I came across this cool outdoor relaxation area on design boom. It's a structure that is just layers of plywood to create a private areas with a hammock and seating.

pd486

So I got the majority of the foam profiles for the bench done today but I still have a ton of work to do. I need to finish the foam profiles and get them glued together, then I need to cut the negative spaces for the pump and ceramic filter. then i need to fiberglass the foam (which i know is time consuming). After the fiberglass is finished I need to spot fill with bondo and sand and paint. I doubt all this is going to be done by the mid crit, but it's vital that I'm getting this tough work done now so I can make adjustments and be ready for the final crit.

pd486

Farmers Market Adventure. Logan and I went to a farmers market recently so that we'd be able to test the differences between the taste of organic, farmers market produce and store bought produce. I bought some tomatoes, and Logan bought some kale. I don't really have a very discerning palette so I'm not really sure if I actually noticed a difference in the taste. Also, realistically it would probably have been a better idea to do a blind test so I didn't know which tomato came from where so my opinion wouldn't be skewed.

pd486

Bought some boards of styrofoam building insulation today. I am going to use it for a prototype for the bench. The foam is easy to work with and lightweight. Then I'll fiber glass that I think. I am unsure of weather I will build a full scale model. I know that rotomolding would be an easy way to manufacture this bench but Im going to have to rotomold it myself so I may just do it half scale. I''ll kick it around for a few more days though, it really would be best to have a FULL scale working model of course.

PD486

Today I did a bit of research on the kind of materials in bench will be made of. I think I am going to settle with an easily recyclable plastic with an antimicrobial coating to ensure that water stays fresh. I had originally wanted to make it so the water would be visible in the bench, but I just read that algae will be able to grow if sunlight is present. If the clean, filtered water is contaminated by algae people won't be able to drink it, which is something I want users to be able to do. If it's hot out, drink from the hose.

pd486

Still haven't been able to work on the filter yet. I have been having trouble finding any terra cotta pots that aren't glazed and dont have a how in the bottom of the pot for drainage. The ceramic pot is porous which makes it possible for water to pass through the material. As the water moves through the ceramic many of the pollutants are removed. It's pretty cool stuff. The water will then get to the sand. After about 2 weeks of water trickling through the sand the top 5 inches or so of sand will create a biofilm consisting of bacteria, protozoa, and small little creatures that work together to clean the water. It sounds kinda strange that our water is cleaned this way but it's true. I may also include an activated carbon filter just like those used in brita water filters, but I haven't decided yet.

pd486

Ok, so I have been working on the form of the bench today. I just did some prototyping with cardboard to get a better idea of the dimensions and logistics of this deal. I have all the measurements ready and I am going to begin work with where and how the filter will be incorporated in the bench. I also got an idea while working today about making these bench attachable, so you can connect several bench together. Tomorrow I am going to begin the prototype for the filter. I am curious as to just how clean this water will be. I will have to do some tests to see if it really is effective or if I will need to find another solution.

pd486

One of the problems I have to figure out is how I will filter the water. I know that I want to mimic groundwater filtration. After reading and researching I think I have found a way of using an unglazed terra cotta pot, sand, gravel, and perhaps some activated carbon. I think its important to have a filtration system because in heavily populated cities rain water can have many bad chemicals and such we don't want to water our plants with. I think I will be able to work on a passive gravity fed filter to keep water clean.

pd486

From this point I am going to commit to the rain water collection and harvesting idea. I have been sketching and ideating for the water collection and I think I am going to create a bench that doubles as a water collection tank. There will be a way for the user to use a hose to water plants in there garden space.

pd486

Research has been going well for the small grow space. I would like to point out as well that I haven't committed to the grow space idea yet. I am also curious is harvesting rain water in urban gardening so I will be researching that as well. I would like to make some kind of filter for the water collector as well by mimicking the way ground water is filter.

pd486

Thursday. I began brainstorming for studio today. I am looking at ways of producing food in small spaces without soil. Because the soil is just a medium and structure for the roots, i would like to look into a way of removing the soil from the equation, most likely hydroponics or aeroponics. I'm also curious as to how I can utilize collected rain water for the water system as well.

