Sustainable Consumption

Annie Leonard's story of stuff videos never cease to enlighten me. Even the simplest things in life like like bottled water does so much unknown damage and no one even seems to mind because it doesn't directly affect their way of life.
 

I must admit that after watching both the story of bottled water and the story of electronics, I realised that I, like most play a role in that sort of behaviour. While I've always been of the opinion that tap water tastes better than bottled water, I'd been a victim of clever marketing and had myself convinced that the bottled water was somehow healthier. For this reason I'd always finding myself carrying around bottled water due to convenience and the assumed nutritional difference.
 

While I'd always believed that the price of bottled water was to do with the convenience of the product I'd never come to the conclusion that it was up to 2000 times the price of typical tap water and the real comparison to other products played a great part in solidifying the need for a change in my habits when it comes to buying bottled water.
 

The issue of design for the dump and planned obsolescence is one which I come across far too often as the quality of electronics just seems to be lowering and lowering as new models continue to arrive. Working in retail and selling electronics designed for home offices has really enlightened me on the issues and damage being caused by products and their marketing. None as much as the common inkjet printer though. If the fact that these printed barely last longer than the 1 year warranty they're sold with isn't enough, they're mostly cheaper than the ink cartridges used to run them and this causes the most disturbing issue I see. Customers constantly coming into the store to buy ink refills and leaving with a whole new printer because it was cheaper. The way these products are design and marketed makes is near impossible to convince a customer otherwise as they don't understand the environmental impact of their actions.
 

This idea of manufactured design is something I'm not a fan of but also can't help but play a part in. Industrial designers who work for such companies are simply doing their job and just like the consumers buying their products, they're not seeing the full impact of their actions. I'd like to say I'm going to think more before purchasing new electronic products and try to keep them until they actually stop working but chances are that I won't. It's at least a comforting start knowing that I have Annie Leonard's words playing over in my head reminding me of what I'm doing to someones life elsewhere in the world.

Video:

www.storyofelectronics.com

www.storyofbottledwater.com

Recycling: Giving Packaging a New Life

Recycling is by no means a new concept to the developed world but unfortunately, with humans it has always been a case of "out of sight, out of mind". The majority of us stop feeling bad about our waste as soon as someone else has collected it. It's for this exact reason that while the technology used to perform the recycling process has existed for at least the past decade, we are still not taking responsibility for the recycling and reuse of our everyday waste.

"Giving Packaging a New Life" is a video series which highlights the ways in which all different materials are sorted and processed in order to be given a new life as a recycled product. It's a display of the technology at work behind the scenes trying to  save us from ourselves and save us from the already mountain high piles of trash which cover our planet.

While recycling gives new life to old products that we no longer have a use for, it's also a process which can be very damaging to the environment. It's for this reason that recycling certainly doesn't come without a cost. The large machinery used to sort, break down and reuse the recycled materials all use a large amount of energy throughout the entire process.

Being an industrial design student at this point in time, I feel that I've inherited all the damage that we've done to our planet over the past few centuries. While it comes as a bit of a burden, it's also a wake up call for something to be done. Not only do products need to be more environmentally friendly and easier to recycle, but theres also room to improve the recycling infrastructure to both have a lesser impact on the environment and to make the process one which more people follow and adhere to for generations to come.

Ecological Footprint

 While I found the results surrounding my carbon footprint interesting they were hardly surprising. I've always grown up knowing I'm using too much of everything but it's something I've grown accustomed too and can't really force myself to stop.
The results show that I'm above the Australian average in all categories but none more so than my food footprint which could be contributed towards the large amount of  meat, seafood and dairy in my diet.

While making adjustments to how I shop and what appliances I use and when, I know I could easily lower my housing footprint as well as my goods and services footprint back to an acceptable level. My carbon footprint on the other hand may be harder to reduce as it would mainly be the result of commuting a few hours a day to get to class as well as my tendency to travel overseas often.

I'd always known I was consuming far more than I should but now knowing the fact that if the rest of the world lived my lifestyle then we'd require over 8 earths is definitely something I'll be thinking about in the future.

Xbox 360 Controller

This project is slightly different to everything I've posted earlier but it's something that I really feel belongs here. The assignment involved picking a product to model up in Rhino and thinking it wouldn't be too complex, I decided to model an Xbox 360 controller. Much to my surprise it ended up being extremely complex however after hours of slaving away in front of the computer, I'm extremely pleased with the result which looks mostly lifelike apart from a few small details.

Below are the results including a poster made for it and a few other renderings.

Dining Design - Final Presentation

After consultation with my teachers about early concepts, the decision was made to go ahead with outdoor furniture concept which would be used for casual Australian dining in a variety of arrangements.

The Slice casual outdoor dining furniture is designer to represent the Australian culture and their way of eating. It's a versatile product that can adapt to a range of different requirements, all while holding up against everything the Australian environment can throw at it.

Storage:

When it's not in use, the product pivots 90 degrees vertically to free up space in the backyard.

Day Bed:

The product forms a day bed with all the pieces of flat on the ground so the user can spend some time in the sun reading a book.

One Sided Dining:

By rotating either end of the Slice, the user will end up with a large dining table and a single row of seats for a small family meal.

Two Sided Dining: 

In order to accommodate a large group of people, the other side can be rotated in order to form a table with two rows of seating for up to 6 people.

The final presentation for the Dining Design project required the presentation of progress models as well as final concept models, multiple posters, technical drawings and an aural presentation. Below are both images of the models as well as copies of the posters and technical drawings.