Product Service Systems - Final Presentation

Below is everything which was presented yesterday in the final presentation for the product service systems product. This includes all the product posters, supporting graphics, technical drawings and images of the appearance model.

Rationale

The proposed product is a dog waste collection bin to be placed in dog parks and dog walking areas with the aim of increasing the disposal of dog waste. Dog waste proposes hazardous health risks to people walking their dogs as well as the surrounding environment. This includes an increase in the spread of blue green algae due to the addition of extra nitrogen from dog waste.

The aim of the product is to provide park goes with an incentive to clean up after their pets through rewards and classical conditioning. The idea behind the product being that by providing a reward, both the park goers and their pets will continue to use the system with the hope of recieving the same reward over and over again.

The dog bin dispenses compostable dog bags for users to obtain when entering the park and to use to collect their dogs waste. When the bag is disposed of, a dog treat is dispensed while setting off s sound for the dog to hear. As the treat is dispensed it is dropped out of the side of the bin for the dog to collect. This process will eventually result in the dog relating the disposal of it's waste with the receipt of a treat.

Every second day a worker will come to the park with a specifically designed trolley to collect the filled waste bags from the bins and place them into a ute tray which is utilized to transport the waste to a composting facility. At this facility the waste is broken down into garden variety compost where it can be sold back for use in gardens thus reducing the amount of waste ending up in landfill and the damage previously being done to the environment such as the emission of methane.

Product Posters

Product Storyboard

Waste Bag and Compost Bag Graphics

 

Presentation Model

System Map

Satisfaction Offering Diagram

Reflection

I found this project to be a challenging but exciting one. The difference between this project and all previous ones being the group aspect of it. While we're normally left to work alone, working in a group was something that I really enjoyed. The reason for this being that in comparison to individual project, the group aspect allowed for so much work to be completed and the end result really seemed a lot more finished that it usually would in an individual project.

Working through the entire design process as a group has really shown me more of what a future career in the design industry would be like. When you work with others you're forced to weigh up the positive and negatives of everyones contributions and as a group decide which factors as worth further consideration and which are not. This whole process I feel results in a more complete design and while I know there is more work which could have been done for this project, I know that given the time constraints the work we collectively completed as a group is something I am very proud of.

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.