Task 5: Design Confusion

Task 6: The story of stuff

Through the documentary-style video The Story of Stuff presented by Annie Leonard, the focal audience of industrial designers can gain a far more in-depth insight into the materials economy. This understanding is highly beneficial in terms of design, as it is the responsibility of the designer to be aware of the lifecycle of products and 'stuff' as it moves through a system. In this video, Leonard explains how the process of production in a linear system cannot run on a finite planet indefinitely.

The corporation and governmentally influenced materials economy can be broken down into five different stages; extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. This is the process in which stuff exists; or in short the lifecycle of a product. The quote captured from Victor Lebeau "Our enormously productive economy...demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption...we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate" marked the wartime boom, where the materials economy was kick-started by corporations to reach the levels of production and consumption as we see them today.

If we take a closer and more analytical look at each stage within the materials economy, it can become more obvious as to where the problems lie and how solutions can be proposed to create a better system. The first stage within the system is extraction. Natural materials are exploited, and at current the world is running out of resources as a result of the over production of stuff. After the extraction process, materials move along the system to production. Natural and synthetic materials are combined to produce a myriad of toxic-rich products. This is a harmful step in the production process, not only to the factory workers who are exposed to dangerous chemicals, but also to consumers and the environment. A study was conducted revealing that the United States produces 4 billion pounds of toxic pollution annually, demonstrating that revision of the system is crucial for the realisation of a better environmentally sustainable solution.

The third stage of the linear system is distribution. Leonard explains how within distribution prices are kept down, people are kept buying and the inventory is kept moving. This is maintained by the externalisation of costs, where within previous stages of the system people and communities are wasted through loss of their natural space and clean air. Following this stage is consumption. The consumption of products is linked to the distribution by the 'golden arrow', or the heart of the system. At this stage advertising and media play a big role; making the population feel unhappy about what they have, inspiring them to fix this problem by shopping. Buyers are sucked into advertising but through product advertisement, the media effectively hide the extraction, production and disposal environmental impacts associated with that particular product; these occur outside the buyers vision.

Consumerism has increased to create a society with materialistic values. During the 1950's the concept of designed obsolescence caught on, where products were designed to break quickly, but leave the buyer with enough faith to go and buy another one. This is otherwise known as planned obsolescence, where a product has been designed for the dump. A classic example of this is computer hardware. With rapid technological development, computers are getting smaller and more compact but also causing models to become 'out of date'. As Leonard points out when closely examining an older computer model against a newer one, the only differing element of the design was one small piece, which, across each newer design had been slightly varied in shape, making it impossible for the consumer to replace that one piece; therefore forcing them to discard to old computer and buy a brand new one.

On the other hand the term perceived obsolescence relates to the buyers throwing away goods that are still perfectly useful. In society today, people have more stuff but less time for things that make them happy. This results in an endless cycle of consuming, earning money to consume and watching advertisements that tell them to consume more. This all occurs at the 'golden arrow' within the system. An example that can be used to explain this is within fashion. The world of fashion alternated between wide-heeled and narrow-heeled shoes featured as being in style within a bi-annual cycle. Through the footwear bought by people in response to these changes in fashion, society is able to judge and point out those not contributing to the 'golden arrow' or the fuelled endless cycle of consumerism.

The consumption stage is directly followed by disposal. The final stage within the materials economy creates a huge environmental impact. It has been calculated that one percent of products purchased are still used six months after the date of purchase. This means that ninety-nine percent of products become waste. For every one garbage bin of waste produced within the home, seventy garbage bins of waste of equal size have been created during production. The pollution of air, land, water, landfill and incineration of waste has resulted in the release of harmful toxins and super toxins into the environment; creating a problem that needs a solution. The introduction of recycling has reduced the pressure on the disposal and extraction stages, but this concept will never be enough to maintain today's level and methods of production, or get to the core of a problem associated with a system in crisis.

Through the analysis of the linear materials economy system at every stage of a products lifecycle, Leonard comes to the conclusion that a new school of thinking should be introduced. A system that is fuelled by sustainability and equity, where ideas such as green chemistry, zero waste, closed loop production, renewable energy and local living economies can be made a reality. Although many people may consider these proposals too idealistic, Leonard supports her school of thought on the basis that people created an old way, so why not create a new one?

Project 1: Mood Board

Task 4: Design Excellence

Task 3: Product Sketching

Task 6: Emotional Design

The human subconscious plays an important role in determining the interaction between people and design. By watching the video featuring Don Norman titled Emotional Design a better understanding of the relationship between design and the human emotional response can be gained. This would be a beneficial video for industrial designers in particular to view, as it gives a better insight into product personality and the different levels of emotional response that design triggers.

