Upcycled Clothing Furniture Creative Caffiene

For my third project in Social Design I wanted to make furniture out of old clothing specifically jeans. We learned in class that it takes a huge amount of pesticides and chemicals to make a single pair of jeans. In order to solve this and stay sustainable I want to take those "bad" materials and reuse them instead of throwing them away.

For my creative caffiene I wanted to see what had =been= done with upcycled denim already. What I found was that pretty much everything that had been done so far was a bag. Here are some of the products I found made of recycled denim:

For what I noticed with a lot of the images, the product was very crafty and very limited in the design. The idea of furniture breaks away from the simplistic image of demin bags.

Homeless, Who's Problem is it?

http://www.app.com/article/20091130/NEWS03/91130011/1007 I was reading this article I got off of world press. It talks about how there is a growing number of homeless families in N.J. with young children. It gives the story, or part of it, of Ms.Adkins and her two young children. They talk about how a startling number of cases are around like her story. Something happened the family ended in finacial ruin and she now lives in a homeless shelter. It is a sad story, but I generally do not pot blogs about something like this. Everyone knows there are homeless people.

What made me post this was the comments left on the article. Everyone was so quick to condemn the women because she was 'Ms.' Adkins. Apparently, it is her fault she is homless because she does not have a husband. The article does not mention if she was married at any point or what happened to the father of her children. I personally feel that it is wrong to say she is homeless because she does not have a man in her life. That is ridiculous! I also tend to find it wrong to automatically assume it is someone's fault they are homeless.

A few weeks ago my mom was at a McDonalds for breakfast and she met these two men that have been homeless for a few months. They frequent the Towson area and can sometimes be seen on street corners. They are hardworking and go every morning to Labor Ready (a non-profit day labour center for homeless men and women to find a job for the day) to get money for food for the day. If they cannot get a job that day they try to get some on the street. One of the men, Steve I believe was his name, was nice enough to share his story with my Mom who had offered to buy them some breakfast (and found out later afterwards it was this man's birthday as well). He and his son had been working hard to keep the house after his wife died. His son was still in H.S. at the time and he was working in a local Hospital. When the recession hit hard last year he lost his job, then his house and was forced to live on the street. Every day he goes and tries to find work like he did everyday for the last year. There just isn't any available for him (he does not have a college degree, nor is he any kind of skilled laborer). He was a janitor and there just arent that many positions open at the moment. He was a very nice man, and I hope the best for him. Right now they have a social worker on their case and I sincerely hope he can find a job.

My point is, I don't think anyone who is homeless should be condemned. You don't know who might be next, it may even be you. So what if she isnt married? There are HUNDREDS of single mothers in America doing just fine. Things happen that are out of our control that lead to consquences that may leave you homeless. So I ask, if someone is homeless, who's fault is it that they are homeless?

Converted Organics Inc.

http://www.stockhouse.com/News/USReleasesDetail.aspx?n=7540129

Found this while browsing worldpress.com, there is a company called Converted Organics Inc, where they take organic products and remake them into new ideas. This year they are introducing a line of totally organic fertilizers.

Okay, here is my problem! THIS IS GROUNDBREAKING??? I mean seriously this is not something new. They are taking old technology and bringing it back into a new world. But, I am not saying this is bad. I think its a step in the right direction I am just wondering why this is so huge.

Going Green has Benefits, Who Knew?

http://www.examiner.com/x-17027-Louisville-Green-Living-Examiner~y2009m11d18-How-going-green-has-huge-health-benefits I was reading an article on the Baltimore Examiner Online that I actually found through worldpress.com. It was talking about the benefits of going green. I found most of them to be scratching the surface of what we talk about in class, but there were some points that were brought up in there that I think gives this article some merit.

One of the major points they make it "buying locally", now I have to say a majority of this article focuses on the health benefits produced by "going green", but still! Its a start Baltimore. They also bring up how bottle water isnt all its cracked up to be which I think is something everyone should know. Before starting this semester I always drank bottled water (and occasionally I still will) but, with all the things that are used to make that bottle ect. I think its better to just carry my own bottle (not to mention that money it has saved me). It just doesn't make sense to pay for water when you think about it.

