Heskett Chapters 9 &10

It was interesting to read about how design is depicted to the general public through media and other forms of communication.  From companies to governments, design has played a big part in todays world and that is based off the public's view of design.  It is impressive that a concept can make such an impact coming from one individual or group's designs.  Heskett referenced Buick coming back in the 1990's because of the VP's design concepts and the release of the companies revolutionary new line of cars.  I feel that this is happening again.  Buick has come out with a new campaign with a very powerful commercial about "Imported from Detroit":

Coleman Project

Our group has designed a cabinet of sorts for a mudroom, basement, and garage areas. The cabinet will be very versitile and we offer many options for storage space.
The cabinet will be 6' x 3.5' x 3' and will be made of a hard, lightweight plastic. It will be vented so that wet gear can dry ect.
The design process so far has gone pretty smoothly, we all have been accepting of each others ideas and respectfully critiquing.
So far my contribution has been more visual than anything. I have done sketches and am currently working on getting a 3D digital representation. Like the rest of the group, i have also contributed to the design discussions and ideas. I like this group and we all work together very well.

As soon as I refine the sketches I will upload scans and post them as soon as possible. (Same for when I get a 3D representation).

Team Members:
Anthony
John
Karyn
Matt
Nina
Xia

cradle to cradle 4, 5, 6

It is upsetting to read about how we as humans use and don't replenish.  The book speaks of old civilizations that got along just fine before the "western ways" came around.  The Egyptians had irrigation, and Chinese replenished their waste into rice patties.  Nowadays we have products like cars and packaging materials that don't even naturally break down to give back to the planet once we are done with them.  We were all raised in school by the ideal, "cut a tree down, plant a new" but I do not think that is practiced today, at least as much as it should be.
Although I am a HUGE Chevrolet fan, after reading this book, I have a new found respect for the Ford Motor Company.  Now I am not going to trade my Impala in for a Fusion, but the steps Ford is taking to make this planet a better place is impressive.  I hope that other large companies will follow in their foot steps to make this a more evident impact on our environment.  It also goes to show that if a giant company such as Ford can take these steps, then those of us lower on the totem pole should easily be able to follow as well.

The Eames'

I really enjoyed the Eames' films.  They were interesting in that they look at design from so many different angles.  The solar do-nothing-machine amazed me.  I have always been interested in that sort of thing, from mouse trap the game to any and all Rube Goldberg machines.  Their success as a couple is amazing, and I hope to be able to live out my days in a house like the one they designed.
The guest speakers were a nice way to look at the design world.  I enjoyed hearing about their overseas experiences, especially since I cannot ever partake in such a thing due to being in the military.  My main goal in life is to someday own my own company, so it was cool to see  a reference of that right in front of me.  They said they all have other jobs right now until the business really takes off, and thats life.  I hope to be able to work for a company for a while to get experience in the real world, and build a wealth for myself to make a transition into independent employment easier.

Online Scavenger Hunt

5 Camping Gear Manufactures:

Slumberjack

Coleman

The North Face

Patagonia

Eastern Mountain Sports

3 Trade Show Pictures:

This is a picture of some of the outside booths at the 2009 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market Trade Show. 

Here we have the Coleman mascot at 2010 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Trade Show.

This is also of the 2010 Outdoor Retailer, but the Winter Market Trade Show.

5 Indoor Goods Manufactures:

IKEA

Bed Bath & Beyond

SONY

Williams-Sonoma

Crate & Barrel

3 Trade Show Pictures:

2010 Spring Southern Home & Garden Show

Living Kitchen Show 2010

A German Interior Design Trade Fair

I see an "interior good" as anything in the home. From something with an actual function to decor. For example:

Homer Simpson Wall Clock

Sofa Set / Coffee Table / Lamp

Rug / Flower Vase / Throw Pillows / Fire Place / Lounge Chair

A B C's

(X)

 the menu button from my tv remote

(U)

 end of a hanger

(J)

 top of a hanger

(S)

 looking upward towards a light bulb

 (V)

 cage from my front door

(M)

 part of a spatula

(W)

 potato masher

(N)

 potato masher

(L)

 corner of my pabst blue ribbon beer sign

(l)

 beer tab from my kegorator

(D)

 end of railing from some stairs

(Y)

 part of the same stairs railing

(T)

 a jar

(H)

 brick

(i)

 some drunk broke our fence, convenient for this project tho...

