Project One - Peer Comments

Judith Torzillo

Jock Sinclair

Stasie Panagopoulos

Stella Ho

Simon De Graaf

"Design for Life" Tv Show Analysis

Philipe Starck

Recognised as one of the most influential designers of the time, Design for Life follows 12 designers as they attempt to find the lastest new design talent in Britain. The chosen 12 are then given an insight into the world of Philipe. It is an attempt to give these contestants a mentor like never before, they are asked to question every single aspect of a product and to shape and change it to answer each question correctly and to the best ability. The winner of the show will then get a contract of 6 months to work at the Starck design agency in Paris.

One of the first products looked at is the one-seater car, it is one of the designers answers to fuel efficiency. Where the user only uses fuel for their own needs not for the other three as well (which may or may not be seated in the car at the time). The first critical comment made on this is that if all four people needed to travel and they can be clipped together, more units need to be produced to cover this. therefore saying the energy saved in fuel is made up with the cost of producing the extra units.

The next task was to look at bad design, it was interesting to see that we had to complete a similar task (Confusing Design) in our class. The choice of the Ipod Nano covers, did not sit well with Starck and he went on to argue that those sort of covers protect a product which has already been designed to be used without a cover. He referred to it as a product which didn't need to exist.

I think the effectiveness of this show to advertise design as a career was quite effective. it allowed the public to see a high end designer at work with his students, teaching.... mentoring if you will about design. I enjoyed the show throughly and found that it left me with alot also... in the snese that I did learn from watching, about design and how top designers look at work.

Video Reflection - Objectified

Have you ever wondering how objects are made... with this film by Gary Hustwit you will be sure to find out how vast the area of Industrial Design is.

There are alot of issues covered in the film, and it is achieved through a variety of video interviews with some of our times most influential industrial designers. Even though alot of the key issues are covered using technical design jargon and at times almost impossible to understand for us layman, it does attempt to leave the viewer with a sense of accomplishment. In that they have been educated on a subject not ever covered in the news or any other media.

I think all in all Objectified is about the education of what design is, and what it does for us. It is difficult to scale such a vast field down to a measly 75 mins (approx) but I think it is achieved well. It is obviously only the tip of a expansive and ever changing market, but the film achieves a sense of knowledge. It offers an educated and at times visually intriguing look into design.

Project Two - Upcycling

Here is my final project... Upcycling.

I discovered after much research that when a can of anything is created, if the lid doesn’t stick to the body of the can it is then recycled. The amount of recycled lids increases with each day and it is in a constant never ending supply. Majority of these are usually bent, out of shape and just useless as a lid. Therefore it is at the end of its life as a can lid. I found a company which specialized in making cans, and with the amount of waste they produced they were more than happy to give away these lids to me, and went as far to say that if I ever needed a constant supply that it would not be a problem.

What I decided to do is by using the beauty of the rings themselves I would create a fruit/ decoration bowl which was sturdy and quite pleasing to the eyes. It is the sort of piece which from a far is quite intriguing and then as you get closer the intricacy of the work comes clear. I used a high quality stainless steel to join the rings together and as one can see it is quite tedious tying each ring to the next and repeating it over and over again.

I ended up with a very exquisite bowl, which I personally visually enjoy looking at. One can only understand how much work is in it once they walk up and actually look at the joining of the material. It is very versatile and could literally be placed anywhere in the home.

BLOG COMMENTS

Leo Chan

Lucas Cubirka

Jimmy Iraheta

Alexander Lord

Xavier Macini

Rationale – The Bottle Stopper

There are hundreds of different types of bottle stoppers on the market. I wanted to create a bottle stopper which was not like the rest; one which gave the user a sense of upper class without the snobby judgment which comes with those sorts of things. I looked at a variety of different shapes, styles and colors before I realized that there really wasn’t a bottle stopper which was pleasurable.

I decided to create the most pleasurable bottle stopper. It needed to fit in the users hand with ease. It needed to feel like an extension of the user and to create a sense of wellbeing and freedom. The most important part of the whole product had to be section where the user would remove the stopper from the wine. Even though a lot of stoppers decide to go for a simple design, sometimes having a small bulb where the user can pull the stopper out. I chose for a two handle system as it gave the most comfortable application and removal of the stopper, therefore creating pleasure.

I chose a free forming shape which allowed the user to clutch the bottle stopper and feel as though it belonged in their hand. The use of curves in this way is designed to create a shape which is pleasing to the eye for both the user and for the people in the general area. This was through many designs and trial and error. I think the finished product creates a pleasurable experience for the user as it fits the contours of the hand and allows for a very presentable and visually appealing preservation of wine. The choice to make the handles brushed aluminum was simply because it works well. It generally goes with most décor and visually it is clean to look at.