Final Design Research for Project 2

http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/downloads/Beijing_Conference.pdf
International Council on Eating Behaviors/Habits. They have a project called "EatWell" which doesn't tell you what to eat and what not to eat just tells you to be smart about how you do things. Gets away from scolding people which leads to eating disorders.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/11/07/schools_cut_times_for_eating_playing/
Boston Globe article about how they are cutting lunch time and play time to increase time in class. This makes kids eat faster. It teaches bad eating behaviors when you are young.
http://www.psu.edu/ur/2002/lunchschool.html
Kids are not being given proper time to eat and socialize leading to behavior disorders later in life.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-06/14/content_616624.htm
British "hour lunch" is more like 3.5 minutes of actual eating and the rest shopping and running errands.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2006-06-11-no-lunch-hour-usat_x.htm
LUNCHTIME ROUTINES
When it comes to eating lunch, workers concentrate on other things:62.7% of workers consider the 60-minute lunch hour the biggest myth in office life.57.9% eat lunch at their desk while continuing to work.55.6% multitask during lunch (28.9% eat and run errands, 26.7% eat and e-mail or shop online).51.8% take 30 minutes or less for lunch. 21.9% eat at a restaurant or other eatery.20.2% eat in the company cafeteria.

Test Flight Testing Budgets

I was browsing around Worldpress.com to see what was going on in the world and I found an ariticle about the $445m 6-minute test flight for a new NASA rocket. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/445m-for-nasas-sixminute-test-flight-1810900.html). As a lot of my friends know, I am a bit of a physics nerd. I love calculations and inventions and new ideas that could change the world but....

I have to stop and think for a minute. We spent $445 MILLION DOLLARS on a flight to test a new passanger space rocket during the recession we are in. I am the first person to tell you I love new tech, I just wonder if it is coming at a good time. People are always very apt in times of crisis to blame technology. I would hate to see the space program come under fire just because they are trying to experiment with newer faster programs.

I also wonder what they $445m could have been used for. 90% of that cost probably went into all those sensors that will take years to decode and analyze. After that they will most likely pay another $445m + on a new rocket.

Some of my Design Research for Project 2

So I have been doing some research on what has been done about positive eating/self-image and there is a ton.
One of my favorites is this commercial : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94c43AlwLKo&NR=1 There are quite a few like this so, it's not a super original idea I guess. I really how theyies. play with dual realities.

I also began by researching retouching models ect, which you can find on my creative caffeine.

There are hundreds of sites that advocate eating disorder awareness *just a few sites*:
http://www.eatingdisorderinfo.org/
http://www.eatingdisorderinfo.org/Advocacy/EatingDisordersAdvocacy/tabid/978/Default.aspx (They have a store but, it is just logos and text with their slogans)
http://www.mirror-mirror.org/eatdis.htm
http://www.nedic.ca/

All of these share the same things, they are all about awareness and having eating almost in a negative way. There are very few places I know that have a positive message about eating (www.slowlab.org) and their "Go Slow" like what was featured in the Pioneer's of Change in New York.

That's where I got my idea: promote good eating, not the negative side. Proper eating habits are not taught anymore because of the rush of business ect. School lunches used to be like an hour and now they are only 20 minutes. Everything is a rush.

So I decided to make a "tablecloth bag" dining set.
I could not find any specific "bag into tablecloth or blanket" that is commerically made. I know there have been blanket bags before though.
A lot of the design was inspired by Mio's Organic Hammock (http://www.casasugar.com/3060320) for Target. It is very sustainable however, there is a bag attached that it goes into. I wanted it to fold up INTO the bag itself.

The text the imagery I want to be very simple and basic. I used www.worldlingo.com to research the different languages and from what I can see they are pretty on.

Murder Trial

I sometimes visit Al Jazeera News to see what they have going on. They generally have some pretty interesting articles (Even if most focus on terrorism). Today, they have the follow up article to the stabbing of an Egyptian woman at a trial by a Russian man (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/10/20091026979199891.html). At the time the women was 3 months pregnant with her second child.

To make a long story short this guy came into court 200 days into a trial and stabbed this women. Al Jazeera has nicknamed her the "veil martyr" stating the defendant Alex W. stabbed her out of hatred for her being from a different culture. I find this quite funny seeing as he stated this as his reason yet he is a Russian-born man living in Germany. If he was doing this for the love of the mother country to keep out the impure races then why is he there even? He is not German, he has not right to stab people because they are not German.

I think it comes down to the fact he is a racist against the Muslim culture. It had nothing to do with her being Egyptian. It was the fact she was wearing the veil and clothing of a proper Muslim women. The media creates a fear and hatred of the Muslim Culture which was been present in Europe and Asia since before the Middle Ages. It has nothing really to do with her nationality or even her culture. It is an inbred hatred for the unknown.

