Evaluation

Sustainability and Recycling Elective Evaluation

1. CONTEXT. In what ways is this piece of work sustainable?

The definition of sustainablility is to ensure that the earth's natural resources stay intact, and that we must not let the usage of renewable materials exceed the rate in which they are replenshed.

My piece of work classes as sustainable because the one materials used to make it is completely recyclable when it is no longer needed, and the other is biodegradable and much more environmentally friendly.

2. CRITERIA: What are the criteria that define your design/artwork as 'good'?

The ways in which my piece of work should be defined as 'good' is by the way that it is eye-catching and has been designed to be most eye-catching and interesting to it's target audience, and that it has a purpose. The purpose of my design is to make recycling seem like less of a chore to younger children, which will encourage them to do more of it.

3. MATERIALS: What results have you found by applying the Life Cycle Analysis to every material you have employed? Where are there still problems?

While applying the Life Cycle Analysis to the materials that I chose to use for my project, I have discovered that vinyl is not biodegradable, but it is completely recyclable, and that it is very durable and waterproof, much moreso than paper which would have required a chemical coating of some description to make it waterproof. I have also discovered the benefits of using soy ink as opposed to regular ink, because it is much more biodegradable and it is much less harmful to the environment.

4. INFLUENCE: What research/facts/statistics/knowledge have directly influenced your work?

Only 13% of all Primary Schools in the UK have recycling facilities and more than 70% of all waste produced by schools is paper and food waste.

Who is the audience for the work? In what way do you hope it will influence an audience?

My target audience for this project is Primary School age children. I hope to influence this audience by if they enjoying recycling whilst in school, they may be more interested in doing it at home, especially if no one in the household recycles, the child could be influenced to start recycling in the home too.

What 'environment' are you protecting/changing with this piece of work?

The 'environment' that I am changing with the project is schools, if that counts as an environment. In my opinion, all schools should recycle, especially when it comes to paper as the majority of school waste is paper, and the 87% of schools that do not recycle are to blame for a large chunk of the paper that goes straight into landfills instead of being recycled.

How does this design/artwork incorporate elements of your own design manifesto?

A part of my design manifesto was directly to encourage more recycling in schools, so this project directly relates to that. Design to inspire was another part of my manifesto, and with this project I hope to inspire more children to recycle both in school and out of it.

5. PURPOSE: What factors helped you decide to do the project you have chosen?

In my opinion, regular recycling bins are usually made in bright colours, one colour specific to the material such as blue for paper, but that does not make the design any more interesting than having a regular bin. By creating a more interesting, and personalised appearance to them, kids will hopefully be more eager to recycle.

6. VISUAL CULTURE: How have you made decisions regarding the visual nature/qualities/icons you have employed?

Through research, I worked out the design elements that appeal moreso to younger children than adults, such as bright colours, cartoon figures and alliteration in text, and applied all of these to my project. My research definately influenced my designs.

In what ways does your work appear 'green'? Are you satisfied by this?

I think the fact that the product is something that can be applied to a regular bin to turn it into a material specific recyling bin makes the work 'green'. The appearance of the design does not look like a typical piece of 'green' and eco-friendly design.

7. DIFFICULTIES: What problems did you face whilst working on this project?

The main problem I faced was not with my design, but with the bin that it was going to be applied to. Swing top bins often come in certain sized, but some are different shapes and sizes, so if I had more time on the project, I would have created several size options for the sticker so that it would fit a wider variety of bins. Another problem with the bin is the fact that most bins in schools are just made from regular plastic, as most schools just buy cheap, durable bins that are going to last, rather than what's more environmentally friendly. While I can't control the materials used for the bin, I can only hope that it can be used for recycling purposes. Plastic bins themselves can always be recycled at the end of their usage too, it's just up to the owner of them.

8. SYSTEMS: What system, if any, does your piece of work belong to/interfere with/improve upon? Please explain.

I do not believe that my design belongs to a particular system

9. COMMENTS: What do you think you have achieved whilst on this elective? Any additional comments?

During this project I have learnt a great deal more about sourcing the materials that I use, and being more aware of how they might be more harmful to the environment than I realised. I have not done much design aimed at children before and through my research I feel that I now know more about how to design for kids in future. Throughout the elective I have become much more aware about how important recycling really is and it has made me much more conscious about the products I buy. I have a much wider knowledge of the subject and think it will aid me in future projects.

-HJ x

Stickers

The Paper Pirate

The Can Cowboy

These are the full size stickers that are to be printed on vinyl and applied to regular swing top bins. They are wider than the bin so that the design goes edge to edge and the excess is just stuck to the side of the bin. It is only a matter of a couple of centimetres wider on either side so it's not a waste of materials, it's just there to ensure that the design goes from edge to edge when applied to the bin.

