What Influences Product Design

Thinking about the environment, cost of materials, and the technology available is what designers do, its really our job. We take what we have and what we see and we create a vision to create something new. The aesthetics come last, because all great design solves a problem, or at least tries to. It frustrates me to work with simply aesthetics so often, negating research, problem solving, and world influences. Design isn't just limited to "10 factors of good design" because design is infinite, however, good designers can balance all of what is thrown at them and is able to see what we have available and what we need, then creating something useful and something beautiful. 

Functionality and Personality

The beginning of the book talks about why people buy products, and how designers can influence the consumer market. There is a paragraph about looking forward that is awesome, it is very inspiring to me as a designer because, like the paragraph on new materials and new design, design can go anywhere and really help move the world around us forward. It really inspired me to start looking, not at what is old and inspiring, but what is new, because if we look at the new and forget the past, then our thought processes aren't clouded by previous ideas and inventions.

Hutamaki

Hutamaki is an industrial manufacturer from Finland, North American Headquartered in De Soto KS, they pump out plastic containers and Tupperware and dinnerware similar to Barry plastics. Their technology is giant, industrial grade injection molders and thermoformers similar to Barry as well. I drive past Hutamaki almost every week so it was interesting getting to see what was inside and how it all worked. Being that they serve such large clients, the process, like Barry, was very fast.

Lawrence Paper Company

Lawrence Paper Company was my favorite trip we went on, although it probably had on of the more boring products. LPC make corrugated cardboard and it's related things, like displays and what not.

They bring in paper in bulk, and by bulk I mean up to 8,000 pound rolls of paper. These were the biggest rolls of paper I had ever seen! They take this paper and put it in a machine that treats the paper with steam to loosen it up, then it coats the paper in a "custom" glue, then it molds and applies a second, or third, or fourth, depending on the type of cardboard needed, layer of paper that makes the wrinkled inside of the cardboard, then another layer that is the other side. That's it, its just cardbaord, however the process is all done at 400 feet per minute, which is blazing!

The best part is the glue, this is no Elmer's glue, no Gorilla glue, no, not even SUPER glue, its just water and flower and a keeping agent. That's it. It's essentially gravy. Literally they have giant 2-4 ton bags of white flower that they mix with warm water. So the next time that you go and look at a cardboard display or a cardboard box, remember that it's probably edible as long as it isn't painted, which even then is non-toxic.

LPC also prints and assembles the displays, even filling them sometimes. Printing is a normal process with 8 primary colors that creates a palette of thousands of colors that can be exactly matched to a found color that the buyer wants.

Barry Plastics

Barry Plastics is a injection molding and thermoforming plastics company in Lawrence Kansas. They are one of three or five factories operated by Barry in the United States. They injection and thermoform plastic cups and tubs for products you use every day.

Their forming technologies are GIANT thermoformers and long assembly-line-esque injection moulding machines.

Their cutting technology is built into each machine, it cuts what it stamps or molds.

This was probably my second favorite trip. It was really cool to see the Betty Crocker containers being stamped and the McDonalds cups being formed. Although the process is pretty simple, its heat and plastic ran through molds. That's about it. The plastic comes raw in the form of beads and is heated up and squirted into a sheet, then that sheet is heated and sucked into a mold. Or it is injected straight into the mold and the sheet part is skipped. Pretty simple, however its very large scale, fast and loud! :)

National Georgraphic Mega Factories

The National Geographic video we watched on Mega Factories was pretty cool, it was about Ikea and their manufacturing facility in Sweden. I like manufacturing and factories which is a weird thing to like, but I just think it's cool how it all runs together so smoothly and so quickly. The video talked about how the composite in the MDF or particle board that they make their furniture from is a custom mixture that has been thoroughly tested, and all of their products undergo testing to make sure that they function properly. R&D is one of the most important factors in creating a business that is going to last. Creating your products to not only look better but to continually perform better is going to impress the buyers and keep impressing them. That's what I like about Ikea that I didn't know before. I honestly thought that what you bought from there was cheap and for a reason. However it is actually decent quality. Other than that the video was just about a giant factory and how long it had been there and how big it was, which was huge.

