design confusion poster

Stuart William’s Ibis lamp- The Lamps simplistic structure really allowed you to focus on the beautiful lines in this design which was gorgeous, but it was the enhanced proportion of the lamp that allowed it to become a real focus point in the gallery.  

Lean + Green Wine bottle by Julian Ditchburn and Craig Ross- the designers clever thinking of simply decreasing the materials used in wine bottles has the potential to make huge positive environmental impacts, the designers simplistic solutions but highly environmentally conscious was a stand out.

Another World Wide Web by Shane Waltener- the string art like spider web was captivating, the sheer size of the piece and the fact that you were able to walk through it and around it really drew me in. Its wow facture most definitely allowed it to be a stand out.

Adam Goodrum’s ‘Stitch’ Chair – The chairs particular bright, quirky aesthetics really drew your eye to the design. The functionality of the folding-up mechanism was also a great feature. This combination of a successful aesthetics and functionality allowed this design to be more appealing than others in the gallery.

Alex Perry’s Dress- The dress was simplistic but elegant, the designers particular detail to quality made his piece stand out from other designs.

why i want to be a designer!

Industrial design

My dad is a carpenter so I grew up amongst numerous reservations, growing up in this building environment defiantly was a trigger to for me to pursue a creative career. I loved seeing a piece of land or a rundown house being changed into a amazing building- seeing trees turn into slabs of timber which were manipulated into beautiful stair cases and gorgeous bench tops. My family really showed me there the beauty of creating something amazing out of near nothing.

I grew up in a small creative community near Byron Bay, the high school I attended was filled with highly creative teachers who provided us with loads of creative opportunities and education which introduced me to the world of creativity.  I feel these teachers and the education they provided me with definitely stimulated me to pursue a creative career.

Where I grew up we were constantly outside  indulging in team sports, going to beaches, discovering new places, so I love practical things hence I did not want a career which was academically focused; I wanted a career which allowed me to get my hands dirty, and I felt being a industrial designer would allow me to do this.

I believe being a designer is being able to show your creativity, use your imagination, and make things in your mind come to life. I feel letting people discover and indulge in your ideas is something amazing. Having a designer degree is really a door to endless career opportunities. Being an industrial designer in particular allows you to delve into a variety of fields, anything from medical equipment, furnishing, sports equipment you will never get bored. I felt this was perfect for me as love to do a variety of different things and never getting into a particular rut. I could see myself getting bored in may careers however in this particular career if you get over designing one thing you can simply start design a completely different object, where as in many other jobs if you get bored or want to change careers you have to go back to uni get a new degree.

I always pictured myself in a career where I was helping others and through this course there are wide possibilities to change consumer’s experiences hence enhancing our modern society eg. Delve into medical equipment and produce mechanisms which able the disabled to live a normal life.

I chose UNSW to study at as I had heard that industrial design at this particular campus focuses on the creative side of design, which can be seen in design fundamentals in first year semester one.

I’m hoping my Future in design will be colourful- full of creative unique designs which make the consumer smile. I am positive that I will be designing things I love in areas and I am interested in- I do not want to be a designer who simply designs certain things solely for money. 

Human Centred Design

This video focuses on how the consumer experience can be greatly enhanced by human centred design. Human centred design is a process of designing in which starts with analysing the people we are designing for; carefully taking time to analyse the target markets dreams, desires, needs and behaviour. Through taking a particular interest in their specific situation including financial status, living location ect. we gain a thorough understanding of the target market hence can create innovative solutions to meet their needs. ‘looking through the desirability lens’ is the term used for this close target market analysis, ‘It is the lens through which we view the world through the entire design process. Once we have identified the universe of what is Desirable, we begin to view our solutions through the lenses of Feasibility and Viability’ (Human Centered Design, Second Edition) and create designs which work for the consumer.
IDEO use the human centered design process to ensure they create products and environments which truly encompass solutions to the consumer’s needs. Eg IDEO have analyzed a target market interested in the marine environment and realized many desire to experience the magic of scuba diving without getting wet, hence they have created a product that can bring the experience to them.
Through producing designs which suit the consumer it is evident that there is a stronger consumer-product relationship hence the product will be looked after well, last longer which could lead to a more sustainable future.
We see that this strong consumer-product relationship can also be created by allowing the consumer to influence the design eg Ideo allowed to visually express their feelings in The Tube project hence the design becomes more personal therefore interesting to the audience and a connection is created.
It is important for this video to be seen as it provides us with knowledge such as how the success of a design can be increased by the designer putting a particular focus on the consumer desires and needs.

This video has taught me that through Human Factors Research; working on generative, evaluative, and experiential research programs we can better understand and develop insights about human behavior in the environment in which people live, work, play, and learn hence create solutions that meet their needs.

Emotional Design

Nobody likes ugly design but should functionality be overridden by the consumer’s desire for a design with a high aesthetics value?

This clip forces us as designers to question ‘should aesthetic value be put over functionality‘. Philippe Starks lemon juicers have had designers and their critics asking this controversial question for years.  However hate or love it this design is a symbol of the shift of the consumers priority being one of need to one of want. This shift has caused the increase in high technological products. In this clip Norman forces us to ask is this high technology development enhancing the consumer’s experiences or just complicating simple tasks? Norman makes it obvious that many designers see technology components as the consumers priority hence attempt to use technology as a solution to an array of problems. They also see technology as an easy way to enhance the aesthetic value of a design for example reduce clutter so the design can appear cleaner. Norman emphasizes the incorporation of technology may allow the aesthetics of designs to become enhanced however it does not always provide an enhanced level of functionality. Many critics could argue that functionality can be sacrificed for a pleasing aesthetics however in relation to design areas like car design where lives are at stake function must come before aesthetics time and time again.

From this clip I have learnt that the aesthetics of a design is valued so highly that many are willing to settle for an unfunctional design over an ugly design. It has also been made clear to me that technology may be appealing however it is not always the most appropriate solution and in some cases can cause a task to become more complicated than it should be.

It is important for a designer to view sources like this one as a good designer will study previous design successes and failures to acknowledge the design concepts and executions which worked or failed. Smart designers incorporate the knowledge they have gained from looking at previous designs and try not to make the mistakes that previous designers have. By doing this a designer is giving their design a higher chance of succeeding.  This video allows us to see some successful and some not so successful design concepts hence provides designers like myself guidelines of what to and what not to incorporate in our future designs.