This year in my professional practice class, we have learned a lot about the role of project manager. It has been really eye opening to learn about how much back work goes into the design process that has nothing to do with designing products. If it weren’t for the project managers, the designers couldn’t do their jobs. And for that I am thankful, and I am thankful that people enjoy that kind of work. It is definitely not that life I would choose for myself right now.
I’ve always been a big fan of traditions. Not just the ones you think of for holidays but other ones as well. Including ones schools have; Georgia Tech has a night every year dedicated to it’s traditions. Design has it’s traditions as well. Something that a company or brand always incorporates into it’s design. A good example of this is Jeep. Jeep vehicles have the same style across each of their cars- the round headlights and the boxy style. It’s what helps them stand out.
For April Fools Day, Disney sent out this article. It’s stating that Cinderella’s Castle and village is going to be transformed into a Frozen theme instead of Cinderella. Unfortunately, I fell for the joke. When I started to read the article, I was so furious that I didn’t read the last paragraph, where it made obvious that the transformation was not going to happen.
After learning it was a joke, it made me question why I got so upset. I have no personal connection to Cinderella’s Castle, and Cinderella isn’t even my favorite Disney movie. It was the fact that they were changing a tradition. However, wouldn’t it make sense for Disney to actually change to a Frozen theme? After all, children today feel more are more passionate about Elsa than they are Cinderella. The idea still makes my stomach turn.
Often times, as designers we are agents of change.If we always held on to that intangible feeling that tradition gives us, we would not be as advanced as we are today. But when is it appropriate to preserve the past and protect traditions?
As I was sitting down to write this blog post, I got distracted by several things. I had Facebook open in another tab chatting with a friend, I accepted a new Instagram follow request, and I did 3 quizzes on Buzzfeed (the fictional world I belong in is Hogwarts and my immortal soulmate is Jesse Tuck from Tuck Everlasting if you were wondering). In the middle of the third quiz I came to the realization that I probably could be a poster child for my generation. I can’t go anywhere without my phone, and I’m pretty sure my attention span shrinks every time I download a new app on my iPhone.
I would love to say that I do not rely on technology like many of my peers do, but I would be lying to myself as well as others. Finding a person without a Facebook these days is almost as uncommon as finding someone without a cell phone, but those people who have the best social skills and don’t have to have their faces permanently planted to a screen. People my age find it hard to even find a date without the interference of technology, and apps like Tinder make it possible to find someone without leaving the comfort of your couch.
Everyone knows that Millennials are always connected to some sort of technology and that we don’t know what to do when we’re “off the grid.” Designers take advantage of this knowledge and try to incorporate technology into products in order to appeal to us. This is a smart tactic that I’m sure is working, but I would love to see the opposite happen. I would love to see my own habits change to where I’m more inclined use my time and efforts in a more meaningful way instead of constantly checking all of my different social media “news” feeds. I think many millennials feel the same way. (I know it’s contradictory that I’m writing all of this on my own, personal blog, but this is for a grade.) We are a smart, creative, and forward-thinking generation, and I would hate for us to go down in history books as the generation obsessed with ourselves and the screens on which we post pictures of ourselves.
This post is a result from one of my best friends (and loyal readers), Katie. Recently, we were talking about the show The Property Brothers on HGTV. If you have never watched it, I highly recommend it. It is about two brothers who help people turn affordable houses into their dream homes.
I’m a sucker for a good renovation show, but the thing I love about this one is how they get the homeowners to agree to invest in a fixer upper. Before the house hunters choose a property, the brothers show them a house that meets everything on the home owner’s “check list” without revealing the price until after the tour. This house or property is often so far out of the price range, that the homeowners get angry at the brothers and wish they had never been shown the property at all. The reasoning for this is to convince the clients that often times, we have to come up with creative ways to get something we want.
Ultimately, the clients agree to go hunting for a fixer upper. This is the part that kills me. These people agree to buy a house with the intent of renovating, but still can’t imagine past what they are seeing! Time and time again, people walk through the houses and complain about the carpet, wallpaper, and fixtures on the cabinets. The bones and potential of the house aren’t noticed by anybody but the brothers.
Every time this happens, I realize how closed minded some of us can be at times. Imagination doesn’t have to stop when we grow up. Imagination is what creates problem solvers. If creative thinking was ingrained more into our culture, I wonder what kinds of problems would be solved. I’m not saying that if more people thought more creatively cancer wouldn’t exist and we would have world peace, but I do believe many problems we have now wouldn’t exist. And we sure wouldn’t have the frustrating moments on home improvement shows where the house hunter only turns down buying the house because the carpet was installed in the 60’s.
For the last few years, I have been pursuing a marketing certificate to go with my bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design. I’ve always loved watching commercials, but as I got older the idea of marketing began to disgust me. Look at all of the billions of dollars that are spent to encourage people to spend more money on STUFF. In my marketing classes, I feel like I’m learning how to manipulate people into buying even more STUFF. At the same time, I’m an industrial designer- I’m supposed to love the idea of people buying the products I create. But why do we keep buying things that will just keep filling our houses, cars, storage units, and purses? Intangible value. I have seen this Ted Talk by Rory Sutherland in a few of my classes and it has really stuck with me. I hope you enjoy it!
Today I had to get a rental car because mine is in the shop. The dealership turned on the car for me before I got in it to drive away after the transaction. It is a much newer car than I am accustomed to, so I was extra cautious using it on the road and didn’t explore any of the bells and whistles until I got home. After I pulled into the driveway and turned off the car by a press of a button, I decided I wanted to turn it back on. I pressed the button and the radio in the car came on. It didn’t feel like the engine was running, but it was a new car so I wasn’t sure- some cars can be really quiet. I pressed the button again and more lights came on, but the car still felt the same. When I pressed it a third time, the car turned off.
