Our group design review is quickly approaching, and we still have lots of work to do. At Monday’s end, none of our groups were quite as far along as we had hoped we would be on our designs, so Pastre invited us to view the documentary film “Objectified” (Gary Hustwit) with his ITC class Tuesday. The documentary takes you on a journey through the process of industrial design, and focuses on the interaction between objects and the people using or viewing them. The film points out that people rarely think of the extensive design process that something goes through before the product is on the market or in their home.
The part that stuck out in my mind was that we don’t think of the people or the process which made our toothbrush, laptop, chairs, or potato peelers-all we care is that it works. The film also explained how a product has to go through many, many iterations before the best configuration is found. This part was, in some way, encouraging, because it has felt like we have been trying so many different things, without ever coming to a decision. Most importantly, I learned that we can’t wrap ourselves up in the process, because the only thing that matters is if it works.
So Wednesday, we got our hands-or tables-dirty. We went origami insane. And finally, a break through! The result? An awesome, origamified skin for our viewing platform. It was a long day, and a long process, but we finally found something that works…for now.
It’s on to model making and presentation preparation!