I really like the way that these designs came out. They were taken from sketches on my design sheets and coloured using simple, bright colours. The designs were inspired by images of stereotypical pirates and cowboys. I chose to look into these two characters because I was researching professions, if a pirate is a profession, that are most recognisable to children.

Most kids have an idea of what they want to be when they grew up, if somewhat unrealistic, I took the professions from these kind of 'dream jobs'.

I wanted to use alliteration in the titles for the stickers that will be stuck to the lids of the bins, as through research I discovered that children respond to rhymes and alliteration though looking at children's books. So 'The Paper Pirate' and 'The Can Cowboy' were produced.

I looked at a variety of fonts that related to each character and stuck them up for people's opinions on them. After I had taken in the responses, I chose and used the most popular font choice for each character.

Both fonts were sourced from dafont.com and the pirate font is called 'Pieces of Eight' and the cowboy font is called 'Drift Type'.

-HJ x

The product.

Only 13% of all primary schools in the UK have recycling facilities and this is something that I definately intend to deal with using my project and my designs.

Through research, I have discovered that the majority of children, both in school and out of it, see recycling as just another chore to do and so are not very enthusiatic about it.

I feel that by making the containers that people use to recycling look more interesting and appealing to kids, they will see it as less of a chore.

The target audience of this project is primary school aged children. Bright colours are appealing to younger children, as well as alliteration and cartoon figures. I have combined these factors to create the following images.


The product is a vinyl sticker that can be applied to a regular swing top bin, which saves the schools from having to purchase ready made recycling bins.

I have considored the materials that this will be made with. I considored printing into paper stickers but these would need some form of coating to make them waterproof and easy to clean, and using such chemicals will do more harm to the environment than good.

Vinyl is not biodegradable, but it is completely recyclable for when the stickers are no longer needed.

The kind of ink used to print onto the vinyl would be soy ink, which is much better for the environment than regular ink.

-HJ x

Cardboard Furniture!

I have just discovered something amazing. Cardboard furniture. These amazing shelf units, I found on Instractables, where it teaches you how to make your own. One day, methinks.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-shelf-for-groceries That's the link either way.

The designer is someone who goes by the name of Scriptone.



The next amazing thing that I discovered was this Dutch designer called Joost van Bleiswijk. He recreated the interior of an Amsterdam Ad Agency using nothing but interlocking pieces of cardboard. I think he ended up using roughly 500 square feet of cardboard, but he didn't use any glue or nails or anything. Everything just slotted together, and he had over 1500 seperate pieces.

Now that takes some planning!



-HJ x

Lynn Kingelin

This recycling bin is made from 100% compressed shredded paper and was designed by Lynn Kingelin of Ikuinen Design.

Like the Riccardo Nannini design, having a bin made of paper itself is a really good way of recycling paper into something completely functional. In some ways, it's better than Nannini's design because his design will, in the end, run out, because you will have thrown away all of the bags that make it up.

Kingelin's bin is completely solid and usuable again and again, it's just as good as a metal or plastic bin, but is much more environmentally friendly.

And in a wierd way, I really like the way that it looks because it's much more interesting than regular bins. It just looks green.
-HJ x

BAMBOO LAPTOP.

Wow I really, really want one of these. Screw getting a macbook, this thing is simply amazing.

It's made by ASUS and is said to have a 35-70% longer lifespan than a regular laptop. I'm not entirely sure why, apparently it has a super duper new hybrid engine in it, but on top of looking great, it's made of more than 50% renewable materials.

Bamboo is said to rival metal in strength, but it completely biodegradable and renewable, I mean, you can't get much better than that.

Unfortunately, it's not a full sized laptop, but its just a notebook. I guess it's a step in the right direction though.

It's probably much lighter than a regular laptop too.

-HJ x

Ovetto Bin

Gianluca Soldi is the designer responsible for the Ovetto recycling bin. It is a very unique design and reseambles and giant egg, very modern, in my opinion. The kind of thing you'd find in one of those minimalist appartments.


Anyway, it has three different sections inside it, for paper, plastic bottles and glass, and it even has a platsic bottle crusher on the top of it so that you can fit even more into it before you need to empty it.

As shown in the image, the sections all come out seperately which makes it very easy to empty.

It comes in several colours too, if it just has to go with something else.


It just looks great, really. Innovation in bin design!

-HJ x

Riccardo Nannini

This excellent waste paper bin was designed by Riccardo Nannini and is made of recycled paper. It consists of 50 waste paper baskets made of thin recycled paper that slot over one another so that when the top bin is full, it can be removed, and it and it's paper content can go straight into the recycle bin again, and the next bin is ready for use.

And on top of being awesome, it looks really good too. Aesthetically pleasing, I would so have one of these.

Unfortunately, currently it is only good for paper waste, so it would probably suit being used in an office, as any food waste and such wouldn't be contained by the thin paper.

