Project 1: Experience Enrichment, The Water Wiper

Here is the list of things we needed to complete for our first studio design project and what I have posted in the following order:


-Product Poster

-Product Usage Storyboard

-Rationale

Experience Enrichment Product Rationale

By Luke Messina (z3376270)

My window wiper design is unique for the main reason that it explores a whole new area of ergonomics than the variety of other window wipers on the market. For example, my design uses an ergonomically enhanced handle that allows maximum comfort for the wrist while reducing the strain that normal window wipers usually generate. My design does this by creating a handle that allows your wrist to remain in a straight position relieving the pain one usually receives when wiping from side to side with another product.

When deciding on the shape of this product, I used curves and free flowing lines to make this product aesthetically pleasing while still catering to the functionality between the product and its human user. As you can see with my model the curve that represents the handle has been designed in a way that when you grip the handle, the curve feels like it fits in the palm of your hand as it follows the natural way your fingers sit while gripping an object. The small and smooth indent which you might not even realize is there has been purposely placed so that your thumb naturally sits in the position allowing the user to subconsciously realize the right way to hold the product while allowing the thumb to put pressure on the wiper without it slipping off. This indent and the shape of the handle were all made to maximize comfort while also allowing the user to stay in control of the product, especially when being used in a wet environment.

The large handle space allows anyone to use this product with ease and comfort while allowing the product to be hung or placed on a hook or extruding handle in order for it to be stored. This large space also cuts down material usage, which needs to be considered if this product was to be mass-produced. As this product needs to be made from one piece, in order to reduce the amount of small areas where water can penetrate and cause degradation, I have decided that the manufacturing process for my design should be injection molding as the high pressure ensures good surface finish, fine reproduction of detail and excellent repeatability. The thermoplastic scrap used in this process can be recycled in this process however, my product has been designed in a way that combines ergonomics, aesthetics and function to enable the user to keep this product till the end of its life cycle.

In the final stages of my design process I realised that my product is special as it is the only window wiper that is comfortable to use both vertically and horizontally while still allowing maximum comfort for the wrist. If you measure my product you will find that the length of the blade is also slightly longer than the body of my product allowing the wiper to be used in tight corners and spaces. The body of the wiper also does not exceed a width of 20 millimetres at any point on the product, and so does not interfere with the function of the wiper, allowing users to use this product in situations and places where a straight and longer handle would interfere.

My design caters to wide target market as it is easy to use due to enhanced ergonomics and increased wrist protection for every user, however I would have never made it this far without constant evaluation of every aspect of my product. This includes both constructive criticism from my peers as well as constant evaluation by myself throughout my design process and without this my product would not be as successful as others on the market.

-Technical Drawings

The Story of Stuff

Story of Electronics

This video explains the life cycle analysis of electronic goods and how these goods all have a devastating impact on the environment whether they are recycled or not. Built in obsolescence and design for the dump are two ways in which products are designed so that they force the consumer to upgrade or buy a newer version of their product when the old one has become unusable. Big companies make it nearly impossible to fix their products after they break, e.g. through stopping production of old parts, and make it cheaper for the consumer to just buy a new product. This is bad for the environment as the amount of e-waste produced every year numbers in the millions.

People believe that once they throw out a product, that is the end of its lifecycle, however, the products usage by the consumer is only a blip in its whole journey. With the amount of toxins in the product, they need to come out sometime and somewhere. Whether the product is being sent to landfill dumps or overseas recycling plants, poor families, sometimes even children, are risking their health breaking apart the e-waste and releasing toxic materials to find the valuable metals that is used to create electronic consumer items.

So is it the designer’s fault that their designs go to the dump? No, companies keep the human and environmental costs out of sight and away from the designers in order to externalize the true cost of production.  This allows companies to keep designing for the dump and while they get the profit, we have to pay with our health and our lives.  That is why most companies these days are being forced to look after their own e-waste. This is called extended producer responsibility or product take-back, and would force the company to design products that last longer and are less toxic as it would be the cheapest way out.

