The Story of Stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Annie Leonard provides a very insightful and entertaining talk about the process of how products are made and where they come from, what I found to be a very interesting point is that “stuff moves through a system” and she explains to us that it goes from extraction to production to distribution to consumption and then disposal, which all together is called the materials economy.  She explores the limitations of this linear process of production due to our finite planet, where there is a limit of resources.  She runs through the each step of the materials economy pointing out flaws and problems that are present.  The problem of extraction once again goes back to the point of our finite planet, where our resources are limited and nearing towards an end.  In the past few decades she explains to us that 1/3 of the planets natural resource space has been eliminated.  Through logging, mining, cutting, etc.  The problem with production is that we mix and contaminate natural resources with toxins and synthetic chemicals to create contaminated products.  She proposes that the low costs of products comes at the expense of the depletion of natural resources of the planet especially in third world countries and at the expense of workers who have no other choice but to work in hazardous environments that can be detrimental to their health.  She emphasises that we have become a planet of consumers, and of which the worst thing about it is that 99% of the products we buy ends up in the trash after 6 months.  The average U.S person now consumes twice as much as they did as compared to twenty years ago.  This didn’t just happen all just on its own, it was designed to happen through planned obsolescence, which started after world war 2, where products are planned to become obsolete in a planned amount of time to force the consumer to go out and buy a new product.  The only part of the materials economy that the general public see is the shopping side of it, so the extraction production, distribution is unknown to many, making everyone unaware of how much damage we are doing to the planet.  When we dispose of these obsolete products burning these products to dispose of emits the toxins back into the air, and it can also create new super toxins.  Annie Leonards “story of stuff” is insightful and mind opening about the process of how stuff is made and the materials economy. 

My Design Career! =D

There are many reasons for me for wanting to become a designer, at an early age I was very interested and fascinated about how things worked and the process of how things were made.  I was also fascinated about the incredible paste of how fast technology improved. It made me wonder, and it occurred to me that products and technology couldn’t become faster, stronger, and improve on its own, but in fact it was designers who were behind it, they are the ones who put in the effort and hard work, to allow the rest of the world to enjoy the latest technology and designs that we take for granted every single day.  It’s these designs that make our lifestyles more pleasurable and more comfortable, which then stimulated my mind that perhaps I might consider design as a career path rather than a fireman.   At an early age I manifested a liking towards cars, toys and gadgets, which pushed me towards a path of wanting to become a designer, I wanted things to become faster stronger and more intelligent, when products didn’t work the way they were supposed to or broke too easily it frustrated me greatly, or more bluntly said “give me the shits!”.  When the time came it was either industrial design at UNSW or UTS after a while of long hard thoughts, I decided to pursue industrial design at UNSW, because apparently it had better credentials over UTS. At the start of the year I started my four ear course here and haven’t looked back since.  So far I have found the course to be quite insightful in all aspects of design and have found the course to be quite fun and creative, though at times to be quite demanding, in terms of workload. I have taken quite an intense liking for the material and technology course, where we explore all different sorts of materials and there elements and properties and what there specifically used for.   It is quite unclear where I see myself in the future at this present moment in terms of my career path. But hopefully after I complete this course I would like to see myself in areas of work where I would enjoy myself, such as designing in the motoring industry, such as Holden or ford etc, or perhaps in the electronics industry, such as for apple.    

ERGORAPIDO!!!!

Overall I find the Ergorapido Pro to be quite a successful product, it encompasses many features and useful and efficient technology.  It's aesthetics and form give the product a pleasurable and exciting feel, differentiating it from many other vacuum cleaners!

David Kelly!!!

David Kelly suggests that we are becoming more and more focused on human centred design.  It involves designing behaviours and personalities into the productOne example of human centred design is the installation of the interactive wall which is about four stories tall in the London science museum, what’s so wonderful about this design is that it is based on the London subway system.  The goal of the interactive wall was to display feedback back to the public which it has received from the people who had visited the museum. Once feedback is entered into the system it travels around the interactive board like the subways systems and expands once it hits a station where it becomes readable.  It is almost as if we are able to display our thoughts about the museum to everyone and provide feedback to the public.  

Another example of human centred design is where Scott Adams teams up with David and his team to try and design a more human friendly cubicle in order to allow for us to feel more comfortable and unrestricted; they described the normal typical office cubical as restrictive, and simulate several scenarios to try and achieve a more human friendly atmosphere. In the first scenario they set up walls which act as screens for pictures and family photos to achieve a sense of belonging at home.  In the second scenario walls are alive and are able to give hugs, in an attempt to make the cubicle more human, the last cubicle has many subtle features such as colours in which the colour orange is meant to represent the sun.  The cubicle includes fish tanks and many features typical of many households to create a more familiar and comfortable environment.   

Another example of human centred design is the spyfish which allows the user to experience a feeling of being underwater scuba diving, without the under even touching the water.  David explains that although many people have boats they lack the capability or the interest to go under water, and this new technology allows the person to experience what it’s like to go underwater visually.

Through David Kelly’s insightful talk we are able to see that designers are taking a more human approach to design, whilst at the same time incorporating behaviours and personalities into their designs.