Final Reflection

As the final reflective journal of the course I think it's pertinent to look back on the semester as a whole and everything I learned about design. Coming into the class, I thought about design more in terms of art and architecture than anything else. What I came to learn is that design is everything from cars to tress, to our own bodies. Design isn't just aesthetic either. It has to have a concrete purpose in order to be considered good design. Image is not enough, it has to aid the development and process of everyday human life. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this class. Coming in I was a little skeptical and thought this was going to be more of an art class. What I came to learn was the opposite. Developing a mind for design thinking will help me in the future as a businessman. If I'm working for a company and a new product is on the line I can use the tools I learned about design thinking and be able to effectively analyze the product. The product might be flashy and cutting-edge but if it doesn't serve a purpose or fulfill a need then it's simply ineffective. 

The idea that design should be tailored to the person is what I will remember most about this class. Centering the idea around the person is an important idea in all aspects of life. When I enter the business world, It will be important for me to center the business activities I am involved in around the customer. If I center everything around the consumer I know I'll be successful.

Week 13 Free Response

The Air Yeezy's

 

In all their glory.

For those who don't know, the Air Yeezy Red Octobers are Kanye West's entrance into the shoe world. Made by Nike, only 1,000 were made and distributed. Kanye gifted a lot to those he felt were deserving and the rest were sold on auction blocks.

I think the Yeezy's are a great example of good design. First the sharkskin base looks awesome next to felt-like front. The strap adds another dimension to the shoe and gives it a more rugged, casual look. The ribbed back takes the whole design and really makes it an art statement 

Week 13

Today was by far the most fun in this class I've had all year. All of our materials are pretty much done so it's time to start filming the video. We took a trip to the Rec to film exaggerations of common Rec woes from confusing machines to working out next to a Gorilla-man. We also filmed areas of the Rec we wish to keep and add to the playground like the leisure pool and climbing rock. 

We also finished the poster in class. We put a lot of pictures of concept equipment that would be involved in the playground. There's not much to say about this week because we're pretty much done with everything before.

Week 12 Free Response

 Beautiful.

Sleek.

Practical....

The fork.

I think the fork is a design we take completely for granted. The fork allows us to move away from the primitive style of eating with our hands which I realized was a God-send as I shoveled steaming stir fry into my mouth today

The design is simple but perfect.

We can stab with it, scoop with it, dice with it, chop with it and most of all fork with it.

And looking at the alternatives we have for the fork, I'm happy the fork was invented.

I can't imagine living life eating with chopsticks, I just couldn't do it

The design of the fork is beautiful in its simplicity and practicality. The three prongs evenly distribute the weight of speared food to make sure it stays on and doesn't fall into your lap. The way the shaft of the fork contours to your hand is well done because it's supposed to fit any sized hand from Andre the Giant to a toddler. 

Week 12

 

Week 12 starts off with more prototype work, bringing us closer to a final product idea. Once we nail the prototypes down, we will finally have a complete idea to roll with. My prototype didn't need much addition, however, I did bring a plan for how the dining/seating would be arranged at the snack spot. I want the students to see the entire process of their food being prepared and experience their dining first hand like at a hibachi restaurant. Also, the seating areas are circular in order to maximize socialization.


We also received our first group evaluation. The group we were paired with had generally favorable things to say about our idea. How can you have a problem with a college playground? It appeals to everyone's inner child! Their only criticism was that come presentation time, we wouldn't have enough physical materials to present. Obviously, it's hard to build a whole playground to scale for the purpose of our project.

We also designed our poster in class today. We're keeping the poster simple and letting our prototypes/models do the talking. If we present well, we wont need a flashy poster to get our point across. 
Overall, I think our group is now finally headed in the right direction.

 

Week 11 Free Response

 

I read an article this weekend about a grafitti artist named Banksy and how he rose from unknown grafitti artist to being renowned. It got me thinking about the design of grafitti

To me, grafitti is emotion and expression. Often times, you see grafitti in urban environments in low class areas. I think a lot of grafitti artists do what they do as a way of expressing their individuality and to make their mark on this world. In a large city, it's hard to become noticed so people turn to grafitti as a way of saying: "hey, I'm here" instead of blending into the background.


As far as design goes, it's fascinating for something edgy and illegal like grafitti to have a profound impact on people and move them emotionally. It has to be creative and unique enough while still applying to the people around it living in the area that can relate to the emotion the grafitti artist is trying to project. I think if the grafitti artist appeals to the people, his art can really take hold.

Take Banksy for instance. He went from nobody to a worldwide phenomenon by putting meaning behind his grafitti. He's known to create socially charged art work like his world famous Flower Brick Thrower. 


Since he appealed to a lot of feelings the general citizenry in Britain were feeling, his art took hold and is the reason why he's a household name among street artists.

Week 11

 

As I had time to think about things over the weekend, I became more dissatisfied with the direction our project was headed. It's just way too boring. As a group we're leaning towards improving student health and the only things we have down as ideas are a student quarantine room in residence halls, increased hand sanitizer dispensers and another health center closer to the majority of campus residence halls. There's just no way we can take this idea and run with it. I expressed my feelings to the group and they responded with agreement. So, we took this time meant to be spent prototyping and we scratched our idea and started new. This time around we decided to emphasize crazy and unique while still staying grounded in terms of applicable use.

Our end-product: a playground for students.


The playground would included classic playground essentials like monkey bars and slides that would engage students athletically. It would also contain a leisure pool, foam pit, track, and healthy eating option to refuel after playing hard. 

The next class we came prepared with our individual prototypes. 

I was very surprised with our prototypes and how cohesive our thought processes were. All our prototypes could fit well together to make a finished product. 

My job was to prototype the diner and menu.
  
My favorite part was the menu because I got to let my inner chef take over. I put a lot of salads, wraps, sandwiches, and smoothies on the menu because no one wants to eat a burger after they've just worked out.