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Open Magnets Brief: Rationale: Practically apply the theories of open design, communities of practice, co-creation. global sharing and local fabrication. Practically demonstrate that open innovation, as commonly applied to product design, can also be applied to graphic design communities. Background - Fridge magnets are an example of a mundane, commodified object that could be creatively improved through the application of an open design model. Magnets have standard sizes that can inform restrictions on the design process and spur competition within the community. Simple Brief: Propose an open community website for the creation of fabricated typographical and illustrated fridge magnets. Aim: Demonstrate how this system could work and indicate the roles it would provide for the designer and consumer. Brand the website and produce clear documentation for the community. Demonstrate how commercial and open models could co-exist in this environment.
Evaluation: The system I have designed is an open, community-driven website based around the design and distribution of laser-cut fridge magnets. Files are available to download directly and would be manufactured at the consumer’s end, giving them options about where it is made, what materials are used and their origin, the scale and colour of the final fabricated design. Open Magnets demonstrates practically the shift in the role of designers as discussed in my essay. By considering the success of mammoth open design networks such as Thingiverse, I have created a niche community site focussed around one specific product: The fridge magnet. I have taken inspiration from what Open Structures was able to achieve for modular product assembly and extended this kind of thinking to something more inherently created by a graphic designer. In this way I have tried to consider the future of graphic design as a specific profession within the Open Design movement.
I have structured Open Magnets to empower the consumer to
have an input in their consumption of a product, something which goes beyond merely a list of customisations and actively involves them in the process of fabrication. The designer of the downloaded file recognises that their product is not complete, and that while recommendations are made as to materials etc the downloader is free to alter, experiment and ignore this advice as much as they wish to suit context, taste and budget. This is something that is not possible through traditional manufacturing, but which easy global fabrication makes possible. Open Magnets demonstrates, as discussed in my essay, that while this seems like a limitation on the designer’s control, it is in fact a huge opportunity to change the way we think about design for the greater good of innovation, creativity and the consumption of goods. Importantly, I have indicated through this practical experiment, one way in which commercial and open systems can co-exist. The ability to monetise networks such as this is a challenge inherited from Web 2.0, but for which I have tried to find a solution by including a ‘premium’ section of the site, where commercial type foundries will be able to make their graphic products available on the network as downloadable fridge magnets for a fee. I feel that I have been able to create a feasible proposition as to how a service such as this might function and in doing so have proven that concepts such as open design, communities of practice, cocreation, global sharing and local fabrication can be just as valuable in the field of graphic design.