Video Reflection : The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour is pretty much a wake up call for us to be more conscious about our environment and everything negative that happens to it, that they will all eventually come back to haunt us. The link between us and the environment is something that alot of people haven't figured out yet. People don't realize that these natural disasters - flood, food poisoning, world hunger, global warming -- all these are the impact of human actions. The destruction of the environment - cutting of trees illegally, dumping chemical substances, the dumpings of chemical substances into the river, all these helps cause the natural disasters which in turn take out lives - thinking about it again, it's like karmic retribution.

People interviewed in this documentary in one segment want us to just sit back and think - about the impacts of our actions, about why are we not responding, and what are the forces that are blocking change. The problem is not global warming, and other natural disasters that occurred, it's more about how we think and act. 

I think a big component of this documentary which is very relatable to designers is the consumerism aspect of it - about how we can make a product efficient enough to reduce consumerism. As one segment describes, we, as people living in developed countries are very selfish, we always buy new things that are offered on shelves, no matter how unneccessary they are for us just for our own satisfaction. The ones that get the negative impact of how we think and act are people who are living in the underdeveloped countries, in which we dumped our chemical waste in, and the ones which trees we logged just so that we're able to make products.

Watching this documentary, as designers it motivates me more to create products that are more environmentally friendly and push myself more to think about consumerisms and how my designs can reduce that. As one member of the ecosystem, it also helps me to think more about the environment and act upon it, because based on the harm we've inflicted upon the mother nature - it's either now or never.

Video Reflection: The Lightbulb Conspiracy

The Lightbulb Conspiracy: the Untold Story of Planned Obsolesence is a documentary about how a conspiracy by companies all over the world in encouraging consumerism by planning the "expiry date" of products in order for consumers to buy a new one.

One of the examples of this 'conspiracy' is the chip that lock printers after several prints, as seen in one scene of the documentary. It is definitely unfair, but thinking about it again, like one of the interviewees said, it's what keeps companies, designers and the entire industries going from becoming obsolete themselves. This is why a new product is made every 3 minutes in the world, it is why Apple keeps releasing newer version of their models in every few months, with just the slightest improvements. I understand the industries' need to do this, but at the same time I find it kind of unfair, especially to some people. Imagine when someone works their asses off for a product they've always wanted, but just after they bought it, a new one came out - a newer and better one with a price similar to what they paid for the one they bought.

I guess it is kind of ironic how companies labels everything to be green and environmentally friendly for that extra factor to make customers buy them while at the same time they want them to have this expiry date that makes customers having to buy a new one. One of the examples shown in the documentary would be the lithium battery on an iPod that only lasts for 18 months, with a less than 2 years warranty originally.

To be honest, I think this documentary have less of an impact to designers as it is to engineers. I feel it impacts us as designers in terms of us, now thinking about there are actually more things that we have to take into account when designing something in order for us to satisfy our employers. Hopefully, a balance can be achieved between all these so that a satisfaction can be achieved between all parties, the environment, the companies, the designers and the consumers.

DIASSEMBLY : Breville Juice & Blend

Disassembly Time : 1 Hour 10 Minutes

Parts:

Solutions:

FINAL PRESENTATION POSTERS + Rationale

PEER COMMENTS (PSS)

• Andrew Bae

• Jonathon Harley

• Adara Taista

• Sarita Parto

• Stella Ho

Pre-Final PSS Powerpoint

Tutor's Comment:
- Explore more about Material other than Wire Mesh
- Maybe instead of flex banner, can use used water bottle (bottled water)
- Simplify System Map
- Maybe instead of giving rice + cooked meat, give rice+veggies, and rice + cooked meat once every 4 days etc.

Updated Concept

Background Research (various sources):
• "Without serious & systematic effort in food production, the threat of food shortages will continue to haunt us" - Jakarta Post (Oct 21,2011)
• "Over 100 million Indonesia (1/2 of country's population) are now living below poverty line, up from 30 million in 1997 (Manufacturing Indonesia Food Crisis, Feb 16, 2005)
• In Indonesia, over 17 million families now face food shortages. In Central & East Java, over 4 million households can't afford more than 1 meal a day.( Far Eastern Economic Review)
• *As men usually leave to work at their really low paying job, the wives, parents and kids are left alone doing nothing but chat to their friends etc. Therefore, this PSS is targeting them to, instead of just do nothing, why not help clean the environment and getting some more benefit while doing that as well.