Don Norman believes that in the world of design many things are effectively functional, but ugly. Design should be fun. In product design the functionality of a product falls into last place on a hierarchical scale. Firstly for a product to be affective it needs to be pleasurable. It needs to stimulate the sensors and be visually appealing to its target audience. Secondly a product must have good usability. If a product appeals to the customers sensors and has a 'good feel' to it, the object has basically sold itself. But lastly the object must perform a function. A good example of pleasurable product design is the Alessi Juicer designed by Phillip Stark. The design stimulates the sensors but when it comes to the functionality of the product the user is informed that the object should not be used for its designed purpose ; to create juice, as the acid in the juice will damage the surface of the product. This proves the theory that functionality in design is of least importance on a scale with usability and pleasure.

There are three different levels of design processing that occur within the brain. The body's sensory organs are stimulated, causing analysis on three levels; visceral, reflective and behavioural. Norman discusses visceral analysis as being on a subconscious level, where the beauty of the design can be recognised and the aesthetic qualities can be appreciated. This differs to the behavioural level of analysis. Although they both occur on a subconscious level, the behavioural reflects usability and understanding, and the feeling of being in control. But finally the reflective level realises design association and image status. So all in all the analysis of a good product must look good, feel good and reflect well on the owner of that product.

An example relating to Normans theory that aesthetics matter and attractive things work better is a New York Times review written about the Mini Cooper. The article states that although the car does have several faults, the audience should buy it anyway. The playful design with rounded dials and curved edges create a fun aesthetic which, as Norman suggests override the functionality of the design.

Another level of thinking that Norman introduces to his audience is how different working environments can greatly affect the final result of a design. Using the analogy of walking across a plank of wood at great height, it is explained that stress can help to focus the mind. The environmental influence causes the designer to create a solution with little consideration of its aesthetic details, to produce an object with higher functionality than pleasurable qualities. On the other hand, an IQ test performed by a psychologist examining human emotional responses produced the result that happy people are able to more effectively problem solve. By giving an identical problem to two separate groups, the first group given nothing and the second group given lollies, it was determined when only the second group could solve the problem, that happiness encouraged brainstorming which lead to 'out of the box' thinking. Through this theory it can be assumed that creativity is released through happiness.

Through different levels of analysis, a products pleasurable, usable and functional qualities can be appreciated. Although many people believe that products with higher functionality represent good design, Norman sticks to his theory that pleasant things work better.

Task 6: Human Centered Design

Video Review and Reflection:

It is important as a designer to keep in the know with the ever-changing world of design. The constant development of new and better ideas, or even an alteration in the approach to design itself. The Video Human Centred Design featuring David Kelley is a good representation of some of the changing designs and design philosophies within the commercial market as we see it today. Within the video, produced by New Talks Each Week the concept of human centred design is discussed. As an industrial designer, this would be a beneficial video to view, as it gives an interesting insight into some of the more recent developments and directions of products and design styles within the design world.

A number of new products are analysed within the video. I feel that one of the most innovative designs was the RF tags and scan devices created for use within Prada stores. This retail product aimed to possess a cultural role. For this product, scanner devices are made available throughout the store for use by both customers and staff. By scanning items of clothing, the user of the device is able to gain a more detailed level of knowledge by viewing related product information displayed on LCD screens throughout the store. The interaction between the customer and the clothing represents the affective generation of a human-centered product.

Another suave human-centred design developed for Prada is the magic mirrors within the change rooms. This mirror design allows the customer to view themselves from the back by having a three second delay within the display. Not only does this design effectively solve one of the dilemmas experienced by every individual when trying on clothing, it represents human interaction with the design. My personal discovery of these designs has not only broadened my knowledge of recently developed products, but has created a myriad of ideas within my creative design potential.

Spyfish was a new product design that had my attention 'hooked' throughout the entire product promotion. The design consists of two cameras built into one device to effectively allow the user to scuba dive without getting wet. Controlled by a wireless remote, the camera is simply thrown off the side of a boat and navigated to a depth and compass setting of choice. The only restriction of this design was a maximum depth of 500 feet. With built-in lights, a view of the underwater world can be experienced by users in whatever light conditions. I found this a very interesting design concept, especially as it had been advertised as a consumer product rather than a research tool.

A design for a deep well, low cost manual pump was discussed within the video. Developed for the use of farmers in Kenya, this product allowed the growth of crops during the dry seasons when the lack of rain had previously restricted crop production. I found this appealing as this was a design being produced on wide-scale production at low cost, to help people in countries who would otherwise not have a solution to their food shortages. Human initiative is reflected through this design with the consideration of a human-centred influence.

Through the viewing of the video Human Centred Design, a better understanding of different concepts and ideas within products available on the commercial market can gained. A strong influence of human centred design can be recognised throughout each of the products presented within the show, representing how the consideration of behaviours and personalities have been incorporated into the different designs. As a result of successful design and design approaches, designers are becoming further integrated into the business strategies of companies.