For my small grow space I would like to maximize the use of natural light and perhaps incorporating as little much artificial light as possible. Also, using materials such a mylar will help increase the reflectivity so that light can bounce off surfaces. The location of the lights will need to cover as many plants as possible.

I am just going to dive head first into this thing. I don't have much farming experience but I need to wrap my head around this subject. I have decided that I am going to try and build a small green closet in the studio space at school or in my apartment. I figure I will be able to use recycled water bottles, jars, and other recycled materials to cut down on material costs for prototyping.

I am also going to continue working on my bottle opener. I would prefer to use metal for my design rather than plastic so I will need to look into ways of bending and forming the metal.

PD486

So I finally cut my finished can openers today. They are still a little bigger than I think they need to be, but they work great and are fun to use. I will bend the shapes cut on the laser cutter in the oven to mimic how they would be made if they were made of stamped and folded metal, which is how I see them being produced. I still haven't gotten a card reader yet for my camera so I will add photos of my process and drawings soon.

pd486

I was able to cut some of the forms out on the laser cutter today in acrylic. The pieces I cut worked well. I would like to shorten the opener a little bit and at a ring, which should make it easier to grip the opener when opening several bottles quickly.

pd486

I bought some plastic today and plan on heating the plastic up in the oven over some different shapes. The plastic hopefully take the curved planes of the wine and beer bottles. I hope the curve will give the thin plastic a bit more rigidity so it will handle the impact better.

pd486

I built a first version of the bottle opener today. It's a scrap piece of mahogany cut to shape. It works by putting an end of the wood on the edge of the cap. Then popping the other end of the stick with your free hand or on a counter top to knock the cap off. after a few tries the would started splitting so I am going to put some plastic on the end of the wood. Also, the opener is pretty big and bulky so I want to see if I will be able to cut down the size and weight.

PD486

I need to find a reasonable material that would give out and will have the correct stiffness and strength for opening the bottle. I am going to use a combination of plastic and wood for my opener because these have the strength and are cheap and easily accessible.

PD Bottle Opener

Our 1st assignment is directed towards bottle openers. I have been thinking of different ways to open bottles. How do I open a bottle when I don't have a bottle opener? I thought about opening bottles with lighters, belt buckles, counter edges, with other bottles, even with a sheet of paper. Its basically a lot of force directly on the edge of the cap to pry it away from the bottle, once a small part of the cap is off the lip of the bottle the cap comes off easily.

Reading Response 7

I don't collect objects in the way a stamp collector collects stamps, or an art collector

collects paintings. I feel like these forms of collection or hobby collecting. I don't do hobby

collecting, but I do collect things that I like, and I think that by looking about what I have in

my home would be able to tell someone much about who I am. If you look through my book

case you'll learn that I an interested in design history, fiction, and military history. If you look in

my closet you'll see that I play lacrosse, and how I dress. I would consider myself a collector of

all thing's 'craig' and my house is a museum.

He writes about how the products we own have no sexual orientation, which made me

think about Toy Story and how those toys has sexual orientations. Then I thought about the

things I own and whether I view them as male or female and I found that I do to a small

extent. My lacrosse stick is a male, my shower loofa is female (I can't feel competitive playing

lacrosse with a female lacrosse stick, and I don't want a male loofa washing my back in the

shower, haha).

Women aren't the only sex that feel objectified, men just feel it less because we're

dumb and women are WAY more objectified. I have probably written three essays on feminine

objectification in advertising. Take the Axe Ads, if I by this product, I'll get these beautiful

women. I exercise often for several reasons, one of them is to feel good about how I look. It's

nice to feel confident about your appearance and I can say with some certainty that many of

those you find at gyms are doing it because they want to look good. I'll admit that I want to be

a little objectified sometimes. It's nice to know your being appreciated, even if it's vain.

Reading Response 6

mmm, i'd probably never work at alessi. I dont understand how a company can possibly do as well as alessi has by only concentrating on looks. this, can't be true, some of the products they have produced are very functional and rational, but the aesthetics must outshine the simplicity and functionality.

