Week 4

What I did

Saturday/Sunday: [1 hr] Printed templates from the books I got at the Duderstadt to begin to experiments on.

Monday: [2.5 hr]Worked more on experiments, this time using only a simple cube structure, then manipulating it 6 different ways. Not one experiment came out the way I had imagined in my head. I scored and folded trying to transform, but the physical pieces didn't do what I had expected. It was refreshing to be shown that thought alone doesn't solve everything.

[.5 hr] spent sketching and revising my two paragraph proposal from the last thursday.








Tuesday:
After seeing our group experiments, I decided to try to flesh my plans out with a visual web of my project. This really helped me organize my thoughts after throwing despair upon the group about how I felt in a rut. Stephanie suggested I include illustrations in my web instead of just words, since I was getting caught in a million thoughts at once.

[3hr] I separated the packaging routes by "sustainability" and "play".
In the sustainable category were "by:material" and "by: lifespan".
Material listed paper as being the best sustainable choice due to it's recyclability (is this a real word?), with metals and plastics as the worst. Metals take a lot of energy to be extracted and plastic take a lot of energy to be refined as well as the specific types that are hard to recycle.  
Under lifespan I included "reuse" and "transformation". Both routes could sustain the life of a package for a bit longer than usual by either continuing the packages use or by turning it into something new.

Play is divided "by:narrative" and "by:toyform". The narrative section was divided into "narrative story" and "poetry (visual/written)".

Yet, I knew that with the handling of a package comes a certain kind of play, that I labeled "Interaction". This is crucial in my project, because not only do I want the packaging to be sustainable, I also want to develop a behavior and personal interaction from the user.

[.5 hr] I also scanned charts from Designing Sustainable Packaging by Boylston that illustrated the routes of making sustainable packaging.

Wednesday: [2 hr] I began to create a creative process chart with removable modules that I could jot notes down in. The first two sections I focused on were "Research/Gather" and "Brainstorm". I wanted to revisit these to see what information I had accumulated to better understand what I want my project to be.
The categories were; book, interview, observe, templates, artist examples, and make.
My observations consisted of sticking my head in trashcans to find the most thrown out packaging. Suprisingly, paper coffee cups were by far the most thrown out item. This seems counter-intuitive to me. Why use paper if it isn't being recycled? What use is it? Although it does decompost, it has more potential than just sitting in a landfill.
During interviews with peers, I found that the packaging they wanted redesigned the most were plastic bags. Specifically, zip-lock bags. They said that they throw away so many a day, and their lifespan is so short. The gave examples of good design, such as portable coffee mugs, things with a greater lifespan, to avoid using disposable materials.

[.25 hr] I began to look at the GOOD magazine website to see if there were any articles remotely related to my ideas. They have a whole section devoted to environment. There I found this article (Replenish spray bottle) which I printed out and hung in my studio. The project is a reusable spray bottle made of PET-1 plastic (the easiest to recycle) that can be reused by attaching modules of liquid concentrate. The concentrate contains multiple bottles worth of detergent, so you eliminate waste by using the one small module. Replenish is based on the statistic that "of the 60 billion pounds of plastic discarded annually, only 7 percent is recycled". It's crazy to think about.

I tried to think of constraints to help myself focus on what to do here:contraints for hand-work.

Thursday:

I spoke to Juliet about the critique for next Tuesday. I talked to her about how I felt my project was steering more towards produce as it's first manifestation. I showed her this project:

boxedwaterisbetter.com

She suggested to make a mockup of a package/product that relates to sustainability as a way to start thinking. 

[2 hr]
I took a trip up to Kroger and the Asian market on Plymouth road to observe packaging issues or any inspirations I could find. I noticed that meats are packaged wrapped multiple times in saran, for leakage purposes. I wondered why a butcher will wrap you meat in paper and it's okay to take home though. I also found a package with a small chamber for a piece of steak, which seems extremely wasteful to waste so much plastic for such a small portion.

[.75 hr] Marian and Rebecca brought up that it's bothersome to pick up fresh fruits and vegetables from the market and store them in thin plastic bags. Just like zip-locks, these bags are discarded shortly after use, don't provide much protection, and are wasteful.

Another thing, why are paper-towels and toilet paper wrapped in plastic?

I did observe items that were packaged in plastic. Fresh baked breads were packaged in thin paper bags, dry goods like flour or sugar, and surprisingly some liquids.

I ended up buying useless items that had interesting packages, such as 40cent soap wrapped in paper, boxes with perforations, and hexagonal boxes. I also looked like a creeper walking around the grocery store taking pictures of the food that I was pretending to buy. Anyway..

What I discovered/encountered
After interviewing and observing, I noticed that most of the design issues in packaging seem to be related to produce. This looks like it will be my place to jump into designing solutions even if it just begins to be an exercise for my project down the line. For now I want to try to focus on aspects of sustainability before working on community or interactive aspects of the project (interactive would include some transformation).
What to do next
For critique I want to create a mockup product/package to show the class with possible branding. I also want to go the other direction if possible on my visual web, and make a mockup version of a playful package with poetry. That way I can get a feel for which side I'm leaning most towards.