There is one thing that everyone does, that has been wasting natural resources for decades. Its the title of a world wide sensational book, and often one of the first words for a child, yet we simply ignore it. But Everyone Poops.
We often face giggles and smirks when this subject comes up but it is a real issue that is just now being dealt with. The toilet has seen a multitude of aesthetic changes over the years but we failed to be concerned with the water consumption these tools truly are. A few years ago no one cared that with every flush on average, sent six gallons of water into waste treatment plant. Now most of us see this is a huge waste, especially considering that people go #1 about four times as much as they go #2. Thats flushing liquid with force meant to flush solids.
Luckily we have realized our carelessness and are quickly trying to mediate the situation. I think I first heard mention of a dual flush toilet about ten years ago. I thought,"wow that makes sense!" but quickly realized that they were much more expensive than a conventional toilet and simply out of reach to the majority of people. Then I considered how often people replace their toilets, maybe once or twice. These are sturdy pillars of our homes that don't care much for the latest trend. That is until now!
The dual flush system is now available to the average consumer. Its the brand new One2Flush , dual flush conversion kit. This package sells for about $30 in most major home improvement stores. Taking the water hog conventional tank from old and wasteful to new and efficient. The instillation is super simple, anyone can do it in less than an hour.
This revolution in flush technology is actively making our society better. They have taken the simple act of flushing the toilet and made it have an impact. Each dual flush system saves the homeowner money on their water bill which has an economic impact on the household as well as the greater economy because they now have extra money to use in other area. The environmental impact is even greater. Water is the most limited resource we have on this planet. It is why we are unique and can sustain life. The dual flush system can save millions of gallons of water from literally being flushed away. This movement is also in its infancy, the real impact will be clear when every toilet in the world is a dual flush.
Design at its greatest takes an everyday tool and transforms it so dramatically and affectively that it becomes difficult to comprehend why we stuck with the old way for so long. The One2 products are going to revolutionize the way we use water on a daily basis and that is exactly what we need design to to in our current society.
With the current trend towards digital books and touch screen devices is it a surprise that one of the major bookstore chains in the country is trying to get its slice of the pie? Barnes and Noble was quick to jump on the digital book craze with its original nook. This competed with the ever popular Kindle. But this wasn't enough, they were living in a black and white world, simple text just doesn't cut it these days.
The average consumer wants a device that is small, attractive, efficient, and can do everything! The iPad easily filled that slot. It is bright, new, touch-screen, and can do just about anything you can think of. The mass versatility leaves a small window for the new NookColor! This little powerhouse can do a whole lot more than its predecessor and what makes it stand out even more is its vivid color!
From the Barnes and Noble nook home page
This is a perfect example of what color can do. Before, digital readers were for adults that wanted a lighter way of taking their novels and heavy books with them on the road. With color the Nook is opened up to a variety of users. One that thrives on color is children's books. Less text means more illustrations which are dynamic and exquisite, enticing kids to fall into the story and see the world around them. The Nook Color also has a great "read to me" function. So young beginning readers can sit with their favorite books and follow along as they hear the words. Now the new features are not just for the kids. The Nook Color also addresses a concern of those who use reading glasses. The font size is adjustable! Built in Wi-Fi allows for automatic newspaper download in the morning and quick access to new books. This way you finish one and scroll right into another. Color is the transformative power for the Nook. It brought this device into another realm of existence.
It is an innate concern of parents to want to provide a safe home for their children. Infants are incapable of protecting themselves. In the past the mother carried the infant with her, keeping it close for safety. But in our modern world we encourage infants to sleep on there own, often down the hallway in a room of their own. There are plenty of studies that show that starting an infant on an independent sleeping schedule will make transitioning and separation from the parent much easier but it provides us with another obstacle for protection.
This separate room must be strategically designed to provide comfort and tranquility at night while being inspirational and bright during the daytime, both for the infant and the parent. However, what is most important is SAFETY!! Parents take into consideration many details when designing their children's room. They decide on a paint color and shop for the best furniture they can get. When purchasing these items most parents assume that items designed for use in children's rooms are safe, have been well tested and will perform properly. This leaves the consumer with mostly aesthetic concerns when making their choice.
