333labs

CCT333 Labs =**Lab One:**= The Walkman and the iPod are two very revolutionary portable music players. The Sony Walkman was considered by many to be THE top product in its class - until the iPod by Apple was introduced and blew it out of the water in every facet (from design to technological advancement).

The key differences between the two players is not only aesthetics but the media required to function and its functionality.

For the Walkman to function, it requires cassette tapes in order to function whereas the iPod's media is fully operable through the use of a computer. These two differences show just how far technology has come the past twenty years. By not relying on cassettes to provide music, the iPod itself becomes a "does it all" compact device. A technological marvel one that the industry back then has never seen before.

The iPod also boasts a 2.5 inch screen for feedback purposes. Users can see what they are listening to, and can also see the menu and where it is they are navigating to with the clickwheel. For the Sony Walkman however, this is not possible. There is no screen to indicate the song they are currenty listening to - relying solely on button commands.

Speaking of the buttons, the Sony Walkman is cluttered with them deeming it bulky - whereas the iPod's only distinguishable buttons stem from the clickwheel and even then they are not protruding which doesn't detract from the design. Comparing the Walkman to the iPod, it can be said that the Walkman is more primitive as it is much larger, bulkier and less appealing to look at as opposed to the iPod's sleek and stylish look.

In terms of the delivery of sound, technology has come a long way and thus advancements in ear phones have also much improved. It is proven that digital sound is much more clearer in quality than sound stemming from cassettes. This is where the iPod trumps the Walkman not only in functionality but also as a music player. The sound quality of songs themselves is much more superior than cassettes (which in some cases can be affected by dirt entering the tape).

=**Lab Two:**= Shelter: Katrina Furniture Project The Katrina Furniture project was set up as a response to the damage brought on by Hurricane Katrina that saw thousands of homes destroyed. The project aims to restore lost and damaged furniture by using debris leftover by the hurricane - and reusing those materials in order to create brand new furniture. This project helps alleviate poverty by teaching members of the community important skills to start their own businesses which can prove to be invaluable in the future.

Health: One Laptop Per Child Is an experiment where a nonprofit organization that distributes laptops to developing countries in hopes to promote education and welfare for children. Governments of countries purchase the laptops directly and distribute them to their schools where they can be accessible to children. This alleviates poverty by giving the power of the internet and technology all at the palm of their hands. Every type of information is accessible to them, and thus their knowledge grows everyday which will lead them to better opportunities in the future.

Water: Bamboo Treadle Pump This project allows and gives poor farmers access to water during the harsh dry season. Farmers rely on their crops for their income and thus the need for water to maintain these crops is very essential to their business. This helps alleviate poverty for that very reason - water is needed for their crops to grow. Over 1.4 billion in revenue is from farmer income in Bangladesh alone.

Education: Internet Village Motoman Network This project was launched as a means to bring power to a network. Hospitals, schools, offices are all powered by this network in Cambodia. Schools can send and receive email and browse the internet which can be particularly useful for teachers and their students. This network helps alleviate poverty by giving a source of power to the network, and gives the community instant access to physicians, teachers, and all sorts of experts from around the world by computer. The internet village alleviates the state of poverty of the Cambodian community by giving them access to infinite resources.

Energy: Solar Home Lighting System This system enables a wireless solar power system to be installed within the homes of the needy. Access to light enables families to improve their productivity by ten fold and helps avoid inactivity when the sun goes down (which helps alleviate poverty). Energy is very essential in our everyday lives and with the solar home lighting system, it gives the needy this very element.

Transport: Worldbike Prototype Is the bicycle industry's answer to giving the needy not only a form of transportation but also as a means to use their bicycle to earn income. The bicycles have huge baskets attached to the back so their users can run small errand deliveries in order to generate income for their families.

2. How does stakeholder analysis enable sustainable and socially responsible design? Before foregoing and approving projects, it is important that stakeholders analyze the social conditions of the poverished country. Will this project be beneficial to these people? Are these designs cost efficient? Will they help alleviate poverty by creating opportunities for the people? Once they've done their research and determine whether or not the designs are beneficial to the people and realistic, then they greenlight the projects. This in itself enables sustainable and socially responsible design.

3. - Affordability - Energy efficient - Durable - Maintanable - Ease of use

=Lab Three:= 1. The role that Jan Chipchase has in defining cellphones in the developing world for Nokia is to visit different developing areas and report back to Nokia his findings. He studies peoples behaviours, their environment, in order to create a model phone tailor fit for each place he visits. A phone that is unique to each situation.

