Objectified

This was an extremely interesting and educational film, which has brought up many fascinating ideas and theories changing my view of Industrial Design. From the vast comments made by many designers, a few similar theories have stayed in my head. ‘Detail is where the product lies’, ‘ Emotional design’, and ‘Object that tell a story’, are three quotes which I believe relate closely towards each other and had me thinking about what makes a product life enhance. A true test of a product is to stand the test of time, and common theme pops up…. Emotion. People are attached to product that they have an emotional attachment to, Products that symbolism stages in their life or significant moment. These emotional connections to the past can be brought out though the details of a product, with small connections to past material or symbols.

Another interesting concept that had been brought up is that with today’s technology, design has shifted from a ‘form followed function’ idea to ‘form with no relation to function’. This has been brought upon by the micro chip and has put a lot of tension on design. This is important my self and young designers as we have to break away from this generic form and some how incorporate new ideas or old ones so that products is more meaning full and understanding to the user. As Dieter Rams stated Good design should be innovative, Good design should make a product useful, Good design should make the product understandable, Good design is honest, Good design should be long lived, Good design should environmentally friendly and Good design should be as little as possible.

Task 1 - Ecological Footprint

At First glance of this file, I was amazed at the amount of worlds it would take if everyone lived the same life style as I do. Upon further reading, I was shocked that the average countries footprint is higher than mine. It seams that our country has an extremely high carbon foot print and it is astonishing that most of the people don’t have any clue of the damage it is doing.

I must admit I was one of the many who had NO idea the amount of energy that has been wasted due to my lifestyle. Being above average in household footprint has got me thinking about how much energy I have been wasting in the house hold. It has enlightened me to rethink about leaving computers, TV, or gaming consoles on or even on standby.

Amazingly this little exercise has widened my view of my own carbon footprint than any other type of medium. I can recall now advertisements about saving energy and thinking that that wouldn’t apply to me and that I was quite efficient with my house hold footprint. Turns out that this survey being so personal really hit the spot.