PSS:

1. A non-government, not-for-profit organization will be created, with its mission of getting rid of food shortage in Indonesia. This organization will enlists the help of an ad/banner company for the product and they will be targeting urban slums in Jakarta.

2. A deal will be made between the people living in the urban slums and the organization, and everyone is encouraged to sign up.

THE PROGRAM:
• People have to help clean up rubbish on the street & along the kali (a term for shallow river in Jakarta) area and in turn, they will be given the product set for them to use.

THE PRODUCT:
• A stand, which has bamboos, compiled together and combined for the frame, along with recycled banner, sewn and sticked (method still need to be researched) to the bamboo to create a set of container in which they will be able to plant veggies in. Seeds will also be given, along with a Community Composter for the area. This stand will have wheels for them so they can bring it home at night before they sleep. This is because theft is an issue in these areas. A handle is there for easier portability.


3. A guy from the organization will then be sent to teach the people in those areas how to make compost and how to plant using the product and the seeds etc. Each family will take turn to work the composter each time it runs out of compost.

4. Each month, a team sent by the organization will be sent to investigate how the cleanup is going around the kali and street around that area. They will also check the progress of the program, giving people advice and suggestions to grow their crop better. If program is followed smoothly, then more / better quality seeds will be given.

5. The food waste from them, eating their own-grown veggies will have to be put into the community composter to keep the cycle going.

6. For long term plan, IF community (likely to be, small families) grows excess produce, the organization can help sell them to the markets/ restaurants - this will in turn, get rid of their food shortage and improve their quality of life.



URBAN SLUMS in JAKARTA:

PROPOSED PRODUCT: 

 Notes:
- Has to be able to stand up by itself (not be pushed against the wall) because on these areas, their houses aren't made with good materials, therefore if something's heavy's pressed against the wall, their house might collapse).
- Bamboo & Flex Banner are used for the material because they're really inexpensive.
- Handle for easier draggin.
- Size of product has to be lower than the height of door so it can be easily dragged in.
- Frame has to be strong enough to withstand these heavy bags filled with soil & later, plants.

CONCERNS / UNSURE ABOUT: 
- Should I do 4 small wheels or just 2 big wheels located all in front or back?
- Should I add 1 more to each column (so 5 bags in each column, totalling in 20 overall). Concern: Take up too much space.
- Should I have 1 big flex banner and have all the bags sewn onto them, instead of the bags, being sticked on (still need to research about the method) to the bamboos?
- Should handle be smaller so not waste too much material?



TUTORS' SUGGESTIONS: (Not yet included into the system)
- Make it so that they have to pay (even if in installments) for the planting device, as it's been proven by plenty of research that getting something for free makes them less responsible for it.
- Reward them with free rice and/or cooked meat plus seeds for cleaning up the river/area around them.
- Wheeling it inside doesn't quite work because they don't have that much space inside the house.(Therefore find another way, to prevent theft)

Concept Proposal

CONCEPT # 1

Problem: Oil Spill

Solution: Hair from Salon

Background Research:

•  7 Oil Spills occurred in Australia occurred between 2001 – 2012 (max 4,75 tonnes)

(http://www.amsa.gov.au/marine_environment_protection/major_oil_spills_in_australia/

• Oil Spills damage Beaches, Marshland and Marine Wildlife that are essential in global foodchain, destroying ecosystem

• Hair Clippings from Salon left on the floor after cutting customers’ hair stuffed inside Nylon can be used to effectively absorb oil. After collecting the leak this is then can be pressed, releasing the oil altogether in 1 go.