The benefits of analyzing and defining their use in different cultures is the concept of human centred design as touched upon in the article. It is much more feasible for Nokia to send technologists like Jan in these parts of the countries to soak up information so that they may better understand their target market's needs and wants as opposed to opening up shop and selling cell phones instantly. By analyzing each market, you get a better sense of what they are looking for and what they require thus you'll be able to come out with a more in demand product. This in turn makes room for the last point which is market expansion. By gathering information, Nokia is able to set themselves up for a market expansion for they have come to know their target market and are able to consistently come out with a product everyone will be accustomed and comfortable with.

The idea of microfinancing when it comes to the cell phone business has been a success. As stated in the article, more than 250,000 careers for women in Bangladesh alone have been started because of the microfinance movement. It has provided prosperity and opportunities for all (in this case for women) and makes them feel part of society by possessing a job. It is not only in Bangladesh that economies have boomed because of the microfinance movement but countires like Rawnada, Uganda, and Indonesia have also prospered as a result.
 * ACHIEVING A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY:**

With the microfinancing movement, it has opened up jobs for the women in the communities. This in itself created equal opportunity for the women for now they also have a job just like the men. No longer are they conformed to staying home and taking care of the children, they are now looked upon as equals and more than hold their own in the workplace. With the women working and generating their own economy, the communit itself will become that much more stronger and healthier with everyone putting in work.
 * ENSURING A STRONG, HEALTHY AND JUST SOCIETY:**

**Lab Four:**

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Annie Leonard defines the system of the 'materials economy' as consisting of these four stages: extraction, production, consumption and disposal. However, she noticed that there were missing stages from this model and they are the people who make these products, the environmental repurcussions and of course the consumers.======

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The people who make the products are an integral part of this model simply because they are hired by mega corporations to work long hours in factories with little to not enough pay. They are always extracted from third world countries and because of this, they are forced to take on these jobs because it is the only opportunity that is given to them to earn money. Even though the conditions are harsh, they have little to no choice.======

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In terms of the environmental repurcussions, they essential to the model because natural resources are being used at an alarming rate. They are being carelessly exploited to help churn out a huge supply of these products which are then being consumed by the consumers.======

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Lastly, consumers are probably the most important element in the model simply because the model would cease to exist and function without the consumers help. Without the consumption of products by consumers, everything in the model would be of utter waste. The model relies on the consumers to buy products at an alarming rate, and to keep doing so repeatedly and repeatedly until they have no more money.======

//**Define extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. (One paragraph for each term)**//


 * Extraction:** The extraction of natural resources in order to help churn out consumer products. Extraction is usually done in third world countries where resources are made accessible by governments who are in dire need of financial gain.

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 * Production:** The actual production of consumer products. Production relies on the help of workers from third world countries who are compensated very little. They are usually exposed to harsh conditions, and dangerous products and have no choice but to work in this kind of work environments because they need to feed their families. Governments are led to believe that these will open up plentiful jobs for their people however they fail to see just how detrimental it is to their health and how much their people are being exploited.======

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 * Consumption: Consumption deals with the process of consumers (people) going to shopping malls, or any type of store to simply purchase and consume the goods that were made for them. They buy what they simply want and a lot of times, these products only have a lifespan of six months which means consumers will consume again. It's a vicious cycle. **======

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 * Disposal:** The stage where the products consumed are disposed of. This is essential because the way we are consuming products (at an alarming rate) this has repurcussions to the environment alone. Recycling alone these disposed products is not enough as most products especially the ones containing chemicals are harder to dispose of. This has an obvious toll on the environment.======

Leonard uses the notion of a timeline to effectively show the stages of the materials economy. As she explains the importance of every stage, the timeline highlights the indicated process she is speaking of and so the user isn't lost as to which process of the material economy she is speaking about. The use of simplified characters and objects is straight to the point and further displays the message across in a black and white form.
 * //How does her Flash presentation effectively organize the categories comprising 'the materials economy' in its interface design?//**

=Lab 6= 'Bodystorming' is basically a method used to present ideas and visions in a physical, participatory group setting. As opposed to brainstorming where all the 'thinking' occurs within the mind; bodystorming relies on the aid of visualization for the presentation of ideas and promotes interactivity within all participants.

Bodystorm participants present ideas by mimicking real life situations - either by stepping into different roles by means of roleplaying to get their main idea across or if it is a means to focus on user-centered design thinking. Whereas brainstorming dealt with abstract ideas and concepts, bodystorm helps flesh those same ideas out but in a physical manner - and used as a sort of feedback, physical trial and error process.

Using the Betacup project as an example, the designers pitched an idea of a reusable cup that would not only be environmentally friendly but also would help speed up service at coffee shops around the world with the implementation of an automatic debit and order placement service. The designers bodystormed a scenario which would be likely to take place in a coffee shop and stressed on the advantages of owning a Betacup as opposed to ordering a new cup of coffee every time. Their bodystorm process was easy enough to follow and comprehend that it promoted a healthy feedback process and exchange with the audience.

