Bill Moggridge - What is design?

Bill Moggridge discussed the essence of good and bad design in this video – “What is design?” Various   examples were used to communicate this concept of good and bad design that raise the question why it is good and bad. Misinterpretation about fields of design like industrial, architectural, etc is also touched by Moggridge that allowed me to have that little bit of knowledge about design fields.

Everything is designed and I do understand that matter. Just in your own house, you look at the kitchen, lounge room or even in the garden things are designed accordingly. Furthermore, everyday things that we use like kitchen utensils are important. If these things are only designed for specific person and others can’t really use them or having trouble using them it is considered as bad design. However, everyday tools that designed for everyone that even disabled people can use it is a definite a very good design.

Technology is one thing that influenced design practice. For example, architectures can create great designs and turn the impossible to actual things or buildings like Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum.

Design disciplines are needed in order to come up with an amazing design. It all involves research about human and subjective frames and technical and objective which form teams for complex problem that sometimes comes up while designing. Understanding the people can lead you to a better designer because you are not just designing but designing with purpose.

Bill Moggridge’s – What is design? Video taught me obvious facts that my eyes and brain subconsciously ignored. In able to have a good design it should be desirable that will function well and everyone should have ease in using it. Good design is not about just having a good design but having that new innovation that will establish good experience towards the users as well as nurturing them.

Peer Comments

Peer comments to:

Musa Noorsjamsi - http://musaides1031.blogspot.com/2011/10/project-2-upcycled-utility.html#comments

Jan Raymond 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

Pamela Ablang - http://pamablang.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycling-lamps.html#comments

Edric Verbeek- Martin - http://edricides1122.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycling-unwanteds.html#comments

Upcycled Utility

Product Poster

Product Instruction Manual

Efficient waste-cutting diagram

Project Two: Upcycled Utility – Pendant Lamp

Upcycled Utility allowed me to experience and explores the relationship between industrial design and ecological sustainability through recycling discarded JCDecaux advertising poster. Using a variety of folding, cutting experiments and research I reused and transformed this used advertising posters into an elegant piece of pendant lamp.

The Nukrobiyo pendant lamp is inspired by the discarded poster and the importance of ecological sustainability. The name” nukrobiyo” means “gem” in Filipino. The lamp mimics the shape of a gem or a crystal which communicates the importance of recycling and its impact towards the environment. The design is flat packable which is space saver and efficient for Australia post mailing delivery. It is easy to assemble and disassemble without any use of clips or fasteners instead with its interlocking snap joints. Furthermore, it is easy to mass-manufacture.  

This pendant lamp is an elegant mood lamp which earns its place to be displayed in the upmarkets with added value despite of its old estate. A relax warmth ambient and depth are distributed in the room once the lamp is lit. The juxtaposition of subtle diamond-leaf like pattern on the lamp provides a dramatic effect aesthetically wether the lamp is lit or not. It also gives a nice solid geometrical and structural shape. The folding in the lamp made it more dynamic together with the nice original print in the discarded poster.

Mimicking gem-crystal like Nukrobiyo pendant lamp is simply geometrically structural yet sophisticated upcycled product. It provides you a light that delivers warm but relax mood once it’s lit up. This product serves as a pendant lamp and decoration which is suitable for upmarket shops, restaurants and home. The process of transforming of something that is disposed into an elegant reincarnation of a lamp is visible through this Nukrobiyo pendant lamp. 

Peer Comments

Peer comments to:

I.  http://musaides1031.blogspot.com/2011/09/project-one-experience-enrichment.html#comments

II.  http://janraymondgerardino.blogspot.com/2011/09/experience-enrichment-pen-with.html#comments

III.  http://sunprit.blogspot.com/2011/09/e-xperience-e-nrichment-rationale-i.html#comments 

IV.  http://jacquelinebui3377777.blogspot.com/2011/09/hero-shot.html#comments

V.  http://pamablang.blogspot.com/2011/09/model-journey.html#comments

Experience Enrichment: Kitchen Tongs

Product Poster

Product Usage Story Board

Orthographic Drawing (CAD)

Rationale: “Kitchen Tongs”

Kitchen Tongs are often designed with a distinctive look. The looks of it often replicates each other’s appearance. It does not look intimidating nor friendly in the user’s eye. At times, the normal look of it triggers a sense of performing a duty. But of course consumers are used to its normal appearance.  Redesigning cooking tongs allows design revision its usual design allowing changes towards its ergonomic, materials, innovation applied and as well as its aesthetics.

Figure 1: New Design - Kitchen Tongs

Usually, tongs were designed with a spring hinge, straight body, and the head that replicates the shape of a sea clamp. These new design however, is all inspired by a sea mussels. With this newly redesigned Kitchen tongs, it offers you sleeker aesthetics yet retains the function of a kitchen tongs which can use both for cooking and serving food.

The sleek shape, size and weight of this Kitchen tongs promote good ergonomics in terms of handling the product. It does not create tension towards the wrist cause of its subtle curvature shape, lines and light weight construction therefore can easily manoeuvre in different motions. This characteristic promotes an overall good ergonomic of the product reason to establish a pleasurable “living relationship” between the product and its user.

