On Ross Lovegrove sharing organic design

This is a review of a speech that Ross Lovegrove delivered at the Ted conference in February 2005 (see- http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ross_lovegrove_shares_organic_designs.html).

Lovegrove highlights the need for 'fat-free' design, and elaborates on the means of finding inspiration for such designs.

Lovegrove discusses the notion of 'fat-free' design as being 'lean and efficient' items where the material and the form are reduced to their bare essentials. He demonstrates this vision in his free-flowing water bottle, the 'Go' chair and the spiralled stair case featured in his studio.

Each of these pieces embodies the 'fat-free' philosophy, but they also display Lovegrove's process of inspiration/development. Lovegrove finds his inspiration in nature, as he regards nature as removing extraneous items from a form. The water bottle was inspired by the flow of water, and the 'Go' chair was developed with mind to the interlacing of a skeleton.

The stair case in Lovegrove's studio is an example of embracing advancing material technologies. The stairs are formed from a single element, while the hand rail is carbon fiber. In his words "modern materials allows us to do modern things".

Lovegrove's talk is important in highlighting the significance of finding sources of inspiration, and recognising that inspiration can be from a seemingly unrelated source. He also articulates the elegance and beauty that can be derived from simple, minimal forms.

Bad Design

My submission for the Bad Design assignment was the Soft Wrap package. Like many wraps it comes in a package featuring a resealable strip.

However, the poor visual design of the package leads the consumer to cut below the resealable strip, which undermines the purpose of the strip.

Peer Reviews

Fil Pulido

Brett Rushbrook

Jonathan Biet

Juliary Xiao

Wawen Chen

Project 1 -Experience Enrichment: P-Ug

The P-Ug (Penguin Mug) is intended to accentuate the feeling of indulgence when enjoying a hot drink.

The key element to this design is to allow the drinker to experience the heat of the drink in the palms of his/her hands. The design enables the user to grasp the P-Ug in both hands, in a fashion resembling the way one might cup water from a stream.

The resemblance to a penguin was organic, and emerged as the shape evolved. However, the resemblance is appropriate to the purpose of the P-Ug. The desire of the design is to accentuate the sense of pampering, and indulgence one may experience when drinking a hot drink. The visual resemblance to a penguin (a creature associated with the cold) creates a juxtaposition that reminds the drinker of winter cold so that they may savour the heat of their drink.

The features of the design are:

Two lever-like handles- typically mugs have one handle that is attached to the mug at the top and bottom. This tends to inhibit rather than assist in holding the mug, as the drinker can often only fit three or four fingers through the handle.

The two lever-like handles enable the drinker to cup the P-Ug in her/his hands because there is no bottom handle connection that will interfere with the drinkers fingers.

The penguin-like body- the shape of the P-Ug's body is broad, and tapers at the base. This shape matchs the general shape of cupped hands, in order to allow the drinker to cup her/his hands around the P-Ug without overlapping fingers. The front of the P-Ug narrows to a (beak-like) point. This provides the drinker with a clear lip from which to sip the drink, while also providing a resting place on either side for the drinker to place her/his thumbs.