Xerox Business in Decline

Today the New York Times reports the Xerox company is still losing business. They set this up to be two different social problems: the recession in America and a fear of new technology. Xerox in the last few years has tried to steer their business from the typical printers to full office solutions. They say companies in this economy are timid to try new things. I think that is not recession-related. I see people come in all the time trying new tech they are unfamiliar with. I think the problem here is branding. People know them for only one thing. It they want to increase business they need to change they brand image. If people know them as something other then a printer company I'm sure they will have better luck in business.

Do Good Design Reading Summary

Main Points About Designing and Designers from Do Good Design:
- Just like Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility: We as designers have a responsibility to our public with what we create. We have to take responsibility for the consequences of our designs.
- Not just about the design anymore but, about the ethics around the message you produce. You as a designer have a responsibility for the public you design for.
- "Imagine: what if we didn't just do good design...we did good?" motto for design
- The messages we put out will affect the generations to come.
- "It takes a village to raise a child. I would say that it takes a society to raise a generation."
- Watch the claims you make as a Designer!
- Example: Drink Milk, Enjoy Life. Does that mean if you don't drink milk you in turn do not enjoy life? What the message you send to people.
-Think how people are going to interact with your design
- Example: 2000 Election with the poor designed ballot. What if Bush was not elected President? What would have taken place or not have taken place?
- We as a culture are plagued with overconsumption which is driven by bad media
- "It is unfortunate that the culture that was the most influential of the 20th century also happens to be the world's most environmentally unsustainable."
- Media is everywhere you look and you are constantly bombarded with messages to buy and consume.
- The brands from the U.S. market their products outside of the U.S. when the marketing fails to work here.
- In cultures where negative health effects of products are not as well known, the products are more heavily marketed.
- Brand loyalty is a very powerful idea, it can sway a consumer.
- "Designers are at the core of the most efficient, most destructive patter of deception in human history."
- Example: Nike swooshes on everything now. Coke logo on billboards in Africa where people buy Coca-Cola instead of anti-malaria pills.
-Branding is everywhere you look now.
- Presidential-election speeches then and now. Used to be in Memorial Coliseum now, in Pepsi Center and INVESCO Field.
-Places are now trying to counteract overmediazation of society.
- No billboards in Vermont and Sao Pablo
-" Be careful what you create." Not only are you responsible but, it can have dire consequences.
-"[R]ather then sharing our cycles of style, consumption and chemical addictions, designers can use their professional power, persuasive skills, and wisdom to help distribute ideas that the world really needs: health information, conflict resolution, tolerance, technology, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, human rights, democracy...as well as share the antidote for the buying and spending virus for which all have not yet built up resistance."
-Sexuality and women have been used in marketing for years.
- The old adage "Sex sells" still stands in today's marketing strategies.
- Is it our responsibility to change the world? The change starts locally and move globally. The best way to effect change is to start at home and move outward slowly with positive messages.

Balloon Hoax

Okay after reading the article from Worldpress today about the balloon hoax (http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/world/world/general/balloon-boy-hoax-was-reality-tv-show-publicity-stunt/1653116.aspx) I feel sufficiently informed to weigh in.

I first heard about this in the break room of my work on Friday afternoon. That is when the mysterious video managed to surface of the couple watching the balloon take-off. From right there it looked extremely fake. If they thought there child was inside a balloon (FILLED WITH HELIUM NOT OXYGEN SO HOW IS HE BREATHING?!?!?!) why were they not trying to get him out? They were just standing there watching the balloon take off. Then, they said that the wife was supposed to have tethered the balloon down and they kids could ride in it. Okay, a little more plausible but still, why would a 6 year old be unattended in a balloon. While it's not hydrogen I'm seeing distaster.

Then, the way in which he called for help- The FAA, The local News, then the police. First off, I understand the FAA, he was in this field and knew that an unidentified object would normally be shot down which would probably not be beneficial for getting his son back. THEN THE NEWS THOUGH? What good would that do you? You need the police in this matter, not the news. Reporters would just complicate things. He claimed it was so they could track the balloon. I think that to be total hogwash.

Even on Wife Swap with the Heene's, Richard seemed a bit crazy if not bipolar (if you haven't seen it check it out on Hulu like I did a few minutes ago, its hilarious in its absuridity) they also have up the ridiculous music video they did of their children signing about how they are not pussies. I find the music video to be the most offensive if you ask me. http://www.theinsider.com/videos/2920762_Wife_Swap_Heene_boys_Not_Pussified_music_video

They are exploiting their children for more fame. They are failed actors and they are trying to milk the system for that its worth. This is an octomom event all over again. I pray to god they don't get a reality t.v. deal out of this.