El Dorado

El Dorado inc was honestly a waste of time. I missed the first ten minutes of the guy showing us his small shop below his work area. El Dorado is a architecture firm that used to assist contractors in building parts of the work in-house, however they are getting away from that aspect and moving toward just architecture. They worked in an open office which I liked, as there aren't very many walls and no one has an individual office. Oh, and the guy lectured us over being on time when he was late to his own business call and we weren't allotted enough time to drive from Lawrence to Kansas City Mo.

Sustainable Cellphones

Sustainable cellphones is very similar to the sustainable technology recycling I mentioned in the "Electronic Wasteland" blog post. See that.

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Dimensional Innovations

Dimensional Innovations is a company in Southern Kansas City Kansas, Marriam, that custom builds metal elements and signage. They are a little reminiscent of A Zahner, in their build techniques and client/work size. Their approach is slightly different however,

Their market is a mix between the market of A Zahner and Star Signs, they have large facade works but they also have a lot of signage work. They also can work with commissioned artists to assist them in bringing to life a piece of work with their large scale building and tooling.

Their materials are mostly aluminum, plastic, and wood as most places are. The materials they were using aren't very surprising by this point as our class had seen quite a few of these types of places over the course of the class.

Their cutting technologies are normal as well, they have shears and breaks and CNC routers. they also do some hand cuts... ouch.

Their main joining technology is welding however hey also do use riveting and mechanical joints.

The side projects that Dimensional Innovations works on is very interesting, they were working on a hanging LED light screen, and in their basement they had another start up business that found a new use for a relatively new type of plastic for medical cabinetry that forms with no edges and cleans very easily and deters germs.

Ferrous - containing of iron, basically the metal compound has a large amount of iron in it giving it the ability to rust.

Non Ferrous - a metal without iron in it, such as stainless, which does not rust.

Alloy - A metal mad by combining two or mor metalic elements, especially to give greater strength or resistance to corrosion.

Iron - Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core.

Steel - Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that naturally exist in the iron atom crystal lattices.

Aluminum Alloys - There are two principal classifications, namely casting alloys and wrought alloys, About 85% of aluminium is used for wrought products, for example rolled plate, foils and extrusions. Cast aluminium alloys yield cost-effective products due to the low melting point, although they generally have lower tensile strengths than wrought alloys.

Magnesium Alloys - Magnesium is the lightest structural metal. Magnesium alloys have a hexagonal lattice structure, which affects the fundamental properties of these alloys. Magnesium alloys are typically used as cast alloys, but research of wrought alloys has been more extensive since 2003.

Titanium Alloys - Titanium alloys are metals that contain a mixture of titanium and other chemical elements. Such alloys have very high tensile strength and toughness (even at extreme temperatures). They are light in weight, have extraordinary corrosion resistance and the ability to withstand extreme temperatures. However, the high cost of both raw materials and processing limit their use to military applications, aircraft, spacecraft, medical devices, connecting rods on expensive sports cars and some premium sports equipment and consumer electronics.

Zinc Alloys - A widely used alloy that contains zinc is brass, in which copper is alloyed with anywhere from 3% to 45% zinc, depending upon the type of brass. Brass is generally more ductile and stronger than copper and has superior corrosion resistance. These properties make it useful in communication equipment, hardware, musical instruments, and water valves

Copper Alloys - They have high resistance against corrosion. The best known traditional types are bronze, where tin is a significant addition, and brass, using zinc instead. Both these are imprecise terms, both having been commonly referred to as lattens in the past. Today the term copper alloy tends to be substituted, especially by museums.

Nickel Alloys - Nickel comes in many alloys, most common being Nickel-aluminum, Nickel-titanium, and Nickel-chromium.

Lead and Tin Alloys - Lead and Tin Alloys are most commonly used in places that need a metal with a low melting point or that is soft at room temperature. A most common use for Lead is in bullets and industrial paints for lead has does not corrode and adds structure to the paint. Tin is commonly used in circuit boards as solder.

Precious Metals - The best-known precious metals are the coinage metals, gold and silver. Although both have industrial uses, they are better known for their uses in art, jewelry and coinage. Other precious metals include the platinum group metals: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, of which platinum is the most widely traded.

