RR04

I thought some of the points brought up about the context of design were interesting.  How design is so diverse that it is hard to place standards on it in a professional sense, but how it can also be the only thing that unifies a large corporation like McDonald's through branding.  I also found how some businesses utilize designers in their companies to improve products while other businesses outsource their designs strange.  It seems that having in-house designers would be much more efficient and beneficial for a company.  This chapter also focused on the differences between design organization in America versus Europe and the rest of the world.  The future chapter analyses the way design will evolve in the future and how it has the potential to create freedom and to limit information to the consumer depending on how it is applied.  The importance of designing flexible solutions to technological problems is also going to be increasing in the future as consumers look for personalized technologies.  I think it's interesting that in the  future designers are going to have to design products that can then be re-designed by the consumer as unique and personalized products become more popular and feasible.

CR05

The final classes of Design 200 were really interesting.  I liked seeing how other groups approached the issue of transforming Coleman into a home goods distributor.  I also liked how we had to grade each other's projects, it actually forced people to pay attention to the presentations.  Normally I wouldn't like 2 entire days of presentations because they tend to get boring and you start to zone out, but by having to grade everyone it actually made you pay attention and the presentations were actually really creative and interesting.  Some of my favorites were the App for smart phones to manage your electricity, the smart top table you can cook on, and the tent bed for kids.  I was really impressed with some of the ideas people came up with.

J10

I really enjoyed the class Design 200.  It was refreshing to have a class with no midterms or finals and I felt that what I was studying was actually sticking with me more because I wasn't trying to cram and memorize everything, I just learned it.  The use of groups was interesting, it definitely helped me get to know my teammates, but I wonder if switching around a bit would have been beneficial for getting to know the rest of the class too.  I really liked the Coleman project, that was probably my favorite part of the class, I also liked the scavenger hunt too though.  Every time I walk past the Wexner Center I think of the fact that it was built on an angle, which I never would have known if I hadn't taken this class!  The hardest thing about this class was keeping track of assignments, it would have been helpful if on the description of each journal or reading reflexion the date it was due was also included.  Some descriptions included the due dates, but for others you had to search the website to find the assignments tab and then look it up.  Other than that I thought the class was pretty awesome!

J09

Group: 4's
Erica
Jonathan 
Lindsay
me.

Our group had a lot of ideas about how to bring Coleman into the home.  Originally we thought of making some kind of portable energy device, then a solar table, and even fabric that can be powered and heat and cool surfaces, but eventually we decided on solar curtains that powered a portable outlet.  I personally really like the idea of solar curtains and if they existed and I had my own house, I would probably look into buying them.  I think in design, the best products are probably ones that the designers themselves would use, because if the designer won't use the product why should anyone else? I think that's one reason why our project turned out so well, we all actually liked the idea and thought of it as something we would be using.

Another reason why our project went so well was because everyone put a lot of work into it.  We all designed 4 possible curtains and looked into how the solar power could be wirelessly transported to the box.  We also messed around a lot with the branding and packaging, coming up with a name that was relevant but also creative and working out how to keep packaging ecofriendly but cheap.  We finally settled on one set of curtains, the name "Solar Shades", a circular package and a design for the box.  After that I sketched out a lot of logo options and we decided on one and I incorporated that into a package for the customer.

In the beginning phases of the project I think I was probably the person who was most concerned with making sure the product was enough of a "home good" to avoid any confusion.  It was really easy to think of ideas for how to make a product for Coleman that could be both indoor and outdoor, but I wanted our group to try to make something that was clearly a home good.  After we came up with our idea though, we had a lot of fun being creative with it and researching realistic ways it could be made.  I personally really liked our product and presentation (but I guess I'm a little biased).

