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 With the fast-advancement of technology these days, old or outdated products are left, creating wastage.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.

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Video Reflection (Task 2D) - "Objectified"

Out of all the videos I've seen regarding Design, I think this one is the most inspiring and the most useful one out of the bunch.

It's interesting that designers have slightly different ideas of what a good design is. Whereas Dieter Rams regards a good design as something that looks the least designed, Hella Jongerius contradicts this by usually adding some extra details (e.g the button on the Vietra sofa) to her design to give it a more unique feel to it. Although slightly the opposite, I think both concepts apply well in real life because some people have different preference - some will find the extra detail to be unneccessary but some will "get" its uniqueness and buy the product because of that.

Also what I've learned from this video is that there are so many elements of design that have to be considered in order for it to be a good design. It has to make the user get some kind of emotional connection like when they're looking at art, be environmentally friendly, long-lasting and also subconsciously make users want to use it all the time, without knowing about the extra features during the initial usage of the products. On top of that we have to keep asking ourselves when designing something whether we wanna use it or not, and imagine ourselves as the users.

I just think this is so significant for every designers / design students that outside knowledge and research, along with some on-field experience can go a long way for all of us. One thing I also find useful in the video is when the design firm is trying to make a product, that instead of focusing on designing for the 90% of the population (like what I always do) we should try to design for the other 10%, because if we're able to do that, there shouldn't be a problem for that 90% to be able to use the design as well.

Still, I think the hardest element of creating a good design would be to create some sort of an emotional attachement to the users. Like the last designer says, at the end of the day when you're looking around the room and if there's a hurricane and there's hardly enough time -- the objects you'd take with you are the ones you feel some sort of attachement to.

There are just so many interesting and inspiring elements in this video, especially for me, who's trying to be an industrial designer. The processes that they go through, along with the smart and effective linkage between the past and the future used -- it's just so overwhelmingly exciting to know and see, although difficult when we actually try doing it ourselves.

Reflection - PSS

Finally! So Guida, me and Katy – we finally finished our models and our powerpoint. I gotta say this is probably one of the hardest project ever in terms of studio. Because we were paired up in 3, we have to show the effort of 3 people as well, and that’s why I’ve been seeing huge models from a lot of people. A sign that everybody is stepping up their game and trying to avoid failing studio, and also something which makes us have to pull something amazing out of the bag as well cause…well, we don’t want ours to look crap when compared together.

Groupwork is never easy, the fact that there’s 3 people working together to make something which we supposedly have to agree on is hard. 3 people , 3 different ideas, 3 different approaches in doing things, none of which are agreeable upon another. The hardest thing for us would be that we have to set aside our differences and work with whatever we got that we (and the tutors) think is good.

Meeting up as a group is kinda difficult, since Katy lives faraway from uni, so she can’t stay at uni til late (which I’m not sure whether it’s an acceptable excuse haha) but yeah…we’ve mainly been dividing works and sending them to each other by emails, with meeting up several times – which I don’t think is enough.

Money is always an issue as Industrial Design is a really pricey course to take – the MDF itself is not that pricey, but when you combine that with the need of several cans of primers and spray paint, it becomes extremely expensive.
As for the way we did things, of course there’s some things we think we should’ve done and things we think shouldn’t have been done. YEAH GUIDA, I’m talking to you! (w/ the inner portion plate size!) haha.

Problems we encountered other than organizing a group meet-up is that our PSS is related to so many subjects (parents, friends, food, physical activity, education) that sometimes we feel like we're losing focus. We tried eliminating this problem by consulting to tutors and from their feedback we then construct a way to retain our focus yet providing an effective way of fighting child obesity.

What I definitely learned from this is that sometimes we have to know every single components that revolves around the issue in order to actually design something that can effectively eliminate the issue. For example, in order to know how to effectively design something that can eliminate child obesity, we have to think how they would react within every step of the system, knowing whether a negative or positive reaction they would give if certain steps are taken etc.

Overall, as a group, I wouldn’t say we’re the best at coordination and teamwork, but we certainly gave it a try and I’m satisfied with the finished product, and I’m giving Guida credit for that since who knows she’s actually decent in doing models (haha) where as I’m completely clueless. Katy’s came up with some good concepts too.
But honestly, I’m just glad that it’s over and I finally can get my good night sleep. Again, good job team!

