Philosophy of Chairs and Interfaces

This counts as a rumination

Furniture Designers Are Shifting Focus

In the course of reading my daily dose of news I came across this article on whether the world needs another chair, or a review of the Milan Furniture Fair. The review takes a pretty hard line against frivolous design and ornament without a justification for existence. Adolf Loos made a similar set of observations in 1910 (thank you industrial design reader) In Loos's essay "Ornament and Crime," he makes an argument that equates ornament with crime. among many sensationalist ramblings on tattoos and the criminal mind, Loos observes, or remarks first:

Woe betide the writing desk that has to be changed as frequently as an evening dress just because the style has become unbearable.

and

A consumer who owns furnishings witch become unbearable to him after only ten years and who is therefore forced to buy furniture every ten years is preferable to one who only buys and objet for himself once the old one can no longer be used. Industry demands it. Millions of people are employed because of this rapid change.

The NYT piece descibes a shift where instead of making furniture look good designers have moved on to new approaches:

As for tackling the emotional challenge, one approach is to design products that are unique, or seem to be so. ...he edgy Belgian design gallery, is to exhibit a series of objects, whose form alters according to where they are and how they are treated.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a trend toward the reconsideration of the interfaces of objects via technology. An interesting future indeed.

PURE FUEL

These are the slides that we used to present our solar group concept.
RISD DeSE 2010 Solar Energy Team

Mentor Summary

Peter Simon

Junior, Industrial Design, RISD

Mini Bio:

Should I write this in the first person? or the third person?

I came to school RISD within a practical, and open state of mind. Over the course of my education I have shifted my learning from technique driven and material based projects to system based investigations that attempt to make intangible experiences tangible and valuable. I am unsure where my focus will take me next, but I am eager to learn as much as I can on the way.

…first person wins...

Mini Project 2 Summary:

In my second project I hope to apply system design thinking to community development within providence. I want to focus my project on creating a sustainable social venture that harnesses, and benefits not just those directly involved, but also peripheral users that may not have direct contact with the venture. I have been reaching out to local government agencies and professionals within social enterprise for guidance and ideas. I am continuing to look for a nonprofit to volunteer with over the course of this project.

I want to focus on learning ethnographic survey techniques as well as honing a business plan that might be able to see a second life outside of a student project.

Mini Summary of Funk

Parametric Model of Solar Cooker Performance
P.A. Funk and D.L. Larson
Bradley University of Peoria, IL
University of Arizona, Tucson AA
1997

Mini Summary:

Parametric Model for prediction of cooking power of solar cookers.
Based on: Solar Intercept Area, Overall Heat Loss Coefficient, Absorber Plate Thermal Conductivity

Intro: each cooker "needs to be suited to its specific climate, customs and economic factors"

Determined factors based on perceived most influential design parameters

Previous testing "identified solar input and overall heat loss coefficient as primary factors" adds internal heat transfer efficiency as third factor.

Heat loss from box cookers added or subtracted by "adding/ removing glazing, adding vents, or adding foam insulation."

Reflectivity of materials drastically diminished by dust/weathered/ wrinkled surfaces.

Conclusion:
Parametric model = needs improvement and evaluation, but "provides a basis for the systematic understanding of solar cooker performance."

Mini Summary of Ozteurk

Solar Cooker (SC)
Experimental determination of energy and exergy efficiency
of the solar parabolic-cooker
Hasan H€useyin € Ozt€urk
Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Machinery, University of C ukurova, 01330 Adana, Turkey
2003

Mini Summary

Energy efficiency = ratio of energy output (increase in water temp due to temp growth) and energy input (energy of solar radiation)

Exergy = maximum useful work to bring a heat system into equilibrium

Instant measurement of energy efficiency = ratio of increased water energy to energy of solar radiation.

Conclusions:
Exergy output is always greater than energy output

Common fact exergy efficicentcy = low in SC's

Improvements could be made in:

Playing with radiation properties of surfaces exchanging heat , playing with geometries of parabolic cookers, playing with driving dimensions, adding fins on cooker surface.

Playing with absorption of cooking pot and reflective properties of SC reflectors

Dimensions can be reduced with a better reflective surface.

Solar Group 1

David Zacher, Cassie Maurer, Peter Simon

Intro:
We chose to develop our service based upon existing models and products. Our approach does not reinvent the wheel, it does however add speed, stability, and practicality to existing models used around the world.

We chose a four pronged approach along the lines of creating a brand, developing the product, using existing distribution models, and expanding the venture through franchise.

Brand:
A brand is a promise. our promises are: 1. this solar cooker will save you time, and 2. This solar cooker will not burn your house down. We have determined that although other promises or objectives merit inclusion, by keeping the message of our venture simple, we can build the brand to later include other promises such as reducing indoor air pollution, or heating a home.

Marketing:
The marketing portion of our solution includes considerations of how to best reach populations with very little available time to experiment and modify their lives. We have also considered how to best communicate our brand within the focuses of practicality of the product offered as well as remaining true to the social constraints of our user group.

Product:
Our product seeks to incorporate solar cooking into the routine of the home, as well as to save time and energy that would previously be spent cooking with biomass. We have also considered how to best design a solar cooker that will not burn your house down.

Distribution:
our distribution model builds upon existing modes where uncommon recourses can reach users that live outside of cities or regional towns. We would use our franchise network to connect smaller regional towns to the cities or manufacturing center headquarters.

Franchise:
The most important part of our system or solution is our proposed franchise network, where we will train "sales people" from the cities to spread and sell the technology to the potential users. Those sales people will then have the opportunity to expand the franchise to other entrepreneurial people that they meet along the way.