(http://www.styleicons.com.au/2010/05/25/article/Recycled-hair-clippings-aid-oil-spills/XEGWWTLQOG.html)

Proposed PSS:

1. Encourage Salon to do such thing by a nationwide campaign
2. Product is delivered by government to participating salon. The product will be of a large container & tool for a more convenient cleaning and getting hair off the salon floor and right into box. (Product still need a lot of development) 
3. Hair clippings is then collected in the box, with the box collected weekly. The box is then collected and another empty box given.
4. After collection, all boxes are brought to 1 location in which each boxes can be just placed and get the lid / with a press of a button can just transfer all the hair  into 1 machine in which it will be processed and turned into a mat. 
5.  Finished product will be then given to the oil spill cleanup committee, in which it will then get to be used to cleanup oil spills.

CONCEPT #2

Problem: Food Shortage, Waste Disposal

Solution: Grow Veggies & Fruits by using Composter (Product)

Background Research:
• Food shortage in Indonesia (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/10/21/indonesia-still-vulnerable-food-shortages-boediono.html)
• Waste Disposal problem in Indonesia (http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/346749/indonesian-garbage-helps-save-environment)

Proposed PSS (Location: Indonesia, for people living in poor areas): 

1.  With aid from government, a composter is given per family (or per community) for the ones living in poor areas. A small land is also spared for the project with seeds being given in exchange for an amount of garbage collected off the street / other area.
2. An instructor will be sent to the area to teach how to use composter / grow veggies + fruits and where etc. 
3.  Kids to elders both can join and an inspector will be sent once a month to inspect, if system works good then for the next cycle more seeds along with more tool loans will be given.

Still yet to be researched for this concept:
• Security Measures
•Whether should just do the planting near their house to avoid people stealing, since not acres of land is needed to put food on the table.
•How to make composter (material, workings etc) so that even in tropical weather and poor environment composter still can work in optimal condition.

EDIT: For concept #2, existing composter would be used meaning the product would be the pots where the plants are going to be planted.

Proposed PSS #2 (Concept #2):

1. With aid from government, each family or each area will be given 1 community composter. As an exchange, people have to participate in collecting rubbish around the area or off the street/ kali (Indonesia's term for shallow rivers which are usually are flooded with rubbish).

2. Each family have to sign up for the program, in exchange they will be given 2-4 empty pots (product still being researched) along with some tools for growing foods/ veggies.

3. A government worker will then come to explain them how to work the composter - Participating restaurants / warungs (small street food kiosks in Indonesia) will spare their organic / food waste to be put in the compost. Each family will take turn to work the composter each time it runs out of compost.

4. Several seeds will be given (not alot, since only so they can get enough food to eat themselves) to each family, they will also be taught how to grow plants.

5. Once a month, a government worker will be sent to each area to investigate. If system runs smoothly, then they will give more pots along with better quality seeds and tools to help the community. For long term plan, if community grows more than enough vegetable, they will be able to sell the excess produce to markets or restaurants, which in turn will get rid of the food shortage and improve their quality of life.


POSSIBLE PRODUCTS / THREATS:
- To get rid of thefts, pot has to have some sort of an identification feature so government worker can know that it's not stolen from their neighbours etc.

- Also, to avoid theft, maybe design some kind of product so that the pot can easily be put / stored at home before they sleep and then easily take it out (sunlight) when they wake up.

- The people, living in small housing area, will  not be able to store the pot easily since they don't have space. So design a product system that enable them to store them without wasting space and easy to move etc. 

*After a bit more research, it seems that theft is not as major as the lack of space available for them to do the planting since usually the one who works are usually the man, leaving the wife, son, elders doing nothing but chat to other people in the same area (having free time). Therefore the product will be more likely for them to be able to maximize the little space available to them to put the pots in.
The pots could also be put on the roof (design so it sits in there?). The idea of putting it on the roof will also help them in terms of when raining, as there usually are leaks/holes on their roof.
THEREFORE,  one of my  solutions would be something that allows them to put the pot and plant seeds on the roof with easy and efficient take in & out of the roof to water or just something that allow them to maximize the available space to them to put the pot in.

BACKGROUND RESEARCH FOR THIS CONCEPT:
- Waste in Indonesia are largely organic / have larger (70% more) organic composition compared to other more developed countries, e.g Singapore.