(O)

top of keg

Design and The Enviroment

The environment is always a pressing issue, and this is why I have chosen the topic.  Design always amazes me when someone comes along with a newer way to make or do something, AND it has environmental benefits.   The way I went around my research was to "StumbleUpon" with the topic 'design' tagged.  Many things came up just as straight design, but what I was looking for was environmental advantages within design.  The eco coke bottle design link is my favorite of the bunch.  This new bottle truly amazes me and I hope to see it on shelves sooner than later.  Moving forward, the boxed water and humble pizza box are interesting ways to go about something that has been the same for so many years.  Ever since taking this class, I have had a new love for chairs.  This brings us to my last two findings.  The simple chair that rocks is a self energizing machine.  The more you rock the chair, the more power is stored to power the reading lamp.  Very cool.  Lastly we have the recycled Coca-Cola chairs.  I like to see products made for the general public out of things that very often just end up in a land fill.
(EACH BULLET POINT IS A LINK)

• Eco Coke Bottle design

             Not only does the eco bottle design look brilliant, it is brilliant.  My favorite thing about this is that it is being done by Coca-cola.  Even though I am a Pepsi fan, Coca-Cola is such a big company.  If coke was to follow through with this, all other bottle companies would be forced to follow (assuming this environmental idea isn't strictly patented...).  The fact that the bottles take up less space is directly related to the fact that they stack and stand snug with one another.  

• Boxed Water is Better for the Earth

             This new and innovative way of storing water amazingly cuts the carbon footprint by 80%! Only 14% of plastic water bottles are actually recycled... The way I see it is that milk and OJ already come in containers like these, why not water?

• The Humble Pizza box

             I have seen this pizza box idea before, but I still think it is pretty cool. It really is an efficient way to eat  a box of pizza.  No messy dishes, no water used on those messy dishes, and boxes are easy to recycle.  I see this as an overall win-win.

• A Simple Chair That Rocks

            This chair is absolutely awesome.  A battery pack stores the energy created by rocking in the chair.  That energy is then used to power a reading lamp connected to the chair.  Re-usable, self-sustaining energy is always a plus for the environment.

• Coca-Cola Chairs

            Like I said before about the Coca-Cola chairs, I really like seeing product that usually ends up in a land fill being created into a product everyone can make use of.  These chairs are of simple design and colorful.  Pleasant to the eye, pleasant to the world.

cradle to cradle 1, 2, 3

Looking backwards on the Industrial Revolution to 'design' it is a gloomy thought.  The Revolution's severity and popularity was credited to the 'bigger is better' and 'more products to more people' ideas.  The best thing we can do for our environment no-a-days is to design with people and the planet in mind.  Not with profit and numbers in mind.  It is hard to have thought like they all did back then.  Resources were vast and seemed endless, they were none-the-wiser.  Now we see what impact we have on the world around us, and it is important to keep that world in mind when designing.  The cradle to grave concept is haunting as well.  This is why I like to see companies like Coca-Cola making chairs out of their used product.  Land fills are a disgrace to our species.  I like the term eco-efficiency; doing more with less.  Ford was part of the more product to more people, but he was also conscious of the fact that waste needed to be down at the same time.  The concept of the four R's is quite interesting as well.  The four R's being; reduce, reuse, recycle, and regulate.  Many companies try different ways to make waste into energy, but they are often foolish.  The concept of 'away' is a dangerous one.  While you may feel warm and fuzzy for depleting the amount of waste your company uses, out of sight should NOT mean out of mind.  Just because your company has found a way to get rid of your waste, more than not you have just created more waste for someone else.  We need to think of long term eco-friendly ways to convert waste to energy, and that energy back into re-usable waste.

Girl Talk

I really enjoyed the past week of class.  We have been watching a documentary about one of my favorite styles of music; the remix.  I frequently listen to Girl Talk and Super Smash Bros, and I had no idea that there was such a legal battle going on behind the scenes.  Obviously I like the style of music so I am going to back it up when they say that it is an art form.  They are expressing sounds in a way they feel adequate.  They are not composing, but there have been countless articles online showing how the same cord is used for something like 20+ different very popular songs.  Who had it first? I doubt any of them.  This is where I struggle to see the problem record companies have with remixes.  Back to overall summary of how class has been,  I liked the post video discussion and I really liked how the video was not a serious bore, it was current and interesting.

