11TH HOUR

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XsYYMB6V9M

Leonardo Dicaprio documentary “11^th hour” depicts the ecological damage that humans ‘the third chimpanzee’ have inflicted on the planet over time.  It’s thrilling imagery and goose bump music makes the destruction of the environment ‘scary’ and ‘overwhelming’ and you can’t help but feel responsible for its deconstruction.

One scientists describes the planet as “behaving as an infected organism and by looking at it from out of space you can see lights… lights of the people... its almost like looking at an organism that has an infection, forming a crust of some kind”. This visual imagery makes me feel like a pesticide in my own home. But really its a gripping awakening of how much damage we are causing the natural environment.

Leo’s smooth voice enforced by a voice of reason from global scientists help to destruct the impacts of human nature. In today’s climate weather enthusiasts have recorded the highest average temperature in history as a result of human ignorance and neglect for the environment. Extremity of this is most evident in the wildfires in Victoria resulting in a huge loss of life, hurricane Katrina displacing thousands of people from their homes are among just a few of the catastrophic tragedies the world is coming to terms with as repeated occurrence. The Antarctic is melting at an accelerated rate, with over 20% of sea ice in the Atlantic; we are significantly losing control of the climate. If this continues over half of the world may be submerged in water.

‘The UN predicts in half of a century 150 million environment related refugees at any given time will be displaced from climate change’

Corporate economical globalization is one of the largest forces blocking change.  The global industry has infiltrated political systems around the world as greedy puppets, which care more about money and economic progress than finding a means to an end of our own ecological destruction. It is estimated that it costs $35 trillion dollars a year to do what nature can do for us. We are taking the natural ecosystem for advantage and in affect are decreasing our quality of life.

Industrial designs today with the driving force for climate change have the chance to redesign the industry and deter change from a “waste making system”  - (cradle to grave) to a sustainable system (cradle to cradle). Designers need to transform the concept of ‘object of desires’ to a more sustainable solution. By using Biominicry as our main source of inspiration when generating ideas we can become less energy and fuel dependent. I recently attended a seminar led by Nissan in their response to restore nature balance; by using 100% green energy to fuel electrical cars. This is just one of the many ways we as industrial design can help re-shape the world. 

Charette

EZECOMFORT

The proposed solution of Ezecomfort will increase the emotional attachment of the user to the chair by the comfort and unique design of an adaptable backrest and seat pan; instead of its previous hard un-ergonomic features.

Proposed material:  Treated plywood; similar to the seat pan of Eames famous chair. We chose not to add a different material as it would over complicated the design and lose its simplicity and craftsmanship as a wooden IKEA chair.  (((upload pics of chair)

Transforming from a plain, hard and uncomfortable chair for general use; Ezecomfort will have a much more predominant role in the consumers way of life. Aesthetically pleasing and comfortable, the Ezecomfort will become a key 

player in the living room, a dinning chair, and an important point of conversation within the consumer’s home. The backrest and seat pan come in separate components for ease of packaging. Each component clicks into the pre existing slot

s of the IKEA chair; making modification is easy, affordable

 and accessibl

e.

As an all-purpose chair the life stages of the consumer from a small child to a teenager, entertainer and parent would be the main stimulus to modify the chair. As the consumer becomes older and has their own apartment or family, the chair adapts from an all-purpose chair to one for the lounge room or entertaining guests. ‘Wanting new things’, Boredom and uncomfort of the chair can also be other driving factors to want to modify the chair.

As a beneficial claim, the consumer could mail order or return to IKEA to swap parts of the pre existing chair not needed and receive a discount on the new aftermarket attachment.

Physio-Attachment 

Why Discarded?

• Move out of the home
  
• Easily Scratched and mistreated
• Untreated – no long life endurance
• Waterproof?
• Unable to customize
  
• Function
  

o   Uncomfortable

Hooks that can be attached to the backrest of the chair to hang up a child’s school bag or accessories’, while sitting in the chair studying.

