Thursday 20 October 2011

design sketches






Bill Moggridge – What is Design.



Design is many things, it is mercurial and outrageous, witty and charming and all too often, sad and uninspiring. Everything that is made by human hands, is, for better or for worse, designed.
This fact is why design and especially design that make lives better or is very rational and pragmatic and is ultimately the goal of the thoughtful designer. It is easy to fall into the trappings of just aiming for high design no matter the cost or conversely all function and poor form. This is rapidly becoming an outmoded way of thinking. It is blindingly apparent that Resources are finite, the environment will suffer as a result of our quest for the ideal product and the attitude of companies that the importance of ever increasing profit in this area is paramount.
The argument proposed, is that designer must put themselves into the mindset of the end user. Evaluation whether the design works well in terms of usability, ease and pleasurability of use. When a designer does this, they can the sort through problems and inconsistencies in their designs and these factors will push the designs to become
Good ideas can be hindered by poor decisions in the design phase and the resultant decisions that are made influence the outcome and success of a product. An example is the Internet mobile service that allows mobile phone users to purchase goods and services using the device as a digital wallet. Which is in and of itself a visionary idea, but if the implementation is too difficult to resolve for the end user, then the design will be unsuccessful and not received well.
Minimal material usage and re-usage is playing an ever more important and increasingly prevalent role in the jobs we as designers are required to perform which although it introduces a greater level of complexity to an already difficult and problem filled task it also allows a greater sense of satisfaction that the designs being generated are worthwhile and properly thought out.
When we as designers see an issue that needs resolution we require the ability to think laterally and too tease out all areas and factors of a problem whether or not they confront and challenge our ideals. I see a future for design that is implemented in a similar way that scientists work, being that we must start to rely on evidence to justify the decisions that we make regarding the design of things. Evidence based design. 

Human Centred design _ David Kelley.



David Kelley is attempting to generate a shift in thinking towards how we interact with the designed goods that flood through every avenue of our lives. He sees that in order for design to be successful it must be thought about in terms of how the actual user of the device will interact with it. A “man - machine relationship” and how those relationships are developed. He supports the notion that the successfully designed product is less about the hardware and much more so how the user responds and reacts to it. The company IDEO of which David Kelley is part of wished to commence testing how user experiences shape peoples notions regarding various products they represent for their clients. One area where they discovered areas for improvement were through personalized or customized technologies that were purposely design for the end user. For instance clothing in the Prada store in New York has Radio Frequency Identification tags embedded into their clothing range so that consumers can collect goods from around the store and then access more information regarding the products they have chosen before actually purchasing the items. Another example in the same store was a “magic mirror” which, in-fact is actually a large display and camera that is on a three second delay. This is done so that you can actually see the clothes that you’re intending to purchase from behind.
His ideas are not squarely pigeon holed into one area of product design. His company, IDEO, have also attempted to re-invigorate service and things that generally would overlooked as being not cost effective enough but it’s this attention to detail with in the design of everyday things and utilities that adds a level of richness and narrative to thing that most designers would be attempting to hide away. Behaviors and personalities are being included into products now to achieve the results desired by human – centered design and resultantly becoming more anthropomorphic. The design of user interfaces is a prime example of some thing based in technicality and expectation that the end user must spend a good deal of time attempting to work out how to use the the interface of their gadget, TV remote, phone, etc. This will in time become to be seen as a time of immaturity in design as eventually technology and hardware become increasingly more powerful. But what good can come of it if it is unable to be harnessed by the end user.

My Design Career – Jesiah Davis



I really enjoy designing, more accurately I love a good puzzle and design, to me, seems to be the most fascinating collection of puzzles short of studying science
Being a mature age student in my early thirties and embarking upon change of career change and self-discovery.  I am willing to consider all options and constantly re-assess the direction in which I am heading. As such the aspirations I hold for my career are diverse. Upon leaving my old career behind I realized a few home truths about myself, I knew that: I enjoy learning new things and like to try to think critically about them and that I wanted to learn how to draw!
I am quite inquisitive by nature and it is this part of me that has propelled me towards the Design industry. So far through my education in design which started from doing a 1 yr Design course at Enmore design centre and then two years in a 2yr Diploma of Architectural drafting and now a year of university in Industrial design. I have found that Industrial Design satisfies me most in terms of it allowing me the greatest latitude for opportunities to develop artistically and technically across a broad range of disciplines. Industrial design and other related fields within the built environment me to utilize my skills and technical knowledge acquired from a decade of working as an electronics technician throughout my twenties.

I feel there is a tectonic shift occurring in the way we conduct ourselves in the world and I wish to be part of the new wave of thinkers that will strategize and plan for a more equitable and sustainable future. Or more simply pursue a career that leaves behind marks of quality and work to be proud of. In a more direct sense I think I am gravitating towards mostly wanting to be involved in 3 main fields of interest and they are; Designing Bicycles, Buildings and Digital Media. My reasoning for this is as follows, I have always loved bicycles from the very first ride as a small child and have been fascinated by them ever since. I would love to spend part of my career involved some how with the design and production of bicycles. Secondly I see Digital Media as holding a place within my career, as I am, for all intents and purposes, a digital native and digital media plays an important role in my lifestyle. The scope of possibilities for communication that is held by digital media formats is wide open and only in its infancy. I feel fortunate that I am old enough to have witnessed and to have been shaped as a person by the phenomenally rapid rise of technology over the past 30 yrs. Finally, Buildings. Buildings ignite a fire within my deepest depths. Nothing quite comes close to the amazement I get from well designed buildings. The buildings we inhabit are integral to the shaping of our lives. I see this as a probably being later on in my career through design and also see it as probably being the pinnacle of my career. Architecture and the considerations that lie within the designs of building are perhaps savored better a more mature mind.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Annie Leonard. - The story of stuff:

Annie Leonard presents the story of stuff as a wholistic approach. She outlines the way things are made and consumed and shows the hidden story behind the manufacture of products and the way products we use affect our lives. Detailed in her presentation are many of the hidden processes required to create stuff and how people, resources and the environment, the world over are exploited in order to create this cheap stuff that many people in western civilizations take for granted and worse still actually feel entitled to. This cannot continue, too many toxic chemicals are employed in the manufacture of goods, many of which are neuro-toxic and systemic poisons that have endured no, or very little testing, on humans. The environment is under extreme stress and bio-systems are on the verge of collapse due to the nature of the one-way system  of production of stuff that is currently the standard mode of operation and the endemic mindset that is popular with manufacturing industries.
Leonard elaborates further, showing how the current model of consumer culture and planned obsolescence of the products that we use day to day has shaped our lives into one of servitude. This has happened as a result of working progressively harder year on year in order to get more money in which to buy more stuff, an endless cycle that is manifesting as wide spread dissatisfaction with our lives because of the pursuit of things that don’t necessarily make our lives any better and in many cases may actually cause us harm, in lieu of the things that do actually make our lives better, such as time spent with family and friends. In short more time for leisure and reflection and considered thought that can free us from the shackles of modern life.
Leonard proposes solutions that present us with a more realistic and sustainable model that involves closed loop production, this is a method of production where by the systems employed in manufacturing are mindful of the processes and how they impact on the people and environments in which they are produced. This is achieved through considering the total life of a product from “cradle to cradle’ and how the can dis-assembled broken apart and re used again and again.  These changes will end up being reflected in the price of the goods at the final point of sale where the user will get to understand the true cost of stuff. 

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