Anastasie Panagopoulos
Henry Treloar
Deon Pazpinis
Rory Wilson
Jonathon Harley
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Project One: Experience Enrichment
Rationale:
The ‘modern-day child’ is one which lives in an age where entertainment is dominated through technology and diet is determined by readiness. By this I mean, most children spend their leisure time watching television or playing computer games and their diets consist of many junk food snacks and frequent fast food meals. This is the reason why obesity rates in young children are continuing to rise. Therefore I chose to design a product specifically targeted at inactive and unhealthy ‘six to nine’ year old children.
The main steps to living a healthy lifestyle involve having a healthy diet and participating in physical activity. These are two things that this target group neglect and therefore many pay the price of having ongoing health issues. I set out to design a product that both encourages young children to eat or drink healthy as well as exercise. From this I have designed the ‘Fruity Bounce’, fruit smoothie ball.
This product encourages children to consume fresh fruit and healthy yogurt by providing a fun experience during the process of making the drink. With the assistance and supervision of a parent, the child can add their desired fruit and yogurt into the smoothie cup then place it inside the rubber ball. When playing with the ball outside, the ingredients inside the cup are mixed together and remain cold through the two small ice-brick inserts. The personalised selection of fruit and yogurt can be suited to any children’s special tastes. The outer rubber ball is perfect size for the ‘six to nine’ age group and the serving size equals one cup, specially made for the child. Children will be intrigued by the products use of bright colours and tactile surface representing a fruit’s rough skin.
The product includes an outer rubber ball, a smoothie cup with lid, a plastic grater lid attachment, a plastic mesh lid attachment and two ice-brick inserts. To make the fruit smoothie, with the assistance of a parent the desired fruit can be diced up, then the child can grate the fruit into a consistency perfect for a fruit smoothie. After adding fresh yogurt and milk, the lid can be secured to the cup and be placed inside the ball along with the two ice-bricks. The two halves of the ball then interlock using a double push release button system which prevents the ball from separating into two during use. While the child is enjoying themselves bouncing, throwing, catching the ball, the ingredients inside are being shaken up and mixed together. After all energy has been used up the two buttons can be pressed together which will release the ball in half. The fruit smoothie can then be consuming from the cup and easily washed out after use.
I believe this product can be successful in the chosen target market as it is a fun way for kids to improve their health. Unlike other ways, this product does not make children feel like they are completing a chore, as most of all it is enjoyable. ‘Fruity Bounce’ successfully meets the brief as it is a pleasurable product that enhances the life of its user.
The ‘modern-day child’ is one which lives in an age where entertainment is dominated through technology and diet is determined by readiness. By this I mean, most children spend their leisure time watching television or playing computer games and their diets consist of many junk food snacks and frequent fast food meals. This is the reason why obesity rates in young children are continuing to rise. Therefore I chose to design a product specifically targeted at inactive and unhealthy ‘six to nine’ year old children.
The main steps to living a healthy lifestyle involve having a healthy diet and participating in physical activity. These are two things that this target group neglect and therefore many pay the price of having ongoing health issues. I set out to design a product that both encourages young children to eat or drink healthy as well as exercise. From this I have designed the ‘Fruity Bounce’, fruit smoothie ball.
This product encourages children to consume fresh fruit and healthy yogurt by providing a fun experience during the process of making the drink. With the assistance and supervision of a parent, the child can add their desired fruit and yogurt into the smoothie cup then place it inside the rubber ball. When playing with the ball outside, the ingredients inside the cup are mixed together and remain cold through the two small ice-brick inserts. The personalised selection of fruit and yogurt can be suited to any children’s special tastes. The outer rubber ball is perfect size for the ‘six to nine’ age group and the serving size equals one cup, specially made for the child. Children will be intrigued by the products use of bright colours and tactile surface representing a fruit’s rough skin.
The product includes an outer rubber ball, a smoothie cup with lid, a plastic grater lid attachment, a plastic mesh lid attachment and two ice-brick inserts. To make the fruit smoothie, with the assistance of a parent the desired fruit can be diced up, then the child can grate the fruit into a consistency perfect for a fruit smoothie. After adding fresh yogurt and milk, the lid can be secured to the cup and be placed inside the ball along with the two ice-bricks. The two halves of the ball then interlock using a double push release button system which prevents the ball from separating into two during use. While the child is enjoying themselves bouncing, throwing, catching the ball, the ingredients inside are being shaken up and mixed together. After all energy has been used up the two buttons can be pressed together which will release the ball in half. The fruit smoothie can then be consuming from the cup and easily washed out after use.
