Bill Moggridge - What is design?

Bill Moddgridge reflects on the good and bad aspects of design in the video. He uses many examples of what a good design and a bad design is and elaborates why the design is good or bad. In his talk he also elaborates about the difference of design, whether its industrial design, fashion design, graphic design and architecture.

Moddgride deeply elaborates the good and bad aspects of design in todays society and around the world. An example of bad design he talks about is the i-mode cell phone service. he showed a video of the service being used to purchase a drink from a vending machine, however the whole process of purchasing a drink took 35 minutes. in theory this servie would have worked well, but the designer didnt realise the fact that the service will not work well in a real life scenario beacuse it will just take way too long. this is a reason why a designer would have to explore and prototype their designs to further understand the design and how it would work, which is an important aspect in the process of design.

Moddgride also discusses the importance of designing for people. he emphasises that designers shouldnt design a certain product for themselves, but intead they should design for a wide variety of people with different age, build, ethnicity etc. a designer should thorougly undertsand how different people are by analysing information gathered and observing how different people are.

After watching this video i have learnt the difference between good and bad design and why they are good or bad. i also learnt that as a designer, the design process is extremely important in order to understand a design and if it will be succesful of not.

PEER COMMENTS

Jan Gerardino - http://janraymondgerardino.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycled-utility.html?showComment=1318860914463#c5542042563792048380

Sunprit Singh - http://sunprit.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycled-utility-rationale-i-chose-to.html?showComment=1318921581892#c2023041487715060432

Mathew Caraig - http://mfredrick.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycled-utility.html?showComment=1318921364160#c3866266122774539637

Clement Yoong - http://clementyoongides1031.blogspot.com/2011/10/project-2-upcycled-utility.html?showComment=1318921931277#c6318394245860367077

Robert Vlahovic - http://robertvlahovic.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-post.html?showComment=1318922267184#c3169227478412779327

PROJECT 2 : UPCYCLED UTILITY

PRODUCT POSTER

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS

CUTTING DIAGRAM

RATIONALE

The brief challenges us to create an elegant mood or accent lamp out of used advertising posters. The way i wanted to go about designing the lamp was to only use straight strips which was quite a challenge. The material of the poster can be manipulated in many ways, but i wanted to let the material let form itself which is why i chose to loop the strips. The brief also askes us to make the lamp flat-packable, which was a major factor in considering a design for this project and i beleive i have achieved this goal. My design for this lamp is able to fit in a 42x13x6.5cm box, which will reduce shipping costs and enviromental costs. The design itself is inspired by the form of a cocoon, which is a very natural form. The two layers both illuminate differently, which is what i tried to achieve, and this gives it more depth. Overall my design is very simple and elegant.

Annie Leonard - video reflection

The story of stuff at first reminds me an important part of our everyday behaviours. Simply to raise our attentions to the environment sounds simple as described in the video however hard to achieve. With US as an example, it clearly shows what has been told and warned isn’t enough to change our attitudes on everyday consumptions.

From the beginning of the video I thought this was just another greenie production to point out the obvious as it began by retelling the basic assumed processes and stages of a product which eventually ends up as waste. However the story builds as further emphasis and elaborations have been included about who is causing this inefficient and unsustainable cycle. To just an individual making a difference doesn’t seem to have one slightest chance, especially as mentioned throughout the video; the major causer or players to this wastage system are the government and the corporations with the power. But it reminds us that if each and one of us all think as such there will be no change as we as a world play part to the change.

As the video continues it gives more in-depth definition to this production and consumer cycle however the result is always the same. It concludes to say no matter the power spend to extract resources, the workers labour and the money spent by consumers it all ends up being trash within 6months. This made me think closer about the product than our behaviour. Ultimately I realised design does have a major impact on how the user will treat it mentally and eventually determine how he/she will use it and throw it away. As mentioned in the video this doesn’t count the disposable items such as paper cups and plastic bags, it was bigger products like electronics and other large material demanding products. If a person treats the product depending on its value then it is possible to design things to make people treat it better.

