Thinking about my abilities within the sustainable design profession, I need to define who I am by focusing on what I am good at: Aesthetics. These skills are directly related to my current professional job as a web designer specializing in online app and user interface (UI) design. I'm always concerned about what the consumer wants to do, what the user is expecting, and how to naturally guide them through a virtual environment.
How well will these skills translate to Sustainable Design?
I've always had an appreciation for the skills I acquired on the construction job site. I can't say I've felt the same way about the skills I've acquired from sitting in front of a computer screen. However, I've slowly been fine-tuning my eye to catch inconsistencies and confusing UI elements. I am able to guide users through complicated web applications while making them appear simple on the surface. I'll soon be making the same kind of adjustments to sustainable technologies, I'm just wondering how easy it's going to be.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Class Projects SDN604: Trying to Re-Use Odd By-products
One of the more interesting elements of my SDN604 class, Intro to Green Materials, is the professor giving us odd by-products and asking us to work with them. Our current project is the foam cutouts of the 50-state commemorative quarters presentation foam boards.
So now I have a plethora of blue foam quarters to work with. Impossible! After thinking of multiple uses and possibilites, I was leaning towards some kind of shoe sole. Knowing that there would already be a better product on the market, maybe the best opportunity would be to design a low-cost shoe for developing nations. While tinkering with a sole design, I just couldn't get it right. We would have to stack them a few inches tall just to get the proper support, forcing me to drop the idea.
Over the next few days I spent time talking with different people, trying to find an actual use for this weird product. The idea of a packaging/moving wrap came along. Small stacks sandwiched between two sheets of Tyvek should protect fragile items during transit while keeping them waterproof.
After gluing stacks of 3 coins together, we were able to have a substantial amount of impact resistance. Then we needed to space them out appropriately so that the wrap was still very flexible. Here's what our product turned out like:
Let me know what you think or if you have any better ideas.
So now I have a plethora of blue foam quarters to work with. Impossible! After thinking of multiple uses and possibilites, I was leaning towards some kind of shoe sole. Knowing that there would already be a better product on the market, maybe the best opportunity would be to design a low-cost shoe for developing nations. While tinkering with a sole design, I just couldn't get it right. We would have to stack them a few inches tall just to get the proper support, forcing me to drop the idea.
Over the next few days I spent time talking with different people, trying to find an actual use for this weird product. The idea of a packaging/moving wrap came along. Small stacks sandwiched between two sheets of Tyvek should protect fragile items during transit while keeping them waterproof.
After gluing stacks of 3 coins together, we were able to have a substantial amount of impact resistance. Then we needed to space them out appropriately so that the wrap was still very flexible. Here's what our product turned out like:
Let me know what you think or if you have any better ideas.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A Few Weeks Into Classes
So just like that and we're three weeks into the first semester. My two courses are both lectures; Sustainable Design (SDN) 604 - Design of Green Materials on Tuesday afternoons with professor Chris Pastore, and Thursdays I have SDN 601- Sustainable Design Methodologies with professor Rob Fleming. Both require extensive out of class readings and research, but they both are opening my eyes to a lot of concepts and ideas I haven't thought of before.
One point that professor Flemming pointed out that has resonated with me is that we are coming out of the age of trying to maximize human productivity, and now business and industry is shifting into focusing on resource productivity. Imagine 200 years ago telling people that you would soon be able to do the work of 70 men with ease because of the advancements of technology. You would be laughed at - but we know today that we exponentially increased our capacity for human productivity. So looking forward, we need to make those same advancements with resource productivity through technology.
One last thing, each of the professors have websites that they upload material and projects to - and man are they ugly. I can't even read the text for my 604 class. I might design a better site for the benefit of all.
One point that professor Flemming pointed out that has resonated with me is that we are coming out of the age of trying to maximize human productivity, and now business and industry is shifting into focusing on resource productivity. Imagine 200 years ago telling people that you would soon be able to do the work of 70 men with ease because of the advancements of technology. You would be laughed at - but we know today that we exponentially increased our capacity for human productivity. So looking forward, we need to make those same advancements with resource productivity through technology.
One last thing, each of the professors have websites that they upload material and projects to - and man are they ugly. I can't even read the text for my 604 class. I might design a better site for the benefit of all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)