Rationale: Project One - Experience Enrichment

The Hug Mug

My target market is aimed towards the elderly whom are currently in aged care centres.
These people are usually fathers and/or mothers to those whom do not have time to
care for them. Looking at this situation, i realise that many families are forced to do
this therefore causing loose relationships between each other. In response to this situation,
i decided to design and develop a product that tries to bring each person close together.

The mug's design was influenced by the verb "HUG" in which for the elderly
appreciate very much as it brings a warm feeling inside them.
In this case the mug has be designed so that you have to "hug" the
mug where the slight indentations are therefore providing a 'hugging' sensation.
As the elderly's abilities are slowly getting weakened, the mug has a larger diameter
and also a larger depth inside the mug to provide more stability to the user.
The whole design is an organic type where it is all rounded and smooth
with no sharp edges. With also an added design where depending on the heat
of the mug, it would changed from blue (cold) to red (hot).

As this would be used in nursing homes/aged care centre, its design and function
would be spiritually enhancing, such that it provides a warm, enriching experience when
used in the centre.

Task 5: Video Reflections (Paul Bennett)

Paul Bennett talks about how you need to put yourself into the position of the target market such as his example where his colleague had been sleeping in the bed where a patient would and stared only at the boring ceiling. I realise that this is very much the case in most of my designs and i need to really think about 'if i was them, how would i feel' sort of thing.

He also gives an insight where good designs can only been seen with our own eyes. This is so true such that it also goes back into the previous example where you only stare at the roof of the room, and paul gave the examples such as the 4inch needle that needed two hands to use but inside the medical room only one hand is usually free. Also the cats eyes seen at night when a light is shined onto them has been implemented into the design of the reflectors at night on the roads. These examples have really opened my eyes and must use our own sight to see what can be changed for the good.

Task 5: Video Reflections (Yves Behar)

Yves Behar questions those things that people usually take for granted, such as the num lock key on the keyboard and says "does it really need to be there?". This designs really does show and make his products more user friendly such as "the leaf lamp" where he gives some choice on the lamp where you can adjust the "feeling" of the lamp with a touch of a button.

He emphasises that objects can tell many stories, such that as designers will need to predit and what story your product will tell. Even though that the product may do all this and that but we need to take into consideration that do we actually need it or is it just a novalty item.

I realise that designing a product may not be all about the looks and functionality of the product but also how userfriendly it is and also if it can be made unique to each and every person in the world. So after watching this i would try and "GET SOME"

Task 5: Video Reflections (Ross Lovegrove)

The Love of form...

Ross Lovegrove shares his experience and knowledge where his design are only interested in the organic forms. His philosophy of 'fat-free' design, has been integrated with his designs such as the Ty Nant bottle, where it is no commonly known drink bottle but something unique and interesting with the whole bottle having an organic form.

Ross gives his insight towards the future of design, where unique designs such as the section where he redefines cars are all wrong, where he can combine greenhousing and also innovation inside the cars. As students ourselves, we wonder how are we going to pass the next task but the real question is how are we going to redevelop the ever evolving world in the near future. Ross has given us the insight to this answer.