Product Service Systems - Concept Generation

After a little more research into existing dog waste products we constructed a few concepts over a period of a few weeks and took whatever help and criticism we could get from our teachers in order to better what we were trying to product. Early on in this project our idea was simply a dog waste bin which would reward users by dispensing a dog treat to them which they could give to their pet. Through the ideation however, more features were worked in to the design such as game which would involve both the dog and its owner by playing a noise and letting a treat out of a dispenser for the dog to collect. The idea being that the dog would slowly relate it's owner cleaning up after it with the receipt of a dog treat. Below are some of the idea which were presented over the weeks as well as a mind map we generated to monitor our progress and finalise areas within the product and system.

Ethical Design Issues

The whole time I watced Design for Life I couldn't help but wonder how these people were selected and where they came from. Their lack of initiative and work ethic was very poor on their part to the point where I was actually a little embarassed. And sadly as bad as it seems, I was reminded of myself in some of my previous project where I really didn't have an urge to design or get things done. But given the opportunity to work with Phillipe Starck I know things would be different. Presented with such an opporunity, I know I would work to my full potential just to gain the experiences and fully embrace the opportunity presented to me.

Design for Life as a television show was an interesting one for me despite certain parts such as some of the presentations as it really showed me the world of design in a different perspective. It showed me how others react to certain stimuli and their work process because while what I learn is one thing, they know something completely different and while it's all design, it's all different. 

I wouldn't say I really enjoyed all of the episodes but it was insightful and while showing errors in the participants ways, it highlighted errors in my ways and has actually inspired me to not work in that way.

Consumer Behaviour - Bi-Lo Bottled Water

This one is a little off topic but I feel there's a design element to it so I may as well throw it in the collection. This is a video myself and three other friends produced for our Marketing Class on Consumer Behaviour. The aim of the video was to positively represent Bi-Lo branded bottled water.

Product Service Systems - Dog Waste Research

The second week of this project involved a lot of research into the existing system in place for the disposal of dog waste in order to determine any possible areas for improvement. This research was through the reading of journals, contacting local councils and speaking to the people who use the dog parks we were going to be designing for.

Through speaking to people we discovered issues such as people simply being lazy and avoiding to clean up after their pets but also found a lot of people who don't want to do their part still do simply because of the community pressure to. While there is a fine system employed by most councils it's one which is rarely enforced. Another issue which was commonly raised was the unpleasant feeling experienced when using the existing plastic bags that are dispensed at dog parks.

Research was also conducted into the existing products used within the dog park environments and the different ways in which each one worked. This helped us understand the language of dog waste bin design and the employed mechanisms which would further help us work towards a solution for our project.

The rest of the research was focused on the actual system itself and the issues with council workers collecting dog waste and taking it to nearby landfill along with all other general waste. It quickly became apparent that a large amount of the waste entering landfill was dog related and further reading showed the possibility for the composting of dog waste when combined with other natural matter which could also be sourced from the maintenance of local parks.

Below is some of the information gained from the fieldwork at dog parks on Sydney's Northern Beaches as well as a collection of existing dog waste bins.

Product Service Systems - PSS Research

This project called for the design of not just a product but the entire service system which was to compliment it so that was already a first for studio. To add to that it was our first full group project in that the whole design process from start to finish would consist of group input with no individual sections.

We started out with the choice of design for three different sections which were:

- Mobility
- Health
- Food

After spending a few days focusing on Mobility we realised the more prevalent opportunities in the health sector so we switched our focus and came up with the below information on both existing product service systems and the problems with such existing systems. From here we decided to further focus our research on the waste disposal area of the health sector. Dog waste to be a little more specific. As we read further in to it we discovered what an environmental issue dog waste could be if it was left on the ground rather than being disposed of.

Climate Change

Watching Home was a very eye opening experience for me and quickly became one of my favourite films not just for it's amazing cinematography but the message it was trying to convey. I found myself glued to the screen and ignoring anything other than the film  for it's entire duration as I was just in awe of the facts and figures that were being thrown at me. 

To think that a lot of the damage being caused to our home, Earth is caused by the creation of new and "better" things such as those from the industrial design industry really gave me a lot to think about as it really is myself and my classmates duty to preserve this earth for future generations while still allowing for the growth of society and culture through the introduction of newer, greener products. 

I actually found it quite ironic that as I mentioned the film in a conversation with a friend, he told me that where he works actually uses the visuals from Home to advertise all their newest televisions. The idea that a film about the degradation of our earth is being used to sell the products which are playing such a large role in this really shocked me and got me thinking. While this film conveys the facts that everyone needs to know and understand, I even noticed myself so taken away by the films visual aspects that I was left skipping over what was being said to the point that even a few days after watching the film, the main thing I could remember about it was the cinematography. While of course I recalled the damage and destruction we have caused our earth especially over previous years, I was unable to actually recall any of the facts which were mentioned. 

As up and coming industrial designers in this stage of our Earth's life, I really do feel a duty to aid the growth of our culture and society through utilising greener and more enrionmentally friendly ways of going about out lives and Home has certainly helped me reach this point of view.