Task 5: Design for life

This reality TV show is about Philipps Stark setting tasks for the twelve chosen contestants, the one who succeed all the challenges will be given the opportunity to work for him in the next six months.

I enjoyed watching the part how other design students’ process of design, and how they formulate and present their ideas. During the show I found out that in order to design a successful product, you need to put yourself in others shoes. Like the winner, because she had previous experience therefore made her know their needs, and came out a product that could really help people.


What really opens up my mind is Philipps Stark’s design philosophy, and how he thinks of future design for a better society. He believes that sustainability should be the main forcus of each design, and to make each product available to as many users as possible, also think about the after use, try to produce less rubbish to our land field.


From the six episodes of 'Designing for Life', it inspired me to take responsibility as an industrial design student too, that we should bring better equality to all demographic users, also bring equality and sustainability into the society and our next generations.

Charette TWO

The key problem for this toaster is heavy and big. Therefore we try to reduce the overall weight by replacing material for exterior casing, change from Aluminium to ABS. In addition, we wanted to remove some unnecessary components and rearrange some of the buttons, as well as the heat intensity control in order to reduce the size and overall weight as well. Instead of using many parts for the base stander to stay in place, we stick rubber bases on.


Our eco design:

Sketches by Team Member

Joseph Louis Tan

Task 3: The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour gives insight to what human did to the enviroment since the industrial revolusion 200 years ago, how much damage we did to our only home and we are still doing it now! However what we don’t realise is at the end the enviroment is gona survive and we are the ones may not survive, or we may survive in a world we don’t want to live in.” So we need to start saving ourselves.


In the video there were lots of new ideas and products that inspirit me, what new techonology can do is powerful, and now design is not only about mass production, but sustainable design as well. “The new design is invisible…not just about forms, it’s the structure…the performance need to be design.” Therefore, the tecnology behind it is much important than the visual form.


So as Thom Hartmann said the question is that “ how can we use our understanding of science and understanding of technology along with our understanding of culture and how culture changes to create a culture that will interact with science and with the world around us in a sustainable fashion.” Is the main focus for us in the future, we need to combine them all, not just redeign but to design.

“There are too many of us using too many resouces too fast”, and the natur already supplied us for a long time for free. Now it is time for us as a designer to use these existing new technologies to reduce our footprints and build our new economy before. I am so glade to live in this generation, where “we get to completely change the world”said by Paul Hawken. I really want to be part of it and make a change, so firstly by reducing my footprints, then by working towards an industrial designer.

Charette ONE

IKEA IVAR chair

Physio-attachiment:
can write notes on the chair and stick pictures on as well, also can be a rubish bag holder, when you cut a whole in the middle of the seat.

adding soft cusions, wheels and foot stand to make the patient feel like at home:

psycho/socio-attachment: storage


Group redesign:

The IVAR chair provides a cheap and versatile seating solution particularly for student living. To improve the attachment of the user to the chair, our team proposed:

- Strap-on cushion on backrest & seat to provide comfort for long hours of usage (eg. Studying, Dining, or Leisure).

- Storage space beneath the seat taking to consideration the lack of storage space in a student apartment (eg. Magazines, Books). could be physio or psycho/socio-attachment.

- Personalized Name Tag at the back of the backrest to provide emotional attachment to the chair.

This activity had allowed me to train my mind in quick thinking, expand thoughts, learn from individual strengths, and more importantly team work.

Task 2:Objectified

“Every design tells a story, if you know how to read it.” – by Henry Ford. I guess this is very true, designers play an impotant role in today’s society, more and more people purchase product not only because they need it, but also it’s a representation of them, to show themselves through the world by this emotional designed product.

As human, our mind are fickleness, that’s why a good design should “ stand the test in time” by Marc Newson. The best example is the Apple company, they not only forcus on the physical outlook but also the software and mass production. Eventhough MacBook Pro look simple, straight forward like undesigned, but when you look closely to those details, that’s where the product communicates with the user, so perfectly done that make the user want to take care of it. Also the software make people never want to leave it, just like Grid Compass with his machine, at the end was all to do with the software.

What I also found meaningful to me was what Dan Formosa said about design not only forcusing on the average people, but should “know and understand the extreme… because the middle would take care of itselfe.” Therefore designer “improve people daily life without them thinking about it.” And creates an appropriate environment where people feel good.

In conclusion and what I always need to keep in mind from now on is a quote by Dieter Rams “Good design should be innovative, good design should make a product usefull, good design is aethetic design, good design will make a product understandable, good design is honest, good design is unobtrusive, good design is long-lived, good design is consistend in every detail, good design is environmentaily friendly, last but not least, good design is as little as possible.”

Ecological Footprint

Task1:Shape of a Scent