In essence the biggest heads up from this video is to relate this known sustainability problem to our design career not just our daily lives. To be aware of our impact and ability to change a person’s judgment on a product can most definitely affect his/her options on treating a product well and the desire to keep it for longer. This might be a first thought for us against planned obsolesces.

Peer Comments

Jan Gerardino-http://janraymondgerardino.blogspot.com/2011/09/experience-enrichment-pen-with.html?showComment=1315911704183#c1905021207718282603

Matthew Caraig-http://mfredrick.blogspot.com/2011/09/experience-enrichment-kitchen-tongs.html?showComment=1315912514347#c3564581869840155500

Pamela Ablang-http://pamablang.blogspot.com/2011/09/model-journey.html?showComment=1315912849259#c6411891583677279316

Ryan Go-http://ryan-go.blogspot.com/2011/09/experience-enrichment-ez-grate.html?showComment=1316008717353#c7010879005224448024


Clement Yoong-http://clementyoongides1031.blogspot.com/2011/09/project-one-experience-enrichment.html?showComment=1315913787916#c2242910648796622479

Project One: Experience Enrichment

Hero Shot -

Product Usage Storyboard-

Rationale-

My redesign of a pizza slicer is an organically formed slicer that is comfortable and easy to use. The product is designed to be targeted at an upper-class adult who enjoys cooking for themselves, family and friends or for those you admire organically shaped products that are fun and vibrant. The intended target market would want something that has an eye-catching form, but is also pleasurable and easy to use.

 I intended the design of my pizza slicer to have an organic and flowing form that is meaningful. I wanted to design something completely different from current pizza slicers in the market, which I believe I have achieved, however it is still recognisable as a pizza slicer. The simplistic and organic form isn’t accidental. It is designed to fit perfectly in the hand and the meaningful curves hold the hand into place, which makes it difficult for the slicer to slip out of the hand when using it and also means that the slicer doesn’t require any kind of rubbery grip. This also means that the user would be able to cut a pizza easier by requiring less strength to hold on to the slicer. Current pizza slicers on the market are very similar and usually have a handle and a wheel attached. I tried to make those two features into one form by deliberately incorporating the curvy and organic features which goes well with the cutting wheel as a form. The design also easily communicates where to hold the product and also suggests which way to cut the pizza in. 

My pizza slicer is made from plastic and is hollow on the inside, which means that it uses less material and makes it light weight, but also gives it the bulk that makes it fell solid and comfortable. The body of the slicer will be made in two plastic parts. The blade is made from a high grade stainless steel which makes cutting pizzas a breeze.

Technical Drawing-

product sketching

Design Career

Ever since the start of my senior years in high school, I’ve always wanted to pursue a career where I’m able to create and produce things, so looked at design as a possible career choice. Initially I knew nothing about industrial design and I was considering studying courses like graphic design or architecture, but I was really keen on architecture. Once I learnt about industrial design I knew that this was what I wanted a future career in. I want to become a designer because I love to create things and work out ways I can make an existing product more useful and easier to use. However I mainly want to become a designer so that I can make peoples’ lives easier and more enjoyable and maybe one day I hope to design a range of products that can help the sick and disabled.  Being a designer not only means that I’m able to create something beautiful, but I want to be able to create something that can makes someone’s life better and easier.

I was never surrounded by anything related to design when I was younger, so my passion for design was sparked by curiosity and the creativity I gained during my younger years. At a young age I was always interested in how things would work, which led me to take many things apart so that I can see how a certain object is made and how it works. I’ve always enjoyed the practical subjects at school such as woodwork, metalwork and visual arts, which also exploited my creative side. These subjects have pushed my creative side and have made me really interested in being a designer and had made design a possible career choice for my future. However, a subject such as design and technology wasn’t offered at my school, so the world of industrial design and the design process was still new to me until I started uni.

