Ross Lovegrove: Power and Beauty of Organic Design

We are constantly placed in an environment that is constantly being shaped by nature and created by nature, and there is no doubt that without nature there will be no man-made. I believe this message was clearly revealed to us when Lovegrove presented to us his design of a plastic  water bottle which mimics the skin of flowing water that curls and twists into the shape of a conventional everyday vessel. Ross Lovegrove explains that "when the manufacturer presented me with the bottle, the bottle feels like 'nothing' in my hand, but once this bottle was filled with water, this skin immediately felt complete." 

Lovegrove also demonstrates to us that "Nature improves with ever greater purpose", which is reflected in his working methods of refining dow

n complexity with his organically shaped chairs that mimic the simple structures of living things, therefore taking away what things dont need to deliver maximum beauty. Lovegrove's use of material is also about being natural and thinking about the infinite possibilities that materials can become, for example his bone-like chair made from magnesium.

I believe this video has shown me a great deal of inspiration of how we can simply look into the smaller details within nature and expand this trait to become something great to be intergated into products.

Task 4: Bad design

Experience enrichment Project: Peer Comments

Nicholas Walker - Pepper Grinder

Angela Lam - Office Pillow

Maria Park - Tea Cup

Samuel Whipp - Hand print cup

Emily White - Toilet plunger 

Experience enrichment Project: Tuck'n'Prick

Diabetes is a condition that affects a portion of the population and diabetics constantly need to monitor their blood sugar levels in order to maintain the balance between their insulin and their blood sugar. This can affect teen to young adult diabetics socially, as this time of their life revolves around popularity, self image and being able to meet more people. Imagine a scenario of a diabetic in his/her teens socialising with a bunch of new friends. Wouldn’t it be interruptive to suddenly pull out a big glucometer kit and also pricking yourself with a bland old fashion two-handed needle? This would be a definite yes and would absolutely spoil the mood. Tuck’n’Prick brings diabetes into the bright side, a more sleek, appealing pricker with an integrated air tight compartment for blood testing strips, making this device a convenient space saving solution to an ordinary pricker. Instead of letting diabetes kill your conversations, use this youthful device to break the ice and be proud and confident about your condition.

Yves Behar: Creating objects that tell stories

 

A very useful aspect of design is to create things that transforms and under-goes changes as you use it. Instead of just colourising the outer layer of a product, designers must also reach into the thinking for the use of the product after it has served its main purpose, just like Yves Behar’s “Y water” which turns the packaging of kids water into a toy. It is also about creating value, such as environmental issues and low powering consumption to certain objects and being able to bring these values to certain people. 

 

Yves Behar also brings to us a the idea that a design will never be in its true complete form, therefore the work of a designer is never complete, as design is ever-improving, ever-changing and always transforming. But most importantly if we all work together on creating value and keeping in mind the value of the work we do, “together we may change the world”.

The Don Norman Video, “Emotional design” indeed challenges us to think “practicality” and also beauty, but also using beauty as practicality to sell. Don Norman states that sometimes products just need to be designed beautiful, but not totally great in practicality, because the beauty of the product is inviting, exciting and makes the experience “fun”. Hence the most important  thing about using a product is really the experience. 

 

In the video Don Norman demonstrates this trend through examples such as the gold plated phillippe Starck juicer, which is beautiful itself, but its not practical as a juicer as the acid corrodes the gold plating. Another example is the Mini Cooper, though its advertised as a car full of faults, people are still gushing it’s sales because the car is “Fun”, the car is rounded, its playful and looks exciting to drive. Don Norman compares this to an experiment to two groups of people, where the first group is to solve a problem without any encouragement or reward and the second group was given candy before they started solving it. The first group got frustrated and never solved it, but the second group were enlightened by candy with a little “happy” and they solved it.

 In summary, the design of a product and how it will sell is like social popularity, the one with the most appeal and personality usually becomes the centre of the crowd. It is also very true that designs with more appeal becomes more inviting to use, but on the other hand, if the product is interesting and appealing, but doesn’t function as well as how it looks then it becomes a disappointment to the user. Therefore, designers all should cater for both sides of the product’s visual aesthetics as well as its operation and handling.  

Task 2: Good Design