Bodystorming in short is a means of effective role-play used by designers to test out their products and how its users would interact with the product. It is from this where bodystorming can also be used as a means of feedback model to test out whether prospective ideas generated hold their claims in real life scenarios or whether they need more work done to them.

An issue that would be beneficial to explore through the use of bodystorming would be the problem of dog fecal waste in the community. I think we've all experienced this before - seeing fecal matter littered throughout the grasses of our communities and through bodystorming we can achieve to fix this reoccurring problem.
 * Part Two**

Like the Betacup people, it is ideal that we take a stroll around our neighbourhood as they did when they were still in the early stages of researching their product. Taking this walk allows us to interact with our environment and puts us into the role of either A) a dog owner or B) a pedestrian. We assume these roles in order to generate ideas and concepts as to how to fix the issue at hand. We might ask questions (during our role of dog owner) like "Why don't we pick up the fecal waste?", "Why are there no access to garbage bins anywhere near us?" etc. And so by doing this we are analyzing and investigating the matter on a more hands on approach and thus we can push the need for more garbage bins in parks, and in sidewalks. This is the effectiveness of bodystorming.

In terms of how to execute a case theatre scenario, I would probably mimic the same way the Betacup people presented their idea. That is juxtapose two different processes (positive and negative) and highlight how advantageous the positive process actually is - so much so that the negative process would seem very irksome and unreasonable to partake in. After the short little skit, we would engage in active participation with the audience and discuss the positives, negatives of the idea at hand.

=**Lab 8**= Self-Cleaning Paint: I always wondered how paint could withstand the rain and reading the following blurb has actually somewhat enlightened me. I always thought that the paint itself was manufactured and built to be waterproof but instead who would've thought that they biomimicked the hydrophobic surface of lotus leaves? Not me!

High-Speed Train: At first glance I would've thought that the pointed nose of the train was for aesthetic and display reasons but instead there is an actual reason for it being that way. This reason was to provide less resistance, which results in much faster travelling speeds!

Bone Furniture: At first glance it looks as if the chair in the picture looks unstable but according to the blurb, there is a certain way they are arranged that makes the chair gain vast support in all areas thus making it very sturdy and stable.

Antibacterial Film: I've always wondered how contact lenses kept bacteria away from entering the surface of the lenses and this blurb revealed all the information. It would make sense that they look at nature and just how some plants prevent and repel bacteria and mimic the process into consumer products.

Janine Benyus declares that "the simple, elegant mechanics developed by nature often makes sense in a human context, too". What she means by this is that human beings can learn a thing or two by observing nature's different processes. She declares that nature has created some truly flawless designs and that if we look closely, we may be able to spot them and adopt them to our everyday lives.
 * Part 2:**

Take for example termites are able to keep cool in scorching temperatures in the Sub-Sahara plains of Africa. Researchers then studied their homes underground and discovered that they are able to stay cool without the help of any air conditioning due to the way they structured their underground homes. It is widely believed that designers will use the termite's habitat model when creating homes in the near future to conserve energy use in places that above average to high temperatures.

Sometimes, nature has the answers to our design problems. Janine Benyus encourages us to gain a much more broader appreciation for the work that mother nature has created and tells us we must not underrate it. These "simple, elegant mechanics" can be found in Nature's work and processes and we must only look in our backyards to search for answers.


 * Lab 9:**

The definition of service design is a process that combines product design and interactive design methods in order to improve the quality of a specific service. It relies on two parties - the service provider and the customer and is concerned with the experience of the customer and what the company can do to their existing design to improve upon it. Sylvain states that most products nowadays are combined with services, and that it is the overall experience that is gauged by the customers.

Service design is a human-centered approach that focuses itself on the experience of the customer. It is made up of objects and items that the customer interacts and comes into contact withering the service process. For example - a customer visiting a car repair centre will gauge the service design with by how they were treated during the process, the friendliness of the staff, the speed of service etc.

Service design is important for not only does it put us customers first (thus improving brand loyalty by a ten fold), but it also improves the brand's perception. The true power of 'word to mouth' would really make a brand noticeable. Key service design is an important point for most if not all people when deciding which cell-phone provider they end up choosing or which car manufacturer they end up signing with!

With service design, companies are able to stand out from the rest of the crop and promote individuality and lasting brand identity. For example. Apple is instrumental when it comes to service design. Their iPod, iMac, and iPhone line are all three very different products yet they all possess the same simplistic yet intuitive designs that Apple has been famous for. With their unique service design, Apple has been able to cultivate a successful brand identity through their sleek advanced products and their genius marketing campaign.