Task 1c: The story of stuff

The story of stuff is a short video narrated and written by Annie Leonard. This video is simply about effects of human consumption and it makes us to think how we can make a change for the future of the Earth and next generations by making different ways of design. In this particular film leonard presents how extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal has been effected our environment.

From Extraction of resources, to Production, to Distribution, to Consumption and lastly to Disposal. In this system society is focused by consumerism and consumption. This was the result pioneered after WW2 where consumption & consumer goods was the key focus of US governments. And it has transcended to this day and age.

This cycle has been rooted into our daily life by corporations and industrial designers of the past throughout marketing techniques such as "Planned Obsolescence" and "Perceived Obsolescence". Planned obsolescence is the process where things are designed to be put back and removed in a short period of time, to encourage repeat purchase and thus more consumption due to an outdated and obsolete product. Perceived obsolescence works even faster and more subconsciously, as it convinces the consumer to discard their perfectly good products and upgrade to a newer "better" design, mainly through aesthetic changes. So as a society obsessed with keeping up the newest trends or what is in vogue, our vicious cycle of consumption get bigger and bigger.

As Leonard in the video says “we are running out of resources”, one third of our natural resources are gone and only 20% of the planet original forests left which is the result of many thrown out -products that is not good enough to satisfy consumers anymore. Also, some overwhelming facts from the video are that the US comprises of 5% of the world’s population, yet consumes 30% of the world’s resources. We would necessarily need 3 to 5 Earth’s to sustain that rate of consumption if the rest of the world were to consume at that rate.

Hence, to reduce the wasted products we should consider a much better way to design so that they could be updated, instead of thrown out, and dissemble instead of just sent to the landfill. Also, from start to finish of a products lifecycle we must help improve the sustainability in what we produce and consume for future generations of this Earth

Task 4: My Deign Career

‘Design is to design a design to produce a design’, this phrase is what I learned from the lecture in semester 1. What the... this was my first reaction when I first looked at this particular phrase... because i didn’t really understand the actual meaning towards it and I had no idea of what the design is about... and of course, it will be a disaster if someone ask me to define a design… however, It became my first time to think about being a designer and consider of ‘ the definition of my own design ‘ after I realised the fact that there are step- by- step progresses to actually produce a design. To be honest, I was more interested in doing fine art rather than designing since my dream was to be an artist when I was young. But, there was a period of time being confused about what I’m really going to be and what I’m really preferred to do in the future, because I thought that there were not much things to do as an artist to earn the money… therefore, I just chose my way to get in the course of industrial design as I thought it will be a constant job to have and most of all, it was something got to do with drawing. From the both side of financial and interest of mine, industrial design was something that could satisfy my lifestyle. So, I got into UNSW industrial design course and I learned a bit about design which was amazing for the fact that I can produce or create something that I design just like what I said before. I don’t know if I’m going to be an INDUSTRIAL designer in the future, but as long as I can’t find my own definition of design, I wouldn’t be able to do other things. So, I’d like to experience a lot about design whatever that is something to do with theory of it or technical skills and so on. Also, if I have a good opportunity to go to other country (especially UK), I want to go there as an exchange student to see how other world’s dealing with the definition of a design. I haven’t really got a plan for my future yet, but one thing I can surely say is that I will be doing something related to my own design.

Task 3: Design Confusion

Task 2: Design Excellence

Basically, i really like the way the wok does not come into contact with the cooktop

and protecting both the cooktop & wok from damage & scrapping that can occure

when wok cooking. Very thoughful and stylish shape at the same time.

The analysis for this particular product allowed me to realise how observing and researching

play an important role in design process.