Sam Whipp
Gleb Labazine
Kiran Kashyap
Nick Baroni
Rob Cervetto

TASK 2b SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

I ended up watching all of the videos out of interest, I found that they really showed how the small things that we use have such a massive impact on everything around us. The product life cycle is something that I really haven't thought about in my designs yet, but it something that I have realised really needs to be thought about because as designers we are the ones that are producing the things that do all the damage.
The two videos that i found very interesting were the ones on bottled water and electronics, the amount of materials that ares used in them and the harm that some of those materials can do is extremely worrying. Especially when you think of how companies "design for the dump", there is no thought that in many cases it would be better to change a certain part of a product instead of the whole thing. The issue that I found was the way that things are just thrown into landfill instead of being recycled or that companies tell their designers to use materials that cannot be recycled and thus are extremely toxic to people and the environment. There seems to be no thought about the damage that products cause and the only need is to make as much profits as possible, money is more important than the world and the people in it.
What I found after watching the films was that designers were smart enough and had the capacity to design well and smartly but they are stopped by the greed of companies, I feel that it isn't designers that are to be solely blamed for the issues associated with the production of products but it should also be placed on companies that don't seem to care. Like the video showed if we made the issue of disposing the products the companies issue they would very quickly change their attitudes to the production of products.
Companies need to be changed to care, to do that I see it as a joint need for designers in those companies to push to be better designers and also for the public to stop caving to what companies say but to tell companies what they want and how they want it done. If people dont demand something because of issues then companies will have to let their designers design smarter and more beneficially for the environment.

Reflection For ‘Design 4 Disasters’ ‘Independence Charger’

When designing of ‘Design 4 Disasters’ I found that although it was an interesting and at many times and enjoyable assignment it was still a very difficult assignment to conceive ideas for in the first place.

When first doing the research for the assignment for the group it was extremely interesting and at many times slightly shocking to read about the horror of the experiences had by the people who were affected by the 2004 tsunami. But that was definitely the easy part of the assignment. When it came to the part where we were required to conceive concepts for the assignment this is where the difficulties of the assignment started. Conceiving the first three concepts was a very difficult process, even with the information from our research in front of me it was still hard to see areas where solutions could be employed that hadn’t already been employed.

When designing my initial concepts I set myself a couple of guidelines that I needed to address, not to use electricity to work, be rugged, easy to use and small so it could be deployed quickly. I think that these limitations may have hindered me a little and made it more difficult for myself. When it came to the first presentation day I had not been able to come up with any ideas that I was sold on and wanted to pursue. In order to be able to complete the assignment with any conviction or effort I decided that it was best to come up with a new idea.

By the next week I had come up with the concept that would become the ‘Independence Charger’, I had come up with the concept but it was deemed that I needed to do more research on the technology that would be employed in the product. It took me too weeks to get enough information to properly design the product and by this point we had only two weeks left in the assignment . I think that this loss in two weeks really damaged my design a bit because there was a loss of between a week and a half to two weeks in development. This development would have done a lot more for my design, but due to a bit of laziness and personal issues I was not able to capitalise on the time that was available to me.

When starting the next assignment I am going to have to start earlier, and to find a system of getting ideas down straight away and to get the ball rolling. I also think that setting the limitations for my designs at the beginning limited my idea conception; I will not be doing that again.

This assignment although difficult was enjoyable when I had an idea, when there was no idea to work on I found it a very tedious and unenjoyable assignment but this was because of the stresses of not having an idea to work on.

Rational For ‘Design 4 Disasters’ ‘Independence Charger’

When starting to the ‘Designing for Disasters’ assignment through the research, conducted during early stages of the process by the group, I found that one of the major issues that was experienced during the recovery and rebuilding process was communication. The ability to constantly keep the tools for communication charged and ready to go. The issue was that aid workers were not able to carry around extra batteries around them due to the fact that this added extra weight that they could not afford to have in the environment. \

I went to try to address this issue of not being able to charge on the go and out in the field. The main way they would charge would be to return to main bases and connect to diesel generator systems. I also wanted to address the issue of having to bring the generator and fuel in after a tsunami to charge personal electrical tools. I conducted research on ways of producing energy while moving, using the human body which produces a combined 200 watts of energy just when walking. To harness this energy while doing physical movements would provide clean, cheap, and individual electricity while the worker did anything.

Kinetic Energy Generators are the way that this would be able to be accomplished. These generators employ a process that employs the Faraday Effect which is where a magnet passes through a wire coil apparatus, this then creates a magnetic field which is caught by the wire coil and is then turned into an electrical charge. Once the magnet has passed through the coil it hits a spring and an oppositely charged magnet and the moving magnet passes back through the coil. This process provides clean and unending supply of electricity as long as the user continues to move.

After finding the technology to create electricity the appropriate place was needed hold the charger. Early designs were to be attached to a tool eg. a hammer or axe, but it was deemed that they would make the tool too cumbersome and get in the way of the natural movement of the tool as many of its uses are in cramped locations during the rescue and rebuilding process. The final design has the unit strapped to the upper arm near the shoulder. This placement was decided on due to weight being strapped to this area has the minimal amount of strain on the body while also providing a large amount of movement too. This area was also suitable due to the upper arms large surface area which was needed to support the size of the generator. Also it is out of the way on the body still allowing the user to use the hands freely and without any strain.

This arm band generator is designed to be employed by aid workers in tsunami affected areas as a way for them to be independent of the constant need for electricity to properly coordinate their efforts. Without communication in tsunami disaster areas the process of relief and rebuilding is very slow and difficult due to the complete destruction all around workers. The usual way to keep charged is for workers to go back to a central area to change batteries or charge; the other option is to carry more batteries which are more weight that they can’t afford to be carrying in a dangerous and complicated area. By carrying the independent generator a worker has the ability to go longer without having to go back to base due to a dependency on a generator. This also provides a relief on the need for a diesel generator with has a large damaging effect on the environment from the actual production of electricity but also the transporting of the generator and the fuel needed to run it.

Workers have the ability to become independent from the need to constantly charge their electronics at a base but can do it on the move while doing the more important and necessary works that they are there to complete.