Why we are not giving this technology away for free:

1/ People discard free items, when you price a piece of technology then people ascribe more value to that product than they would if it is community owned or donated by a random NGO.
2/ By creating value through price, we are opening opportunities to experiment with new or innovative business models that may potentially sustain the enterprise.
3/ Franchise creates local economies where we may enable the empowerment of our user groups. Our franchise may eventually serve as a model for increased development by our user groups.

Communicating Empowered Healthcare, Reflections on Validity

Social Need Focus Areas

I believe that the field of communication, or more specifically the communication of productive or life altering ideas deserves more social design focus. It is this area where the access and culture of knowledge and problem solving approaches its fullest utility. To build on what Jessie was presenting on Tuesday, there is only so much actual design that we can do for marginalized people, but we can teach problem solving etc… and thereby reach a far larger segment of the population.

I another valid opportunity for social change and design is the empowerment of marginalized populations and the organization of those groups. I have seen successful efforts in the form of artistic empowerment for providence youth, and other forms of direct community improvement through murals, playgrounds and community initiatives.

I also see great social opportunity in interfacing directly with the urban environment from a strategic viewpoint. Within this focus I would approach healthcare as a segment of urban planning that always needs work and design thinking. All people experience healthcare models and systems, yet often they do not even begin to meet the full needs of the citizen, especially marginalized citizens or non citizens who may not be able to afford or confront our built healthcare environment.

Idea? Idea... IDEA!

My responses to the various readings on measuring creativity and idea generation.

Readings assigned for this week:
Desiginign Sustainability, Agogino
Creativity as a Design Criterion, H. Christianns
Metrics for measuring ideation effectiveness, Shah, Vargas-Hernandez

The first course summary on the design an sustainability multidisciplinary class shows in part the potential of multi national collaborations when the combined resources result in the resolution of design problems. It is interesting that the course structure focused around a new product development process. The results of the class seem to have varied from the considered concepts with basis in the local community, to the broad concepts with only theoretical basis in the mexican environment.

My response to the study on creativity as a design criterion follows two main paths. First, I would agree with the conclusions that to a degree one can separate out creativity as a criterion for judgment and therefore rely on the homogenous nature of the judgment pool or common experience.

My response differs when I consider the effectiveness of solutions on the broader scale. Oftentimes the creative and novel approach to problem solving does not mean guaranteed success. I believe that is is possible for an unoriginal solution to succeed if execution of that idea transcends original or creative in terms of organization and consideration of extraneous factors.

The third study on metrics for measuring ideation effectiveness struck me as both relevant and slightly irrelevant. It was relevant when considered with the ultimate utility of being able to measure the effective use of "design space" and the ability to generate ideas efficiently. I felt that it was irrelevant when I applied it to my own personal ideation process. If my process falls short then I compensate by adjusting my own process and evaluate the effectiveness from there. I suppose from an empirical approach these metrics have precedent and utility, but it might take me a while to empirically adjust my own model for idea generation.

Concepts and Boards

As part of the first assignment I created many concepts around the focus of cooking, fuel use, and the household.

Responses to Definitions of Social Entrepreneurship

The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship
J. Gregory Dees
1998 – 2001

As an introduction to the definition of social entrepreneurship, I would largely agree with the main definitions of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship. Dees combines definitions from leading theorists to arrive at a definition that addresses a need for social responsibility, constant innovation and accountability to the original social responsibility and constituent group. I find little to disagree with this definition, but I might add that it seems even more essential for social entrepreneurs to remain accountable to their social contract in both methods of accountability (to the cause), and profit or value. I believe this type of enhanced accountability focuses and accelerates innovation in a way that adds even more value to the enterprise.

Reshaping Social Entrepreneurship
Paul C. Light
2006


Paul C. Light explores current perceived definitions of social entrepreneurs as a group of people that persist toward “pattern breaking” ideas and solutions. Light challenges the current perception that we only prescribe the status of pattern breaking social entrepreneurs to single extraordinary people with motivation, tolerance, intelligence, change, success, etc… He asserts that we do not value the idea or institutional resource as much as we value the contributions of single visionary people. At the same time Light does not want to define social entrepreneurship too broadly as to construe it as “business as usual” or what every business person with a conscience does, but instead broaden the definition to include pattern breaking ideas and solutions put forward by more than singular individuals.

I would agree that this sort of broadening of the perception of effective social problem solving is necessary, but at the same time not as stringent as Light constructs his argument to assume. The fact that we often times ignore the non champions of an idea is more a fact of the nature of business than how we intentionally marginalize novel ideas without discernable or even effective champions. We inherently respond to ideas by a someone/something rather than an idea that floats around on a conversation without substance. We should strive to increase the identity of ideas to include more than singular individuals and attempt to shift the focus to the value of a particular venture and not a salesperson.

Social Entrepreneurship, The Case for Definition
Roger Martin and Sally Osberg
2007

This article achieves a wonderful balance between the previous two. It begins with defining entrepreneurship in the words and manor of singular individuals that challenged markets and created value etc, but then asserts the primacy of the idea, system and set of resources that entrepreneurs use to create viable ventures. I would argue that the best part of this analysis and case for defining social entrepreneurship falls within an attempt to discern typical nonprofit business ventures from the truly entrepreneurial. He justifies this quality with various examples, but distills with by saying that the difference between a nonprofit that helps a specific population in a finite manor, pales in comparison to a solution that allows for the sustainment, expansion and empowerment of that solution.

The other aspects of this argument mirror the first two articles in that it strongly lobbies for the empowerment of example and definition to include more than individuals, and also to consider the larger social contract of an enterprise in terms of new thinking, problem solving and concerned leadership.

First Post

Some Inspiring Jazz to start this off