Peer Comments

Charmaine Chen
Eugenius Lai
Greg Shar
Gabriel Ly
Fanru Wang

Reflection

This project is probably the most interesting project I have done so far in the IDES course. Designing for a real life situation really did make me feel that if I don't do enough research, then there would be absolutely no way in coming up with a feasible concept.

During the initial stages of researching and understanding the problems in Haiti, I became too emotionally attached to the recounts and news articles about all the death and chaos in Haiti after floods/mudslides. I even came across a video of dead infants being piled up with their bodies still soaking wet.  An image of a father putting his daughter's lifeless corpse into a bag, his facial expression was just too much.  At that point, I just wanted to design a solution that could ultimately change Haiti for good. However what I found out through consultations with my tutor, feedback from other classmates and through my own research, there are just so many external factors that I can't change. For example, I can't change the corrupted government and police, I can't stop people from hurting or killing one another, nor can I change the Haitian's culture and attitudes.

Once I knew what concept to stay with, I had to refine the product. I enjoyed this part of the project and I learnt many things during this stage. From consulting with Alicia, she explained that the design of my draft concept didn't need all those extra holes on my flood level detector (refer to Concept Development images). So there were many "Oh!" situations. Also Haiti is a very poor country, so it is very crucial to remove unnecessary materials and components and only use minimum manufacturing processes to reduce the cost of my mass produced products so it can be cheaply available to the market.

If I was to do this project again, I would probably keep refining my same product to its simplest form. I believe that everything can be simplified. Just like what Apple did to conventional ’brick-looking' gadgets. Right now, I am happy with my concept, but form and function wise, not that satisfied with the final design, I still think more can be done. Overall for design students and designers designing any product, you REALLY need to do EXTENSIVE RESEARCH and REFINE THE PRODUCT as best as possible.

FINAL CONCEPT - FLOODSENSE (continued)

FINAL CONCEPT - FLOODSENSE

RATIONALE: DESIGNING FOR DISASTERS - HAITI FLOODS

In Haiti, thousands of lives are lost due to flash floods each year. Most of these deaths would have been preventable. The main cause was because radio communication is sent out to people to warn them of predicted storms/floods. However it is said 52% of Haiti's population live in rural areas, and within that percentage, only 10% have access to electricity and drinking water. So the remaining percentage of Haitians would have no warnings at all when there is a flash flood.

The products that I have designed are comprised of 2 different products working simultaneously as a flood detection and warning system. They are the FLOODSENSE DETECTOR and the FLOODSENSE SPEAKER. FLOODSENSE DETECTOR is used to sense  the rate of how fast water levels are rising while sending long-range low-frequency radio signals to the FLOODSENSE SPEAKER allowing the Haitians an alarm siren of 105dB reporting back the rate of the levels rising.

Basically there are 3 pairs of water sensors divided into 3 equal sections inside the FLOODSENSE DETECTOR. When the water enters through the bottom holes, the water rises upwards until it touches one pair of sensors which will activate the first warning siren. Once water reaches the second pair of water sensor, another siren is overlapped with the first. The last pair situated at the top would also overlap the initial sirens. 

One FLOOD SENSE DETECTOR is enough for a village or multiple villages as long as the FLOOD SENSE SPEAKERS is within 10km of range from the detecting device. Multiple speakers can be used for larger villages.

Since my concept is targeted to villages without electricity, it is solar powered by using monocrystalline solar panels and a battery capacitor to store excess energy which can also be used at night by drawing the energy from the capacitor. The design of the FLOODSENSOR DETECTOR is designed to have an angle of incidence of 4 degrees to allow maximum sunlight during Haiti's winter months.

Two small holes are added to the top of body to allow air to escape when water levels are rising. The internal piping holding the water sensors have holes in between the pairs of sensors to also allow water to get into the pipe so that it can touch the sensors. Rubber gaskets and silicone seals are used to seal off moisture from getting into the electrical components that are stored within the devices.

FLOOD SENSE DETECTOR is bolted to poles with round headed screws that can only be screwed in from the inside. FLOOD SENSE SPEAKER is bolted onto roofs with the same kind of screws so that people will not be able to unscrew it from the outside.