By this point I was beginning to become frustrated. Because I have worked with User Experience design for a while now, I have it in my mind that if I don’t know how to use something quickly, it’s not my fault, it’s just a bad design. I gave up and walked in the house conflicted- the push to start wasn’t intuitive to me, but does that really mean it’s a bad design? Of course all design can’t be easy to figure out without instructions, or can it?
As I got back in the car to go to class, went through the same scenario, hoping some obvious action would come to mind when I tried to turn on the car again. I tried to hold down the button, I tried to press it twice quickly- nothing. Finally I resorted to my smartphone to google how to turn this machine on. I quickly found a youtube video that explained that to actually start the car, my foot needed to be on the brake. This is a safety feature I’m sure.
After going through this experience, I’m questioning to what extent are directions needed for a product that is well designed. I’ve come up with the black and white answer of- it depends. Obviously, the complexity of the product will effect how much guidance and direction the user needs to operate it. However, all products must have some degree of intuitiveness. I’ve decided that the push to start function is not a bad design of the car. Although I was just wishing for a normal key when I was faced with the obstacle, the functionality of it makes a lot of sense. Now it seems obvious to me that a car- a machine of such power, weight, and speed- needs to be slightly more complex to turn on than the simple press of a button.
If you told me going into the 48 Hour Repack Competition this weekend that I would get married because of band aids, I wouldn’t believe you. Okay, not actually married, but the concept still sounds ridiculous! However, in our final video, that’s exactly what happens! Now I realize that something as little as a band aid package can tug at a person’s heartstrings just by the design and use of it.
The competition asked for a redesign of one of the following: burrito/ taco package, caulking gun, cooking flour packaging, or bandage packaging. The requirements were that it would be practical, functional, creative, and create an emotional connection all in a 48 hour time frame. Our design tried to capitalize on all of these things, especially the emotional connection. It is amazing how people are capable of growing attached to things. And it’s even more amazing that designers can create emotional connection with something as simple as a package for bandages. My hope in the future is that design will use this power as a tool to enhance person to person connection instead of person to thing connection.
Below is our final design; please be kind- we only had two days to do it!
The phrase goes, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” I absolutely love my major, but that doesn’t mean that it never feels like work. Sometimes when I’m working on a project and I’m losing momentum, I get discouraged by my feeling of HAVING to finish it instead of GETTING to finish it.
One thing that really encourages and reminds me of my love of design is entering various design competitions. It’s refreshing working on teams and against other teams who enter the competitions because of passion for design, not because of the grade. The atmosphere is exciting and fun in competitions because they aren’t mandatory. I’m really excited for this weekend because I’m participating in a repack competition. In this competition, we are given 48 hours to come up with a design solution to a given problem. Last year, my team and I came up with a modular egg carton design, and we’re all excited to see what comes out of this year’s competition!
For my studio class, we are tasked to design a personal mobility device for the elderly for the year 2060. Because it is a semester-long project, we are still in the need-finding process. By getting a deep understanding of the elderly demographic now, we will be able to come up with the best possible solution in the coming weeks.
Today, we visited an assisted living community to get an idea of the daily life of those who need a little extra care to do every day tasks. Because there are several of us in the group, we split up the interviews. I was fortunate enough to speak to a 92 year old man who thought he only had one more month to live when he moved into this community due to cancer. It has been 13 months now.
He knew we were coming to talk to him about how he uses his walker and wheelchair, but what he didn’t know was that we found his values and personal experiences even more valuable. In the hour that we spoke to him, he mentioned how fortunate he was to have his wife, who comes and visits him every Saturday. He mentioned that he speaks with her on the phone about five times a day. “The telephone is it’s own form of transportation, I guess.”
This got me thinking. Transportation can be more than just physically getting from one place to another. This man saw something as common as the landline telephone as a way to close the distance between him and his wife. Technology allows us to spend time and share ideas with people across the world. With video calls, we now are able to physically see the person we’re speaking to. We may not be able to technically teleport to one another, but something as simple and common as the phone can get us pretty close.
When many people think of industrial design they think of words such as “cool,” “hip,” “innovative,” and/or “advanced.” Although these are accurate words for much of what industrial designers create, they usually associate designs for a younger demographic.
But why?
All of us are hoping to achieve the “elderly” status one day, right? As my dad would say, “It’s better than the alternative.” So it seems to me that we would put our best designs to accommodate the people we’re going to be in less years than we want to admit.
Thankfully, advances in technology have made assistive technology (AT) available to all of us on a daily basis, whether we need to rely on it or not. Customization and apps on our smartphones can make nearly anything easier for us. Larger text size, contrast adjustments, and voice commands are each AT that many of us use out of the sheer convenience while others cannot complete certain tasks without it.
Widely adopted AT expands before the smart phone, of course. Ramps and automatic doors were created for those with physical limitations, but everyone benefits. For example, someone in a wheelchair can go up a ramp without having to be reminded of his or her limitation. It adds independence and less stress on that person in entering and exiting the building. However, ramps can also be beneficial to many others as well. The person with a rolling cart who needs to get the cart into the building or the person who went a little too hard during leg day at the gym and can’t quite handle the stairs also can benefit from that assistive technology.
As a moral to the story: if you build it for the disabled, everyone will come. Assistive technology doesn’t have to be exclusively for the disabled. Universal designs are built for the masses, including those with disabilities or challenges. A product that doesn’t remind someone that he/she is at a disadvantage because it doesn’t create an obstacle for him/her proves a successful design. More and more companies and designers are realizing this concept, and I hope this trend will stick for the sake of all of our future selves.
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