My choice to add a portion of grip onto each handle was because it gave the sense of stability and strength. It makes the handle feel like it won’t slip, and when it comes to wine that is a very important factor. I wanted the user to feel as though they could place my bottle stopper into a fine bottle of aged wine and that it would be preserved and stored in the exact same way that it would if it hadn’t been opened at all. It also complemented the silver finish of the handles and top part of the stopper well.

With all the bottle stoppers I found and have personally used, the best are always a solid piece of rubber for the stopper itself. It allows for the most air tight seal and is the most efficient to make and cost effective. I found designs which used thin strips of rubber around a solid steel stopper weren’t as effective and didn’t always fit all sized bottles. With this design it will fit every bottle, every time and sub consciously the user has no doubt that this bottle stopper will always fit. Therefore when push comes to shove, even though the user might have a several bottle stopper which could be a variety of different styles and shapes behind their bar, they will always go for mine as it offer the most pleasurable experience and never disappoints.

Project One - The Bottle Stopper

Here it is! All the parts of the project are finished. A scan of the new updated mood board will be posted soon. Enjoy.

Video Reflection - Story of Stuff

So the story of stuff.....

I've always wondered where all my stuff goes and where it all comes from. In this very detailed video, it is outlined and explained why the way we produce, distribute and consume is all layed out to fail.

The life cycle of a product is basically split up into 5 stages or 5 similar stages....

• environment
• production
• distribution
• usage
• and recycling

Stages 1 and 2 basically work hand in hand, they take from the environment (without giving anything back) and produce our "stuff". Consequently by taking from the environments we are consequently destroying our backyard and a whole bunch of non-renewable resources. This forces us to search for more resources to create more "stuff". This usually involves going to countries part of the "third-world" which means they progress and supply a standard of living which is of a lower standard than the rest of the progressed world. Its a very vicious cycle.

Once it has been produced it is then sold off or as mentioned it is the distribution stage. The key to the success of distribution is to keep the cost of the item to the consumer as low as humanly possible. This allows for the stock to keep moving and for profits margins to increase. This is done by:

1. Paying the people working in these shops the minimum wage
2. Externalising the cost of the product...that is the real costs overall aren't captured in the price and therefore the customer is none the wiser.

The point of externalising the costs is that the big corporations can keep the cost to the customer down but the real costs comes to the people living in the environments and the environment itself where the resources are mined, and the costs of the health of the people working in the factories assembling the products.

Stage 4 the consumption, is the most important part of this whole system. Without the need to consume there would be no need to harvest and product "stuff" at the ever-accelerating rate we do at this point in time. It is the lifeblood for so many industries and economies that we consume, destroy, replace and repeat over and over again. DID YOU KNOW.... that out of the total percentage of goods bought and used 99% of it is destroyed or obsolete after 6 months.

You may ask yourself....How did it all get this way? Rather than concentrating on education or even medicine we have a society which builds on an ideal of Planned Obsolescence. What this means is we design consumer products for the dump. An excellent example of this is the average home pc/mac. It is designed with the understanding that within a few months there will be an ungraded new processor making the previous completely obsolete. Not only does the processor need to be changed but the older system usually cannot be used with the newer processor. Allowing for the "stuff" market to flourish.

Then there is Perceived Obsolescence. This is used by the corporations to give the perception that the product you use even though the difference between the new and old model might be the external aspect, it is still perceived as being old and out-dated. This is probably the most effective tool in changing the way we see "stuff".

The 5th and final stage is recycling or the destruction of the "stuff". This is where all the steps come together to produce rubbish. The average American person produces 4.5lbs of rubbish per day which is nearly double then it was 50 years ago. This shows we are consuming more "stuff" and keeping them for shorter periods of time. Consequently the outcome is that it has to go somewhere. Usually landfill it is incinerated then placed as land fill. Consequently all the harmful chemicals used to create the "stuff" is then incinerated and consequently newer more harmful chemicals like Dioxide is created which poisons the environment on yet another scale...through the forcing of pollution into the air.

The key in all this monstrosity is... Recycling. This allows for more materials to be re-used and therefore it takes strain off the requirements and expectations from the environment and third-world countries. Unfortunately, recycling alone is not the answer to the problem. As mentioned in the video for every 1 can of garbage thrown out onto the curb, 70 cans of garbage is produced to make the 1 can of garbage to begin with.

The answer is combination of:

• Sustainability
• Equity
• Green Chemistry
• Zero Waste
• Closed Loop Production
• Renewable Energy
• Local Living Economies

It is through all these things and a combined effort from the Corporations and the Government that this idea of Planned and Perceived Obsolescence can be thrown out into the trash rather than our environment and the future of our planet.