Droog and the Cooper Hewitt

So to begin with, I decied to go to Droog's website. I have to say they have a lot of unique (and pricey!) designs. A lot of them to me were very decorative and unnecessary which was kind of upsetting after hearing so much about them. But, once I got over that, I discovered their "Straps". Okay, thats clearly awesome! They are these simple, giant rubber bands that you can use to hold things against a wall. It is so simple and clean and takes away those giant, clunky, hard or particle board shelving units you get from IKEA (and you could definantly make them yourself out of old bungie cords). There was also the tree bench (http://www.droog.com/products/furniture/tree-trunk-bench/) by Jurgen Bey. That is something I would personally want in my house. I have always loved going camping and sitting on logs around a campfire. It seems like a wonderful (and sustainable if the trees have already fallen) idea.

From there, I went to the Cooper Hewitt site which sent me to the Design for a Living World main page (http://www.nature.org/design/). The stuff there is just awesome. They have this Bamboo furniture that seems pretty sustainable. Basically, it uses steel rods (for the heavy load bearing furniture) and cut circles of bamboo as the main coverage instead of cloth. They even have a t.v. stand made out of a thick bamboo pole. I like the larger upper supports, but the chair I think could have been designed completely out of bamboo so that the wood did not look like just an addition to the rest of the design. Cloth is sustainable too they could have made a cotton and bamboo chair to the same effect as the other steel and bamboo and if the bamboo is thick enough like that one the cut to make the rings of the chair it would be very sturdy.

I also really like the cocoa maker. It is a metal shaft that you take this huge chunk on natural cocoa out this burlap case and scrap some of the cocoa into a cup with hot water. It then turns into a stirrer for the cocoa. It seems like its pretty well design and the graphic on the pouch and handle of the stirrer are very clean, neat graphics. I like how this site goes into the details and tells you all about how it was made and the cultural motives surrounding every piece. Everything was made to be sustainable and to carry a social message about the area it was designed for.

The Pioneers of Change/Dutch Design was very interesting too. There was so much there it is hard to list so I will quote NY400 here:

"Repairing instead of recycling, knitting a carpet with six foot long needles using wool from three kinds of Dutch sheep, elderly people slowly but attentively serving meals with smaller portions of foods from far away places and larger portions of those from nearby gardens, Dutch fashion designers collaborating with New York masters specialized in beads and lace together with students from Parsons The New School for Design, designers digging in local grounds to reveal differences in color and texture, movies about urban farming focused on New York, and left-over building materials collected over a month in New York available for creative re-use."
(http://www.ny400.org/events/ny400-week-pioneers-of-change)

Everything was about living life and taking it slow, making life sustainable for the future. It seemed like a great event and I am sad to have missed that opportunity. The Slow Lab seemed the most interesting (http://www.slowlab.net/) of the Pioneers of Change. I loved how it was about patience. That is something I don't see much in people anymore. I like the idea of being able to sit down and eat and being able to take your time and talk. It just seems like a nice change of the busy pace of day to day activities.

Nazi Gnomes

I don't know whether to find this funny or to take offense to it. In the New Zealand Herold (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10603559) ran a story about 1250 Nazi satire gnomes running in a display in German. One thing I didn't know was you are not allowed to display Nazi symbols in German. I am sure this is to keep the peace, but nevertheless it's an interesting fact.

The goverment of German is allowing the Army of Nazi Gnomes to be displayed because it is clearly a satire. I think its funny that you can't display nazi images but you can make fun of them. Isn't someone who is going to display nazi images gonna see the wrong message in these gnomes? I don't think there is a totally clear message in them. Plus, 20 are painted gold of the 1250 and the rest are black. I wonder if the 20 have any significance. The article wasnt very specific.

I guess this is just very odd to me. I have never been one for installations. They are neat and all but, I just lack a point in them I guess.

Jaime Salm: "Why I Love Design"

Last Thursday I was given the opportunity to talk to Jaime Salm and attend a lecture he was giving on Sustainable Design and Mio Culture. To start off Jaime Salm is an amazing man. His ideas are so inventive and fresh and brings up great challenges to the idea of sustainable design and solves with them great resolve!

Prior to the lecture I was working in 2006 on my pop-up lighting project for my Jewelry 1 class and I was trying to figure out how to make my design actually work as a lighting figure. It was very complex with a lot of cut-out shapes. Jaime suggested that I think of this project not just as a project for school but as a project of how to take a material that is eco-friendly and make it sustainable eliminating waste. He said in anything you design you should minimize if not eliminate waste from the design. I had not thought of this prior to talking to him but it is a great idea. Everything we make should be sustainable no matter what the project. That gave me the idea of changing the design so that the cut outs would function as different aspects of the light. Basically making the large cut out the stage for the light and the smaller cut-outs as pegs to hold the peice together or something of the sort. I had never thought of taking a project from school farther into the design process then "a project for school".

