J08: Coleman Project Documentation

Let the Fun Begin...

Team Members Blogs:
Breanna {http://breannaraynedsgn200.blogspot.com/}
Devin {http://macadocious.blogspot.com/}
Jessica {http://jklinedesign200.blogspot.com/}
Megan {http://lynchdsgn200.blogspot.com/}
Zach {http://dsgnproberg.blogspot.com/}

This week my team and I began thinking of ideas for the project. We decided to create an environmentally friendly lamp, marketed toward children. Our idea behind the lamp is that it will make children want to learn more about the outdoors, so later on in life, they will refer back to the Colman brand for all of their outdoor camping needs. We have been coming up with many ideas and know what the lamp will look like and the packaging design. We have decided where our kiosk will go, but still need to work on the design and details. We are still looking into the logo. We have yet to commit to a name, but have a few choices. The lamp is made up of everyone's ideas, not just one person which makes working with everyone easy because we all have great ideas.

When we first started working together, I came up with the idea to make something Green, seeing as it is all the rage these days. I also thought bedroom furniture would be a good place to start, which led to the lamp and accessories idea. I guess you could say I've worked as the scribe for the most part,a long with a few other team members. I have always enjoyed working with groups because I think I am able to collect everyone's ideas and put them on paper. Although our documentation may look a bit scattered as of now, that will soon change. I like to keep organized, because I work much better that way, so next week I will begin to organize our notes and work on the detail of our project. I think once we have our main ideas put down on paper, we will be much more efficient in working on the details and beginning to put everything together. For now this project seems pretty fun, but that feeling might change by the end of the whole thing...I guess we'll have to see.

Documentation:

RR08: Heskett Ch. 9-10

The sentence that most stood out to me in this weeks reading was "...if design is to be something that really distinguishes a company against its competitors, on something more a passing, superficial level, it requires consistent nurturing as something capable of delivering unique ideas". I think this is trying to say that it is one thing to copy another companies idea and change very little to a product, but it is another to fully develop an idea as your own. In order to continue designing, we need to constantly be coming up with new ideas. It may seem like people have already come up with everything we will ever need, but there are still millions of ideas out there that can make things better.
Oh yeah, I also like the caption under the potato peeler on page 119. "Needed by some, appeal for all: OXO Goodgrips kitchen tools-"Y" peeler". I don't know if it was meant to be a pun towards the marketing campaign for the product but I thought the "appeal" part was funny, since the product is used to "peel" vegetables. As you can see I'm easily amused.

J07: Yet Another Scavenger Hunt

Online Scavenger Hunt...
Manufacturers and retailers who specialize in outdoor camping and recreation products:

1. L.L.Bean
http://www.llbean.com/?nav=gn

2. Dick's Sporting Goods
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/home/index.jsp

3. Eddie Bauer
http://www.eddiebauer.com/home.jsp

4. Coleman
http://www.coleman.com/

5. Schwinn 
http://www.schwinn.com/

Images of trade shows from the outdoor recreation and sporting industry:

 

Manufacturers and retailers who specialize in indoor home goods products:

1. Bed Bath & Beyond
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/default.asp

2. Pier 1 Imports
 http://www.pier1.com/

3. Crate & Barrel
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/

4. ETHAN ALLEN
http://www.ethanallen.com/

5. IKEA  
 http://www.ikea.com/

Images of trade shows from the indoor home goods market:

 

What is an indoor home good?
An efficient and sometimes decorative item used in a household.


Images of different types of home goods:

Clocks

Lamps

Fans

CR07: Marshmallow Tower

I enjoyed listening to the designers of Cobego. The marshmallow tower contest was interesting. I enjoyed getting into a group and trying to figure out how to build the tower because that is what being a designer is really like. I think in order to come up with the best ideas it is important that you can throw ideas out to others and hear their feedback. Plus I've learned through this class that I will most likely be working with a group of people when designing, so group skills are important for the job.

This week I tried out the marshmallow tower project with my siblings and mom.

After 15 minutes this is what they came up with:
Team 1: Oldest Sister (Jackie) and Brother in Law (Forrest)

Team 2: Brother (Jordan) and Mom (Janet)

And you can't forget about Jenny:

RR07:McDonough Ch.4-6

The final few chapters seemed quite scientific and dealt with biology for the most part. Seeing this made me see how one sided the book is. I mean, it looks at the past a lot and shows how wonderful everything was and then the Industry came (dun dun dun!!!). I agree that the world itself was a much better place, having nature run its coarse and recycle EVERYTHING, but without the Industrial Revolution, we would not have the technology that we have today. Granted some technology we could do without, but if you look at what researchers and scientists are able to do in the health industry alone, with all of the medicine and tools they have created, I think the industrial revolution can be seen as a really good thing. But it does make you wonder what the world would be like if the industrial revolution never took place. And we can always look at the past and think about what should have happened, but what has been done is done and it is up to us as designers to look at the mistakes made in the past and not make the same ones. After finishing the book, I was somewhat disappointed. I guess I was hoping it would talk more about new ideas that people have come up with for helping our current environmental issues. Instead it looked more at the technical terms and steps towards eco-effectiveness.

P.S. I was flipping through channels the other day and guess what was on....

RIP-A Remix Manifesto