J08

I chose to research Design & the Environment.  Taking the environment into consideration when designing products is very important because we don't have unlimited resources and the products we use have an impact on the world around us.  For a long time people designed and consumed as if they could do so forever without any negative side effects, but we have realized that this is not true.  Everything we use comes from somewhere and after we use it, it has to go somewhere.  So designing with the environment in mind helps to decrease the amount of materials that need to be newly introduced into each product and considers where the product will end up after its intended use.  It also tries to decrease the amount of harmful materials the consumer, workers, and environment are exposed to.

1) http://www.epa.gov/dfe/
This website, Design for the Environment, is a partnership with the EPA that has information for consumers and producers about environmentally friendly products and how to find them.  The DfE logo is a guarantee that the chemicals in the product have been approved as safe for the environment and the consumer.  There is also information on this website about global climate change and why designing for the environment is important.

2) http://www.dceplanning.com/
Design, Community, & Environment is an organization designed to organize communities around the idea of trying to "work in concert with the natural environment." They work with government agencies, urban planners, and landscape architecture.  Their website is intended to connect designers with clients who are looking for environmental solutions to their community's needs.

3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNudnI5tzf
This youtube video shows the effect of sustainable energy on a local community.  The use of a wind turbine for alternative energy is an example of how design can work with the environment rather than against it and still serve the community.  A new design for the wind turbines also allows for versatility in placement, making them easy to add to a more urban setting as well as in rural areas.

4) http://www.wbdg.org/design/sustainable.php
The Whole Building Design Guide offers codes and resources for builders, as well as an overview of sustainable building practices.  The guide also emphasizes the importance of decreasing the environmental impact of buildings by pointing out the energy use, waste production, and CO2 emissions of all the buildings in the USA.  

5) http://www.lanl.gov/environment/risk/p2_sd.shtml
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a lab working on sustainable solutions to the problems of environmental management, pollution prevention, and risk reduction.  The website offers links to carbon footprint calculators, hot topics in the environment, and public involvement opportunities.  The website has descriptions of previous environmental projects done by the lab and lots of information about environmental threats and what can be done to reduce them.

CR04

In the past few classes we've been working on our Coleman for the Home projects.  I've found this very interesting because it allowed everyone to look at the whole process from designing a product to marketing/packaging and designing a kiosk to appeal to the consumer.  I think this really reflects how an actual businesses would go about this process (except they would be meeting a lot more frequently).  But I liked the work and if I ended up in a career in business I think I could be pretty happy.  I designed the logo for our Coleman for the Home project and I really liked doing that too, which could work with design and marketing if I wanted to do something like that for a career.  Basically I learned a lot from this project over the past few classes and I really enjoyed everything my group worked on.

J07

Lindsay    http://design200lm.blogspot.com/
Lindsay found the letter F in her letterform search and for some reason that really surprised me.  I realized that I could have used the same object I used for H to make F if I took the picture at a different angle, but it had never occurred to me to do that.  Im not really sure why the letter F wasn't as obvious to me as other letters were; this is really interesting me for some reason. Lindsay also found some really good trade show pictures, her IKEA picture actually gave me some ideas for how to organize our potential booth.

Erica   http://design200spring.blogspot.com/

I liked Erica's letterform entry.  She had some letters found in common items that I had never noticed before, like how an iPod earbud looks like a P.  It really does but I hadn't thought of it before I saw her picture.  She also looked up some of the same companies as I did for the online scavenger hunt which I thought was kinda funny.  We both looked up North Face, IKEA, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn so I guess those are all fairly successful brands because they're what people think of what they think outdoor and indoor home goods. 


Jonathan    http://design200.wordpress.com/
Jonathan had some really cool links on his blog- not surprising.  The one about the "paper computer" was so cool! If phones could get that on their screens instead of the glass they currently use, I wouldn't have to worry about shattering my screen if I were to drop my phone.  The fact that we could also eventually have phones and computers that are super thin and flexible is crazy! Jonathan's scavenger hunt pictures were really good too, his trade show picture of the window display will be useful when designing our window blinds and shades display.