Peer Comments (Cormack)

• Seb Gregory
• Siting Lin
• Andrew Bae
• James Cheng
• Anurag Shivach

S+ICKIFIX Bandage Dispenser (Cormack)

*Open each image (poster) in new tab for easier text viewing

Focus Group

Summary of what my peers in my focus group said regarding my product:

- How does the lid stay up? (Living hinge, consider locking)
- Bandage - has another layer of plastic wrapper or just the band aid inside the packaging?
- Think of maybe do a roll of bandaid
- Make wheels move, and when they move get bandage out one at a time
- Show more about who target market is (Poster)
- Consider of making a full band aid kit instead of just bandages
- *Show in poster how big it is
- Edges -> make them round / less sharp so it's safe for users
- Slide or Flick to open lid? Show clearer!
- Grip can be slippery, so consider textured grip!
- Too much writing on poster. Minimalize it.


My Strategies of addressing the issues found:

- Lid will lock once it is in a position of where it's held more than 90 degrees
- Wheel rolling idea is good - but too expensive for manufacturing
- Make poster show target market more (parents/kids)
- Show in poster how big the product is
- Show how to open lid clearer in poster
- Minimalize writing by just keeping the things that are important to be noted

Video Reflection: Giving Packaging a New Life

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Watching these videos about recycling, the one thing I’m most surprised about is the effort put into these innovations used for recycling. I didn’t even know that some of the technology used exists! The thing that intrigues me most is the use Optical Sorting System that’s able to identify which kind of plastics the packaging is manufactured from and sort it appropriately which uses infra-red technology. I always thought recycling would be a really long manual process, that machines involvement is required only after the trash is sorted manually by government-paid workers. 

It is certainly refreshing to know society and industries are becoming to adapt a more-environmentally approach nowadays than they did years ago. We, as industrial designers have also the responsibility to incorporate more of this approach in designing products. This includes having to think of ways that products can be recycled after they reach the end of their lifecycle. Like what’s said during last lecture, consumerism is a big problem – which people are buying more and more products, triggering companies to make more products to sell. With the fast-advancement of technology these days, old or outdated products are left, creating wastage. We, as designers are to blame if the materials in some of this wastage take more time or energy to recycle.

Although designers are partly to blame, society should also be more educated by the governments, maybe with the help of media and technology of the need of them to be more “green”.  Like in Germany, other countries – with government and media aids, should raise awareness of ecological impacts to encourage more recycling. Campaigns encouraging the acts of recycling and the buildings of more recycling factories should be implemented. I believe if this can happen, carbon emissions will be reduced and fewer trees will need to be cut down – making us closer to reaching our goals.

Video Reflection: How It's Made - Packaging

These videos of how packagings are made really opened my eyes to a whole new world. I knew that packagings are produced in factories at an ultraspeed, but what I didn't know was how complex the process really is.

For the first video, about Corrogated Cardboard; I always thought they were the easiest to make- when in reality they require no less than 4 stages, which include pressing with rollers, applying glue with water and starch and the printing process which requires several different rollers applying different colorings to each part of the cardboard. The one that surprised me most being the printing, since I always thought the printing would be done all at once per paper instead of being divided into several different stages.

The process of how packaging tubes are made, although interesting, doesn't really excite me as much as the others since I've watched a similar video before.

 On how to make Tetra Pak Containers, from the video I found out that there are 3 layers on each container, with them being plastic layer, paperboard and a foil- with the plastic layer making it leak-proof. One thing that concerns me was the manual quality control after printing, which shows the worker being exposed to a constant on/off light without him wearing any eye protection.

The makings of Glass and Plastic Bottles & Jars excite me as well, as who knew that for both, the inital form would just be a blob, for both but then as for plastic it's stretched and made into a bigger form, and with glass with it being molded.

As for all of them (including making of Aluminium Cans), it amazes me that there is actually a Cleaning process done near the finish- as I never thought there was 1 in the first place.

Overall, these videos really helped me learned as an industrial designer, the technical process of how packagings are formed. It also gave me an insight of just how much machine and manual labor plays a part in making these packagings.

Click here to see the videos!