Mads 701

MADS701 Along this module there have been many different approaches to explore creativity from a wide variety of perspectives and viewpoints. A clear focus around empathy and aspects of awareness helped the generation of creative design ideas.

This was crucial for the strengthening of the relationship with materials and processes, together with the generation of a much more conscious understanding of today’s needs and concerns.

Here is a brief description of how the different short mini-projects that have been designed and produced during the current term helped with all mentioned learning outcomes.

On our first task we were asked to represent what creativity means to us, in response I drew an illustration that reflects how I picture the creative process. For this illustration I used a very long roll of paper that came from last year’s waste materials. I believe that found, recycled or reused materials are always a kick-start for creative ideas, and they also follow a “green policy” that is normally a core characteristic in my projects.

In this particular creative process it is possible to see how the material shaped the size and composition of the outcome, where it’s shown how I consider that the external world and emotions, influences the creative world in each individuals head.

The RSA proposal for improving mental agility

The design consists on a play-work furniture

in the elderly was a very challenging project

theme, which allows different dispositions for

because of all the considerations that had to

the enjoyment of grandparents and children

be made according to a very specific public\

during the development of various activities

user. Which means that critical awareness

that they could cooperatively work on while

and understanding of empathic design was

learning new skills.

necessary all along the creative process.

I worked in a team with one of my course

ThIs idea came from my previous work on

mates during the research stage, gathering

“GoCreative” which is a proposal for a ‘hands

information about the elderly and how mental

on – learning’ system, designed for children.

agility can be improved.

I saw in GoCreative the potential to grow into product that could strengthen or even

We learned that social interaction promotes

create a connection between children and

well-being and prevents isolation in older

adults, in the exercise of developing activities

people as well as learning new skills can lead

together. From that point, and based on the

to the thickening of the cortex in the brain.

findings on how isolation increases in older

Based on this together with previous research

people together with other data that stated

where I found a study with data reporting that

how children that are in contact with their

grandparental involvement was significantly

grandparents have better social behavior,

associated with fewer emotional problems

I came up with the idea of re versioning

and with more pro-social behavior in children,

GoCreative into a Grandparent-Grandchildren

especially when grandparents were involved

activities program. The outcomes for this

in the child’s hobbies and interests; I focused

mini project are a four posters presentation,

my project on generating a proposal for

storyboarding the idea in a way that both

enabling connections between grandparents

specialist and non-specialist audiences can

and children to improve mental agility.

understand it.

The following deliverable was a “Biomimicry comparison study poster”. Throughout this short task that started with a visit to the Eden Project, we dedicated some time to the observation and appreciation of detailed aspects of different plants, and then imagine the parts that we couldn’t see, and then understand its position and relation within the world and other living and non-living systems.

Together with the different visiting lecturer’s presentations and the recommended bibliography we had quite an eye opening insight into all of the ways that nature has to solve situations. Situations from the ones we can learn to emulate its ways and systems, finding in them solutions to most of our daily design challenges no matter how remote or extreme they could be.

The deliverable for this stage is a poster that showcases similarities between nature and a manmade product; I decided to analyze a frog’s hand and compare to a glove used for swimming. In this exercise I pointed out all the characteristics they have in common, showing how designers make the most of emulating solutions that we can find in nature by transposing them onto other situations where they can be of use. On the example that I represented the transposition is sufficiently obvious, there are other cases where the focus is on a very much larger or smaller, even microscopic or macroscopic scale.

Outcomes

More Power Less water resistence

- Po pul atio n

Water Material From this, we can say that creativity could be hugely influenced and inspired by the Well-being observation of nature in all its expressions.

Energy Even more, it is very likely to find most of Air the answers we look for as designers by observing and learning from nature.

The last two projects of this course were the

a change, improvement or facilities for today’s

most significant for me in the current stage

communities and societies.

of my professional practice. This is because during the previous few years I hadn’t had

Throughout these two tasks “ a design

much of a chance to connect with real

product made out of cork, bamboo or both “

making and materials, all my projects were

and “ a design strategy based on natural or

following a line much more of the style of the

recycle materials to find our own ecosophy

RSA module, where a very objective creative

“ I could truly connect with a real perception

process is necessary in order to achieve

of the materials and a hands on approach

successful outcomes. In said projects

where the focus is on the effect of the uses

the focus was orientated to the design of

that can be given to those materials, resulting

systems and campaigns that would propose

in a inverse process.

With this I mean that the focus in this type of projects is on making a good use of the materials and processes, at the same time than looking after the world’s sustainability in the most ecological way, instead of having as a target a major global issue such as smartphone addiction or trying to improve mental agility in the elderly.

Being this what I considered to be the most enjoyable part of the module, I’ve chosen to focus my report on describing both projects, aiming to give a detailed explanation of the design process, including research, techniques and findings.

For the first of these exercises, I decided to design a cork massage tool, which celebrates some of the properties of the material, such as: warmth and impact absorption.

For the second one, I chose to work with bamboo (a material that was also suggested for the previous exercise) to produce a kitchen utensil that responds to the shape and properties of the raw material. I worked on both projects in a parallel way, and used similar approaches for the research and prototyping of the designs, for that reason in the next pages I will describe both of them simultaneously.

Stage 1 “understanding the materials�

During forums at university we brainstormed about the characteristics of cork and bamboo.

On the following grid there is a comparison of the different properties and qualities of the selected materials:

Cork

Bamboo

Sustainable, renewable and recyclable material.

