Kate Barclay
Bec Womersley
Seb Gregory
Mikee Ronquillo
Melinda Kingsland
Sunday, October 14, 2012
PSS Final design
The HURB garden compost system is both a product and a service. The residents of a community are encouraged to compost their organic waste through the incentive of fresh herbs and the knowledge that they have actioned a more sustainable form of waste disposal. Another benefit of HURB is the bringing together of a community, where users are able to meet their neighbours and become more inspired to become a part of a community initiative. Being positioned within a communal garden area, the HURB composting unit is easily accessible for users within their day-to-day life.
A third party company would service the HURB worm farm, through the collection of worm castings and general maintenance of the herbs, such as replacing dead plants. These excess castings would be sold for profit, financing the entire initiative. HURB is an innovative product service system, as it combines a herb garden into the design of the unit. This physical incentive can be used as a tool to initiate change - whereby the more a community composts their organic waste, the more lush their herbs become.
HURB is not only a functional product, the physical composting worm farm unit is aesthetically pleasing with the tapered design and the incorporation of plants. The simplistic style is designed to fit in with modern architecture. The white HDPE plastic used for the material was intentional due to the fact that the worms within the unit must be kept within a temperature range - they cannot get too hot. This differs from regular composting units which are dark in colour, as heat is required within the decomposing process.
The HURB unit consists of 4 trays, the working tray, two processing trays and a collection tray. Compost is placed into the top tray, accessed by opening the lid of the unit. Worms work their way to the surface to eat the compost, leaving nutrient-rich worm castings which are deposited into the processing trays, removed by the servicing company once a week. For every 10, 000 worms, 10kg of compost is processed each week. A HURB unit would contain 20, 000 worms. Nutrient-rich liquid seeps into the collection tray at the base, where a valve releases the fertiliser that can be used to nourish the herbs. This self-sufficient system provides encouragement for users to make a positive sustainable change in behaviour, through the satisfaction of growing herbs and being more morally responsible with their waste.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sustainable Product Service Systems
The brief for this assignment requires the design of a sustainable product service system that would encourage the change towards environmentally positive and socially responsible behaviours within the community. For the topic of this assignment, I have decided to focus on the the theme of community gardens, where the behaviour of people can be influenced through a social activity where they are encouraged to participate for the benefit of a community.
I decided on three concepts, each allowing users to grow their own herbs within a community environment. This not only reduces the wastage of supermarket-herbs going mouldy in the fridge, but inspires a more environmentally friendly lifestyle choice, to become more self-sufficient.
My final choice of design concept that I wish to pursue is concept three, a composting herb garden unit that would be serviced by a third party company. The target audience for this particular design are people living within high-density residential areas such as apartment blocks. The units would be placed within a communal garden area, where the users are encouraged to compost their waste through the incentive of growing their own fresh herbs.
The centralised compositor would have holes at the base to allow for composted juices to seep into the soil of the herbs surrounding it, acting as a self-fertilising unit. The service provided with this composting unit would include general maintenance, replanting new herbs when plants diminish, managing of compost waste (for example, compost needs to be maintained at appropriate conditions for maximum breaking-down efficiency), watering of herbs etc.
This design encourages a more sustainable lifestyle, reducing the amount of waste produced within the home, while creating an element of fun and social interaction through the garden component. For many residents who live in apartments, the landscape can seem like a concrete jungle. This composting garden unit can provide users with an instant garden, where the greenery is not only aesthetically pleasing, but provides a functional aspect whereby the herbs can be used by the community for cooking. More importantly, it encourages sustainability by allowing users to become more self sufficient.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
PACKAGING: Final Design Solution
Available on the market today, sunscreen packaging does not represent the epitome of high innovation, or that of an environmentally friendly solution. “Little feet” is an exciting, new form of sunscreen packaging that demonstrates a more sustainable approach to the way that sunscreen is packaged.
Within the design, the pump head is intended to be reused through the purchase of a foil-sealed bottle. Being economically appealing, the pump-less bottles would be marketed at a less-expensive cost than those packages which contain the pump head, acting as an incentive for consumers to adopt the sustainable use of the packaging. As the pump consists of over half of the material of the entire package, being 50.5 percent, it makes sense both economically and environmentally, to reduce the amount of material and energy consumed within manufacture.
While being innovative through the design of a recyclable and reusable package, the product aesthetics also represent a unique form within the current sunscreen packaging market. Being targeted towards parents for use on their children, the package demonstrates a level of sophisticated aesthetics that appeal to both the parent and child. The clear material, Polyethylene Terephthyalate, allows the consumer to see the product, to add an element of excitement to ‘sunscreen time’ for children, as they are able to watch the contents make their way through the package while it is being operated.
The size of the package was resolved to be one that fits nicely both on a bench top and in the hands of a child. With full-time use, the contents would last for over a month. Being compact and spillage-free, the package can be transported around to children's outdoor activities, such as weekend sport, or just remain within the home as a more aesthetic package that other sunscreens.
Focus Group Analysis
In studio, we conducted a focus group to gain valuable feedback on our design. Issues within the design were raised, with the aim of realising strategies that could be used to overcome these issues.
Issues, difficulties, problems found with the design and posters:
Strategies to address issues found:
The focus group was an invaluable way of determining the weaknesses of the design that would lead to its misuse or misunderstanding of the intended use, with appropriate solutions to the problems that arose.
Issues, difficulties, problems found with the design and posters:
- Unsure where to hold packaging to operate it.
- Too big - not portable enough.
- Coloured packages not linked to a particular content.
- Poster fonts not bold and therefor difficult to read.
Strategies to address issues found:
- Design more portable by reducing the size.
- Create different colours specific to content, for example waterproof, babies, sport.
- Perhaps create an indent in the shape of the package to suggest where to hold it.
The focus group was an invaluable way of determining the weaknesses of the design that would lead to its misuse or misunderstanding of the intended use, with appropriate solutions to the problems that arose.
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