This led directly into what he was talking about in his lecture. Salm began his lecture with the introduction of his college thesis: Fibrid. Basically, he took pulp which is a rather ugly material and made it into stools. He was trying to make people rethink the idea of waste. He took three ideas into his design process:
"Extreme Users" --> use things in new/unique ways, how college students repurpose objects to fit their unique dorm room needs
"Extreme Technology" --> repurposing industrial technology to fit a new design need
"Extreme Materials" --> Turning waste into beauty
I like how he made everything into the extremes and took those extremes to create his thesis.
He then went into how his thesis turned into his career taking money he got from a consultation job making pulp signs for a company and put it all into the creation of Mio.

He said at one point that "an academic endeavor made Mio and a philosophical mindset drives it" everything about Mio is about making life sustainable. Jaime seemed focused on "designing your life" which is basically making a space around you to design and making your space sustainable. Sustainability seems to be the driving force in everything he designs or creates. Also, there seems to be a very complex work process. For every creation that comes out of Mio, hundreds if not thousands of "frankenstien models" (as he calls them) are produced. For the bendant lamp over 20 models were made to just get the design and that does not include the probably hundreds of paper models he made beforehand. He had a slogan which he had told to me while we were talking about my design and that is "test everything!". If you don't know how it is going to work you can't put it into action. So basically, the most important step in the process is to design and test everything you create before you make the final version.

He had a few principles that Mio is based off of that seem to drive his company that he brought up continually with everything he created. First off, waste = raw material. Anything that is waste can be repurposed into a new material for a new purpose. There is "no such thing as waste" to Mio. He also seemed to bring up that "users define sucess". You could have the best product in the world but in the end it is up to the user to define whether it is a success or a failure. Jaime also stressed that it is important to streamline the process. "Make it simple, Make is afforadable" was his motto. Make the best product that you can but, don't waste time doing it. Don't make the process so tedious that the end product is too expensive or too labour intensive to create. He says he is at a constant struggle of "Money vs. Idea". If users define success then you have to make it affordable for the user. In the end the user is the one that will be using/buying this product and it has to be something that will want to buy and use.

He is also leading the forefront for where design is going with "user-centric design". Basically, making products that the user defines what the end product will look like. I think this is huge. Everyone wants something different so why not let that person define what the end product looks like? I really want to incorporate this into my future products. He is also now very into "active sustainability" which is "a product that generates a positive and quantifiable environmental impact every time it is used". This takes the sustainability farther. It doesn't just have to be sustainable when it is made but sustainable for the life of the product.

I highly enjoyed this lecture and I think I will take a lot out of it in the future. I have been trying to think how to make my project 2 sustainable and my pop-up lighting have virtually no-waste. These principles I think are quite important to the future of design. I also want to start getting into user-centric design because I really think it has a lot of possibilities. I think that if users are allowed to interact with the design it will make the message all the more powerful and the object all the more enjoyable.

Creative Caffiene Project 2

Some of the images I collected as part of my Project 2 creative caffeine. I tried to research how much retouching is actually done in photographs for print campaigns because I am trying to do a print campaign about "true beauty" for my project 2. So without further delay here are some of the more impressive images:

Trading Missiles

To begin with I apologize for any major typing errors seeing as this is being typed on an ipod touch currently. Anyway moving on...I went onto worldpress.com in my free time this morning to see what was currently happening in the world. And, really not surprising, there was a list of the current bombings over the weekend. What really made me laugh was the way things were reported. The Khaleej Times (check them out if you haven't they have a very interesting point of view) reported of a Pakistani Bombing a Taliban settlement. The way it was written was actually quite neutral.

What made me almost laugh was on worldpress directly under it was "Taliban Bomb Pakinstani Marketplace, 41 women and children dead" from the New York Times. Okay people, we need a reality check. If you bomb a Taliban "settlement" you are killing women and children too. Over 31 men, women and children were killed in the Pakistani bombing of the Taliban villiage. I am not saying the Taliban are something good to be praised; however, there needs to be equal covereage. War goes both ways you can't pin murdering women and children just on one side. When American was in Afganistan hundreds of women and children were killed in raids, but all we hear/heard was roadside bombs killing U.S. soldiers.

When America can report both sides unbiased we might make progress. It makes no sense to create hate. Why can't we just report what happened they way it is not the way we want it to be?

