Task 6: The Story of Bottled Water

Annie Leonard yet again delivers on one of her rampages into the flaws of human beings.

This time, bottled water is taking the beating... but she has a point.

Consumers are extremely stereotypical because... well, we keep on consuming. Constantly consuming in the consumer world we've created for consumers. If I say consumer one or two more times, it might have the same annoying penetration effect like when Annie says it.

However, we do live in a consumer world and bottled water can be used to demonstrate a prime example of what industrial designers need to change .

Presented by Leonard is a clear argument stating how and why bottled water is awful for us. The damage it's doing financially, but more importantly, environmentally.

Industrial designers should grasp the evidence presented (as long as it's true) and act upon it. We need to give thought into what bottled water ACTUALLY is. It's water... in a bottle. Not some sort of consumer fashion accessory which it is turning into. Where it's fashionable to be seen with a bottle and then just throw it away.

Industrial designers need to delve deeper into these issues that Annie Leonard presents.

Re-use, recycling, filtration... these are all renewable options that can be looked into to take away from the damaging cycle that is being formed. The design community has a path to follow and it needs to start walking.

Task 5: Design For Life

Phillipe Starck is a self proclaimed "door" to our creativity, 'tocke', 'tocke', 'tocke-ing' his way into our mind.

Through his 6 part television series, it can be seen Phillipe is definitly a character in the design world. He has strong beliefs that he sticks to and wants to bring to attention issues he has with the current state of design. To the students and audience of the show, Phillipe teaches and guides us through his opinion on sustainability and the duties of the designer, with strong design ethics.

Each episode provides further insight into Starck's life and those around them. His dramatic approach almost takes away from his messages, either hiding them or making them slightly baffling. But once you get behind the 'mask', there is a seriousness that grips you. Phillipe makes you listen to every word, with the students on the show testimony to that.

Challenges set are a representation of issues that need to be dealt with in the real world.

Starck's ethics come to light in his criticism of his students work. Do designer's need to design more products? Isn't there plenty already? Starck is trying to inspire us to put more into products, rather than a one use item. It needs to incorporate more than one use, whilst minimising itself in the environment.

Starck's ethics are necessary if we are to fulfill our role as industrial designers and dealing with sustainability.

Assignment 1: Design For Disasters

Charette 2

This activity was very hands on and involving. It allowed us to understand the many different parts and pieces used in the every day object. In our case it was a Breville iron. The sheer effort required to take apart the iron produced a blatant message critiicizing the amount of parts used. A reduction of these needs to take effect, other wise if we continue with this trend, we will be seeing the consequences seen in The 11th Hour.

On another note however, it was intriguing to delve into the iron and see the hidden design features and effort that has gone into it. Technical solutions were exposed, where we were able to appreciate and explore this other part of industrial design.

The 11th Hour

Leonardo DiCaprio brings to the forefront issues that are affecting us on an even grander scale than I originally thought. The extent to which neglect and abuse of the environment is getting to was purely demonstrated through the imagery presented. The oil, landfill, fires... damage which is getting to damage un-control, with comical pun purely intended. At what point do we all look at ourselves and the environment beyond the pristine picture we've made for ourselves in our immediate surroundings?

Industrial designers who understand the environment and the impact their work has on it are becoming super heroes to the masses. Super Josh will hopefully consider all bad guy implications that will be required to be sorted out on any project he does.

A re-shape of activities is necessary to avoid these large-scale ecological problems that the future (and the present) face. Education into areas of sustainability needs to be represented through designs and products, used as teaching tools and implements to get the environmental emergency siren across to consumers. New techniques need to be developed to replace those which are producing unnecessary waste, both power wise and resources wise. And industrial designers should be embracing these at every turn, whenever there is a whiff of a further sustainable technique, its implementation should be conscripted.

The natural balance that has been tipped over needs to be restored. the only way to do this is to use what was originally given to us, to not waste and to not turn forms of energy into unusable energy (unless of course we learn how to utilize it). Human beings are a part of nature, so there is obviously some give into resources etc we can use, but we should not at all take this as an opportunity to take other's shares of this. We are an intelligent species and together, we can come up with the ways necessary to live in balance, with industrial designers at the forefront of this.

Charette 1: Lifetime Optimization

Psycho/Socio Solutions:





Physio Solutions:








Final Design:








The proposed solution of the chair will improve the interaction between the user and the product. With a 'secret' compartment and interchangeable feet for adding angles to the chair to create comfort, the user is able to utilize the product well beyond finishing a meal at the dinner table. The interaction involved in storing a product relies on personal trust with the chair to look after something in the compartment, uniting the user and chair. The interchangeable feet produce a further connection between the two with personalization of comfort levels.

This task has challenged my design thinking by forcing me to think and contemplate out of my original personal confines and into a deeper thought process to consider others. Long-term satisfaction, product attachment and product endurance all had to be processed through the eyes of the customer, taking out any selfish beliefs that I held

Designing beyond the original product provoked a more innovative and exciting response compared to previous design tasks. It allowed me to build on a foundation with no risks, so design responses could be anything.

Defining what ideas to put in was a very personal approach and personal opinion could only divide them up. With this being the case, the group solution was never going to please everybody. However the solution our group came up with was resolved and had aspects that everyone approved of.

To design a new piece of furniture from scratch, I would start by thinking about the person it is being designed. What ways could the furniture go beyond its original purpose and how new purposes can be formed.

Task 2: Objectified

Objectified is a film that brings to the screen the real values and emotions put into not only the final product, but the journey and evolution of a design and how it creates a relationship with the user.

We are all affected by design. We live in a consumer world and everywhere we look, feel, touch, listen, it is due to a product speaking to us. Everything has had thought and as Objectified describes, “every product speaks to the person who put it there”. Through the designer’s product, they are speaking to the consumer, issuing them with advice on, basically, how to live, through the use of their design. This is a brilliant point, as it again demonstrates how our world is full of products, helping and aiding us in life, giving us a sense of being.

Through Objectified, I have gained a thorough understanding of needs and wants that a designer is to fulfill. We are required to give a physicality to the consumer’s lifestyle, their thoughts, their values and philosophies. A product must have reason behind it.

The lineup of international designers in the film is astounding, all giving an acute opening into how they personally think and believe design should be. As a designer, it is these philosophies that I would like to develop into my own. Just by watching Objectified, I have learnt of how language must be imposed within a design to create a strong sense of meaning that will allow the product to communicate and create understanding with a consumer.

“Why is it like that? Why is it like that and not like this?”

This quote/question by Jonathan Ive from Apple is a direct indication of just how broad product design can be. It is a statement about how important it is to discuss and inscribe an emotional energy into a product. This quote also causes me to analyse the whole scope of a product as a designer, forcing myself to pick the most true factors that are going to provide the best testament to the product at hand and it’s nature.

“I think designers understand what people need, perhaps even better than they do”

Erwan Bouroullec

The role of a designer is to innovate and appropriate in a way that develops a connection with a user. This quote gives meaning to the research and involvement a designer ensues with a product, understanding what is required in order to fulfill particular needs and wants of the consumer. Getting deep within the psychology of a particular target market allows the designer to fully comprehend a consumer audience, deliberating between science, function, philosophy and aesthetics.

“Why do we feel like we need to keep revisiting the archetype over and over again?”

Karim Rashid
Karim Rashid is trying to dispossess designers here of unoriginal thinking and to go deeper into a product and what it represents, not what its predecessors embody. This kind of thought is vital in order to comprehend and display emotion in a product that could otherwise go unwarranted if taken for granted within the bounds of a previous design.

Task 1: Ecological Footprint