The false sense of safety and quality of children's product has proven to be deadly. Lets take a look at the main item of any infant/toddler room; the crib.
Looks pretty innocent right? Simple, sturdy, and something that could fit into any décor. The wood comes in a variety of stains for further customization. It is on wheels so that changing locations of the crib is simple, requiring only one person rather than two or three. Like many other cribs the mattress support system is adjustable so as the child grows and is able to stand in the crib, the bed can be lowered to eliminate the ability of crawling over the side. All of these things are positive design elements, the consumer sees a safe addition to their child's room. However, behind this pleasant design lurks the danger of death. The front side of this crib is designed to lower. You lift with one hand, push in the bottom with your knee and the side drops about six inches. This allows for easier access to the crib and placing the baby on the mattress is actually possible for someone right around five feet tall. This characteristic of this crib is what has made it so popular. The drop front crib design is carried by many manufacturers carry it. But this design has a tragic manufacturing flaw. The plastic guide and brace at the bottom of the front side malfunction. They break and allow the bottom of the side to be pushed away from the mattress. This creates a deadly gap, an infant can fall into this area, and be trapped, suffocating, being strangled, falling to the floor. Thousands of reports of injuries and sadly a significant number of deaths have been caused by this defect. This news report tells the story of a little boy who lost his life to this deadly design.
The solution to this tragic flaw is recalls. It is responsibility of the manufacturer to take responsibility for any failures their products have made. But it is the job of the designer, to test their designs, anticipating the failures before they are put out on the market. Designers should not simply send specs to a manufacturer for mass production without having that model tested rigorously. This may be difficult and demanding requirement for the designers but it is necessary to prevent horrific injuries to consumers. The malfunction of the plastic brace on so many cribs is something that should have been anticipated. The wear of a crib can be duplicated, thus the issue would have been discovered. I don't think it is too much to ask of designers, to take control of their designs. They have a moral obligation to those that they design for, an obligation to make their world a better place, not one that risks lives.
It seems that I have become obsessed with seats. I am continually fascinated with how designers are working to make those overlooked boxes we have been torturing our bodies with, into pieces of furniture that fit our lives. We are all aware that the human body is unique, we are not cookie cutter people which makes designing on an industrial scale rather difficult. However, it is possible, if studied properly the body is not so hard to accommodate. The HON Company has been providing the masses with comfortable office furniture that fits their needs and is comfortable but this simply wasn’t enough. They have decided to go even further. With the help of Wolfgang Deisig they have created Ceres, a chair comprised of the necessary functions of sitting.
NeoCon East in Baltimore MD will be the first public appearance of Ceres after its lengthy development behind closed doors. The first step in designing this chair was not a chair at all. Deisig studied the movement of the human body to better understand what it needed, no matter what the position. Reclining, weight shifting, and sitting straight up, all taking into consideration. Length of sitting was also a key ingredient. The average office worker spends about 8hrs in their chair a day. The entire chair is “genuinely purposeful” creating the perfect balance of form and function.
Even though function was the driving force, form followed beautifully. Ceres has even been honored with the Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) Indoor Advantage Gold certification for indoor air quality. This means the materials used don’t off-gas. It also earned the SCS level 2 certification for sustainability; of the product, materials used, energy cost, atmospheric affects, ecosystem health and social responsibility. For an office chair these are great achievements. One unique product used is the ilira-stretch M4 material. It is a knit mesh that stretches in four directions so that it is always responding to movement. As if this wasn’t enough, this magic fabric comes in some great colors that work well with just about every office. Customers also benefit from the HON history, the chairs are available with any of the upholstery lines offered by HON. The frame resembles those of other chairs but it is the perfect tough of utilitarian familiarity that this needs. The five prong foot with casters is a time tested, safe and reliable addition to the office chair. This only enhances the uniqueness of the seat it supports.