Missing Blog Post from Project 1

Going back through my project 1 posts I noticed I missed the post of the list of activities and events that I saw on my day walking around of possible social issues. So, here is a typed copy of that list:

1. Traffic
a. people not carpooling
b. inconsiderate weaving in and out of lanes
c. gas consumption waiting in traffic
2. Students texting in class
a. wasting tuition money
b. disrespect to teachers
3. Isolation
a. ipods
b.culture
c.computers
4.Food Waste in the Dining Hall
5.Nutrition
a. easier to get snacks and fast food then hot meals
6.Towson not pedestrian-friendly outside of campus
7.Bathrooms
a. can never use the mirror girls always around it
b.crowded sinks
8. Trash on the field where we practice
a. people not be responsible for their environment
9. Girls growing up too fast
a. Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers shirts
b. little girls wearing makeup
10. glorifying crime
a. late night crime dramas
b. violent videogames

Women more likely to be hit by Cars?

I was reading an article on the BBC that I could not really fathom as being true. It was talking about how women are more likely to be hit by lorries in the UK.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8296971.stm.

I honestly don't buy their reasoning for this, however, it did get me to thinking about the way women's bikes are made. They think it is why so many women get hit and killed on them. I always wondered by male bikes have that bar that come up in the middle that would seem to be very uncomfortable if you hit a bump where as women's bikes sit lower in a more comfortable way. It seems like a very poor design.

Plus, I think what this article needs to research is the proportion of women to men that ride bicycles. It could be that more women are killed because there is significantly more women on bikes in the UK. I don't think this article is fully researched and to me has an undercurrent of sexism disguised loosely with facts.

EU Treaty

So, I like to see what's going in the rest of the world. It seems the European Union Lisbon Treaty might be passed soon according to the Germany Times http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8300311.stm. It amazes me that in 2009, almost 2010, we are still sorting out land in the aftermath of World War II. I know there is too much greed and the struggle for power in the world for people to be able to agree but this is one more step towards peace, or a temporary peace. I think that there would be a lot less trouble in the world if there was not this imperialistic attitude for land between nations. If we could all just be happy with what we have and not be so consumed with what we want the world would be a much better place.

Swine Flu Blog from Last Week

Apparently one of my blogs did not post last week, so I am going to repost it.

So, I have been very curious how the rest of the world is treating the swine flu pandemic (and yes folks like it or not its a pandemic). I wanted to see if it was just the U.S. media causing a stir or whether the hysteria had reached the other side of the world as well. I went to worldpress.com and I found an article about a women who was diagnosed with swine flu in vietnam (and died from it later that week)http://www.syracuse.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/international-10/1249376591320540.xml&storylist=international.

Honestly, they were just as bad as we are. Do you know that 3600 healthy Americans die every year of the regular flu? The swine flu is slightly more deadly with the chance of the secondary infection in your respiratory system. I think the world needs to take a chill pill. Many scientists have said "its not if the next pandemic is coming but WHEN it will hit". We are due for another pandemic and we can't put off the inevitable. People are going to die. Most don't know that pandemics are generally caused by overpopulation as natures way of culling off some of the herd. People just can't accept that one day their time will come. We can't live forever and we are not made to. Sooner or later our number will be up and we have to accept it. If my number is up this year due to swine flu then so be it. Its life people chill out!

Nuclear Arms

The worldpress.com had an article by The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/world/25prexy.html?_r=1&hp&ex=&ei=&partner) called "U.N. Security Council Adopts Measure on Nuclear Arms".

The article was a straightforward report of the U.N. coucil meet lead by Barack Obama. I think that it is all well and fine that these people can sit around a desk and say they are going to stop nuclear polifieration. They are concerned about private groups developeing nuclear warheads. I honestly think it is very hypocritical for a group of countries where 90% of them have nuclear weapons to say that others cannot make them. I think that countries need to practice what they preach.

If nuclear weapons are bad then why have them? The argument is that "well, the bad guys have them". Basically, in the event of a nuclear attack we want to be able to fire back. I ask what good does that do? Have they never seen the movie War Games? Nuclear War ends in devastation for all. So, why does it matter if they have them? If they use theirs, we will use ours. It is a common fact. Why have them in the first place then?

I know a decent amount of physics, and the process of nuclear fission and atom splitting which is used to create nuclear weapons is an exact science; however, in order for this to work there have to be EXACT conditions. How do they expect private citizens to be capable of having the faclities to create these weapons without their government knowing? For that matter without the rest of the governments of the world knowing?

