Peer Comments (20/3/13)

Peer One: Anthea Friend

As I continued to work on my hydration tablet product, there were a few things that were pointed out to me by my peers that I needed to seriously think about. The first thing was how I was actually going to make it different from the previous products on the market (apart from making it smaller). I decided that the best way to do this was to design a product which improves on the number of processes the human user has to go through in order to use this product. For example, instead of using a screw on cap with my product, I could use a pop up one, which would allow my product to be used one handed.

Peer Two: Sunprit Singh

He commented on the labelling of my product and how I would make it look good. Different colours gave different moods and I wanted to choose the colours which would really make my product stand out.

Tutor: (Simon)

We talked about the function of my product and how the tablets would actually be used in conjunction with the packaging. We also talked about the different types of material, which would make my product  ideal for its size and weight restrictions as well as a few ideas for the labelling. 

What did I learn:

After talking with my tutor and my peers, I learnt that there are a great many things to think about when designing a certain product for a certain group of people. Even though I wanted to target my product to people 'on the go' I still had to think about the other groups of people in society who would want to use my product as the wider the target market the more successful my product would become.

Project 1: Socially Responsible Packaging

The Three concepts which I have presented in studio:

Peer Comments (13-3-2013)

Peer One: Sunprit Singh

Out of my three concepts, only two made it past the first scrutiny. My first aid packaging design was interesting, however he said it didn't necessarily relate specifically to the brief. The second idea I had, which involved redesigning new packaging for hydration tablets, was better suited as I had more experience myself with this issue, due to my own experiences with the product. He recognised that because I had more of a connection with that concept, I should use it to my advantage, as passion in design is something which could help greatly.

Peer Two: Reza Sazesh

Reza was extremely interested in my packaging design for first aid, he thought that the research I had gathered was interesting and he figured that it was a product which could be used by many, if I came up with a design that provided a viable solution to the brief.

Tutor: (Simon)

After I presented all three of my concepts with my research Simon gave me a few interesting things to think about. First off I needed to re-evaluate the materials which one of my concepts were to be made out of. The issue came up of whether products should be made for one time usage only or to be made to last. I realised that I needed to conduct research on other similar products on the market to see whether or not they were successful for being a one use product or a durable one, which lasted for mutiple uses.

What did I learn:

After watching a few other students and tutor's working together on this project, I learnt that the three different levels of design, Visceral, Behavioural and Reflective will play an important role in this project. Most design's I saw addressed the chosen social issue in at least one way, however a successful product needs to address a social issue by breaking through both the physical and emotional barriers of a user. For example, Apple products are designed in such a way that they are instantly recognisable due to their sleek and stylish look. They have created both a product and packaging that truly connects with it's users.

How It's Made

This series of videos explores the different processes of production of packaging and is interesting as the production process for certain plastic products turned out to be completely unexpected. Different processes like injection and blow moulding are used to create plastic bottles, etc… which are used as containers for many different types of products. What is interesting is that there is more then one process used in the production of a single product. For example, with the production of a juice bottle, the granulated plastic combined with less then 10% of recycled granulated plastic is first melted down and then moulded into a small cylindrical shape using injection moulding. The mould dries instantly and is then moved to a second machine which uses blow moulding to expand the cylindrical shape into a bottle nearly 5 times it size, the machine which is shown also churns out a massive 10600 bottles an hour, which shows just how far we have come in the production process.

What is interesting to learn about glass and other manufacturing processes is that everything needs to be timed perfectly. For example, in glass manufacturing, just like plastic, they use melted down glass and blow moulding to form the glass bottles. However, there is a lot of things to do in between a moulded and finished product. What I didn't realise is that like a design process, each individual product is constantly evaluated. Throughout the assembly line, cameras are used to check each individual bottle for cracks and/or bubbles while machines are used to check the size and strength. Fire is also used to warm the glass along the assembly line, due to the fact that if the bottles are cooled to quickly they might crack. Another thing which I have realised is that once these plastic, glass and aluminium bottles are made, they still need to be shipped to certain places in order to be filled. This means that so much energy is being wasted shipping empty glass bottles around to different manufacturers and most likely the reason why we now have wine tetra-pak containers which are able to be delivered in flat packed rolls. I think tetra-pak's are  great idea because they are easy to make and transport, however, if we are thinking of the full life cycle of a product, it would be much harder to recycle a tetra-pak than a glass bottle as it is made up from a combination of different materials and layers.

Most companies when manufacturing new products recycle any scraps that the may have, which is a good thing and are also looking for new ways to reduce the amount of energy a product takes to me manufactured as well as it's impact on the environment. What else i learnt from these video's is that garbage can still be useful even when it's been sent to landfill. The methane gas that is produced from all the rotting garbage underground can be harnessed and used to create energy. With new and emerging technologies, this methane can also be used to create natural gas which in turn could be used to power the very trucks which cart the garbage to and from your house, to the recycling factory and finally to it's final resting place underground.