When I made the choice to study industrial design I looked at different universities that offered it and upon further research I knew UNSW was the right place to study. However, my terrible HSC marks meant that there was no chance for me to get into UNSW, but I did get accepted into UWS. So after a year at UWS I transferred to UNSW. I chose to study at UNSW because of the great facilities it has to offer and also the learning environment. The design studio courses is what mostly attracted me to UNSW because it’s a working design environment and will smoothly transition us from the study of design to working in a design industry, which will be greatly beneficial.

DESIGN CONFUSION!!

Design Excellence - Oates Sqwivel Mop

David Kelley - Human-Centred Design

David Kelley’s talk on human centred design was really insightful and clearly outlined the importance of human centred design. David talks about how designers these days are now focusing on human centred design. Human centred design involves designing behaviours and personality into products, which according to David Kelley, makes the job more enjoyable. 

In the talk, David Kelley presents us with a few different examples that he had worked on that are great examples for human centred design, which include the Prada store, the installation, the cubicle, Spyfish and Approtec.  These examples show different ways an individual can interact with a product or environment, so that the individual can feel engaged with the product or environment. 

The Prada store is a great example of human centred design. Their goal was to conceive technology for the retail store that gives the store a cultural role as well as a retail one, which meant actually designing custom technology as opposed to just buying things off the shelf and putting them to use. One example of the technology used in the Prada store that was designed around an individual is the dressing rooms. These dressing rooms have features such as a touch screen where the user can use to get different types of information about the clothing that they chose. The different technological features of the Prada store make the experience for the shopper better, because they shopper is at control of many things, so that they are engaged in the whole experience.

In the past, companies where designing their products without designing around the human taken into consideration, which led to a lack of emotion and value the user had with the product. The new trend of human centred design makes for an engaging and immersive experience the user has with the product and a sense of value is gained from this experience. This talk has opened my eyes and made me understand the importance of human centred design.

Don Norman - Emotional Design

Don Norman's talk on emotional design was very interesting and engaging. This talk has made me realise the importance of the aesthetics of a design and how it can trigger different emotions. He talks about the beauty of design and how that can affect a person’s emotion by making them happy, and also how aesthetics can attract a consumer rather than the function, but both should be taken into consideration.

There are three levels of emotion mentioned in the talk, which all can determine the way we perceive a design. These levels are visceral, behavioural and reflective. The first level is visceral. The visceral level of processing is subconscious because we are unaware of it. We have co-adapted through biology to like and dislike certain things. These likes and dislikes are already built into our brain and is the first thing we consider when looking at a design to determine whether we like it or not. A great example that Don Norman uses is the water bottle. We don’t buy it because of the water but we buy it because of the bottle, which we most likely would keep to reuse or for decoration.

The next level of processing is behavioural, which is where we get most of our work done. Just like visceral, the behavioural level is also subconscious. The behavioural level of processing is all about feeling in control, which includes usability, understanding, but also the feel. As a consumer, we need to feel in control of the product and when we are in control of a product we can convey our emotions and what we feel.

An example of behavioural processing that Don Norman uses is Global Knives. Global Knives are so nicely balanced, very sharp and also aesthetically pleasing. When you use the knife you really feel in control of the cutting. Another great example is the tea pot. The user of the tea pot is in complete control of it and every stage the user puts it through show an emotion the user is trying to convey.

The third level of processing is reflective, which is that little part of the brain that looks over what we’re doing but has no control over what we do. It’s the voice that says if something is bad or good. An example of this could be an expensive watch. We might buy an expensive watch to impress people. However the watch could be bad at keeping time and probably won’t last long. 

Don Norman’s talk really made me realise the importance of the beauty of design. Aesthetics just doesn’t make the product look gook but it can also trigger many emotions and can tell the people around us how we feel. I also learnt that when designing something we shouldn’t just consider the aesthetics over function or the function over aesthetics, but we should balance the two, so it can cater to the people that buy it for the beauty or the people that buy it for the functionality.