Bill Moggridge: what is design

Bill Morridge talk on design is very influencial. He talks about the importance of design and that it can be found in  everything. He also talks about the importance of design in future generations. Bill starts out by stating that to create good designs we need to first be able to recognise bad design. There is also emphasis on the design porcess, and how it varies with each and every person and there personal situation. Bill talks about several factors involved with the process; constraints, synthesis, framing, ideation, envisioning, uncertainty, selection, visualisation, prototyping, education. He places emphasis on not using these factors as a step by step process rather taking all into account. To design succesfully Bill says you must put yourself in the consumers shoes. This involves knowing the customers needs and testing constantly with prototyping and sketching to communicate ideas successfully. Bill also expresses how expensive prototyping should only be invested in at the very final stages of the design process. An extremely important concept Bill puts forward is that design is changing and this is due to resource exhaustion. As products become more impotant in our every day lives, bill suggests that our products need to go one step further and be helpful rather than just looking pretty. After watching this talk I have found  a few main concepts that really connect with me as a new generation designer one of which being the design process. As a learning designer this is a concept I am slowly coming to grips with and am learning very quickly that to ensure good design this process can be forced or rushed. A lot of big companies I feel do not appreciate this process and continue to turn out bad design or just imitation of good design that has seen such a process. I feel that this process is an extremely necessary part of creating good, smart and considered design rather than some fancy looking product that doesn’t function well and is environmentally damaging. The other key concept in this video that will have a great impact up on my future career in design in fact all designers’ futures in the design industry is the issue of sustainability. As bill rightly says with diminishing resources we as designers will be forced to look at our own way of designing and use of materials and will be forced to head in a direction of minimal material usage and also material re-usage.

comments project two

http://ides1031alexanderjackson.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycled-light-design.html?showComment=1318930110303#c2729435443345007880

http://mad-attic.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycling-project-2.html?showComment=1318930276020#c6947360032844951258

http://edricides1122.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcycling-unwanteds.html?showComment=1318930406363#c3076650260415845789

http://2011jj.blogspot.com/2011/10/poject-2.html?showComment=1318930592199#c8694871184811167229

http://tomloefler.posterous.com/

Sketch (only one i could find leftover)

Project two: Upcycling

Shinto Lamp Rationale

Using mostly JCDecaux polypropylene posters, the Shinto lamp is prime example of an up cycled product. Shinto is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people, my product was deeply inspired by the shrines, temples and pagodas of Japan. Exhibiting a tapering like tower shape towards the peak of the lamp it resembles the traditional pagoda style architecture that can be seen in Japan today. The lamp itself also has a somewhat floral and leaf like structure providing an organic atmosphere. Through this product I have been able to explore the relationship between industrial design and ecological sustainability through the reuse of an otherwise useless end of life product and material to minimize waste generation. As well as using discarded polypropylene posters, I have also recycled another material in my design, for every 2 leaves in my design I have used two spacers to separate the next two, after using many other methods of spacing (including spacers fashioned from the posters) I found the I could reuse old water tubing that had holes or deficiencies in them, these function perfectly as they are the exact diameter needed to fit round the wiring of the lamp. The polypropylene posters and spacers have been up cycled into a flat packable, easily assembled lamp that would be affordable, sophisticated and elegant for the home user. As one entire poster (1800 x 1200) can be used to make one lamp much raw material has been diverted from becoming waste material and ending up in landfill. The Shape used is also quite versatile and can be flipped with ease to reveal the either side of the poster, allowing the user to have crisp, plain white light or an exciting and vibrant light covered with patterns from the original posters.