links):
- Ace Hardware
- Waterloo Gardens
- Home Depot
- Crate and Barrel
- Lowes

3 Images from the Indoor Home Goods market:


Resource International


Luxx Box

Indoor Gardening Expo

What is an indoor home good?

An indoor home good is a product used inside a household to serve a purpose or carry out an action inside the home.

Possible Home Goods:

Letterforms in Design!

Can you guess what letters are in the designs above?

Reading Reflection 6!

In McDonough's Cradle to Cradle, chapters 1-3, it talks about the Industrial Age and its effects on the environment from the materials used to how they are disposed, how people tried to reverse these effects from factory dangers, and the way people can read books from libraries, internet, or recycled paper books, like Cradle to Cradle. I think the author makes a good point on how we should use these materials because greenhouse emissions will be reduced and it's an innovative way to use materials again and again. If all books were made out of recycled material, think of how much that would save nature. Everything is made out of paper basically so I think we should definitely consider this an option in future designs.

Class Reflection number 6!

Last week's class was by far the most interesting because we watched the Rip!: A Remix Manifesto, which is mainly about copyright infringement and illegal downloading of music to simply make remixes. I absolutely 100% find this to be a violation to our rights as citizens to express our creativity. Also, I find it ignorant that the artist of the songs, when charges are filed against the illegal downloaders, do not get compensation for this. It's just very petty and a way for companies to get money. It should be up to the artist to decide if charges should be filed. After all, these companies would not have money if it wasn't for these artist creating this music. Girl Talk should be able to remix these songs because even the celebrities enjoy it just as much as regular fans do. I really learned a lot about these legal issues because design goes the same way like music does so I know now to be cautious with what I will and will not do when it comes to the point where I have to design my own product and market it.

Design and the Environment

For this blog, I decided to base my sources off of design and environment because out of all the topics we covered last week in class, I thought this was interesting and vital to the creation of a design. So here are five sources that caught my eye.

Source #1:

John Hardy, an environmental designer, created a school for children in Bali out of bamboo. All activities and materials used in the school are environmentally friendly. For example, all chalkboards are made out of bamboo and the meals are cooked with organic food on sawdust fires. This relates to a few of the 6 Stages in Product Life, even though this may not be a "product", because of the choice of materials, manufacturing, and use are what makes this design so innovative to the examples of environmental design.

I just thought this was really interesting because our environment is suffering from the way people create things and this is just a way to show with careful thought that anything is possible. This school is going on for three years with about 160 students so it is very successful. I think designers could use this as an example for their future designs, also. If they didn't exactly build a school out of bamboo, one could incorporate, for example the bamboo chalkboards, in classrooms. It's a start.

Source #2:

link:  Ducha Halo: Portable Shower

Scrolling down the page nearly halfway, a team of designers from the Art Center College of Design was sent to Chile to solve a problem in a community relating to the water availability and lack of running water systems, such as showers. In this project, the team created an expensive, environmetally friendly shower that is nearly $17 dollars that uses a simple pump, valves and hosing that yields a 15-minute long hand shower with water heated over coals. It is very convenient to the environment because it's timed in water usage. One won't be able to excessively use the water amd waste it.

I found this very interesting because of the way it is inexpensive, does not consume excessive energy, and doesn't waste unnecessary resouces. This will not only help the environment through conservation of materials but will help out the community that is lacking such technology. The simplicity of the product is very important, also.

Source #3:

Link: Go Watch-less!

For this source, an author of a blog gives reasons why someone should not wear a watch and the environmental advantages to doing so. The main point is most people don't need watches, so the advantage would be people can reduce packaging and manufacturing of batteries and noble metals. Less of that means more to nature.

I never realized this in a way this author has. I think less battery packaging would be important because the harmeful metals and chemicals used to make batteries are very damanging to the environment and harmful to people as well. This viewpoint should be encouraged more.

Source #4:

Link to site: OFFECCT

I discovered this website that designs furniture through benefit of environmental design. The company OFFECCT uses Scandanavian traditions to create pieces, like this sofa, to benefit the ecosystem. All materials used are recyclable, which is something we discussed in class as a helpful tip.

I think this is a very innovative way to showing the advancment of design. The most important thing that stood out to me about this company was the way they produce their designs is considering the emission of pollution so they can reduce greenhouse gases. Companies, in my opinion, should pay attention to issues like this because anything we can do will save our planet.

 

 

Source #5:

 

Link: Candy Wrapper Chair

 

Emiliano Godoy teamed up with Ecoist to create a chair made out of candy wrappers and wood called the 'Snowjob'. It is made out of materials that haven't been recycled yet but could be so one of the wrappers has the recycle logo visible on the chair (except the wrappers haven't officially found a purpose to be recycled). Plus, it is appealing to the consumers who would possibly buy this product.

