Design & Thinking

Design & Thinking

I think that design and thinking is like your fingerprint. It can be different for everyone but that does not make it wrong. You have to find your own way in the world and sometimes that means falling so you can learn what type of person you are by how you pick yourself up. “Prototyping, testing and failing all the time!  But doing it quickly and cheaply in order to succeed!” As human beings we are never going to be perfect! So how is it reasonable to assume that you will never fail? Watching this video reminds me of what Thomas Edison said about his incandescent light bulb design. “I have not failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” For each design or idea that does not work, has the potential of sprouting one that will. If you did not take the time to explore options that fail, you may never find the one that succeeds. I think this video is a great one to keep on file and whenever I feel like I am losing my constitution to find the right answer I pull it up and watch it. The idea that failing should not be looked at as a failure, but just a bump in the road on the way to the destination is a great life lesson for anyone whether they are a designer, a doctor or astronaut.

Sketches of Frank Gehry

Sketches of Frank Gehry

Designing a number of buildings that are now world famous tourist attractions, Frank Gehry has made his mark in the world of architecture. One of the aspects about Gehry that caught my attention is his passion and enthusiasm for architectural design. Gehry’s work spans almost 60 years and yet every time you see him looking at a project it is as if he was discovering fire for the first time. His drive to always be different and not restrict himself to any constricted way of thinking is truly inspiring. “There is a certain threatening to taking a leap. But once you try that you can’t stop.”

Gehry personifies the idea that a failed idea is not always a loss. “That is so stupid looking, it’s great!” By working back and forth between modeling and planning Gehry delivers a respected design. I can only hope that after decades of designing, or anything in my life for that matter, I carry the same enthusiasm, passion and drive to continue to be the best I can possibly be!

Chapter 3: Design and Designing

Design and Designing

                Designs can vary greatly across time, regions and culture. A popular design today in America may not be popular in Europe or even in America years down the road. An early way of writing required a pen that was dipped in a type of ink reservoir and would only write as long as ink trapped in the pen tip lasted. A necessity of modern pens is extreme duration and functionality in the conditions of operation. A $2 pen design has the ability to write as well and long as a $2000 pen. The difference in most cases is the status of expense that the pen brings to the consumer. Despite the value, inspiration and design can and should be considered from many different perspectives. Inspiration ideas can stem from the materials, case studies, nature, sketching or prototyping. The more that is taken into consideration the better the design will be.

Chapter 2: What Influences Product Design?

What Influences Product Design?

                Many different things need to be considered to make a good design. Some of these considerations are the market, technology, sustainability and environmental effects, economy, aesthetics, identity and materials. A good designer will take into consideration topics like the fore mentioned aspects and combine them into a well-rounded design. If the mechanism works flawlessly but does not identify with the company values, is complicated to produce efficiently, overly expensive or reaches beyond the reasonable capabilities of technology or materials the design will ultimately fail. Modern design styles are not an accident. They serve a specific function or aesthetic purpose to represent the product, company and or function.

Chapter 1: Function & Personality

Function & Personality

Function: An activity or purpose natural to or intended for a person or thing.

Personality: The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character.

                The function of a product is the most important aspect. Regardless of the aesthetics of a machine such as a water wheel or gun, if the function does not work the way it is intended the creation is useless.  A good designer seeks to maximize their design by blending the technical with the visual. As better technologies are invented, more visual aspects can be applied to the design.  To create an effective mixture of technical and visual an exploration of what the material requires methods and design the best combination of the two worlds can be achieved in a single harmony.

Manufacturing Process For Design: Metals

Manufacturing Process For Design: Metals

Ferrous Metal: The word is derived from the Latin word ferrum ("iron"). Ferrous metals include steel and pig iron (with a carbon content of a few percent) and alloys of iron with other metals (such as stainless steel).

Non-Ferrous Metal: Non-ferrous metals do not contain Iron, are not magnetic and are usually more resistant to corrosion than ferrous metals. Some examples of Non-Ferrous Metals we deal with are: aluminum, aluminum alloys and copper.

Alloys: Unlike pure metals, most alloys do not have a single melting point, but a melting range in which the material is a mixture of solid and liquid phases.

Iron: A strong, hard magnetic silvery-gray metal, the chemical element of atomic number 26, much used as a material for construction and manufacturing, especially in the form of steel.

Steel: A hard, strong, gray or bluish-gray alloy of iron with carbon and usually other elements, used extensively as a structural and fabricating material.

Aluminum Alloys: Are alloys in which aluminum (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin and zinc.

Magnesium Alloys: Are mixtures of magnesium with other metals (called an alloy), often aluminum, zinc, manganese, silicon, copper, rare earths and zirconium. Magnesium is the lightest structural metal. Magnesium alloys have a hexagonal lattice structure, which affects the fundamental properties of these alloys.

Titanium Alloys: Are metals that contain a mixture of titanium and other chemical elements. Such alloys have very high tensile strength and toughness (even at extreme temperatures). They are light in weight, have extraordinary corrosion resistance and the ability to withstand extreme temperatures.

Zinc Alloys: A bluish-white, lustrous metallic element that is brittle at room temperature but malleable with heating. It is used to form a wide variety of alloys including brass, bronze, various solders, and nickel silver, in galvanizing iron and other metals, for electric fuses, anodes, meter cases and batteries, and in roofing, gutters, and various household objects.

Copper Alloys: Metal having a specified copper content of less than 99.3% but more than 40% and having no other element in excess of the copper content (except in the case of certain copper-nickel-zinc alloys, in which zinc slightly exceeds the copper content).

Nickel Alloys: An alloy of nickel and copper and other metals (such as iron and/or manganese and/or aluminum) Nichrome. Nickel and chromium alloys have a high electrical resistance and an ability to withstand high temperatures; used for resistance heating elements.

Precious Metals: A classification of metals that are considered to be rare and/or have a high economic value. The higher relative values of these metals are driven by various factors including their rarity, uses in industrial processes and use as an investment commodity.

60 Minutes: Electronic Wasteland

60 Minutes: The Electronic Wasteland

                “E-Waste” has become a large issue!  130,000 computers and 100,000,000 cell phones are thrown away in the US every year.  Recyclers that say they are recycling the products they receive “properly”. In reality there are thousands of containers being shipped to the Far East to either be stripped down for high value parts such as the precious metals in cell phones. The remainders of CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) screens and other electronic devices are just thrown into massive piles in fields. It is truly appalling that impoverished people are being exploited for this work because they need the money to survive even though they were destroying the same environment they live in.

·         If the plastics that make up products such as monitors, computers or cell phones were made from biodegradable plastics, such as Polyanhydrides, the excess materials that cannot be recycled would be broken down in landfills and not harm the environment.

·         To recycle items such as lead from CRT screens, there should be a certified and monitored facility that filters the harmful chemicals and particles out of the air as they are recycled.

·         Put a responsibility on the manufacture to recycle their product at the end of the life cycle. If there is a refundable fee to the consumer when the product no longer works, the item can be recycled and disposed of properly.