The 6th batch of Industrial Design graduates from the National University of Singapore will be hosting their graduation show at The Central (Singapore), from 30th May to 1st June. If you’re in town, do drop by and check it out. If not, you can always drop by their website, which also hosts some of their works:
This is the fourth (and last) part of the the GreenHouse Effect concept series, showing and explaining some of the thoughts behind the design concepts. The GreenHouse Effect is an exhibition by Orcadesign as part of the Singapore Design Festival, exploring what it means to tackle sustainability through design.
We have many mobile and electronic accessories, and when we charge them we tend to leave it on and forget about them (or go to sleep). Even while they are fully charged, the devices still consume phantom electricity. There’s also always the nagging suspicion that such overcharging may reduce battery life.
Borrowing a familiar metaphor found in baby pull-string toys, the Lullaby Plug is a power socket with an intuitive timer interface. Pulling the string down activates the power supply; the length you pulled is proportionate to the time you require (markings are on the string for every hour). As the device gets charged, the ring slowly retreats upwards until it finally cuts off power after the desired timespan.
Newspaper recycling is one of the more accessible and common eco practice (at least here) - they are often however either stacked at a corner messily, or are relegated to the storeroom. Their fate somewhat mirrors the mindset of households - they are conceived more as an inconvenient waste rather than a valuable resource input (albeit recycled).
The PaperHaus elegantly houses the newspapers, fitting into the living room environment (where newspapers are often read/kept). Flaps on the four sides keep strings neatly tucked. The graphics on the rear wall does more than lifting the product visually - it also indicates how many kilograms of newspapers are accumulated. When you’re done, you can just unzip the edges, tie and bring the newspaper for sale/recycling.
[This post is a part of the series on the 'GreenHouse Effect' exhibition under the Singapore Design Festival]. This will be the final post on it - if you have any comments or critiques of any of the ideas (or the thought behind), let ‘em loose!]
This is the third part of the the GreenHouse Effect concept series, showing and explaining some of the thoughts behind the design concepts. The GreenHouse Effect is an exhibition by Orcadesign as part of the Singapore Design Festival, exploring what it means to tackle sustainability through design.
This is the Bottleneck Saver - it’s the little black ‘C’ shape thing on the neck of the nozzle. It’s a little simple device designed to attach onto the necks of common dispensers - be it shampoo, lotions or handwash - and it works by restricting the ‘travel’ of the nozzle (and thus the final amount dispensed each time). It may not be a product for everyone - some do need that much of whatever solution is in the bottle - but what Bottleneck Saver gives is a choice. Just think of the average crew-cut guy - typically he doesn’t need all that shampoo for one full press; by natural instinct, however, he would have dispensed a full amount. In addition, manufacturers always have an incentive to make users use more of their products - in some ways, this design attempts to counter that inherent bias in product design. It’s not only less of the soap/shampoo that you save - eventually you’d save more water too.
The product in this picture is actually in the top right corner - it is a set of stickers known as Sticker Identity. Often, we sub-consciously or conveniently reuse old products for new usages - we might make do with the back-of-a-notepad as a mousepad; we might use a CD jewel case as a coaster, etc. This is in fact a good practice - we don’t really need to always get a new item. The sticker set affirms these actions - iconic graphics on the sticker affirms the new-found identity of old products - in someways, you can think of it as a ‘re-birth certificate’.
[This post is a part of the series on the 'GreenHouse Effect' exhibition under the Singapore Design Festival].
This is the second part of the the GreenHouse Effect concept series, showing and explaining some of the thoughts behind the design concepts. The GreenHouse Effect is an exhibition by Orcadesign as part of the Singapore Design Festival, exploring what it means to tackle sustainability through design.
This is the Black Out Lamp. In normal days, it sits pretty as per any normal table lamp, casting light through the efficient LED light bulbs. But it’s more than just a table lamp - if and when you need a torch, you can actually detach the ‘lamp’ portion and use it as a torch, as the internal circuit can be switched to run on battery mode instead. For the same function (of illumination), we don’t really need two separate products (lamp + torch). They could very well be the same thing - plus you can definitely find it much easier compared to ransacking your third drawer in the store room.
The question - what exactly is a vase? Do we need a real, whole (and pretty) object to place flowers in, or is a simple facade up to the mark? Made of industrial felt, the construction of the Facade Vase is absolutely simple - two flat pieces of felt sewn together. It then becomes a parasite onto a ‘partner’ as structure - the omnipresent PET bottle that we almost certainly can find around our house - and becomes a fully functional vase. It is a versatile design too - different silhouette gives rise to rather different visual outcome.