The most important and expensive parts are the electrical components, so the anti-theft design and lock system is used to prevent the product being stolen. The only way to access the internal components or disassembly is to unlock the lock with the designated key. When purchased and distributed by the Haitian Government, the keys will be given to the village chief or aid workers that is in charge of the particular village or villages.

Low cost PVC material and polypropylene is used for the outer shells due to their heat resistance, water-proof and durable properties to withstand the humid Haitian weather and torrential rains. Materials will be manufactured by machine, labour work required for assembly. 

The expected life span of the product would be 25 years, reason for this is that monocrystalline panels need to be renewed as they suffer a reduction in efficiency of 0.25 - 0.5% per year.

Any faults will be sent back to the manufacturer to be repaired while a new one will be purchased and replaced again by the Haitian Government.

  

Please excuse the rhino renders, keyshot crashed.

Concept Development

Concept Posters

TASK 2B SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

The Story of Cosmetics

 To be honest, I have never used an “organic” cosmetic, skincare or haircare product before mainly because I always thought that the ‘chemicals’ were not as strong as brand name products. I have used all the example of product that Annie Leonard has mentioned: Pantene Pro V, Herbal Essence, Estee Lauder products. I found it really shocking that these products contain cancer-related toxins because they’re very good quality.

When choosing a product in the supermarket, I noticed most of them claim that they did no animal testing. Seriously, I still have no idea how companies would sample cosmetics on animals, also how does animal skin relate to human skin?? But I do know they would’ve tested it on women. I’d be more interested in how many had bad reactions to it and what the other women thought of it. The ingredients list also annoy me a lot, I don’t even know 95% of it besides ‘water’! So I never bother reading the ingredients when I choose beauty products.

Annie Leonard said that industries are making their own safety standards; I do notice that some products claim it has been approved by the FDA. Sure it does make the product sound safe to use, but who bothers checking the standards?? I don’t. So nobody really knows what the safety standards are since they don’t explain which parts of their product qualify the FDA.

Tresemme Nourishing hair care line has been the latest fad because it claims to have ‘lower sulfates’ and even on reviews people have supported this newest and first ever ‘natural’ Tresemme hair wash. I wanted to purchase it since so many people and skincare bloggers claim it’s safe to use. Unfortunately my sister beat me to buying it, and we have a rule that we can’t use each other’s things. Now I have to find another organic hair wash which is typically twice the cost of it drugstore hair wash. (Why do I have to pay more to be organic?)

The design solution for this is simple, packaging designers should include information every day consumers would want to know. If they pass ‘their safety standards’ then the product will be purchased, if it doesn’t, well the companies will have to reformulate their products.

The Story of Bottled Water

Fiji bottled water was my favourite bottled water until Annie Leonard ruined it for me. I remember as a young child, there use to be so many news reports about tap water being unclean and at times contaminated. At that time, my mum stopped me from drinking water from the school bubblers and from then on, she kept buying bottled water for me every day till this very day. We have a monthly supply of inexpensive bottled water at home. We take one every time we go out and bring it home unfinished and are thrown away straight away. My family and I am the biggest contributor to plastic bottle wastes seriously. I wish I had seen this video earlier! I did some research and apparently you can re-use a water bottle for a maximum of 28 days before it starts to mould/grow bacteria.

I personally do not care about if its tap water, spring water or even ‘purified water’ from bottles. I’m now more concerned about the waste now. I’m not sure if restaurants are serving tap water to customers because of the environmental issue or they just don’t want to pay extra money.

 Our university also turned ‘green’ by using tap water bubblers for people to refill their water bottles and for quick refreshment. I am not sure if the design department decided to add this to the campus but this is a very simple and effective little instalment. Every time I walk past it, there is always a person using the bubblers. Designers should really come up with something similar by producing one product that could be shared by thousands of people.


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Throw away your bottled waters and start drinking tap water!