The usability is also magnificent. An intuitive chair, is that possible? Ceres has fit the bill. Continuous, full back support was the goal and that is exactly what is provided. No matter how you like to sit the chair is there to support you. The curves take into consideration how the body is aligned during all changes of pivot points, from shoulders to hips. Customization is possible as with many other office chair but this is different. Tilt tension is controlled by a simple slide bar at the side of the seat. The reclined position is also a favorite innovation with Ceres, other chairs create a gap between the chair back and the lower back of the user during reclining, but that is not true of Ceres. There was of course a target audience for this chair but users from the 5th to the 95th percentiles were satisfied and felt the chair met their needs. This is a sign of a good design. It also exceeds standard weight accommodations, it was tested and approved for up to 300lbs for a 40hr work week. This is considerably higher than regulations.
Sorry this is not the best image, I had to take a picture of a magazine add to get a full image of the chair.
Aesthetically speaking this chair is still a chair, but it is something beautiful. The versatility in color and options in upholstery add to the visual appeal. So many mass produced products loose their individuality first, it costs more to have more options. But HON chooses to give users what they want. Something that works well with their body during the long work day, and denies the hum drum condition so many cubicles suffer from.
The advertising tagline for the Ceres is “Purposely Innovative. Incidentally Beautiful.” This should be the tagline for everything. So many have said that design should be something that shouldn’t be recognizable design. It should work so well and be so pleasing to look at, that no one stop to question why it is the way it is.
My niece one of the best things that happened to me in my entire life. I was her nanny for the first full year of her life so she is very much like my own child. I know everyone says this about the children they know, but honestly, she is spectacularly intelligent, funny, sweet, and beautiful! At 18 months she knew her entire alphabet (including the “sing with me” section), how to could to ten, and had about 250 words in her vocabulary. Now she is moving on to full simple sentences, and three syllable words! For those of you that don’t know, those are things normal 2 and 3, year old kids should be doing.
So what books should this bright diva in training be reading? It is our never ending search these days. I hope we have found the right fit in the wonderful short stories, “Fancy Nancy” by Jane O'conner and Robin Preiss Glasser. These books follow a fabulous little girl through her days and attempts to make the world “fancy”. From dressing up her family with feather boas and glitter shoes for a trip out for ice cream, to having a tea party with her best friend. I am a huge fan of these books! But, her comes the downfall. The balance of word and image is off. The illustrations are amazing! Pinks, purples, glitter, and metallic embellish everything. The detail is fantastic as well, in the background things like a coat-stand with labels of fancy and non-fancy items, really set the mood for the book. The text is lacking any pizzazz and literary weight. Every story is centered on Nancy making something or doing something “fancy” but she falters at least once as well. In the trip to the ice cream shop, as she carries the tray of sundaes back to the table she trips and falls, throwing ice cream all over the floor, herself, and neighboring people. The story simply says she was embarrassed and asks to leave. If feels as though there are a few pages missing here. There is no real resolution to the mishap; they just go home, she gets cleaned up and they have ice cream at home.
“Fancy Nancy” may be the one of the cutest books I have come across in a long time, but it is definitely not the best. Its as if publishers consider children’s books as lesser literature. After all, they are just kids, what do they know? This is upsetting because literature has become such a lost art form. Now should be the time that we make youth fall in love with the written word. If a short story is unable to be complete to an adult, why should we ask a child to learn this?
Comic books are one of many forms of word and image combination. i think they can be some of the most effective conveyers of meaning. Yes, comic books have gotten a bad rap with the trend some artists choose to follow but denying the cliche, comic books are genius! When executed well and thoughtfully comic books may be the key to all teachings. Different styles are welcomed and encouraged but the quality of communication must be demanded. Yet, we live in a world of confusing jumbled messages that take to long to understand or give us conflicting messages. With such a simple format to follow, why do we have anything else?
The answer to this is that we get bored, we want something new and different at every turn. This is true throughout history. the trend of trends is the only lasting trend. Modern society has created the need for new! There will always be some craze for people to jump on board with, yet those on board are half a step away from jumping to the next boat!
