Category: Transactions

BORROW is a Leasing device that promotes Community design. It Rethinks Ownership through supporting the old value of sharing and helps users to think of possessions not at an individual level but at a community level: share and borrow amongst networks you build. It is presented as a portable device that has a touch screen interface with an added voice recognition system.

This innovative idea cultivates well-being and human flourishing, where human to human interaction is encouraged. In addition, it could also promote sustainable living due to the decrease in the demand for buying new items if people share. 

The body of this device follows the form of the interface itself to reduce  space and the straps of this device will be able to be changed to match different tastes of people. the joint of the interface to the body will be through a magnet and the straps will be forced clipped into the body.

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Its imperative that this product promotes sustainability as well as being high quality to last a product life. Hence, the material chosen for this product is lightweight stainless steel for the bottom part and recycled aluminosilicate from existing phone screens. The body will be made our of 3d printed ABSi plastic. this material has high tensile strength, high melting point, is an insulator, and relatively tough, but enough for BORROW. there are a wide range of choices for the straps designs. the prototype i’ve made is made from rubber, however, there will be options for patterns, it could be made from 3d printed abs plastic, with a metal texture finishing spray and also simple rubber straps.

Lastly, the interface will be available in black and white colours to provide more colour options for a wide range of users.

A video of this product works will be linked down below:

 

The course, Transaction, is aiming to explore the role of artefacts within social settings, focusing on borders and examples of deviant behaviours. The context of this project is based on the Scottish National Gallery.

“We all have an ideal model in our heads of how to perform in public, what if the outline of this model is blurred, will people look at the world differently? And how will people criticise  this boundaryless world?”     – Yifu Liu

At the beginning, the design was focusing on revealing unseen deviant behaviours. By creating an umbrella-shaped space, people could comfortably speak about the deviant behaviours that they saw and all the sentences that they said would go on a similarly shaped screen in the same public space.

After testing it, we found that the first design was not inviting people to talk. The idea of observing spaces through a hole then came into our minds, this would allow people to focus on what they otherwise ignore. Based on the functions of observing and speaking, we created a cone-shaped object with a hole in the end, through which people could look and speak about the deviant behaviours they saw. Around the hole inside the cone the sentence says “ anything questionable that you can see from here?”, which instructs people to understand the function of the object.

The final design consists of the cone shape product and the separate screen. The cone stands on a post and to use it the user has to go into Fokus and look through the hole on the opposite end.

After researching different materials, such as a wood, cardboard, metal and plastic, we talked to technicians and chose plastic for a cover and wood as support.

The final design’s purpose is to be minimalistic, but on the other hand a little bit luxurious, keeping in mind the atmosphere of the National Gallery of Art. White colour was chosen because it is inviting and neutral.

Matt Copeland & Julia Jones Hellstrom.

‘Infringe’ challenges the boundary between public and private spaces.

video of the design process.

As society relies more on technology and digital surveillance creates more transparency, we are left questioning the need for defined physical boundaries and fences. Boundaries and their restrictiveness are instinctive to humans, holding great historical and symbolic value. We are led in specific directions and halted at certain points. We obey rules and alter our behaviour based on these confines, conforming to an ideal we have always understood.

‘Infringe’ challenges this notion. The range allows an unconventional means of marking a division between spaces by redefining the form of a conventional fence. Climbing a fence has always been recognised as an act of defiance. ‘Infringe’ supports and builds on this idea by allowing users to pass through and question the meaning of the boundary, realising their own level of deviance, based on the route they choose to pursue.

 

Initially the project involved research into existing fences and their connotations. Notable features were the vertical bars and speared railheads, implying an aggressiveness and a means of intimidation.

 Early iterations explored ways of breaching existing fences in the form of an accessory. Questioning where the responsibility lies in breaching a fence, latter designs focused on a more permanent and anonymous breach that maintained the fences appearance and symbolic value. Different designs models, made first in illustrator then laser cut, responded on different levels to the theme of deviance. Ultimately, they were narrowed down to five designs of varying difficulties to breach, creating a range of visually pleasing but conversational sections that in full scale can be connected in any order and maintain the underlying elements associated with a fence.