Post-It pads are almost exclusively used on one side only. We also often scribble only on one side of our notepads. So, we have two ‘one-sided’ products. In this concept Post-It Notepad, the second life usability is built into the design. You start off with the notepad (using one side, presumably). When you’re done, you can remove the cover, turn it over and you get a Post-It pad. A product’s reincarnation is straightforward and integrated within the design - turning two ‘one-sided’ products into a single ‘double-sided’ one.
[This post is a part of the series on the 'GreenHouse Effect' exhibition under the Singapore Design Festival].
Cup Lasso might require some understanding of the Singaporean context. When you buy a take-away hot drink in a coffee shop, chances are you’d end up with a disposable plastic cup carrier (the green thing on the left photo). Cup Lasso (pictured on the right) is a permanent alternative to this item. Apart from reducing the usage of plastic carriers (which may occur on a daily basis - e.g. for your post-lunch coffee), it can also be an identity, a statement in support of being more sustainable - somewhat like the Live Strong bracelets.
‘Bin There’ is a table with an in-built rubbish trapdoor. While eliminating an unnecessary extra rubbish bin, it also makes it more convenient for the users, who can simply sweep their tabletop wastes into a plastic bag below. Eco-design does not necessitate sacrifices - in some cases, they can even enhance the functions. The plastic bag can be hanged onto sliding hooks below the table, accommodating a wide variety of plastic bag sizes.
WaxPod brings a familiar eco-concept to a new area of application. Refillable shampoos, lotions, etc. have been around for a long time - they consume less resources as the refills are packed in less energy and resource intensive packagings. Why not hair wax then - as it is a product that one uses constantly? In WaxPod, the white external casing is permanent, while refills come in ‘pods’ (black parts). The slits you see at the bottom of the product are vents for an optional air-freshener module, which are frequently deployed within the same setting. This reduces the total packaging and housing materials required substantially.
[This post is part of the series on the 'GreenHouse Effect' exhibition under the Singapore Design Festival].
Concurrent with the (somewhat) regular blog posts and tidbits scoured from web, I’d be doing a series of blog posts on some of the exhibitions and going through designs featured in the Singapore Design Festival(SDF) over the next few days. The first (only?) one that I will cover is the GreenHouse Effect, which is conceptualized by Orcadesign especially for the design festival.
[Disclosure: I am part of the team that conceptualized and designed for this exhibition. Which, helpfully, also affords me some 'behind-the-scenes' thoughts to the exhibits.]
It was clear from the start (about 3-4 months ago) that we wanted to do an exploration into green/sustainable design. This is a major (almost too overwhelming) topic in design recently, and very likely will continue to be so. The exploration for a more focused theme soon kicked off - and we reached an agreement of what we are not going for rather quickly. There are some prevalent ’standards’ or approaches in ecodesign:
It’s not that the principles behind those trends are wrong - in fact, those are still important considerations and tools to sustainable living. However, they are admittedly tired - we’ve seen it over and over, while we are still nowhere in sight to being meaningfully greener. This was the question we set to ourselves: “what could green design be - beyond statistics, technology and sacrifices?”. Where and how could designers contribute? How can we more meaningfully connect with people through better (green) designs?
How do we create products that are appealing to the users not simply because they are green, but because they are inherently superior (and green too!)? If a greener product is better - whether in function, aesthetics or meaning - than the ‘non-green’ counterparts, there is simply no reason for the consumer to choose otherwise.
That was our idea in the GreenHouse Effect, which lead to the exhibition (photo below). In the next few days, I’d be posting the actual product concepts and approach, and how we’ve answered our probe (or not). If you want to see these concepts physically, they are still on show at the Utterubbish Exhibition (in Singapore) till Dec 16th.
The Singapore Design Festival 2007 is coming right up at the end of this year from Nov-Dec 2007, and IDAsia.org is gearing up for an online exhibition showcasing design talents from Asia. Titled as ‘Dandelion’, it is a virtual exhibition that has the blessing of DesignSingapore as one of the official events in this festival.
It is pretty much targeted to designers who are interested to sell themselves or their products that this exhibition will be their means to an end. Therefore the big requirement is that product images must consist as either non-functioning and functioning prototypes or models. They can be anything, portfolio work, furniture, packaging or anything product related.