The materials used are aluminium steel, abraded and sandblasted then hard anodized and revolutionary plastic base that can be joined with anodized aluminium. The hinge is an integrated nylon that serves as the hinge and spring. These materials are common but joined together in an innovative manner ensuring the products durability and hygienic impact towards food safety.

The Kitchen Tongs delivers an eye pleasing experience. The anodized silver aluminium steel enhances the subtlety of lines and curvatures on the outside while the obsidian bright green highlights the inside. Furthermore, the anodized aluminium gives an elegant and solid build just like the mussels’ shell. The plastic on the inside though contrastingly serves like comforting and nurturing extension of the user’s hand. This kitchen tongs is designed to deliver aesthetic looks that is appealing towards the consumer.      

This everyday hand tool, Kitchen tongs, is designed for consumer to have a more pleasurable product that enriches and enhances their experience while interacting with it, in this case – pleasurable cooking. Practicality is presented through the simplicity of the design and easy usability. Although it’s simple it is ergonomically built for consumer’s safety and experience. The subtlety of the shape and lines, contrasting materials and finish is visually appealing and gives a psychologically pleasuring experience. The design although not revolutionary delivers an innovative construction approach through the joining of anodized aluminium and plastic base materials together. The design approach towards this product delivers elegant contemporary product with utilitarian respect that effectively demonstrates integration of design elements and principles.          

Annie Leonard: The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard is a simple yet very illustrative and informative video about the people’s production and consumption patterns. In this video, the portrayal of production and consumption in our world is rather cruel and greedy. The Government and corporation seems cooperating with each other fairly well considering that both parties knew the harm that the present production and consumption process will contribute in the society.

Gathering of resources continues to consume our environment. Cutting trees sounds normal and acceptable for production of certain human resources for living if it’s in controlled manner. However, cutting trees perpetually without any concern in the outcome is definitely unacceptable. Consuming not only the country’s resources but also the third world country’s resources is crossing the boundary. Doing this does not prove anything about someone’s hierarchy in the world but prove how arrogant and insensitive they are.

The use of toxics in production of things is unstoppable and it does not show awareness or concern towards the environment and people. Industrial production system mainly produces toxic products.  As a result, it consumes the environment badly and buying those products also consumes us and our home. For example the Brominated Fire Retardants is mixed during the creation of appliances, computers, mattresses, etc. Meaning staying close to these products is harmful for our health that it causes neural cancer at the worst.

For us industrial designers, awareness is crucial in designing and/or producing things. For the reason being that showing concern can make major impact towards our environment and towards consumers. There are many ways to avoid consuming the world grotesquely like recycling materials and choosing the right or less harmless materials in production of products. For example Fisher price toys are made of industrially harmless materials so the young ones can play with it. Sony Ericsson Co also produced a line of phone consists of recycled plastics which shows sustainability and awareness.      

Story of Stuff is a video that industrial designers, like us, needs to see. It is simple that wakes the senses up to actually see what is happening in production and consumption pattern in the world. Watching this short video warned me and made me raised my awareness about material choices and production practices that I might do in the future. I guess this video implies that there is nothing wrong to consume our environment to produce things as long as we use it while nurturing it at the same time. So we are doing the environment a very good favour in return to what they have given to us. 

Sydney Design - Sketches

My Design Career

Design open up a whole new different and much wider world in to me which is the reason why I want to be an industrial designer. My old vague perception about things is now put in to another level of appreciation. I want to be a designer not to be famous but to contribute towards the world and to express myself though design. Making things that will make peoples life not only easier but also to fulfil their memories with fun experiences is my target goal in designing products now and later in the future.

Art is my first love and one of my greatest best friends. It also encouraged me to do design which is for me, another way to express myself in such a unique manner. Now that I’m doing industrial design, I cannot avoid treating my design works as a delicate piece of artwork and not just a piece of product. I think this is a good thing and practice for the reason being that it makes me more aware in designing things. Furthermore, integrating art into design practice is such a fun thing to do. It pumps that adrenaline in to me to do more and more design imaginations.

Bachelor of Industrial Design is my first preference during year 12 in high school. However, not receiving enough ATAR made me study in another university.  Studying my first year of Bachelor of Industrial Design at another university made me see design as it is. I thought it was exciting and challenging. However, changing to UNSW to study the same course is a whole new different blank canvas. Design practice and teaching in UNSW made me see design as broad spectrum of light that bounces from one thing to another that create this whole new different picture. It actually changed my old simple view point about design. Design appealed to me with much deeper sense. Studying in here made every single bit of work and time input towards it worthwhile. Having all those new experiences and learning under my sleeves made it more special. Having this, what I considered a great experience, gives me humungous amount of motivation in doing design.