I consider myself to be a very grounded, pragmatic person. I go about solving problems very rationally, or what I think is rational, thats just my personality, aesthetics have always been back seat to function, because if a product doesn't function they way consumers expect it to then its just a paperweight. I hate to bring it up but Im just going to say it because it's impossible to read this article without thinking of it... "form follows function" It's an overchimed saying. when I hear it i cringe a little bit, but I also agree. I have a hard time thinking about aesthetics. Personally, I think it's almost a defense mechanism. I prefer to keep aesthetics at arms length because I'm afraid i'll get too caught up in what the product looks like, and thus overdesign. while I subscribe to form follows function, I'm also and advocate of, "keep it simple, stupid" and i think that simple aesthetics aren't nearly as simple as consumers perceive them.

Take the iPod for example. My iPod Nano looks like its a simple form, but I know that mindboggling amounts of time were spent shaping, forming, designing, and redesigning this mp3 player into what it now is. the complexity of simple, restrained aesthetics is hard to accept sometimes. although the iPod is also very well design at performing its function.

good for alessi though.

Reading Response 5

As I read this excerpt from Jean Baudrillard's America(1989) I was intrigued with his

thoughts on how there's a boundary between the brain, body, and person. The way he writes

about how we observe our bodies is almost like looking at oneself from the third person. But I

still think its necessary for the body and brain to work in a more connected capacity than

Baudrillard describes.

I relate to this because I often observe my own experiences to solve problems. This

also relates to design, it's like research. By observing how my own body and brain perform in

daily activities, I am better informed when it comes to creative problem solving due to

personal experience. Take oxo Good Grips, the creator experienced a problem and drew from

personal experience to solve the problem.

I feel like I fairly connected with my body. I run and exercise because they make my

body feel good and it helps me sleep and relax. I eat well because it allows my body and brain

to preform better. If I go a few days without some exercise or I haven't been eating well I can

feel my metabolism become sluggish and my overall mood is lower. I do these things to

improve my health be as fit for survival as possible.

Baudrillard writes about how we all wish to avoid death, so we learn what needs to be

done for us to survive. When I was a toddler, I stuck a fork in a socket and got zapped. I real

ized that the reaction to sticking a fork in an electrical socket was getting shocked and I

learned not to do this again. We all draw from our past experiences to make decisions about

life.

Reading Response 4

I dont know. The First Thing's First 2000 Manifesto is romantic and idealistic, but come on. This is the world we live in nowadays. The US economy is driven by commercialism, and we all need to pay the bills. I have to admit, it's nice to imagine a word were everything we design is just and right: stops hunger, cures cancer, no more depression! no more aids! breast cancer?! gone!.. but come on.

That little list just brought an example which I think is somewhat relevant here. Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer is not as nearly as dangerous as we think it is. WAIT! breast caner is still bad! but there are more prevalent, and far more fatal forms of cancer out there. shoot, as far as i know if you have breast cancer it's fairly easy to diagnose and treat. But why do we not know as much about those cancers as we do about breast cancer? It's because breast cancer has killer marketing and public relations. colon cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, leukemia, endometrial cancer, and kidney cancer are all looked past because there was a breast cancer walk last week and i forgot to care about the other cancers. I thought about lung cancer the other day, but I saw one of those pink ribbons on a woman's lapel and forgot to be concerned about the second hand smoke i was inhaling... and who are the people that design all the GRAPHICS and pamphlets and information?! im guessing at least a few digital artists.

Perhaps its not that we need to step away from advertising and its commercial form, but we just need to bend it and shape it to meet our requirements. Breast cancer is one of the least fatal cancers out there, but because it has great marketing and awareness, it has more funding than any other branch of cancer research.

All in all I think manifesto's are kind of pretentious, at least that's the sense of got from this manifesto. These artists call to the public for change, but are they quitting to posh advertising careers to make the world better? doubt it.

