Thoughts on Branding/Sealing

Today I’ve been thinking about the branding of the bin and how this will affect the way people think and interact with it. To go along with the bin I’ve decided that it would be good to include some sort of information explaining the concept and possibly how it was made and the effort that’s gone into it. This would hopefully help to emphasise in the users mind the wasted resources going into the food which they are throwing away.
Some sort of leaflet/booklet or printed packaging could be included. The branding and over all look of these would be extremely important, influencing how the user sees and interacts with the product.

I’ve also been considering how important it is that the bin is sealed and thrown out after use. I like the idea and the critical point that it makes when the whole product needs to binned after use. But would a well crafted and beautiful object be enough to encourage people to waste less food on its own? Still making the same point – equating the effort of producing the food with producing the bin – but without such an overtly critical tone.

Do I want my end result to be so overtly critical/an impractical object?

People Design Technology Brief

As part of our assessment on the course we’ve been given a task to complete. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before but the final outcome of this project will incorporate 3 main themes – people, design and technology. So we’ve been asked to hand in 8 different presentation boards. 2 boards on people – who the project is about, what user group(s) it is aimed at, etc. 2 boards on design – what kind of visual language or tone of voice will be used in the project. 2 boards on technology – what kinds of technology might be incorporated into the final design, what technology might be used along the way with prototyping etc. The last 2 boards are about how these 3 elements relate to each other and what the weighting or importance of each is. The briefing document we were given sums it up like this:

“Each of your projects will involve people, design and technology––in some way. This exercise is about reflecting on and determining your project’s take on each, and the relationship between the three.”

As its still only phase 1 of the project our tutors have explained that the reason we’re doing 2 boards on each element is that if your unsure of what your visual language will be or your unsure who the project will be aimed at then use the 2 boards to convey different ideas – showing each as a possible route to take. However, if you are pretty settled on any of the elements then use the 2 boards to illustrate the choices you’ve made and explore more deeply the thinking behind them and maybe some very slight nuanced differences.

The boards have to be presented to a pretty high standard – “boards you wouldn’t mind showing a client you’ve been working with for a while” and we’ve been given some great examples of previous students work. I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of what i’ll use each board for but hopefully actually having to put it down on paper will make me think a little more and move my project on further.

Dunne & Raby

(Image: Is This Your Future, 2004 – Dunne & Raby)

Dunne & Raby is a London based design studio founded in 1994. Mostly they use design to start discussions between the public, industry and designers or as a medium to make a comment on a modern issue. The tone of their work is usually quite critical and i think this is something which I would like to try and incorporate into my project as i feel it would be an appropriate tone for the subject.

I have also taken inspiration from their design process, particularly in their ‘placebo’ project ( which you can find out about here (http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/projects). For this project, rather than going straight and asking people their thoughts and opinions to gain insights, they created their objects and observed how people reacted to them. This led to much deeper insights and a better overall outcome for the users and designers. I’m also a fan of this particular project as it has quite a critical tone but at the same time it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/projects -a link to Dunne & Raby’s projects

Gurus Day

Gurus Day is an event that is run each year by the joint 4th year of the Product Design and Digital Interaction Design courses in the university. It’s a chance for us (the students) to get advice and insights from some leading figures in design industry. The format is this: each student is allocated a space in which they present their research and work so far and where they think the project is heading and the industry experts walk around and chat with the students giving advice on areas to look into and what the next steps might be. Its a really good opportunity to gain feedback from people who have a wealth of experience in design practice.

As the ‘gurus’ or experts walk around they are each given a ‘menu’ that lists all the students and gives them a brief (50 word) summary of their projects so far, so if they feel they have particular expertise in an area that a student is looking into then they can go directly to them for a chat.

Each student gets 1/3rd of a desk to present their work in whatever format they think is appropriate (physical objects, pictures, videos, presentation boards etc.) – we have been advised not to make the boards too text-heavy as the gurus only have a short time with each student.

So far I’ve come up with my 50 word summary: My project will focus on the issue of food waste in the home. I want to create a product, with a critical design tone, that will increase people’s awareness of the problem and encourage them to be more conscious of how much food they throw away.

I’m going to try and get advice on what the next steps might be and what research techniques would be most appropriate.