+ 27.03.2014

CHANGES IN DESIGN

What's new in design area?

Based on article from Nat Hunter

   During the last 10 years, design industry has changed hugely. The change happens in both the industry and the life of a designer. The author has changed from a graphic designer, to a interaction designer, to a design agency director, which have all broadened her field where she works on. At some point it felt like the design organization is getting in the way, as the designers were trying to correspond to the needs of the customers. It seemed that the designers' brains were very good at understanding complex problems and redesigning systems, and more and more designers are moving towards that.

   The steps the author sees are crucial for design are styling, form and function, problem solving and framing. The more complex the problem is, the more a latter stage comes important in the process. All four of the stages are essential for great projects. But styling is certainly crucial, as an ugly object doesn't give the impact needed.

   Another way the design has changed is from working alone, to working in a group inside one discipline, into cross-discipline teamwork. The need for that is based on increasingly complex problems, and have top level understanding of the needed disciplines, if possible.

   Yet another change happens in the design cycle. Traditionally, the project moved from one stage to other, from one discipline to other. Currently, the project is worked by all participating parts and disciplines simultaneously, tied by interaction. It is also appearing that in the newer design areas, for example service design, cross disciplinary and complexity is much higher than in more traditional kinds of design. Companies of social innovation spring up, being a perfect combination of business, technology and design. Design is coming to be embedded in areas that would never have been considered before, and have an opportunity to make real difference.

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Exercise:

Look for a sign (gesture, drawing, music, object, clothing, jewel, food or other) that changes in various contexts its semantic/symbolic meaning. Visualize, analyze.

Example in class:

The gun

Different contexts:

Scaramanga’s golden gun

Peter Gronquist – Fashion Revolution with Designer Weapons

Chanel, Gun Shoe – Platform sandal in satin on a 90 mm gun heel

Ted Noten, Lady-K-Bag – engraved and heavily gold-plated gun and bullet, textile, chrome steel.

Philippe Starck, Gun Lamp





Continuous examples:

As I'm fascinated about the theme of gun in design, I have gathered more examples of the motive's use which I would like to share:

Another example from Ted Noten - Chanel001 and Dior001 gun makeup kits. The black Chanel001 comes with an 18k gold toothpick, a perfume bottle with an 18k gold mechanism, a USB stick, an antique hairpin, a Viagra pill, and of course, Chanel lip gloss. Alternatively, Dior001 conceals Dior lip gloss, a USB stick harboring “secret information,” a 100-gram sterling silver bar, a hair pin, and a special compartment for loading a lady’s “pharmaceuticals.”

.357 Magnum Gun Hair Dryer from Jerdon - the idea of pointing a gun towards your head is just so 'sic'! Even if it's just for drying your hair.

Let's Talk It Over Teapot with a pistol handle by Dennis Shields- play of contrasts, as tea time should be a break, time for peace, and then rising tension with a black pot with gun handle. Is the tea poisoned? The offerer of the tea has power over the one who drinks it.

Gun shaped door handles by Nikita Kovalev - door handles where you have to pull the trigger to open the door. 

T-shirt with printed gun by Atypyk 

Kill Time Coffe Mug by ChilliChilly - get a shot... of coffe! 

Povodokus, retractable dog snap leash by Art Lebedev Studio - the vision of a person pointing a gun to a restricted animal brings out strong emotions, of which we wouldn't think of without the strong symbol.

The gun comb by Lee Weilang from afteraindesign

BANG! lamp by bitplay INC. - the lamp activates and turns off by using the pistol-shaped remote. Moreover, when the lamp is "shot" to turned off, the cover seems to jump out of place, like it "got shot".

Water gun (any) - it's just a toy!?

+ 13.03.2014

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

What is sustainable design?

   Sustainable design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally conscious design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of social, economic, and ecological sustainability.

   The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design". Manifestations of sustainable design require no non-renewable resources, impact the environment minimally, and connect people with the natural environment.

Beyond the "elimination of negative environmental impact", sustainable design must create projects that are meaningful innovations that can shift behaviour. A dynamic balance between economy and society, intended to generate long-term relationships between user and object/service and finally to be respectful and mindful of the environmental and social differences.

   Waste

   Experience has shown that there is no completely safe method of waste disposal. All forms of disposal have negative impacts on the environment, public health, and local economies. Landfills have contaminated drinking water. Garbage burned in incinerators has poisoned air, soil, and water. The majority of water treatment systems change the local ecology. Attempts to control or manage wastes after they are produced fail to eliminate environmental impacts.

   The toxic components of household products pose serious health risks and aggravate the trash problem. When burned or buried, toxic materials also pose a serious threat to public health and the environment. The only way to avoid environmental harm from waste is to prevent its generation. Pollution prevention means changing the way activities are conducted and eliminating the source of the problem. It does not mean doing without, but doing differently. For example, preventing waste pollution from litter caused by disposable beverage containers does not mean doing without beverages; it just means using refillable bottles.

Sustainable design principles

Common principles that affect all disciplines are as follows:.

• Low-impact materials: non-toxic, sustainably produced or recycled materials which require little energy to process

• Energy efficiency: manufacturing processes and production which require less energy

• Emotionally durable design: reducing consumption and waste of resources by increasing the durability of relationships between people and products, through design

• Design for reuse and recycling: "Products, processes, and systems should be designed for performance in a commercial 'afterlife'."

• Design impact measures for total carbon footprint and life-cycle assessment for any resource used are increasingly required and available.

• Sustainable design standards and project design guides are also increasingly available and are vigorously being developed by a wide array of private organizations and individuals. There is also a large body of new methods emerging from the rapid development of what has become known as 'sustainability science' promoted by a wide variety of educational and governmental institutions.

• Biomimicry: imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. In sustainability - "redesigning industrial systems on biological lines, enabling the constant reuse of materials in continuous closed cycles".

• Service substitution: shifting the mode of consumption from personal ownership of products to provision of services which provide similar functions, e.g., from a private automobile to a carsharing service. Such a system promotes minimal resource use per unit of consumption.

• Renewability: materials should come from nearby, sustainably managed renewable sources that can be composted when their usefulness has been exhausted.

• Robust eco-design: robust design principles are applied to the design of a pollution sources.

Example:

Emotionally durable design

     According to Professor Jonathan Chapman of the University of Brighton, UK, emotionally durable design reduces the consumption and waste of natural resources by increasing the resilience of relationships established between consumers and products. In his book, "Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences & Empathy,, Professor Chapman describes how "the process of consumption is, and has always been, motivated by complex emotional drivers, and is about far more than just the mindless purchasing of newer and shinier things; it is a journey towards the ideal or desired self, that through cyclical loops of desire and disappointment, becomes a seemingly endless process of serial destruction".

   According to Professor Chapman, 'emotional durability' can be achieved through consideration of the following five elements:

• Narrative: How users share a unique personal history with the product.
• Consciousness: How the product is perceived as autonomous and in possession of its own free will.
• Attachment: Can a user be made to feel a strong emotional connection to a product?
• Fiction: The product inspires interactions and connections beyond just the physical relationship.
• Surface: How the product ages and develops character through time and use.

As a strategic approach, "emotionally durable design provides a useful language to describe the contemporary relevance of designing responsible, well made, tactile products which the user can get to know and assign value to in the long-term." According to Hazel Clark and David Brody of Parsons The New School for Design in New York, “emotionally durable design is a call for professionals and students alike to prioritise the relationships between design and its users, as a way of developing more sustainable attitudes to, and in, design things.”