Reading Response 3

After reading these two articles I find that I mostly agree with the points made. I'll begin with Gropius and the Bauhaus. At this time combining all these trades into one school, their use of materials in relation to production, and the scope of the project undertaken were earth shaking. These days, this is common practice, it's expected. I can't think of any product design project i've worked on where I haven't had to deal with several different categories and skills. Drawing, rendering, brainstorming, prototyping and model making, market analysis, materials and manufacture research, layout, testing and so on are all skills we need to have. And all of these skills and procedures all have a part in forming how the product is developed, how the user interacts with it, which materials are best fitted to each function. This has benefits and advantages. I like being a part of all of these procedures because it allows me to have control, as I work I know what my parameters and constraints are because I created those constraints through research. On the other hand I have also found it debilitating. By knowing what my parameters and constraints are, it becomes difficult for me to think outside them. Which in turn limits the possibility for innovation. It's unrealistic to think that one can handle everything to do with a product from conception to manufacture, but I still think it's vital. If a marketing person knows how and engineer thinks, and visa versa, the two will be able to work better together. Ying. Yang.

I love Dieter Rams. I find his designs so timeless, everything is so squeaky clean! It's interesting to read interviews about designers whose work I've seen so much. By seeing his designs I always got the impression DR was kind of a stick in the mud. His designs are so restrained, and, via the transitive property (I believe) he must be restrained too! But reading this article kinda shows that he's a bit of a goof. Most of the info I got from the interview was stuff I'd read before I think, but it's still nice to interact vicariously through the interview with Rams.

Herman Miller Collection

This article brought up a few points which genuinely surprised me. I thought it was a type when I read that Herman Miller does no market research. Consumers are becoming more and more intelligent and picky about the products we purchase. And the more money spent on a product the more cautious we become. But how does Herman Miller remain a market leader without knowing what consumers want? Well, actually HM does know what consumers want, good design. If HM's mission is to provide authentic, innovative design then that is all they have to do. Good design will sell because today's consumers are so intelligent about the purchases we make. And because HM provides "true" furniture which pushes the boundaries of production, then there will always be a market of intelligent consumers to purchase their furniture.

Loos and Foster

Loos seems to be ranting in this article. He views ornament as something which is unnecessary, and that because nobody will even design any new ornamental patterns that we should stop ornamenting things. I am going to straddle the fence a bit on this article as I agree with his point of view in some aspects and disagree in others. It would be ridiculous to just stop ornamenting, the world would be a cold, bland, hospital hallway if there were no ornament. Decoration brings a sense of vitality to both products and spaces. On the other hand, I find over-decorating something is more of a foul than under-decorating. There should be deep thought put into ornamentation. How does the ornament describe function? Does it compliment the form? Is it necessary? I would rather see an object with a few well thought out ornaments, than an object that was just ornamented for ornaments sake.

Seeing is Forgetting

I really enjoyed this reading. I was particularly interested in how we perceive our environment. I have never been in anechoic chamber but I am pretty sure I have experienced something similar. A few years ago I visited the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, which go somewhere around 120 feet into solid rock. While in the cave the tour guide wanted to show the visitors how true pitch black was like, as now light can penetrate 120 feet below ground. We said that he would turn the lights out for 15 minutes and that everyone should be as quiet as possible. We sat on complete silence in pitch black for 15 minutes. I recall being able to sense things I didn't perceive before the lights went out. My senses of smell and taste began to be used more. I could hear my heart beating in my chest, I could feel my pulse in my wrists and neck. I could smell and taste the dank cold of the cave. Without being able to see I was forced to perceive my surroundings in a different manner, thus forcing me to notice new things about my surroundings. When I left the cave and returned to the surface my sense were much more keen. I could see more clearly and hear things I had perviously been blocking out, the rustle of leaves, the smell of the trees, etc.

I was also interested in how, during one of the exhibitions, the designers were able to dictate the manner in which visitors moved about an environment. For example, one of the rooms was lit very brightly, causing visitors to get a headache unless looking at their peers. Or the room with poor acoustics which forced the visitors to move closer and closer together to be able to hear. I found it shocking that these so called experts didn't even realize how their actions were being dictated by the design of the rooms they were in. I have very acute senses and get bothered very easily so I am always noticing small things about my surroundings. It also made me think about how everything in my world has been thought about and designed to some extent. When I walk through a lobby there are small cue that I read without knowing that dictate my actions.

I am going to try something this week. I am going to spend fifteen minutes in a quite place with my eyes closed and force myself to be completely aware of myself. I am curious as to how this will affect me when I am out and about. My guess is that I will be more aware and my sense a bit sharper, but I will have to find out.