The book that isn't a tree

The beginning of the introduction is very interesting to me.  It takes a quite bold stance.  I feel like the writers are using scare tactics to get their points about environmentalism.  Listing all the horrifyingly dangerous materials in all our day-to-day products in the home? I would say it is a little strong.  I understand it though.  After watching William McDonough speak I understood the tone.  I really did enjoy the left and right, ying and yang approach to learning the background of each writer.  I was interesting to see how different each story was, and to clearly pick up on the two separate writing styles.  Makes me curious if I will be able to later on throughout the book.

Reflection

The colors lecture was pretty cool.  I assumed things were the color they were for a reason, but didn't really think about it as a systematically well thought out thing.  Now that I know things about each color, everything makes more sense and I find myself thinking about it randomly.
Going green with plants on buildings was a really interesting concept.  I really thought that the farms about the entire city was a really clever idea.  It makes you think that maybe we wont end up like the movie Wall-E's rendition of our race's future. The water bottle was absolutely my favorite product.  I want one for my self! I really think that will drastically help our planets shortage for clean drinking water.

50 Things

A "simple" trip to the library.

1. Check book bag for all required library materials (laptop, books, pens, paper)
2. Check weather.com for temperature
3. Find appropriate outerwear
4. Lock door behind me
5. Grumble about all the ice on the sidewalk outside apartment...
6. Pick playlist from iPod for walk
7. Cut behind apartment into alley
8. Grumble about all the ice on the sidewalk 
9. Choose to walk in middle of street
10. Head west down 13th
11. Stop for an annoying amount of time waiting for Summit traffic to clear for crossing
12. Continue down 13th on the sidewalk
13. Notice the abundance of beer cases scattered in lawns
14. Stop sign says STOP Hammertime
15. Walk past my buddy Cory's house
16. Think about how I have not partied there in a few weeks
17. Look at all the parking meeter times left
18. Add whatever change in pockets to blinking meeters
19. Tell bum outside of Tobacco International I have no change
20. Consider Subway or Bento GoGo Asian Yum Yum, but buy neither
21. Wait for traffic to clear on high to cross
22. Notice how EVERYONE is either texting or listening to headphones (myself included). Do we no longer believe in common human interaction??
23. Continue walking, cut between the parking garages next to the Ohio Union
24. Smirk at the stick figure alien attack drawing in the snow between the garages
25. Check watch
26. Almost get hit by aggressive bus driver while crossing the road behind the Ohio Union towards the Oval
27. While approaching the Oval, notice the planes flying above, and think about how the abundance of people on the oval look like ants to them
28. Watch as someone almost gets clipped by a crazy biker through the oval
29. Watch for a minute while a random student argues with a preacher 'spreading the word'
30. Continue on up to the main library
31. Once in the library, I go straight for the elevator. The top floor is the best place to study.
32. Wait for the elevator
33. Ride the elevator, stopping at every floor to let people in and out all the way up
34. Step out of elevator on the top floor, notice that all the tables are taken
35. Turn around to get back in elevator, but it is too late. It is gone.
36. Wait for the elevator
37. Ride the elevator, stopping at every floor to let people in and out all the way down
38. Exit the library out the front door
39. Walk north towards the SEL
40. Realize I should have just gone straight to the SEL in the first place, Thompson Library is always full
41. Notice the new A-Frame sign outside the SEL telling the smokers to find somewhere else to smoke, thinking back to finals last quarter and having to walk through all the 2nd hand smoke to get into the library
42. Once inside the library, immediately go right to the elevators
43. Take the elevator to the 3rd floor, my lucky floor where there is always somewhere to work
44. Find a table with an outlet close by for my laptops crappy battery
45. Unload book bag and set up work area
46. Plug in laptop, and fire it up
47. Peruse Facebook for 20 minutes, even though at home I am not even on that much
48. Check to see if anyone is on Google Talk
49. Close all unnecessary tabs
50. Begin homework