...The Learning Contract As I undertake the fourth and final year of my studies this year, I will be taking responsibility for the quality of deliverables and research that I put forth. I will be trying to incorporate all of the influences stemming from previous disciplines to produce a successful industrial design focused project. I have used these previous experiences as a center point for commencing my research. From an interest generated in areas such as the sustainable food movement and first hand knowledge of the way that the Chinese people interact with their food to the differing ways that Australians engage (even from even a young age), has sparked my want to design an industrial design based project on aiding a more positive interaction with food. My research method will involve looking at ways to improve people’s relation ship with food. I want to look at products that will ‘excite’ people about being involved with the food they are eating. I will do this by researching and developing products that excite young children into wanting to interact with their food. I will research into the effects and possibilities of manufacturing these
products and the likelyhood of their success. I would like to develop ideas that involve a child based above ground ‘grow box’. Secondly through observation of how children interact with the kitchen environment and food in general come up with a set of products that allow children to make their way around the kitchen easier and more enjoyable. In simple terms a set utensils and crockery that allow children to interact with the meaning and importance food itself. (understanding food cycle, relationship to life style and connections to an exciting well being) Through research and project development I take the next step into the process stage. I am to come up with solutions to the many problems set from the developed body of research. Implementing these ideas into design out comes. I see these ideas in three parts i. Building/Growing, ii. Interaction/ Eating, iii. Conversation/ Education. Projecting and collating these ideas I came up with a comprehensive range or detailed design outcomes. As the other products
evolve from the two major points building and growing, the first major outcome will be a clear set of CAD drawings that illustrate and demonstrate the grow boxes. These CAD drawings will demonstrate the innovation and manufacturing capabilities. The ‘grow boxes’ will be easily child assembled, these CAD Drawings will be pivotal to demonstrating this important part of the design. Using this medium I will demonstrate the capabilities of the grow boxes, their benefits of adapting to the surrounding environment and the ability to grow produce at low maintenance. The materials from the grow box will be recycled so this will also need to be shown within the 3D drawings. Most importantly the overarching idea of the project is to excite and engage children with food. It needs to be obvious that the product is practical functional and enjoyable. The second deliverable is a follow on to continue to build interest from growing food into possibilities with in the kitchen environment. This is a natural extension of peoples interactions and life style habits with food. When dealing with children I want to explore and develop the relationship kids
From the Grow boxes and utensils these next two projects aim to link the practical aspects of the products into the wider possibilities of theoretical applications. The First is a children’s cookbook that will make use of both the grow boxes and secondly the kitchen utensils. In conjunction with this is designing a children’s net working site that involves recipe sharing, photo uploading and online communities, although neither of these are specifically industrial design related I think the aspects of design within both of them is vital to linking all parts of my project together. It creates consistency and continues interest and involvement with the products. have with food the kitchen setting. From this I hope to come up with a reflective body of work that is a means of producing a set of appropriate kids kitchen cooking utensils and crockery. Tying these bodies of work together I hope to implement two other aspects to my design out comes. Although not product based they incorporate the two previous pieces and place more importance on the design thought behind It. They aim to encourage the use of these products and to furthermore create exposure to the ideas central to the first two objects (‘grow boxes’ and kitchen accessories). Basically these next two steps help push the design products in the right direction and do what I want them to do Create EXCTEMENT AND INVOLVEMENT with my products.
The five major parts of my simplified out comes are research, the grow box, utensil set, cook book and networking site. As far as penalties go for not completing work by set times I feel that a points system generally will work best. As the two product based elements of this assignment are what I consider most important, after research of course, I feel these three components will need a harsher penalty. The last two less major components (such as the web design and book) shall be less weighted as they are less crucial to the industrial design core of this project. Research will be considered as a whole and if this is not done thoroughly I feel the rest of the work will suffer any way with out marks penalty. The next two CAD based design elements will have a broken down time submission so as they are segmented into four parts each,
i. ii. iii. iv.
Concept Assembly Environment reflection (effectiveness and manufacturing ect) I think that if each part is worth 25 points that 5 points is to be lost by every 3 days that it is not finalized and handed in. scoring system will work as follows· Grow box will be on a 100 point system · Utensils will be on a 100 point system · Web will be on a 30 point system · Cookbook will be on a 30 point system · Research on a 70 point system · Then an average can be worked out. As this is my final year, my level of engagement will be very much more focused than previous years. As it comes to looking at previous works for grades, my marks fluctuate from highs to lows. I know this comes from general interest in the subjects I have taken. Subjects where I have been interested and motivated, I have experienced great success. In others I have been less interested and has meant these projects have taken a back seat. Consequently the results have not been so rewarding. As this is a self set task and something that I am incredibly interested in, I know I will be committing all my time and energy to this and feel I can do very well indeed. Through the last semester spent in China I have had a chance to take a step
step back and focus purely on my product development skills and CAD capabilities and I know although they are improving they are not currently at a HD standard. I am planning to work as hard as I can to improve these skills even more, and in this sense will take a lot of work. My research will be very rich and hopefully my project very effective which is why I aiming for a Distinction as my mark for my final year project. I would like to push myself beyond previous efforts and achievements. I think this mark is fair and achievable if all criteria are met