Electronic Wasteland: 60 Minutes Episode

The Electronic Wasteland video was very informative, I would say it's eye opening, but I already knew the problem existed. It is extremely upsetting seeing a company such as the recycling company mentioned in the video blatantly shipping their trash overseas, which no surprise there a company lying. It's really saddening seeing the first world dump its trash on those less fortunate and profit from it, very Reaganomic. It really makes me want to study plastics and environment to develop plastics or a way of reusing old plastic. Did you know that Iron, used in steel manufacturing is actually a less common metal, however the United States car recycling system is so efficient that we can keep making metal parts by recycling old cars. It would be really awesome to see this type of program put in place. Like say you have a toy you no longer play with, well take it to the recycling center with your old printer and laptop and turn them in for a small monetary reward. However this takes more taxes and more government interference, which makes the horizon for it's possibility very far away.

Three sustainable ways to get rid of technological trash

From the Sustainable Electronics Recycling International website,
Rebuild and reuse, chances are that the technology that first nations throw away, could easily be rebuilt or re purposed and given to a country of need.

Recovery and dis assembly, metals and parts of old technologies could be used or recycled for new technologies.

The biggest factor in assisting sustainable technology is documentation and price, people don't want to pay for recycling, lets be honest, and are too lazy to take it to a place that recycles and documents what is being brought in. Its much easier when you can just set it at the curb and BAM it disappears into the garbage truck forever.

Design and Thinking

I really enjoyed this movie. I mainly enjoyed the guys hair that made the bikes. His bikes were cool, but the all white hair beard shirt pants combo was really the best part. I like what the movie says about the industrial design profession, however, it really didn't do much for me as a designer. The products these people helped design or are designing are really nice and fun, however I feel that they aren't really doing anything important. What I want to see is design thinking applied to real world problems, and for the doors of design to open up further than stores and retail. Still, I would give this movie a 7 out of 10 just for being interesting to watch.

A Zahner

A Zahner is a, what I would call, high end construction and architecture firm in Kansas City. Their work is mainly in facades, and very large, and very high crafted. I like the fact all of their workers are in the local sheet metals union and well-paid.

Their market is modern architecture needs such as assisting in design and engineering of extensions, additions, whole buildings, and art-style facade treatments.

Their materials are generally aluminum, however they also do a lot in copper and other various metals. However, they have custom engineered treatments to aluminum and copper to give many different looks and feels to the metals creating a much larger array of designs than previously thought.

Their forming technologies are cut-and-build technique involving many hours of manual welding and riveting.

They do a lot of CNC router cutting, they even have custom machines that can give a computer generated surface design such which use dimples, holes, valleys etc. They also have the normal array of sheering devices known to most metal shops.

Their main joining technology is welding however hey also do use riveting and mechanical joints.

They have a very large and expanding array of finishing technologies, they chemically treat the metals in multiple steps and ways that give custom finishes to both aluminum and copper.

I thought that A Zahner was a very cool trip visually as what they build is so big and their craftsmanship is bar none. I also thought it was cool that they constantly test new treatments to metals and come up with new finishes.

Matthias Pliessinig

Matthias Prliessinig is a custom, artisan furniture maker from Philidelphia. He specializes in steam bent wood furniture that has a very interesting water-like flow.

He hand builds custom seating ranging from 2 people up to 20. His work has also been used as wall mounted sculpture.

His market is mostly new buildings that set aside a certain amount of their construction cost to the arts as required by law. Also, his work is private, however very costly.

He uses primarily white oak, once the wood comes out of the specialized steamers, he then has about 30 to 90 seconds to lay the wood before it starts to dry and cool.

All of his cuts are done by hand with a normal set of saw types.

The ends of his work is "double strutted" which means that there is a strut on the inside and outside.

All of his work is hand polished and stained after a final curing process to lock the wood in place.

His work is very interesting, some of the most interesting furniture I have ever seen. His process was also very unique, however most of his tools were normal. I was happy to know that he hand builds all of his work, I feel that in the computer age the skill of hand crafting and woodworking is being lost.

http://www.matthias-studio.com/

Star signs

Star signs is a local (Lawrence) business that specializes in custom, large signage and branding. They are a based out of a seemingly small warehouse type building and are very hospitable. Their material they specialize in is aluminum, however they have used many other types of metals, woods and composites. Star signs prides themselves in their ability to take on large, complex signage structures that other businesses might not accept. They have works all across the nation and most notably for local residents, much of their work is in the Power and Light district of Kansas City, and AMC Theaters and their new re-branding. The sign building is pretty straight forward with metal fabricators and a CNC machine. Their finishing is unique in a way, they finish all of their signs with automotive paint to ensure it withstands the elements. While at Star signs I thought that their craft and design's were very impressive. Their finished products looked awesome and the staff was very nice, however the manufacturing process was pretty normal.