History is where I look for answers. We have all heard that history repeats itself so its logical for answers to be found in the past. Yet this unwillingness to balance word and image is a constant in history as well. In art history we are taught to interpret images that have no accompanying words. Sometimes there are a few but often there is only vague historical context. The clues to the interpretation are in the image. This eventually leads to more confusion and utter uncertainty of the true meaning of a given image. Perhaps this was because the concept of combining word and image was not yet thought of.
So let us return to the present where we have the resources to convey clear messages with out art. Instead of embracing the comic book concept we condemn it, as "low" art. This injustice may be the worst. We have essentially cut of our nose to spite our face.
I am continually appalled at the injustices that have scared our world communities past. Centuries of discrimination, war, judgment, ignorance and pure evil running rampid. I am sure right now every single one of us can list at least ten instances where we personally felt that we were treated with unjust behavior. Being free citizen has allowed me to avoid many injustices throughout my life yet in my short life I have been confronted with horrific realities of our world.
On a global scale we can look at history and learn of unbelievable tragedies being committed. One of the most common is racism and genocide. One of the most famous instances of this was crimes committed by the Nazi party surrounding WWII. The deaths and crimes are well known yet further injustice occurred to the creative lives of the victims.
It may seem trivial to address the artistic expression of the victims but I feel that this was a significant loss and a deep wound to world creative expression. From a historical analysis viewpoint, one of the first aspects of a civilization examined is the artistic works. Every culture has a unique style that gives clues to possible influences, traditions , and with further research new symbolism is revealed. That is why the art lost during the Nazi reign is seen a huge loss. Works that were deemed unfit for public view were thought to have been destroyed and lost forever.
But, hope is a gleaming light today. In an article in Associated Press by Mary Lane, reports of newly discovered sculptures that were thought to have been destroyed during WWII. During excavations for new construction near the city hall of Berlin a handful of sculptures were discovered. They were part of a collection of 15,000 works that were considered "deviant". The building that once stood in this spot burned down many years ago, from the top down, taking its contends down floor by floor until what survived lay where it was found in the building basement. It is unknown if other canvas and more flammable works were also in the building before it burned. If so those are lost forever.
The pieces that were able to be put on display are now showing in Berlin's Neues Museum for all that want to come and appreciate. This is a rare opportunity for injustice to be made right. These pieces survived and now live on to tell the story of the time, the artists and the people that surrounded their creation
The lecture given to us by Brian Fies was rather inspirational and completely honest. It was refreshing to experience an artist that was unrehearsed, unafraid of his failures and willing to share every experience with a huge lecture all of eager design students.
Fies is a comic book artist. That is is drug of choice. Yes, he has a "real" degree and worked for years in the science industry but when life gave him a terrible situation he turned to the comics as a therapy. Cancer. Scary, unknown and confusing. Can anyone that has not experienced cancer ever understand? Does it even matter if they do understand. For Fies these questions didn't influence his choice of expression. A project that began as a tool of coping with his life situation opened more doors than he ever expected, many that brought their own disappointments. Mom's Cancer started on the web, turned into a book, won awards and allowed Fies to do his real self piece What Ever Happened to the World of Tomorrow.
Comics are basically just words and images. According to McCloud they are sequential juxtaposed words and images. Fies is a success because he stays true to the comic book concept as he set it up for himself. He said he strives for a 50/50 balance between words and images. Comparing them to rock and roll music he wants neither to be able to stand alone. The full message is only possible when the two are combined. This method of balance is perhaps why he so successfully told his mothers story.
The experience of a family member going through cancer is a communal experience. You are no longer a family of blood relatives, you now have doctors, medical staff, fellow cancer sufferers, families of sufferers, support groups, councilors, and many many other people who are there no matter what you do. You are thrown into a vast new world of mystery that is packed with advise, stories and medical banter. With all of this floating around Fies as he recorded his experiences it would have been easy to simple write a book or magazine article. But he choose to distill the experience to a small, short, simple, clear, combination of words and images. The simplicity is what makes it work.
In today’s economy many business are starting to redesign their businesses. It is such a dramatic change form the past. For one thing, we are now calling it “redesign” instead of “reinventing”. As a society we are trying to think of ourselves as a whole rather than a series of various parts.