The internet is filled with beautifully rendered images that really are at the end of the day impossible to make or realise, often this becomes a circular discussion that goes back to the fact that the design is just not well resolved. Therefore we aim for this exhibition to only showcase fantastic designers that can not only dream but also make as well.
If you have it, go flaunt it! Much more details at IDAsia.
For those in Singapore, a mystery was revealed recently - the yellow stop advertisement panels with simple lines like “Anything can happen on May 18″ and “Get ready for Whatever at May 18″ were probably a little more literal than you’ve expected - they were a drum-up campaign for the introduction of these new can drinks - labeled of course as “Anything” and “Whatever”.
Taking the indecisive nature of some people to the fullest, these drinks might be the surprise return if you indeed answer “anything” when your friend ask what’d you like. The second surprise would be in the flavors of the drink - there are six flavors for each label - “Anything” consist the fizzy versions: cola, cola with lemon, root beer, etc. while “Whatever” are non-carbonated - e.g. ice lemon tea, chrysanthemum tea, apple tea etc. They have even purposely reduced the ingredients to non-descriptors like carbonated water, permitted flavor, fruit juice etc, so you’d have no chance of “cheating” the system than to have real random drink. (I wonder, maybe someone would go and analyze the serial numbers or something and decrypt it? Surely they must be different SKUs - but that is still rather extreme for just a can drink).
Most would see this as simply a marketing packaging, or perhaps even a passing fad that would not stand the test of market and time. That is too early to say - but as characteristics of such a gimmicky approach to beverage marketing, a hyped-up launch campaign is definitely crucial.
They took out some ads, some of which verging on the risque, e.g. the picture of a sexy woman accompanied by the line “I’m easy. I’ll take Whatever you give me”. There was a mild reaction (controversy?) to the campaign - some people think they are demeaning (which I’m fairly certain is the intention: you’d need all the publicity you can get, controversial or not - debates and letters to the newspaper forums would certainly fuel the curiosity and hype).
What they perhaps did not anticipate was a response of another kind to their ads. You see, they have lined cans around their posters (empty sealed cans). These cans were quickly vandalized - whether it be the bored teenager fiddling with it and opening the tabs, or from poor old women removing the aluminum cans for money. As a result, there were again concerns over the opened cans being a breeding ground for dengue mosquitoes - eventually the company pulled the ads down prematurely.
[Anything.com.sg; Youtube promo video: Anything and Whatever]
This is for those of you who’re into graphics and sneakers - and are in Singapore! Runner’s World is hosting a design competition for the Tiger -
DETAILS
This reminded me of a time when I was in Milan - there was a similar competition by Havaianas - to turn their trademark slippers into works of art. A group of us each took the blank white slippers, while concocting the things we can do to them. In the end, only one of us submitted though - procrastination got the better of us. Which is probably why Rule 3 exists.
You can’t get rich by working
And love doesn’t last forever
In the public sauna they never ask
If it’s ok to throw water on the stoveOld forests are cut down and turned into toilet paper
And still all the toilets are always out of paper
Why products on sale drive the people crazy?
In the middle of Helsinki they built another shopping hell
…
Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen collected the pet peeves and angst-ridden pleas of people in Helsinki, and then composed this choral work around the list of complaints. Birmingham has also chipped in with their very own Complaints Choir, and I could see no reason why Singapore should not chip in too.
Complaining is for the longest time the national past time: forum pages are often inundated with them; kopi-tiams see groups of uncles-and-aunties rattling on about jobs, the gahmen (Government) and bus fare prices; school kids complaint about homework; adults complain about working hours and their bosses etc.
There are so many good reasons to channel complaining into a song like this. Turning negativity and pessimism into a creative work of art dissipates the grunt - as you sing along about the pet peeves, they may become a little more tolerable, a little more bearable, and perhaps even, a little cuter.
The issues sang in the Complaints Choir are also very localized - only those who’re here can really know and identify with it. In Singapore’s version, maybe there could be: NKF, forgetting to tap-out on buses, about choosing HDB flats close to your kid’s primary school, GRCs, .. these are stuff that makes it Uniquely Singapore. As much as it is a daily gripe, it still gives a facet of life here - something that once you see it, you know you’re here.
I can imagine Finns all over the world nodding in agreement with the song, identifying with the complaints - “Oh yeah! I’m really irritated by that!”, and yet among all these emotions evoke a warm sense of nostalgia and identity, a love for Helsinki for all its quirks and particularities. And the same could happen for Singapore, especially given the trend of diaspora and global trodding.
So someone, make one already!
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