I believe this product can be successful in the chosen target market as it is a fun way for kids to improve their health. Unlike other ways, this product does not make children feel like they are completing a chore, as most of all it is enjoyable. ‘Fruity Bounce’ successfully meets the brief as it is a pleasurable product that enhances the life of its user.
 |
| Hero Shot Poster |
 |
| Moodboard |
 |
| Context of Use Poster |
 |
| Pleasure Analysis Poster |
 |
| Scaled CAD Drawing |
Monday, September 13, 2010
Video Reflection: Objectified
“When you see an object, you make so many assumptions about that object in seconds. What it does, how well it’s going to do it, how heavy it is, how much you think it should cost”. The documentary Objectified by Gary Hustwit explores the process of designing manufactured products through interviews with some of the world’s leading designers. The products that are evident in our everyday lives can be taken for granted and even overlooked but each and every one has a story behind its existence, “Every object, intentional or not, speaks to who put it there.”
Design Curator, Andrew Blauvelt refers to Henry Ford’s famous quote, “Every object tells a story, if you know how to read it”. He uses the example of a common toothpick that has a serrated tip which was originally a Japanese design. He explains that this design decision was due to the Japanese cultural context and its reason in fact was to allow the tip to be broken off to signify the toothpick had been used. Most modern day users of this toothpick such as myself would believe this feature was purely a decorative addition and not even begin to understand the story embedded in this simple object.
In the film, former Design Director of Braun, Dieter Rams discusses what he believes good design is. He explains that in his experience, the most positive interaction with products come when things are clear and understandable. He states that good design is innovative, making a useful product, aesthetic design, making a product understandable, honest, unobtrusive, long lived, consistent in every detail, environmentally friendly. “Last but not least, good design is little design as possible”. He believes designers are not fine artists but need to work with business people to take design seriously. Rams’ opinion is that there are very few companies that currently take design seriously in the world and one of them is Apple.
Jonathan Ive, Senior VP Industrial Design Apple, Cupertino, is interviewed about Apple’s Mac Book Air. Ive provides the audience with an understanding into the complex thought process in designing the Mac Book Air due to its use of materials and manufacturing processes. He explains how a lot of time and resources are taken to design ways of holding parts in different machines to complete required processes. Ive explains how the materials can determine a significant part of the objects overall form such as the first Imac’s use of the cathode ray tube or the Iphone’s use of the touchscreen. These issue mean that Apple do not follow the traditional design philosophy of “form follows function”.
Sustainability is another important issue that is raised in this documentary. It is one that is growing with its need to be addressed as it becomes more and more significant the longer it is left unthought-of. Karim Reshid states that “a shelf life of a high tech object is less than eleven months, they should all be one hundred percent disposable.” So why are they products designed with materials to last? If most of these products end up in landfill then they would benefit from using materials that break down quicker. Reshid provokes the idea why shouldn’t his laptop be made of cardboard or mobile phone out of sugarcane or some bio-plastic.
This film has raised important issues that designers face and must work with in their quest to produce “good design”. It has been highly informative and made me think about things that are not obvious when looking at everyday items that I encounter.
Design Curator, Andrew Blauvelt refers to Henry Ford’s famous quote, “Every object tells a story, if you know how to read it”. He uses the example of a common toothpick that has a serrated tip which was originally a Japanese design. He explains that this design decision was due to the Japanese cultural context and its reason in fact was to allow the tip to be broken off to signify the toothpick had been used. Most modern day users of this toothpick such as myself would believe this feature was purely a decorative addition and not even begin to understand the story embedded in this simple object.
In the film, former Design Director of Braun, Dieter Rams discusses what he believes good design is. He explains that in his experience, the most positive interaction with products come when things are clear and understandable. He states that good design is innovative, making a useful product, aesthetic design, making a product understandable, honest, unobtrusive, long lived, consistent in every detail, environmentally friendly. “Last but not least, good design is little design as possible”. He believes designers are not fine artists but need to work with business people to take design seriously. Rams’ opinion is that there are very few companies that currently take design seriously in the world and one of them is Apple.
Jonathan Ive, Senior VP Industrial Design Apple, Cupertino, is interviewed about Apple’s Mac Book Air. Ive provides the audience with an understanding into the complex thought process in designing the Mac Book Air due to its use of materials and manufacturing processes. He explains how a lot of time and resources are taken to design ways of holding parts in different machines to complete required processes. Ive explains how the materials can determine a significant part of the objects overall form such as the first Imac’s use of the cathode ray tube or the Iphone’s use of the touchscreen. These issue mean that Apple do not follow the traditional design philosophy of “form follows function”.
Sustainability is another important issue that is raised in this documentary. It is one that is growing with its need to be addressed as it becomes more and more significant the longer it is left unthought-of. Karim Reshid states that “a shelf life of a high tech object is less than eleven months, they should all be one hundred percent disposable.” So why are they products designed with materials to last? If most of these products end up in landfill then they would benefit from using materials that break down quicker. Reshid provokes the idea why shouldn’t his laptop be made of cardboard or mobile phone out of sugarcane or some bio-plastic.
This film has raised important issues that designers face and must work with in their quest to produce “good design”. It has been highly informative and made me think about things that are not obvious when looking at everyday items that I encounter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)