Slow Growing

Fast Growing

Insulates: sound, electricity, heat and water.

Insulates: water Absorbs: light.

Absorbs: shock, light, softens impact.

It is: light, elastic, flexible, durable, naturally anti-fungal

You can: squeeze it and bend it, pin stuff on it.

and anti-bacterial..

It: floats, burns, break, contracts and expands.

It: floats, burns, breaks.

It is easy to: machine, cut.

It is easy to: machine, cut.

Texture: warm, smooth.

Texture: warm, smooth.

It is normally pre-composed into different cork-base

It is possible to use the raw material, as well as different

materials for manufacturing.

pre-composed bamboo materials.

Can be sculptured, machined and processed to suit both organic and geometric shapes.

All materials characteristics change accordingly to the applied processes.

Stage 2 “Concept development” When working with bamboo, my first and I found inspiration to develop the concept

immediate impulse was to work with the

of each one of the products in very different

raw material; I felt that I had to connect with

ways. In the case of the Cork, at the time

the simplicity of the texture and shapes of

of analyzing the material, I had recently

the plant, looking for something very pure,

purchased a plastic massage ball that didn’t

simple and useful. It was an opposite concept

meet at all my expectations.

development method to the one that emerged from cork (where I was aiming to adapt the

When learning about the characteristics of

material to suit the need of massaging with

cork in a group forum, it came to my mind the

a body friendly material). In this case, I didn’t

thought that: the smoothness, warmth, and

have a need that I wanted to satisfy; I had

impact absorption of it, could have a much

only the willing of working with bamboo, and

better result in contact with the skin, than that

creating something simple and useful. With

of a very hard and cold plastic ball. From that

that start, it took me ages to decide if it was

thought, I started researching online and in

better to design a lampshade, a pencil case,

different shops, the various types of materials

or any other bamboo product that could be

and shapes for massage balls that can be

made. I finally decided to design a cooking

found nowadays in the market. Once I had

utensil, more precisely a “spatula” when I

enough research I draw some proposals and

took a piece of bamboo and started sanding

I was ready for prototyping. Needles to say,

it down, it was only then I realized how I could

this was a much more subjective creative

utilize this material for creating something

process than the one of the RSA project.

simple and useful.

Stage 3 “Prototyping�

In both cases the prototyping process leaded the design outcome. I had the need of relating directly with the materials, using full hands on approach. With the massage ball, I started by taking some pieces out of a cork block with a knife until I had a core piece that I could handle easily enough. The next step was sanding it down to smoothen the surface and see how the shape would roll and move on surfaces. I kept taking bits off with a knife and then sanding it again until I was happy with the way it worked.

In the case of the bamboo spatula, I started sanding down a piece of bamboo without actually knowing what to expect from it. During this process I was following a characteristic of that particular bit of bamboo, on one end it looked like a u and on the other end it was almost flat. So I was sanding the bamboo in order to increase that difference, I wanted my bamboo to be almost flat on one side, and very curved on the other, I had to sand from the interior of the bamboo stick on the flat end, and from the exterior on the curved end to outstand this shapes. After a lot of sanding, I had a very smooth and soft shape that seemed perfect for cooking, gentle to touch, easy to handle, very light, delicate and at the same time really strong and flexible.

Stage 4 “improvements” With both products, in order to re assure my personal “ecosophy” I tried different methods and used different tools to replicate the same designs with only a few slight modifications.

With access to the university’s wood workshop, I first attempted to make a new bamboo spatula using a band saw and a sander; at the beginning everything seemed to be easier and faster. First of all, I already knew that I was making a spatula, which made a huge difference. Anyway, even though using power tools made the process faster it created a huge distance with the actual material and the shape that came out of it. Furthermore, there was so much stress on the material that the spatula broke and I couldn’t finish it.

I decided to try with the massage ball anyway, to see if there was any difference. In this case, I only used a sander, I modified the size of the product to suit a hand better, and in less than half an hour I had a fully finished product.

After the second prototyping attempt I modified even more the dimensions of the massage ball and made a third prototype, the only difference was that for this last one, I decided to mix a bit of both techniques using power tools in Plymouth and then hand sanding the final details in Argentina to maintain a hand-made feel that makes it all in all an enjoyable product. Here is a picture of the final product.

In the case of the spatula, I kept working on the design and made a few modifications that allows easier stirring with a better grip, maintaining very simple and delicate aesthetics and a smooth finish. To create the basic shape of this last prototype I used some power tools, then I finished the final stage with different grades of sand paper by hand. Here is a picture of the outcome.

1

Bamboo spatula design process.

2

3

1

Cork massage ball design process.

2

3

Stage 5 “Conclusion” I realized during this module that the creative process could be influenced by many different things, and in many different ways. It is very important to keep reading and learning about nature and people because there is no good design that doesn’t respond to an empathic or functional need, no matter how objective or subjective the creative process might be.

I’ve also discovered that the use of very primitive processes and techniques allow a much greater connection with the materials and the ergonomics of the final products and it might be my preferred font of inspiration and way to approach design processes from now on. Not forgetting that it is extremely hard to value and price the actual cost of a handmade products because of all the time and effort that it takes, I would love to keep researching on ways to mix a handmade design wit ecological production ways that help reducing time and effort per piece to make this products suitable for the market.

Maria Florencia Parejas. 10 | 01 | 17 .