I think this whole nuclear arms debate and laws goes back to merchantilism. Basically, if someone else has the wealth then you DON'T HAVE IT. Therefore, you must bully them out of it. If you have nuclear weapons and they don't and you say "give me or we blow you up" you give it to them. That's why a world without weapons would not work. There will always be bullies in the world.

Guerilla in Action!

Just some of the images from my Guerilla Project in action. This is only from one of the sites, I did it in 3 different bathrooms.

So for my project, I launched it as an educational campaign; however, it quickly took on two forms. I like to analyize society most of the time and figure out what a specific audience is thinking. When I set up my different locations I went through and I set it up so that there was the exact same conditions in each bathroom. I put the same stickers in the realitivly same positions across the mirrors and I placed the main sticker either on a mirror or papertowel dispenser. From there throughout the day I periodically checked all three locations to see which stickers were taken down first.

What I found was in all three bathrooms the more direct statement stickers were removed first. The sticker that said "Are You doing this to 'fit in'" was the first sticker every single time to dissappear. The ones that said "Are You doing this for your Boyfriend/Best friend" stickers were always removed second followed by the large stickers over the mirrors. The ones that said "roommate" or "mom" were always removed towards the end.

I also tracked during the day which buildings stickers were the first to be removed. The Arts Building was the first to have all their stickers entirely removed on Wednesday evening, the Union 2nd floor bathroom still had stickers remaing (though not many) towards Thursday morning and the CLA building 3rd floor bathroom (and yes this is the busiest bathroom in that entire building to make it fair to the other two locations) were still in place when I checked on Thursday Morning. I don't know what to make from this because it seems to be relatively different audiences. The CLA building has many sociological and historical classes. The Arts building is obviously classes revolving around the arts and the Union in my opinion is a general sample of the student population/administration. The fact that the Arts building stickers were removed first actually surprised me. I half expected them to last the longest. The CLA stickers lasted as long as I thought they would. I have noticed that not as many women wear make-up in that building.

This has me thinking that for future projects that different buildings of the school have different audiences. I did not have enough supplies to do Smith building but its my assumption that it would have followed much the same path as the CLA building. Smith is predominantly science classes which I think has a similar audience to the historical classes.

In summary, I think the project was quite successful. The blog I set up for this project had 102 hits as of 1:02 pm, on Thursday (http://www.makeupmakebelieve.blogspot.com/). The sticker set I put up for download had been downloaded 13 times (there is currently a problem with downloading the sticker set that I was notified about which I am trying to correct). I think in the future I should have put pamphlets with them as well which would have given people a tangible item to take with them after the make-up sets had run out. In total only 30 people left with stickered cosmetics which I think I could have done better there.

Problem with Prototypes

edit: I fixed the prints, it was a problem with the ppi. They are printed and are now being hand cut and put through the sticker maker. The next step is the interactive blog that goes along with them.

I worked all weekend on the stickers trying to get them to print. I got a really nice glossy cardstock and that sticker machine Anita and Elise talked about last class. It worked really well. I ran into the problem when I went to print them. It seems that I need a higher resolution of lipstick marks in order to print them out;however, I'm not entirely convinced its not my printer doing this. They are very pixelated and I tried to reduce the size and they still came out very pixelated. The thing was EVEN THE TEXT was pixelated. Which I have never had that problem.

So, its back to the drawning board a bit. I am going to make scans of actual lipstick marks instead of recoloring and fixing up a stock image. I am hoping I still get the same effect I had with the other ones.

More to come as I fix this -tiny- problem.

Just some More Research for Project 1

http://media.www.ndsmcobserver.com/media/storage/paper660/news/2008/04/30/News/Smc-Beauty.Conference.Displays.Projects.On.SelfImage-3357810.shtml Just an interesting article about a self image project where they altered barbie dolls to make them more realistic to acutal life.

So, I think I have my project into its final stages. I want to basically put out a basket of cosmetics (I am keeping a budget of $50 for the entire project so this won't be anything very expensive probably makeup from the dollar store). Then I will sticker them with different "who are you doing this for" messages and place pamphlets with them and package them in little gift bags. I will leave this baskets of gift bags in ladies rooms. The cosmetics will all be sealed in their original packaging. There will be a little sign on the basket that says "Free". Basically I am hoping to make a few of these baskets with like 5 or 10 of the cosmetic products each. Then I will sticker bathroom stalls and maybe mirrors of resturants and public places. They will have a link to a blog/webpage im setting up with just some basic information about self image and links to self image research and clinics.