Being an Industrial designer will make me progress in life, now and especially in the future. Being one is not easy as well. Living in this era of design, which is jaw dropping, will push me to do better things and compete towards the wider design world. Futuristically, I would like to design and create products that will nurture people’s mind, create a product as a messenger of my own and a product that will make people’s lives. One of my dreams is to own a design firm or if not, a small design store that will also serve as design gallery with my own design works. I cannot really predict my own future in design because of possible hindrances that I will surely encounter later in my life. All I can assure is, as long as I remain motivated, adrenalized, loving what I’m doing and being myself, I would succeed and achieve my plans and goals in design.           

Design Confusion: Car Park Ticket Machine

Design Excellence: Intensity Shuttle 3.0

Human Centered Design: David Kelley

Human Centred Design featuring David Kelley shows significant fact about the inevitability of change towards design society. Design approach changed from focusing mainly on the product and technology in to putting humans as an anthropocentric inspiration in design. Hearing this matter made me more curious about the approach and innovative ideas that designers will come out with and commit in the future. Humans, being centred in design will make products more exciting that it will give the product a sense of personality and sensitivity which I think is crucial for the future design practice and in terms of connecting towards the end user.

Product presentation was put into motion animation which emphasizes more of that design and the interaction between the product and the user together with the old school 3D models and renderings. This is evident through the case studies that Kelley has presented. I guess that motion animation was booming during that time in David Kelley’s talk. However, a common practice in today’s society. The boutique of Prada New York for example, every product in the store contains an e-tag were customers and sale personnel can scan and see in every monitor screens how it looks on a human body in an automatic video clip. Moreover, there’s this fitting room door made out of liquid-crystal that becomes opaque at touch of a switch to hide the person trying out the clothes and another touch to make it transparent allows the others outside to view. Choosing the right materials, I think, can help designers express their self which sometimes makes an appeal to the human behaviour. This store is extremely advance, unique, and innovative in spite the time when it was constructed. Thus it uses that design perspective of putting human as a central inspiration fused with innovative technology.  

The installation at London Science Museum appeals to me like it’s a tribute about the interaction between human, environment and design. For example the interactive wall which is four stories tall was built to display up some of the feedbacks by those who had been to the museum. The fact that the design of this interactive wall is based on the London Subway system made it more special and “cool”. For the reason being that its expresses this idea of unity between the people who lives in London and the London Subway station which is put in a design perspective to come up with something different and innovative.

It is very significant to see a design that nurtures human perspective on how important natural element like water in our society. The creation of Greenwich Watercycle Pavilion by Kelly’s Team appeals to me as a dramatic achievement in design. Outside the pavilion, a waterfall like entrance that welcomes the visitors is designed to celebrate the recycling of water is conspicuously magnificent which gives you that sense of freshness and delicateness of our surrounding. In contrast, the inside of the Pavilion gives you that feeling of peacefulness with its quiet atmosphere where people can witness the recycling stages and apparatus used in an innovative way.

Human Centred Design video remarkably communicates the change in design approach along the years which is very inevitable. The most crucial learning for me in this video is being able to design a product and overseeing human being as the central inspiration. Yet, it is not impossible to integrate the essence of innovative technology and nature together with that of anthropocentric approach in design. 

http://ides1031.blogspot.com/2011/07/video-david-kelley-on-ted-human-centred.html

Don Norman: Emotional Design

People’s state of mind often functions subconsciously rather than consciously. Don Norman pointed this out very effectively with his own theory of emotion using human behavior in relation to designs and or situations. It is very interesting discovery that people see things and appreciate it without knowing its actual purpose. Sometimes, we just favor things for just for the sake of favoring it. For example, a branded trendy product appeal more to us than the anonymous ones. Thus, ‘pleasant things are more likely to work well’ which effectively proves Norman’s theory of behavior. There is nothing wrong with it however, seeing things consciously make us see transcendentally through that particular product in front of us. Meaning, we don't just compliment its aesthetics or the quality of the product but we also acknowledge its deeper context which for us designers I think is extremely crucial. It reminds me a bit of this poem called "Paris" by Ted Hughes a famous English poet that consciously appreciate France's signature landmarks and arts but at the same time acknowledging its deep history.

       In this video, Norman changed my perspective about anxiety. It is a crucial discovery for me that anxiety is now a behaviour that leads a person to become more focus to their next action. In comparison to ‘being happy’ we tend to act more loosely and brain is not as focus. I definitely agree in this point of view expressed by Norman for the reason being that I myself do experience it all the time from past, possibly in the present and definitely in future experience.

        I and probably everyone do think the same in terms of choosing to listen to that ‘another voice inside our heads’ rather than that of our intellectual side to make decisions and again, another subconscious action. This video made me think that designers should design things that they love so the world will love it too, that designers should experience fun while constructing their products so the world can have fun with it too and designers should learn to appreciate other’s design 'consciously' rather than 'subconsciously' so the world can learn to see things consciously through one’s design. In that way, we as designers can design things in accordance to the needs of the world and not just designing products because we like it ourselves. Don Norman’s video communicates his theory of emotion in relation to design very effectively which also delivers surprising lessons for all of us.