Alicia has mentioned in the comment below that there is a major health issue with children drinking from bottled water and not tap water which already has fluoride in it. The United Press International reported that bottled water isn't causing tooth decay, fluoride is added to our tap water system to slow down the rate of tooth decay. When we drink tap water, the element binds to other minerals in the tooth enamel to prevent the demineralization and promote remineralization of the enamel. However only some countries have adopted the fluoride tap water system.

Picture above:Tooth Decay Trends (12 year olds) in Fluoridated vs. Unfluoridated Countries

TASK 3 ECOREDESIGN

Shan Shan's Blog - Images of Sandwich Press


Danielle Taouk's Blog - Greenfly Online

TASK 2 VIDEO REFLECTIONS

Recycling Aluminium

Yellow recycling bins/bags in Germany are very similar to our yellow Autralian recycling bins. I’ve always imagined there would be many workers picking out the rubbish on a conveyor belt and sorting them into categories. This video proved I was terribly wrong.  I guess technology never asks for sick pay nor pay rises.

Recycling glass

After watching the video, I wish Australia would also introduce these bottle banks. As consumers, we tend to think we have done our part of recycling glass bottles by throwing it into the recycling bin and public glass recycling bins. By using the bottle banks, we could lessen the energy consumption and pollution produced by glass recycling factories.

Recycling Plastic

The Autosort machine that sorts out different plastics was incredible. It really does save a lot of money for the recycling company.  If technology never advanced, it would cost the company a fortune to train workers in sorting different plastics among gallons of rubbish.

Recycling Paper

“Tissues and toilet paper also contain a high proportion of waste paper between 60-70%” That is a very interesting fact! My mum never buys recycled tissues or toilet paper because she has that constant thought that recycled paper is unhygienic. I wonder what her response would be when I show her this video. 

The video also mentioned that most paper manufacturers are recyclers. Designing a product that could be collected, recycled and reproduced would save a lot on new material costs.

Recycling Tetrapak

The process where the glue is dissolved and separates the aluminium and paper reminds me of when I try to get sticky stubborn labels off products. I would always soak it till the paper swell up and erode away while the glue disintegrates, leaving no residue behind on the product. I wonder if the inventor invented the machine had the idea when they were trying to get rid of a label.

Recycling Tinplate

There wasn’t much information in this video, but there was one thing I learnt. Engineers made use of the magnetic properties of steel and incorporated it into machines that can perform efficiently in picking out tin cans.  As a designer, it is beneficial to make use of a material’s properties to make effective products.

Sorting Innovations

I haven’t seen a single worker in this video. Due to technological machine advancement, I really do think there would be much unemployment and the earth being closer to invasion of robots. However, these machines aren’t all bad; they do reap in large sum of money to companies and there would be faster production, more accuracy and fewer errors.


Conclusion
A sustainable designer isn't just one who designs a 'green' product, he/she is the one that understands and corresponds to the entire production process. 


Recycling is one of the important processes in keeping products sustainable, if the designer does not consider the life after death of their product, there would be no flow in the life cycle of the product. Products that are given a second purpose in life after death not only brings the company a good reputation, but it also benefits the Earth by not adding more to the landfills. 


Every sustainable designer must make use of the materials natural properties if they want to shorten the steps in the production cycle, and they must design a product that would be given an infinite value in life. In doing so the designer would be helping the company and consumers to contribute in the making of a sustainable Earth.

Task 1: ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

The estimated size of my ecological footprint is 5.06 Earths. When comparing my results with fellow classmates, I was somewhat proud of my efforts in saving natural resources, however not until I read the part where it said: 

“ To sustain present levels of consumption, we would need 1.50 Earths!"

I was very surprised at how low the number was. It meant I would either have to start using organic candles at home, or switch off the hot water system when my sister is showering. 

I have always been the one that took 20-30 minute showers, turned on all the lights in my room and never thought twice when buying unnecessary products that don’t end up being used much. It was not until this year that I started to become more aware about my future in this world. I wanted to live in a future where there would be ultimately no water shortage or other man-made disasters.  So I have been changing my lifestyle in which I won’t regret even if the world ends during my lifetime, because at least I have done my part in extending the Earth’s existence by a millisecond.