Studio Week 3

In this class of studio we talked to peers and our tutors to further our designs. I have chosen to go with medicinal packaging of ibuprofen, and wanted to make it more arthritic friendly. I wore snow gloves (thickest gloves i owned) and tried to open existing pain killer medication. It proved extremely difficult as i could not get the grip i was looking for, and couldn't muster the 'push and turn' mechanism. With that in mind, my
design as changed quite a bit from the previous week.

Feedback From Peers:
I spoke to Christina Le about my concept development this week, and she liked the form of the rounded container and said it was easy to grip. However she asked whether the capsules would stick together, but that should be unlikely as Advil capsules do not in their plastic container. Daniel liked the design of the second container too, and said it suited the "medical standard" of packaging, yet the form was interesting enough that it should stand out on supermarket shelves.

Feedback from tutor:
I talked to mar again this week, and he made a very important point that i need to concentrate on making the packaging more inviting to users. This would mean less harsh edges, possibly more rounded corners, and just concentrate on the visual language cues. He also suggested i think about space issues/shipping issues and supermarket shelving displays. We looked up the existing packaging of Advil liquid capsules, and it seems that most of their packaging is not childproof, so mar suggested that i may not need to put a childproof feature in my design.

Other Tutor Session:
I listened to scott talk to a couple of students and listened to his suggestions of doing further research into specific mechanisms. He compared sponge applicators to things such as shoe polish

Studio Week 2

In our first class i presented my three concepts for my chosen topic.  I picked arthritis as my accessibility issue, and i mainly concentrated on food packaging. They are as follows:

Feedback from Peers:

I spoke to Ryan Go about my three concepts, and he liked my second concept in particular. He said that if i incorporated a measuring instrument, or device into it, it would be better. He also liked the shape and idea that it would be a sift and dispenser at the same time. After talking to Ryan, i spoke to Raymond Tinyow about my concept direction, and he liked the last concept. However he pointed out that if i was designing for arthritic parents feeding children, there may not be a need for parents to open the container, and the kids could do it themselves.

Feedback from Mar:

Mar pointed out that my first concept was lacking innovation, as it has been done every year. After reviewing all my concepts, he suggested i concentrate on my last concept, however, redesign for a different product, as vitamin gummy's have actually been proven to cause tooth decay for children. He liked the idea of a 'secondary use' however suggested i focus on something more directed at arthritic patients in particular.

Other Tutor Session:

I sat through one of Scott's tutorial groups, and i listened to him suggest further research into our selected topics. He gave directional advice, giving student's links to youtube videos, and websites for good packaging designs. 

Plan for next week:

I have to do further research into arthritic medicine, and in particular, packaging that these patients struggle to open. I have to refine my concept to be child-proof as well, and design a form that would be both aesthetically pleasing and of practical use. That means that alternative closure mechanisms will need to be thought through, and i should also look into what materials my container would be made from. 

biomimicry take 2

For the project one: bioinspired assignment, I decided to design a storage system for clothing and shoes. In nature, the obvious choice would be to see how nature stores things, such as butterflies collecting nectar, birds collecting trinkets, or even how bee’s store their honey. Nature protects its treasures in interesting ways, and I decided to look at how bees protect their queen and store their nectar. The shape of the honeycomb, and the nature of the hive has inspired me to create a clothing and shoe storage system that is reminiscent of a wardrobe rack, but with biomimetic (the study of the structure and function of biological systems) and biomimicry (examination of nature, its models, systems, processes and elements to emulate or take inspiration from) reflections.

My design takes form from the honeycomb structure, in that it stores our clothing necessities hung up in a similar form to a hive. I chose this form because the honeycomb structure usually relates to storage and organisation, and this is exactly what my design aims to do. The shape is good for tessellating, and therefore makes an easy pattern for the rack to take form. My design focuses on bringing a storage system for medium density households, and therefore is designed to be hung in the wardrobe for optimal organisation. It is proven that rolling up clothes into cylindrical shapes decreases wrinkling, so this storage design also gives the user the choice of storing both clothes and shoes.

It holds its shape through the cardboard boning sewn into the material. The material which makes up the storage rack is made from a blend of cotton and hemp, both materials which are biodegradable and thus do not add to landfill. The design is available in a range of colours to match with the users preferences, as the material it is made of is available in a range of colours.

biomimicry model shots

biomimicry

honeycomb inspired clothing/shoe rack

sugar pea inspired herb pots