Review - Annie Leonard: The Story of Stuff

Nowadays, people are judged and determined by what they own, have and wear rather than themselves on the inside. Stuffs that we own have been increasingly important to us as we shop almost all the time. “The Story of Stuff” is a short film by Annie Leonard that shows the underlying truth of the entire process of consumer products from extraction to production to distribution to consumption and to disposal. The five categories has many flaws that eventually make the system linear and ultimately ruins the planet.

The major problem within the system is that government and large corporations are only looking at the money that comes out of consumer products and are always searching for the cheapest way to exploit these steps from all of the process. As Annie in the video mentioned, the government is there to protect and support its people. However, if the government only looks for a change for money, it will ultimately destroy the people or even the country due to depletion of resources.

Obviously, they are not taking into account the interactions that the manufacturing processes have with people, cultures, economies and most importantly environments. As the world keeps on being extremely fast to exploit the resources and exceedingly produce consumer goods more than what we all need, the outcomes will not be good including ourselves.

I have found that buying and owning a lot of stuff will not increase our happiness but just leave more rubbish and ruin the planet. Therefore, as stuffs are all for human in the first place, we should take into account and try making the manufacturing systems united and cycled so that there will be no linear system which will leave negative impacts to the society.

Product sketches from 5 exhibitions

Golden Circle Chilled Juice Bottle by Outerspace Design and Heinz from Australian International Design awards 

The ergonomic shape makes the product easier to lift and improve comfort when pouring. The streamline design makes it even look better.

Genie Tea Pot by Stefan Lie from Workshopped 

This tea pot shows the flow of liquid effectively from its Genie-like sculptural form which is very unique and fun to use.

The Red Chair (do not know name) from Au.thentic

The red chair shows its vivid colour with the ergonomic shape which is quite interesting to sit on or even have a look. I also like that it is made of one piece which is interesting and looks very original.

Let there be light by Stephanie Howe from Sparkies, Foodies, Fashionistas Exhibition

It is interesting how paper is used in lighting design and emphasizes the specialties of the material which I think are thinness and sharpness within the design. Overall, I think the geometric shape of the lighting is very original and intriguing.

Butterfly stool by Sori Yanagi from Japanese Design Exhibition 

The Butterfly stool shows European shapes with the technique developed by Charles and Ray Eames of shaping plywood. The gently curved silhouette is reminiscent of the wings of a butterfly.

My Design Career

Ever since I was a boy, I have always been interested in art and drawing. I haven’t particularly been told that I am good, but I have enjoyed drawing and making with whatever I had. In high school, I did enjoy subjects like English and science, but I especially enjoyed working on my artworks for art subject. On other side of my mind, I have had passion to study design because I have seen many friends studying industrial design, interior design, fine art or even architecture. That, I think, is the motivation of choosing Industrial design as my major

I was quite influenced by my friends to apply for industrial design as I have heard and thought that there can be a variety of opportunities and directions in future after studying industrial design as major. Also, at the time when I had to apply for universities, I finalized myself that I am more into design rather than art because I wanted to study design and leave art as one of my hobbies. Frankly, it is quite difficult to particularly separate design and art but that was what I thought at that time.

Among other universities, I chose UNSW as the university is well-renowned for its exceptional quality of education and campus environment. More importantly, industrial design program at UNSW is comprised of a diverse range of design activities such as model making and computing design. That is another vital reason why I chose UNSW as the high reputation of UNSW would support me well to study the significant features of Industrial design.

For my future in design, I would like to travel and broaden my sight in terms of design and develop myself as design will be my career. As I have learnt that design is not only about producing products, but also expressing emotions and personal ideas. Therefore, as I am aware that I am predominantly lack of that now, I want to develop myself by travelling before getting a job or anything.

Design Confusion

Design Excellence: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

By analysing this product, I could understand more deeply on how visual elements of design could affect or appeal users from purchasing it. As far as the visual elements go, the Breville tea maker is predominantly functional and visually impressive compared with other tea makers out on the current market. This award-winning product has all the dominant features that the tea maker as a design product in the kitchen (as Breville intended) which interested me throughout the process of product form anaylsis.

Review: "David Kelley: Human centred design"

The video gives you an insight on how design is becoming a part of our lives by including personalities and behaviours to be more human-centred. It demonstrates how designers address the needs of humans in most designs and the processes they go through to figure out the problem. For example, ApproTEC project in Kenya illustrates how we as designers can make the world function through an economical advantage in helping others.

Moreover, David Kelley showed the Prada store of New York City which was greatly renovated to improve the service and therefore customers’ satisfaction. For example, one of the new systems they came out was the scanning the products that a customer is interested on. By simply scanning the product, it will appear on any touch screen in the store and the customer can choose the size and color. Then it can be taken to the dressing room which also has a scanner so the retailer knows exactly what clothing is been taken.

The renovation improved every single service that customer can benefit from. For instance, the use of liquid crystal on the walls of the dressing room is the application of the renovated technology. While the customer is changing, the wall will go black and blocked, However, once the customer is done with dressing they simply step on the button and the wall will go transparent again for their company. There is also a magic mirror inside the dressing room which has the ability to hold the image to show the look to the customer. From this, customers can check how it looks like on different angle.

Another dominant idea was to create a digital installation of a wall in London science museum. It conveys some of the feedbacks from people who had visited to the museum  displayed on the wall so everyone could examine. Like London station line, they have produced a tube line as if the trains are the way that people think and when the little tubes arrive at the station it expands what it is saying so people can read. On the IMAX Theater there are big open spaces that tables displayed and have interactive games. The topics included male fertility, choosing the sex of your baby and what will it be on driver less car.

Excerpts from “The Big Idea” by CBS Sunday Morning, Scott Adams asked for the creation of Gilbert’s ultimate cubicle. Basically, the team tried to change the atmosphere of cubicle by changing the interior. One of the groups built the walls as screens for the computer and for photos. The second built the walls as alive and they actually give the Gilbert a group hug, and behind this humorous idea they were giving the cubical more human. The final cubical chosen is opened and connected to the environment so it is mentally healthy, and the flower as a decoration stands up when human is inside the cubical to make human feel like to be responded. There were also some touches such as putting a fish tank on the wall and a punch bag with the boss’s face on it.

Also, they designed the “recycling of the water” had the main concept of showing the process of recycling water. It is another great example of human centered design as the recycling water is an obvious allusion to ecological sustainability which means the sustainability of mankind. Also, the spyfish was futuristic and the whole new idea for the people who are interested on under the sea but could not examine because of their lack of abilities. It is designed from  H2Eye that targeted the people who enjoys being on the sea but does not scuba dive. Through this machine, people can explore under the water without getting wet.

I have discovered it is important for industrial designers to watch the video as it allows them to see what capabilities we have and how we as designers are affecting the world in a positive way. We are able to see other people’s designs and see their reasons and philosophies in doing so.