Jeffrey Chandler: September 2008

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Story Of Stuff

Annie Leonard's short film was very insightful to the lifecycle of product which we consume every day. Most people realise that there is a problem with the way consumerism operates however they either choose to ignore it or feel they are doing their bit by recycling. However as Annie Leonard explained recycling will only go so far and while it is good, it will never cure the problems we have with our society that is hell bent on consuming products. I think that one of the biggest take home messages of the video was that designers need to begin to producing products that will last where possible and always to be made out of recycleable materials. At the moment designers are exploiting consumers and the world we live in because products are becoming out dated as quickly as they are designed for the soul purpose of making money. In the future more consumers will wake up to the fact that we are destroying our planet and the money will be made in ideas and products that maintain as sustainable future.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Peeler/Corer

The peeler/corer swivels on a pivet point to provide access to both a peeling blade and coreing shaft. With a two point button lock its handle is comfortable and firm in both operations. For peeling the handle is thing and flat to sit between your knuckles while the bulbous end is a comfortable pushing point when coreing. the target market is for males who think of themselves as a bit of a wizz in the kitchen and feel comfortable around cooking utensils. The peeler/corer brings an enriching experience to men as it is a gadget and becomes much more like a tool then a kitchen utensil. The grip is also quite masculine as it is made for a larger hand grip.

The button lock on either side of the hand holds the utensil firmly in place as it completes either its peeling or coreing taste. this button lock also adds tot he gadget appeal, with the clicking noise also enriching the experience of the male user. The black and white colour scheme was chosen because it has a crisp clean look and fits in with the majority of utensils which many of which also have black as there handles. The handle would have a silicon coating on it to ensure a comfotable and slip free grip, while the corer and blade would be stainless steel and other component plastic, the utensil could be quite harmlessly put in the dishwasher clean for its next use.

Objects That Tell Stories

Yves Behar wishes to create designs of importance which incorporate to a large extent the human experience. this concept become the centre of his designs for example the $100 laptop made purely with the idea to enhance the education of children in third world countries and enrich there experience at school with a technology that they may never usually have been able to use. Not only was the price of the computer a fundamental part of the design but also the range of colour combinations which make each laptop personalised to each user, and the robust materials that were used with the type of lifestyle of the market in mind.

The leaf lap another of his designs aims to enhance the consumers experience by allowing them to control brightness and colour changes to reflect their moods and feelings. These kind of designs enable stories to be reflected on a more emotional and mental level rather than metaphoric shapes and images that have been used in the past e.g. gagoils, pictorial stories. Designs such as the leaf lap now tell stories of the consumers moods and feelings.

The messages were not as strong in this video however the ability to design and enhance the consumers experience, whether it be of educational purpose, lighting or even sexual, is the strongest take home message. In shaping me as a designer it has helped me acknowledging that the most successful designs are those which focus strongly on relfecting a consumers world and help to enhance it.

Organic Design

The video was very inightful into how organic forms that exists all around us can interlink with the way in which we design. before watching the video my concept of organic design was something that was representational of a tree, flower or some other plant like form. However my perception has now dramatically changed as I have learnt that every living organism has a roll to play in organic design, whether it be full scale or at a microscopic level.
This enables me to grow as an industrial designer because it has opened my eyes into the flowing shapes which are crated by nature that can then be transferred to a design. Things like cells and the shape of DNA, or the structure of bones and how food decomposes are all aspects of the world we live in that had not revealed themselves to me as something incorporated with design. Now I perceive design as something that is all around me and that any naturally made form can be converted to a contemporary design. As Ross Lovegrove was explaining, nature has evolved over millions of years to become what it is, so why not use it rather than coming up with completely new ideas in a matter of weeks.

Reflection: Human Centred Design

David Kelley’s presentation was very insightful into a new appreciation of human centred design. After viewing the video general designs that I see in day to day situation have become noticeable as such designs which incorporate the consumer as well as the aesthetic and technical benefits of a product. The most important take home message which I found was that design is evolving. What was once a profession to design a product of specific technical purposes, a designer is now much more than that integrating human’s more and more into the design concepts as the years go by. The video has helped to acknowledges this allowing me to look at recent products and clearly see how the human consumer has become more involved in the design process over time. For example a phone which was once primarily used for calling someone, has now turned mobile with a range of features such as MP3 players, cameras, videos, and internet not to mention the ever evolving aesthetics of the phones.

With an insight into the eyes of a world class designer it has shown me the benefits of incorporating humans as the centre of design concepts. By listening to the concepts coming straight from the designer, simple designs and ideas were pointed out that were largely beneficial to the human centred consumer and therefore more popular amongst consumers, such as the mirror with a 10 second delay, such a simple idea and yet incredibly beneficial to a general shopper. I believe these insights help shape me as an industrial designer because they have pointed out the need to go beyond just the aesthetic and technical uses for a product and to start focusing on the user as the centre of design concepts. My opinion of design is now not just to create a product of aesthetic quality to commit to a use but to now consider human emotions, actions, and responses as the fundamentals of a design concept.

Livingcolors

Philips Livingcolors LED Light
Designer: Paul Thursfield, the Philips Design Senior Strategic Designer
Manufacturer: Philips

Wouldn’t it be great if you could alter the colour of the walls within your home at the push of a button to reflect your mood and feelings of the time. Philips has created an exceptionally slick lighting design which takes the way we perceive lamps a leap into the future. Lighting is all about atmosphere and Philips undertook extensive research into this area and found that, “People believe an atmosphere that has been created can enhance the mood they are in, but that they are resistant to the idea that an atmosphere can change their mood. Lighting plays a big role in the creation of atmosphere, but we discovered that it is difficult for people to describe this in words. Therefore we went about creating a vocabulary of light” Explains Laura Taylor, Innovation Design Director at Philips Design.