I think it is appealing the way the chair looks and once I learned what it was made of I was much more interested in buying it. The way the materials can all be recyled makes me support the idea even more because reuse, refill, and recycle are the three motivations to environmental design, which is exactly what this chair conveys through its purpose.

Reading Reflection 5!

In McDonough's  introduction to Cradle to Cradle, he explained how some things that we use today are made with toxic materials that aren't told to us when we are buying that "great chair". Some of these materials cause health problems that we are oblivious to. So, he and his partner Braungart are trying to revolutionize the way of design by helping out the environment, making materials Earth-friendly. Bill is inspired by his experiences abroad in Japan with how their homes were built with paper walls to the scarcity of resources like water. Michael created the EPEA to encourage environmental research. I think these guys are the evolution to future design because if designers of now don't consider the environment then nature and where we get our resources to make the things we need and want will run out and we won't be able to reproduce them since they come from a natural source. As concluded at the end of the intro, nature really doesn't have. People do. I couldn't agree more. We are the only ones that can make a difference!

Class Reflection Number 5!

Last week, we learned about the usage of color. Even though I knew some color meanings, some of them also were a bit of a surprise. For example, the color pink means beauty which I never knew. Also, white conveys purity, which is also a shock. I also learned that color is crucial to design because it gives a product a certain mood, psychology, hierarchy, and marketing. This now makes sense because as I think of how I choose an item to buy, the color does make a huge difference. Aside from color, we also learned about Environmental Design that evokes sustainability, is humanistic, and based on ecology. I think this needs/will be the evolution to design because of how the ozone layer is depleting with pollution and landfills. The 6 stages in Product Life is something designers of this age need to look at if they want to save the environment and improve it's condition because in reality, the earth IS getting warmer and warmer. To go with this, we watched four short videos about product design like this. One that stuck out to me the most was Michael Pritchard's water filtration bottle that, one, is an easy and affordable product to unfortunate countries that cannot afford an actual filtration system and two, is very effective and safe to the environment. This design saves thousands of lives by preventing tainted water intake from children and their families. I believe this is the revolution of design, making something so simple so effective in helping save lives with just a few pumps of a bottle. The filters are disposable and environmentally safe. Last week's lecture was very eye opening to the way people should look at design through helping others and making the world a better and easier place, which I admire.

50 Things!

My neighborhood:

1. All of the businesses are in the middle of town.
2. The houses are closer together when one gets closer to the center of town.
3. Churches are all on the outside of town.
4. Last mailbox on my street is mine because my house is on the outside of town.
5. Older houses are made out of brick.
6. Town is surrounded by rural land/farms.
7. All town buildings are made out of bricks/concrete.
8. Side roads are gravel.
9. No trees in the busy part of town.
10. Town business buildings are symmetrical.
11. Restaurant, bank, market, gas station, etc. are all in walking distance.
12. Sidewalks are all deteriorated.
13. About 95% of houses have siding.
14. I also noticed that pretty much all houses as you are leaving town has a garage.
15. All cars going in town park on the side of the street.
16. Farmers' houses are all located away from the farm.
17. The nicer and bigger houses of the town are located on the outside of the village.
18. All the houses on my street are designed the same.
19. I noticed that most of the houses have white trim around the windows and they are all the same size.
20. Most houses on my street going out of town are located on a hill.
21. The streets have many potholes.
22. There are no crosswalks.
23. All streets connect to the two main roads in town.
24. All the businesses are old buildings.
25. All businesses are in one connected building complex.
26. The two different apartment complexes are next to each other.
27. As you leave town going south, the houses get newer.
28. As you head north down my street, farm houses are much more popular.
29. The cemetary's fence is from the 1800s.
30. The small bridge is the oldest piece to the town.
31. There is no police department or police force.
32. Firehydrants are located every other street corner.
33. There is a street with two story houses only.
34. All houses on my street are connected with a gravel alley.
35. My street has no center/edge lines.
36. The corporation line is marked by a creek that runs through half the town.
37. Roofs on the houses are all shingles.
38. Farm house and barn roofs are all metal.
39. The cemetary is grouped in categories. Military, family, alphabetical, etc.
40. Cemetary headstones are made out of black granite if they are newer.
41. Military headstones are made out of stone.
42. Street signs are green.
43. There is one central traffic light.
44. Everyone on my street drives a truck or SUV.
45. I noticed my street does not have street drains.
46. The elderly live in the southern part of town.
47. If a house has a driveway, it's a long one not close to the road.
48. All streets have a stop sign, literally.
49. The street lights are motion activated to conserve energy.
50. The majority of houses have two stories and a basement.