Story of Bottled Water

Despite what companies think, bottled water is not in demand as most bottled water, when compared to normal tap water is less popular. Companies say that they are just satisfying consumer demands, but who would demand a less tasty, less sustainable and way more expensive product when you could get tap water for free in your kitchen.  Bottled water costs almost 2000x more than normal water, however because of manufactured demand, companies are scaring us and seducing us into buying bottled water, which sometimes is just normal filtered tap water.

As water has sometimes been described as ‘the most environmentally responsible consumer product of the world’, this video shows us how companies will lie about anything in order to make a profit. Each year the oil that is used to make bottled water in the US is enough energy to fuel a million cars and after it is shipped around the world to be sold after its use, it is thrown right back into the garbage to be either sent to landfill dumps or recycling plants.

If companies did not need to ship the large amounts of waste that comes from so called ‘recycled’ bottled water, the money that would be saved could be used to invest in public water infrastructure, but then where would these companies get their profit. Manufactured demand is all about how companies scare us, seduce us and mislead us into buying their products in order to get rich and we are the ones who support them.

Story of Cosmetics

Consumers have no idea what kind of toxic chemicals goes into their products, especially cosmetic products. To find out, we have to go back to one of the key features of our materials economy, ‘Toxics in, Toxics out.’  Less than %20 of chemicals in cosmetics have been assessed for safety and we have no idea what is in the other %80.  The problem does not lie with the consumer choosing the wrong product, but rather with the companies that choose what products to put on the shelves for us to buy. Companies still believe that people really don’t care what goes into the products just as long as it makes them look better and so many cosmetic designers are ignoring the human health cost that toxic chemicals are affecting.

What is even worse then toxic chemicals in out cosmetic products is the way the cosmetic companies have set up their own health and safety committee to self-police their own products as the FDA have left a big hole, and compliance with their recommendations is voluntary.  So, all in all, it is left up to the cosmetic companies to make sure that the products we use are safe, however, it is quite scary that the cosmetic company has the power to make new rules and decide whether or not to follow them.

Product Sketching

The three exhibitions that I visited were quite good and although spending time looking at art is not usually my strong point I did in fact enjoy learning about the variety of products on the market and the many wonderful materials and processes designers create in order to make their products unique.

Communication B Model & Isometric Drawing

Finally finished model after a long day, lets hope the technical drawing goes a bit better.

Mat and Tech Workshop

Hey guys, here are just some photos from everyones cardboard chair design assessment.

My Design Career

My Design Career

In high school I had no clue what I wanted to do as a profession and even when I was applying for university courses last year I still had no idea what subjects I would like and dislike. Although I have always been a design kind of person, there are so many things in the world which I would have liked to do before coming to university, but seeing as I wanted to get ahead in life I figured I mine as well start somewhere and ended up in Industrial Design at UNSW. 

At first I thought this course was unusually hard, however over time I realized that I have grown to like this course and am extremely passionate for it to continue. As I am more of a hands on type of guy, I was never really up for sitting around writing pages and pages of work that counts for nothing and that’s why this subject attracted me so much. The combination of the subjects, e.g. Studio, Materials Technology and Communication, is extremely interesting to me as it challenges my mind without me having to write pages and pages of essays and notes.  As I had taken design subjects all throughout school I had some idea of what was expected and even though this course is tough I felt that it is the right course for me as it is a challenge to be overcome.

 Over the last 3 years I have also had much experience in other ways my life could have gone. E.g. I have worked as a carpenter, plumber and as a manufacturer, however I have found that while the job can be interesting at times, most of the time it is boring. I want a job that I actually like doing, hopefully it wont be as repetitive as lugging bricks back and forth for a couple days at a time, but who knows. Another reason why I picked Industrial Design as my course is because I also love to travel and plan in my later years to move overseas, maybe to America in order to find one of the many design jobs they offer. Although I have always like to design furniture items after experiencing my first project on ‘hand tools’ I would not mind finding a job focusing on consumer products for everyday use.

After my Industrial Design course/career I had also thought about taking up teaching, as the one teacher I actually did like at school was my design and technology teacher and truth be told, it doesn’t seem that hard. Teaching in a way, would be good for me as I like talking and even though school children nowadays are out of control I wouldn’t mind working in a small school maybe somewhere out in the country.

Design Confusion Task 4

Hey everyone, here is my poster for task 4... see if you recognise it.