-HJ

Jenny Hurth

Elbow Grease Designs is a company that is based in the San Francisco Bar Area and recycles huge vinyl banners by turning them into things like tote bags, portfolios, notebooks.

These banners are enormous and would have simply ended up in a landfill if they hadn't been taken by this company.

I want the notebook, or a portfolio. I'm not much of a handbag person.

Shipping would probably kill me though.



A phrase on their website that strikes me is,

"It is our goal to make beautiful and practical items out of what has been discarded."

Rather than simply recycling the materials to be broken down and made into new materials, I really like the idea of turning it into something else entirely.

These vinyl banners make perfect bags, because they are waterproof, and very durable.

Turning them into something else is an excellent way of recycling products that are not neccessarily biodegradable and take some effort to recycle.

-HJ x

Statistics

'Only 13% of primary schools in the UK recycle'

'Younger children are attracted by animation, cartoon figures, sounds, bright colours, and other special effects'

'70% of all school waste is paper and food waste'

Recycling Project

WHY - After researching, I have found that it is a fact that not enough schools in the UK recycle, and that is a lot of wastage that goes straight to the landfills. Only 13% of primary schools in the UK have recycling facilities and I aim to make recycling more appealing to young children.

HOW - I aim to make recycling more appealing to a younger audience by designing a cover, or sticker that would be applied to an ordinary bin, rather than design a new bin entirely that would have to be bought. It would be much more cost effective to the buyer to only have to buy a sticker rather than buy a whole new bin. The materials used are going to have to be considored regarding what is the most eco-friendly and whether or not the product is biodegradable or recyclable.

WHAT - I will need to investigate into the LCA of the materials I plan to use and whether or not they are environmentally friendly.

WHO - My target audience is primary school aged children. it's a pretty specific audience but I feel that the design would not be so appealing to older children.

WHERE - This product is going to be designed to be used mainly in schools, indoors and outdoors so the product will have to be waterproof and durable.

My Action Plan

The project that I am going to be doing for my Recycling and Sustainability elective is to design a recycling bin that makes recycling more appealing to children. The new recycling bin must be eye catching and more appealing to children then the boring ones the councils have. Another fact is that the recycling bins provided by the councils are often huge things that kids can't reach to put anything into.

What kid is going to be able to reach that?

This Snoopy recycling bin is an example of a 'fun' recycling bin placed in a school that encourages the kids to recycle more.

My plan of action is to design recycling bins for schools that are the right size for kids and will be more appealing to the children, making them want to recycle. The age group that I am looking at will be younger children, under 12, because kids older than that are pretty ecologically aware anyway and don't need bright colours and characters to attract their attention.

Instead of simply making the bins brightly coloured, I intend to personalise them using cartoonish characters.

WEEK ONE: Research and preliminary sketches, pick an idea to run with.
WEEK TWO: Development of ideas, and experimentation
WEEK THREE: Developing the final idea and preparing the presentation.

-HJ x

Visual Exercises for Visual People

Okay so, during this week's session we did an exercise similar to what we do in Graphic Design occassionally, which is to split a sheet into however many sections, start one panel and pass it around the table, working off a theme or working off each other's drawings. The theme that I was given was nature, and the scene in the top-left corner is mine. Moving in a clockwise direction, it goes Me, Steph, Matt, Ian, Carolyn, Hannah, Nic, and Lauren. Isn't it beautiful?

For the next one, we divided the sheet into eight strips, and put a belief of ours into the top box, and passed it along again, with people working off the image before theirs. Moving down, this goes me, Lauren, Nic, Hannah, Carolyn, Ian, Matt, and Steph. Interesting to see that the subject matter stayed the same all the way through.


-HJ x

Places I want to save/preserve

The most obvious of all places to save, I think, would be the world's rainforests. getting cut down for land for animals to graze on and stuff, and subsequently, destroying the wild animals' habitats. Many animals are endangered because their habitats are being destroyed, and I do not approve of that at all. It's just not cool.

"Biologists have estimated that large numbers of species are being driven to extinction (possibly more than 50,000 a year; at that rate, says E. O. Wilson of Harvard University, a quarter or more of all species on Earth could be exterminated within 50 years) due to the removal of habitat with destruction of the rainforests"

Next up, the Polar Ice Caps, which are melting fast, and thus making the sea level rise, all due to Global Warming.

And this also fits in with the destruction of habitats part that I mentioned earlier when talking about the rainforest. Because obviously, the polar bears live on the ice, and if that's disappearing, there's less room for them, and where are they gonna live after that?

This chap right here is not enjoying global warming one bit. He's like, oh no!

Poor baby.

"Over the past five years, studies have found that melting Antarctic ice caps contribute at least 15% to the current global sea level rise of 2mm (0.08in) a year. "

I think that this is one of my favourite images about global warming. I've looked at this image before in my main blog while talking about visual syndoches and such, but still. I believe that showing the world as the yolk of a frying egg is a perfect visual metaphor for what's going on with climate change.