Through the use of different colours and material components, the user can customize the colours of their chair.

Pyscio- Attachment

Supplied by IKEA the child can play with a craft kit, which allows them to draw and laminate pictures onto the seatpan of the chair. This customization, begins to translate into memories for the family and child, as each laminate changes with every picture. 

A footrest designed specifically to slot in underneath the chair enhances the comfort of the chair. The footrest foundation contains vertical magazine slots that can be easily accessed when in use and then stored securely underneath the chair when not in use. The footrest comes in two compartments and can therefore be stackable, or some left behind under the chair. 

Socio-Attachment

This concept attempts to bring character to the chair, to make it much more interactive for the child. Little silicone rubber shoes are given to the chair, a reading light, an ergonomic back-rest and finally a pouch on the side of the chair for pens and texters.

 

Though maybe not as practical, I wanted to explore the concept of a more organic chair, whereby the consumer would be supplied with a roll of sandpaper to encounter the task of rounding legs and square tops of the chair. 

DESIGN PROCESS REFLECTION

Promoting long-term satisfaction with the one chair was an interesting exercise to explore how a product could be enhanced over time.  The consumer’s life stage and personal interests can be the most beneficial for this modification. As a result its no wonder the consumer will increase their emotional attachment of the chair in their ability to customize.  This concept I believe has the power to enhance the products lifetime in a fun and creative way and reduce the planned obsolescence of most products in the marketplace today.

Designing beyond the original product is good in a way as it can allow you to develop all those other wild and crazy concepts that you had originally planned for the one object. It certainly makes the product more flexible and interesting over time for the consumer.

It was fun to collaborate with other designers; as it represents what we will be doing as a design team in the ‘real world’. Brainstorming for modification was defiantly the most interesting aspect for the task; as you got thinking creatively as a team and bounced off each. Finding a solution that everyone agreed on was the hardest.

Comfort in a chair is a must. After all people will be sitting in the chair for long periods of time and need to enjoy that experience. Touch and feel of the chair is highly relevant for consumers to build an emotional attachment to the chair, unlike that of any other on the market place. Difference. Exploration and manipulation of materials is effective to explore a balance between form, comfort and material.

OBJECTIFIED

                                                http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/objectified

 

“Every object intentional or not speaks to who put it there” (Andrew Baulvelt, Design Curator). Objectified explores through prominent designers of today issues impacting upon design to make products last longer; and co exist in a sustainability efficient global community. While designing to enrich our lives, we as the designers have the responsibility and opportunity to speak to consumers through our products.

Everybody wants new things. Marc Newson argues that we as designers should design products that are “Non - disposable that consumers want to keep”. Hella Jongerious interest in design “To give individual character to something produced industrially” coincides with this thinking. I strongly believe all designers should address to offer products that consumers want to keep. Products through good design can become an important part of your being and give layers of meaning that enrich your emotional connection to that particular product. Ive’s generation of Apple products are a fantastic example of this.

FACT A technological object has a shelf life of less than 11 months, where does it go? Landfill.

 

Tim Brown CEO and President of IDEO offers a much more cynical, take on reality “If ones really honest with ones self most of what you design ends up in a land fill somewhere”. As young designers; we uphold a bigger task of exploring new design solutions that aren’t permanent. To design for what happens after people use our products. Karim Rashid suggest an interesting solution “why aren’t mobile phones built of cardboard or sugarcane”? Though conflicting with Newson and Hella’s idealism, it leads to the same outcome for a more sustainable environment.  Furthermore I believe, Rashid argues designer today should explore not only innovative design solutions; but also innovative material solutions that wear in rather then wear out.

Objectified offers a critical deconstruction of design reality. It makes what we do as Industrial designers real and prevalent in design history.  More so, it offers a benchmark and a somewhat reflection of what we still need and can do to enrich our state of beings.

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HOW BIG IS YOUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT?

My footprint is obviously too big... just for the one world