Reuter Organ Company

The Reuter Organ Company is a business here in lovely Lawrence that may surprise you! It's one of the last four hand built organ companies left in the entire United States! When I say hand built, I mean 100% completely hand built, even down to their custom metal casting that they roll into tubes! From raw lumber and bricks of zinc, ROC fabricates and ideates all of their 100% custom organs from scratch! Experienced wood and metal workers are employed here, along with a small design team. An organ can take from a few months to years to build, depending on the size, and can range from 250,000 to 2,000,000 dollars in price. Truly a unique place with a very special product serving churches, schools, and even private residences!

Paper cup assemblage

Paper cups

Paper cups have a very simple and industrial manufacturing process. Far from the artisanal process with fine porcelains that can be very expensive, paper cups enjoy a simpler life. Created from a paper roll to a rolled paper cup, the process is quick and simple. The paper is shipped in by the roll and is then unrolled, printed on, and cut on one line of assembly. Then the cup cuts is belted to another system that rolls, glues, and installs the bottoms. Then the cups are bagged and labeled and shipped for display in your cheapest local retailers.

http://youtu.be/BEQiaD45yXQ

Technical difficulties

I noticed my last three posts didn't finish uploading so I re uploaded them! Two are from the World of Wheels car show which had some great Insparation and one was from my drawing class!

Think outside the box

A motorcycle made of car parts and scrap metal. So cool and it even smelled like petina!

Elderly Insparation

Old car interiors are so cool to me. They were the first to include polished metal and great color tones. I love the knobs and switches and linear speedometers!

For mom

As much as I liked my vessel design I decided it would be great for my moms jewelry. So I'm giving it to her instead of keeping it!! She's pretty excited!

It's been a while!

Well I haven't posted in a couple weeks. Right now I'm in the midst of a 8 page history paper, just finished a piece for sculpture and a still life for drawing 

and I have a project due tomorrow in design. 3 studios was a bad idea...

Learning to see

Learning to draw isn't sbout what's in front of you, it's about the shapes that are created.

Body lines

The most important part of a car is it's body lines. Some people like edgy and angular, I love curves and slopes.

Form and function

A couple of ideas for my box

Designers as "Social Engineers"

Design isn't just arts and crafts, it's engineering aesthetics to fit within a set of peramiters.

Got plastered in class today...

I want something bigger...

I love design and design thinking, however I am little interested in meterial designs. I want to research and understand and reinvent. Not in the context of Shark Tank (one of my favorite shows) but in the context of systems and people. I'm really finding ethnography and interaction design interesting. I love designing products because of its creativeness, but I like long intense design. Design to help peoples lives.

Typogrophy and Color Contrast

Not only is the contrast important also the chosen typeface will make the difference in a good or bad sign. When using too bold weighted typefaces the text will look like its expanding of the sign, when using too light weighted typefaces the text will fall back into its background. Medium or Regular weights are usually the best options to choose for a good and readable sign.

--From a very interesting read

http://designworkplan.com/design/signage-and-color-contrast.html

Quattro types of prototypes! (Reading response)

Design is the art of seeing hidden moves, as a designer we must always be looking and paying attention. In design the devil isn't in the details, he's between the details. It's up to is to see these details and see what's between them; what the connections are. Humans make decisions, and the hidden connections are where those decisions are made, seeing those decisions helps designers improve and simplify. 

As a designer is thinking and making (see what I did there?) there are four main ways that ideas can be translated and improved through prototyping.

Conceptual: Displays an idea in its beginning stages. Often abstract and very vague. Generally these prototypes are for a designer-designer translation.

Procedural: Used to display the logic implied to the design. The aesthetics and covers so-to-speak are kept away.

Behavioral: Elicits user responses. Still stays away from aesthetics but shows how the logic in the design is applied to the user. Focused on integration and response.

Appearance: The typical prototype. Shows the whole idea as it will be seen by the user. Aesthetic is included and the covers are on. 

Bedtime Motivation

While laying in bed running through your day, try reading for class! I did this last night night and it actually turned out to be really enjoyable! I felt like since I was already laying there on my phone I should do something productive. Another bonus I found was that I connected with the material a lot more with out all those pesky distractions, like lights!

Here's my favorite thing I read.