I wish we got Time Magazine here in the UK, if only for the covers.


Next is the English countryside. It's not in a particular amount of danger at the moment, but is always threatened by industry and expansion of cities. The English countryside is beautiful, and something that the British pride themselves on, and really, not something I want to lose. It's something I want to preserve.

"Tranquil countryside declined by 20% between the 1960s and 1994"

The Dead Sea, in Jordan, is a highly endangered location due to Global Warming. Combine that with the constant human interference of tourists, the Dead Sea is shrinking rapidly! I know that it's a huge tourist attraction, and it might make me a hypocrit, but it's something that I want to see myself. I'd love to visit it. But at the rate that the Dead Sea is evaporating, scientists believe that if Global Warming continues at the rate that it is, this amazing place could be gone in around fifty years.

"due to irrigation and human intervention, the Dead Sea is shrinking at an unprecedented rate, and according to experts, will completely evaporate in approximately fifty years"

Last but by no means least, Venice. Again, Global Warming and rising sea levels combined with the city's crumbling foundations, Venice is sinking. It is listed as another of the world's most endangered locations. The crumbling foundations, we can't do much about, but Global Warming, well we can try. Venice is certainly a place I would love to visit before it sinks.

"Venice, which rests on millions of wooden piles pounded into marshy ground, has sunk by about seven centimetres a century for the past 1,000 years.

But the U.S. study says that it has subsided 24 centimetres in the past 100 years.

However, Venice's mayor Paolo Costa says the report is inaccurate, although a study carried out by the city authorities concedes it will sink between 20 and 50 centimetres by 2050."

My Manifesto

My Manifesto.

- Design to raise awareness of global warming and ways in which it can be prevented.
-To encourage more people to recycle.
-To encourage more recycling in schools.
- Make mistakes and learn from them.
- Learn new skills wherever possible.
- Explore many ideas before settling on a concept.
- Get all ideas down on paper, even the bad, obvious ones, if only to get them out of the way.
- Design to inspire, make sure the message is clear.
- Take risks.
- Don't throw things away.
- Design process is just as important as design outcome.

-HJ x

Raw Material Presentation

For my raw material presentation, I chose to look at Carbon. My first choice was cotton, but it didn't save onto my memory stick and I had to re-do it, except Ian and Matt's covered cotton, so I changed my subject matter. So this is the presentation that I made and presented, albeit a little late, to my class. Carbon is an interesting material.






-HJ x

'Good' Design.

For our... homework, shall we say, we were told to find and bring in five examples of what we considored to be 'good' design, and here are the ones that I came up with.

The paperclip. According to wikipedia, or, from what I can gather, they're not exactly clear on who invented the paperclip, but I'm going out on a limb and saying that it was invented by Herbert Spencer. Anyway, I have chosen this because it is an iconic piece of design that is purely function over form, although I have to admit, it's not a bad looking piece of kit either way. Also, fun fact: A man called Kyle MacDonald started trading items, beginning with a paperclip, and ended up with a house!

Okay, so, most people who know me know that I dislike the Bauhaus a lot. I'm not discrediting the fact that it was a huge and influential movement in design history, but still. I had to do nothing but Bauhaus related stuff for a whole year at A-level, and I have to say, I was not too impressed. As much as I don't like the Bauhaus, I have to admit that the Wassily chair is a good piece of design to me. It is very Bauhaus in it's 'Function over Form' aspect, though like the paperclip, it doesn't look bad. It actually looks kind of comfy. I always tilt my chair back when I'm sat at my desk, so the tilted seat would probably make this a good chair for me to own. I mean, if I'm already tilted, there's not much chance of the chair falling over and damaging me, hm?


The Coca Cola logo was designed by Frank Mason Robinson in 1885. I considor this to be 'good' design because it has barely changed in over a century, and it is iconic to the point that everybody knows it. It is a design that has lasted years without needing to be changed.


The London Underground 'Tube' Map. This was designed by Harry Beck in 1933, and is now considored to be 'iconic' and has gone down in design history. Royal Mail even put it on a stamp. It is one of the most simple, universally understood maps in the world, and other countries have since adopted the design for their transport systems, such as subways and bus routes.

And finally, the canvas bag. not this one in particular, just canvas bags in general. Personally, I own three Morrisons' Bags For Life, and I take them with me everytime I go. They're really sturdy and hold a lot more, and I like feeling that I'm helping out by not using plastic bags. I learnt a lot about plastic bags during the 'No News is Good News' brief. As well as being 'good' design, the canvas bag fits easily under the 'Sustainability' title too, which is always a good thing.

-HJ x

Welcome!

Welcome one and all to the blog of my ten week elective, Recycling and Sustainability, with Jo!

-HJ x