Task 3: 11th hour

After watching The 11^th Hour, I sent the link to my friend who is the complete opposite of a naturalist. Unfortunately, it seems that most are unaware of such human consequences on our environment.

This documentary has the most of the overwhelming facts about our environment.

Just a few of them:

• We have lost 90% of the big fish in the sea in half a century

• With global warming we potentially could make the whole surface ocean stagnant- last time that happened more than 95% of all the species on the earth went extinct

• The UN estimates that by the middle of the century there will be a hundred and fifty million refugees at any given time due to climate change

• 99.9999% of all animals that ever existed are extinct

• Using off-the-shelf technologies, which we already have, we could reduce the human footprint by 90%

It is depressing to be known as the “nature lover” in my group of friends when I am not in any position to be granted that title according to my ecological footprint. I would like to be more sustainable in the way in which I live my everyday life, but there are so many forces driving me away from that. The question is how can I change my lifestyle without changing my lifestyle, you know? Which brings me back to a quote from the video, “Humans are conditioned by 2 essential characters- one is opportunism and the other is greed”.

Something that I thought was really cool sounding was the micro restoration using mushroom mycelium in order to heal environments. This type of research just shows that there are ways in which we can be helping our environment in very simplistic, natural ways. David Suzuki asked in the video: “What would it cost us to take carbon dioxide out of the air and put oxygen back in it? Which is what all the green things do for us for nothing.”

Like they said in the video, food is becoming poisoned and it is to the point where we should worry about it. But WHY don’t we worry about it? Because humans=greed. And like Kenny Ausubel said in the video, “The greatest weapon of mass destruction is corporate economic globalization”. I don’t want my design to be the cause of corporate gain. Thus we must redesign design itself. Because “all of life is a design project today. We have to design the capacity to sustain life in the long run”.

Charrette 1: Reflection

Collaborative group design

“Lazy Bub”, (from still to stellar)

An additional product that would be sold as an aftermarket attachment to the existing Ikea chair. The target consumer is expecting parents. The product would contain two parts:

removable rocking casters and 2. A wider supportive back rest.

With these attachments, the simple Ikea dining chair would transform from still to stellar in any new parents mind. A no-stress fix for the need for a rocker in a world with no sleep.

· How will the proposed solution improve the emotional attachment of the user to the chair?

The proposed solution would improve the emotional attachment of the user to the chair because it would add sentimental value. A rocking chair has potential to add emotional memories to the product including moments such as: nursing a newborn, or reading to a youngster.

· What are the proposed materials?

The proposed materials are laminated plywood (rocking casters) and a recyclable padding (back rest).

· How do you expect the consumer to use it?

With our target audience being expecting parents, we expect the consumer to use the ‘Lazy Bub’ as a nursing, calming, or rocking while reading chair.

· What stimulus will encourage the user to modify the chair or buy the aftermarket attachments for the chair (eg, change in life circumstances, etc)?

We felt that an expected family addition would encourage the user to buy the aftermarket attachments for the chair.

Charette design process reflection:

· How has this task challenged your design thinking about promoting long-term satisfaction, product attachment and product endurance?

This challenge has challenged my design thinking about long-term satisfaction in many ways in which I will take into account into future designs. I now see how promoting product attachment and endurance would be helpful to the consumer and the environment. When products can be up-cycled they are worth more to the consumer in their potential output and can in essence be more meaningful to the user.

· How do you feel about designing beyond the original product?

Originally I thought designing beyond the original product was practically a no-brainer, but incorporating long term meaning to the addition can be quite a challenge. I think that in the heart of recycling products to save the environment, designing for an extended life of a product would be a wise place to start.

· How did you feel about the collaborative problem-solving activity?

The collaborative problem solving-activity was a good challenge for practice in designing beyond the original product because it forced us to think in a specific way that would work for all ends of the spectrum.

· If you were to design a piece of furniture from scratch, how would you do it differently? (Sketches not required, I just wanted to know if you have a design philosophy that you’d like to follow).

If I was to design a piece of furniture from scratch I would probably chose a dresser, like the one that sits in my room at home. My reason being is that I find dressers to be extremely cumbersome. I prefer to see the clothes stacked or folded in a open-shelf experience. I would focus the design on the hanging mechanism for the slats of wood that would become a shelving unit. This not only saves on floor space, but you can create wall art with your clothing! It also encourages oneself to stay neat and tidy, or if you prefer a messy look then that works as well. A simple hanging curtain can also be useful for those who enjoy the ‘out of sight out of mind’ appeal of a closed dresser. Also, you can easily find wood scraps from resale stores or use wood being thrown out on the street. Repaint it if you like. If you move to another apartment, the shelf system can be disassembled and transported without movers: all and all it saves money and the earth’s resources! I think I’ll call it “the anti-dresser”.

Charette 1: Lifetime Optimization

physio-attachment

instant table: a folding piece that fits over two chairs making a desk or a table.

Stackable storage cubes: re-using the chair parts made into storage compartments

Task 2: Objectified

This film caught my attention, as a design student, because it showed how working designers view the world around them. I have noticed that I really do make assumptions about all objects. How much it costs, the luxury of the fabric, or even where and how it was made. I find that most of the time my assumptions are correct. However, now moving to a new place definitely brings interesting curveballs. Even though Australian and American cultures are of the same sort, they have subtle differences that really surprise me. For example, purchasing food is a much different experience. Some items that are in same packaging and branding are completely different in essence. And I quickly found out that Lipton Green Tea was definitely NOT tea, but a strange (and disgusting) soda beverage. In this case, my assumption of how the item will taste was completely wrong. And this quote from the movie seems fitting: “Every object, intentional or not, speaks to who put it there”. Because this tea is not sold in America it is intentionally geared to Australians.

I appreciated some of the techniques that design firms used to decode objects. The trick of “mapping” a glove for pressure points was pretty cool. I also liked this quote from the movie: “good design is as little design as possible”. I can’t agree with that more- the best designs are well integrated into life itself.

“Anger or dissatisfaction provide an important role in motivating you”. I thoroughly believe this quote holds truth in my life in many ways. Not to mention this dissatisfaction of design is WHY I am in this major. Settling on what is poorly designed for the sake of convenience or price is so dissatisfying. And everyone does this- every single day!

My dissatisfaction in design also relates to the last part of the movie about being ecologically conscious. “We should ask, not what is the new toothbrush is but what is the future of oral care”. I do believe that we need to be much more conscious to the future of our products than to the future of the next new product.

Task 1: Ecological Footprint

Clearly shocked to see how I am living in this world- Taking this quiz made me realize how my efforts to be ecologically conscious have severely failed! Should I move to the woods?