An article in Metropolis Magazine Susan Szenasy writes a Q and A section on “Redesigning Businesses”. Ilya Prokopoff of IDEO answers the questions about what it is like to help redesign a business. With a new method of problem solving companies are able to rethink every aspect of their business. Based on “daring experimentation and genuine collaboration” small scenarios where they can act out live ways of using their products or customer experiences. This completely changes the way one looks at their business. It builds layers of understanding, poses new questions and promotes new answers being made.
She says she finds that, “leaders who mix rigorous fact finding with careful consideration of new possibilities seem to make better, faster choices about the future than those who don’t.” By this she means that companies that have good ideas, and are unafraid to try new methods and changing the structure of their system, will be successful. The key to being a success in this new society is being willing to take risks.
However, Prokopoff, also mentions the weakness of most companies have. The common reason for hesitation is the fear of “getting it wrong” and having it all end. Sometimes the risk is to scary to take.
But, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. If we consider the way popular society is looking at businesses today we find a new way of looking. The consumer no longer takes a product at aesthetic value only. Today’s consumer wants a product or service that gives more. More value, more sustainability, just more. This means the providers of products and services must be more. Their risk is now, more than ever, more likely to be a success.
Here is the article http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/20101101/qa-on-redesigning-businesses
Japan is a unique country in a variety of ways. The most profound distinguishing (salient) characteristic is that they developed from a medieval nation to one of the front runners of technology in less than 100 years. With this rapid change, one would expect for the traditional artistry techniques and cultural uniqueness would be lost. However, the Japanese government took deliberate measures to ensure the preservation of their culture.
The Japanese government officially named a group of experts as ‘living treasures”. These are people that are masters at crafts like hand made rice paper, kabuki theatre, doll making, and other crafts that have thousand year histories. The very few, select, highly skilled members of this group are given government pay in exchange for sharing their gift and training others to continue the tradition once they are gone.
It takes a special type of government to recognize the importance of moving forward yet, understand that the past should be respected and continue to thrive for future generations. It really says something about the Japanese society. They hold artists with the highest level of respect and admiration. The medieval style of passing on art styles is still thriving. The living treasures are often still living in the same villages where they grew up, even at the age of 96, and they still have apprentices studying under them until they are ready. Another interesting thing the artists in Japan still do is take on the name of their mentors when they are ready. For example, there are six or seven generations of actors with the same name.
It is a breath of fresh air to see a society with art and design so heavily ingrained in its traditions and future. They are able to combine the past and to the future and look at the world in a unique way. They are all designers, making life better or more interesting for everyone, making their culture better by adding layers of complexity to it.
The film “Objectified” was an excellent sampling of today’s leading designers. We were able to gain insights into each of their design philosophies and how they see the world. The way they take a society’s need and create something to fill that need. One of these designers is the team of brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec who keep the creative process going while through opposing personalities.
Team Bouroullec, in Objectified called themselves the “porcupine and the fox”, they both have the same end result in mind but have very different ways of getting there. One shuts down like a porcupine, stubborn and stuck until he gets what he wants, and the other coaxes and slinks his way to what he wants. They said that the hardest part is to remove. The goal is to break things down to their simplest forms. The designs need to be complex and strong but simple. They must create a “harmony not a discord”.
Their design method is reflected in their piece titled “Central 2010”. This aluminum circular table stands 720mm high and had a diameter of 600mm. This foldable bistro style table is suitable for daily use in a home or a business setting. Easily set indoors or outdoors. Their objective was to create something that is simple, strong, and in a material that would “bonify” with time and use. The combination of the materials and function of the folding system comes together to make a beautiful, eye pleasing design.
In this design form is a reflection of the designers. All the complexity that could go into the design of a bistro table the Bouroullec team removed the unnecessary. Broke it down to the simplest of simlest forms. The relationship of two brothers can be complicated. Some would never dream of working together of years. But these two did it. They balance each other in any environment, much like the Central 2010 table.
I couldn't get the image to post so please go check it out at their website
http://www.bouroullec.com/