PEER COMMENTS

1. Jonathan Biet

2. Angela Lam

3. Pip Connolly

4. Wawen Chen

5. Charmaine Chen

PULL-CLEAN WATER FILTER

RATIONALE – “PULL-CLEAN” Bucket Set

By designing “Pull-Clean”, me as a designer aim to help earthquake disaster victims to gain access to clean water. Several earthquakes have been happening in Sumatra in quite a short period of time, preventing the disaster victims the access to get their basic needs (foods, shelter, hygiene). The fact that Indonesia is one of developing countries didn’t help either since government budget alone will not enable disaster victims in Sumatra to get the help they need. After several interviews with organizations’ members which has directly helped Sumatran victims, finally it is clear to us what’s definitely lacking in Sumatra, especially in refugee camp. Some information that we collected from them are that kids need to be de-traumatized, victims need proper place to lie on and healthy foods – and last but not least, clean water is needed for hygiene and drinking since some people are starting to get digestive tract infections and respiratory problem.

After some more research from several different sources, turns out there are several restrictions due to the budget and the location of Sumatra. Sumatra is a small island, which mostly is covered by rainforests, with Indian Ocean located West of it. The geographical situation was one of the problems encountered by international aid rescuers. Budget restriction will also be the main factor needed to be considered for designing since Indonesia is an undeveloped country.

“Pull-Clean” is a water filter which can be used for the community as it is a bucket set in which the lid, where the water filter is installed in, is designed to kill 99.3% bacteria in water, no matter how polluted it is and filter it into clean, drinkable water. The High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) outer body part, along with the tubes allows it to be sold at a low cost. The manufacturing process that is suitable for the bucket and the lid, along with the tubes are injection molding – a process which does not take a lot of effort to produce and at a low cost too. A small amount of silicone is used as an inner lid shell, to make the lid not slippery and seal the water. As for the filter, which is located inside the center tube of the lid- it consists of 4 little compartment: the textile pre-filter, polyester filter, beads impregnated with iodine and lastly a chamber of granulated active carbon. The size of the bucket is also made so that it's going to be the same as standard sized buckets available out there. So, people can also not buy the bucket and also buy the lid -- allowing them to use their EXISTING buckets which they have already to minimalize the cost.

To use “Pull-Clean”, first use the bucket body to scoop the polluted water from anywhere, (e.g: river) and then put the bucket lid on. After making sure the lid is put tight, turn the bucket (filled in with polluted water) and the lid upside down. The polluted water will be forced down the tubes, getting through the 4 chambers and then will be kept inside the side tubes. The first chamber which consists of hundreds of microns in diameter will filter the bigger particles, e.g : rock or dirt. After that the water passes the second chamber which is the polyester filter, hence 99.3% of bacteria will be killed. Next chamber, which consist of beads that are saturated with iodine will kill more bacteria. The final chamber consists of granulated active carbon that will improve the smell and taste of water, along with filtering more parasites. Then there’s a hole, marked with another color on the middle of front tube. When tube is pulled, hole will be exposed, enabling water to pour out. The minimal manufacturing process is suited to the low budget cost.


POSTER

SCENARIO

CAD

ADDITONAL PICTURES

DESIGN FOR DISASTER - REFLECTIONS

Honestly think I could've improved on a lot of things for this project. First, my time management kinda sucks and for some reason it's really difficult for me to find an idea that I like -- or just any ideas. Even after several weeks of studio consultation I'm still not confident with my idea and the concept that I presented. I tried doing research but somehow I couldn’t think of anything out of the box. I could probably overcome that by reading more design books and reading more articles about designers and how they find their inspirations.

Other than time management, I also have to improve a lot on my modelmaking skills. Somehow I always make things more complicated than it is. Even though I’ve made several things using bluefoam, somehow I’m never satisfied with the end products. When everyone else’s is so smooth, mine always ended up abit lumpy and everytime I try fixing it, it becames worse. Another disappointment is my planning skill. If only I’d planned this better, maybe I wouldn’t have to use blue foam and just use MDF or something which is faster to make, and probably will end up looking better than a blue foam model.

By doing this project I’ve learned a lot, especially after listening to the lectures about the environmental and social concerns that designers have to take into account while designing products. One thing that sticks in my mind is that to conserve the environment, we as designers have to think of products after the end of the product life cycle. Before the lecture, I’d never actually think about making something that can be used for something else after the end of their lifecycle, but the video for the blog and the lecture completely changed my mind.
Also what I learned from the experience of doing this project is that being a designer is not as easy as it looks or sounds. You can’t just be thinking about one aspect of product (e.g: form). Some of the important things you have to keep in mind is that the product has to be able to work and you have to design something that people would actually buy. Something I also got from watching a documentary about an industrial designer is that a good design is something that looks like it’s not designed. So instead of trying to hard to add a lot of things into our products, we could just keep it simple as long as it serves its purpose and that people find it useful.

Okay, one more thing that is definitely something I learned when doing this project is … NEVER sand bluefoam in your house. It doubles your workload, now after a long day of studio, I have to go home and completely clean my toilet (where I was sanding) and vacuum the carpet. Sigh…