Giving Packaging A New Life

This series of video's were helpful to watch as they actually provided relevant information on how new technologies involving the recycling of all materials has changed the world we live in. New technologies, such as high resolution and infrared cameras as well as 'smart' computers allows the sorting of recycled materials much easier and efficient. These new technologies provide an important service as they convert most sorted plastics into secondary raw materials. In the 1990's most plastic's were either incinerated or landfilled, but as new technologies have emerged the cost of plastic has nearly halved. In the process, a centrifuge system is used to separate the different materials. Camera's and 'smart' computer's also analysis each individual piece of plastic which has been collected and with short bursts of compressed air, they are able to get rid of anything which does not belong. After the recycling process has finished, high grade re-granulate is formed with the recycled plastic and can be used to manufacture such things as drainage pipes, palettes and even children's toys.

However it is not just plastic that is able to be recycled, in fact, most thing's that are created are recycled due to the fact that companies are under new obligations to find out what impact their product has on the environment through a life-cycle analysis. In Germany, companies have to actually pay more if their product has a greater impact on the environment and therefore, designers have actually began to design using the traditional 'less is more' philosophy. Other materials that are recycled include glass, which due to its composition needs to be separated into different colours. The glass is then melted with soda lime and sand and is then able to be reused.

Magnets are also used in the recycling process with reference to aluminium and tinplate. This system is able to sort out the usable materials from the bad in a relatively efficient manner. After aluminium cans are melted, cast and rolled it was interesting to learn that recycling these cans take up 1/20th of energy required for production when comparing them to new goods produced. In the case of tinplate steel scraps account for 40% of new material required for steel production and can be recycled as many times without any quality losses.

Another interesting recycling process that I found interesting was the process to recycle beverage cartons which are composite packs and made up from materials that have been bonded together. In the recycling process the materials are put into drums of water in order to weaken the chemical composition of the materials. After the aluminium and plastic are separated, they can be used in cement production plants. 

Although these video's did not go into great detail and explain the whole process of the recycling process they still gave a good example of how it all works. I would hope to see more new and emerging technologies come out to reduce the impact of our waste on our environment even more.

Further ideas

After already conducting various quantitative and qualitative research for clothing storage and other items, etc, pens, jewellery and other small items, I had found that the number of products that were on the market were sufficient anything that i would design would just end up being an improvement on other products which already existed. I wanted to find something new and innovative to design and i thought that plant storage would be the answer. Australia has a harsh climate (especially now with all this chaos) and I thought finding a way to improve and prolong pot-plant life would be a suitable enough problem when referring to our target market.
After asking a few apartment homeowners/renters about their idea of plant life in their apartment 9/14 people ranging from ages 23 to 45 said they'd prefer to keep their plants on their somewhat small balcony, out of the way, but would not mind having it inside, if it didn't take up any space. Out of those 14 people, 10 of them said they most definetly do not have the money or time to maintain the plants that were either already there, or were a gift from someone. Seeing as I plan on designing something that will have to prolong the life of the plant and provide as least maintenance as possible, any research on materials and or other designs would be very helpful.

As the design has to be modular, which in effect means the design has to be flexible, I thought it would be a good idea to design my product so that it could sit comfortably on a wall, where there is a maximum amount of space and does not take up any room on the floor.
The biomimic nature of my design comes from a few different forms in nature, the modular form, lets you move the plant pots among the wall depending on where the sun line is at each time maximising the effect of the sun in any apartment .
The biomorphic nature comes through the use of smooth flowing lines in the design without any sharp edges, to give an almost flowing feel to the atmosphere, it is somewhat hard to do this with some materials without the use of heavy machinery and so i will have to focus on using materials that can be mass produced with ease while still maintaining a biomorphic feel within the design.

In my design I am also concentrating on prolonging the life of the plant and not just concentrating on the aesthetic form of the design. Plants in the harsh climate of Australia store moisture deep within and such plants like the one above, use their cupped leaves to collect water and also absorb moisture in the air to keep themselves alive. Materials like bamboo can be used to increase water absorption especially in the drier conditions and it is also an extremely durable material, especially when used in the right way.

 I have based part of my design on the cup like nature of these leaves which is a natural way for this plant to gather enough water and nutrients to survive. As plants can sense a heavier moisture content in the air among other things, some plants will actually move and or shift their position (e.g. open their inner flaps) if they sense it is about to rain or if they sense the sunlight is about to hit them. My design, which is based upon the movement of the flower, is able to be moved to ensure maximum efficiency inside an apartment where getting enough sunlight during the day could be a big problem. My design can be placed up or downwards on a wall depending on where the sun hits your apartment everyday, and the plant pots can be moved in the direction of the sun if need be.

My Design

I'm still researching possible way to change and improve my design and i have yet to find a way to connect each plant to the other in order to make it modular, but there are many different types of joints, including the dovetail joint, which could be used quite effectively.
Another point to make is that, even though plants might not last long indoors due to lack of sunlight, I am researching different types of plants which need minimal sunlight and minimal maintenance to thrive and i was thinking about making my design into a special and much fresher way to hold herbs and spices, as that could possibly be another problem.

Concepts, Idea's and Research

After going through many idea's and quite a few different concepts my three main ideas were still very weak as they did not properly adhere to the design brief and the need I was trying to establish was not general enough to stick.
Three main ideas:

 This was meant to be a shelving unit for pen/pencil storage inside, however the nature connection was not evident in any part of the design.

This 'spider' key holder did not address a problem with enough conviction as not enough research was done to identify the problem in the first place, hopefully that will be rectified.

 This jewellery box design did not at all look like a product that would be successful, the leaf design did not work at all and the movement was restricted.