Some Sticker Design Ideas

I have decided to go away from the idea of window clings because they are quite expensive to print and there are not many good ways to print them at home. Instead I think I am going to use stickers with a low adhesion rate for the same purpose. Stickers are still easily removed and will not harm bathroom stalls or mirrors if they are not super sticky. I can also do smaller versions that could be placed on makeup boxes at retail stores.

So here are some of the "sketches" or prototypes of my ideas:

This is my first idea, It is a small rectangular sticker with the single kiss mark.

This is the second version of that one a little larger with multiple kiss marks.

Small product sticker that could be placed at the corner of a mirror or on a make-up box.

just another design for a larger sticker

So this is a really basic oval sticker.

These are just a bunch of small stickers of product boxes or mirrors

New Idea?

* Put the stickers on packaged cosmetics that are in a basket that say "free".

Make it a two part project, with the free make up in the basket, the stickers on the mirrors

The History of Cosmetics (a summary)

Research:
"A Women without Paint, is like a food without salt." Roman Philosopher, Plautus

Make-up began as a form of ornamentation in early cultures. It was predominantly seen in the Egyptians in Eye Make-up, used to keep dust and flies out of the eyes. From, there it became a symbol of your status in society. Women would put leeches on their skin in order to make themselves pale and use arsenic (a main ingredient in rat poison) to stain their lips a dark orange. In the early days, it was quite dangerous to wear makeup and was reserved for the elite and for actors and preformers as a symbol of status.

Cosmetics evolved over the course of history from practicality to the idea that make "enhances beauty". There is an obsession in our current culture with cosmetics. There is a general feeling that cosmetics enhance your confidence and make you look and feel better. Many women even link their daily successes to use of make-up.

In 2007, a graduate student at Hanover College named Sarah Scott, researched the influence of comestics on every day anxiety. She proved there was a link between the anxiety you feel at any given situation and type of make-up you are wearing. Her thesis report can be found here:http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis07/ScottPaper.pdf

In todays cosmetics, there are many harmful chemicals lurking as well. It is important when buying cosmetics to look at the contents. Many lipstains or skin stains have arsenic or other harmful poisons that exposure over a long time can cause serious health concerns. To this day many cosmetics are not regulated by the goverment so it is important to know what you are putting on your face.


sources:
http://www.make-upusa.com/articles/cosmetichistory.htm
http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/history3.php
http://www.cyonic-nemeton.com/Cosmetics.html
http://www.localhistories.org/cosmetics.html
http://www.webmd.com/skin-beauty/guide/history-makeup
http://www.makeup-artist-world.com/historyofmakeup.htm
http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis07/ScottPaper.pdf
http://kids-safety-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/protecting_girls_from_harmful_cosmetics

Cosmetics and Self-Image

After yesterdays conversation about my Design Project 1 and what I really wanted to protray I went and researched Cosmetics and their link to self-perception and self image. I would really like to be able to link my window clings to an organization that promotes positive self-image in women but, I have yet to find the right one. I did however find a paper written by Sarah Scott a psychology major at Hanover College that did a social experiment to link anxiety to makeup. It was an amazing study. She had participants wear different types of makeups in different situations and measured their anxiety levels. The full research can be found here:
http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis07/ScottPaper.pdf. I also checked into a few of the books she had on her bibliography. There seems to be a link between self-image in females and the confidence they derive from wearing makeup in different situations.



I did find the Step Up Women's Network promoting positive self-esteem in women. They are national organization, while they don't have an office in Baltimore they do have programs in D.C. and N.Y.C. http://www.suwn.org/

I also found The National Association of Self Esteem an organization that wants to promote self esteem into the fabric of American Society. http://www.self-esteem-nase.org/

Obama and Racism

I was reading an article at Worldpress.com from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8258805.stm), it was an interesting article mostly quoting other publications about the current issues with the Healthcare reform. I am one of the people that belives that some of the opposition is because of racism. I know a family that is against Obama, they say for political reasons, but whenever we talk about his policies and reforms they contridict themselves and seem to only be arguing because they dislike him. I think that while they whitehouse is playing it safe and trying to stay in the middle of this arguement, I do think there is an undercurrent of racism in older Americans that is keeping the healthcare issue at bay.

While I agree with some of the statements in article they seem very bias as well. The quote by Maureen Dowd about the congressman who heckled the president:

"Surrounded by middle-aged white guys... Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. Fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!... But Wilson's shocking disrespect for the office of the president - no Democrat ever shouted 'liar' at W when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq - convinced me: Some people just can't believe a black man is president and will never accept it",

which was quoted in the article, I think takes the situation too far. I don't think the congressman is outwardly racist and I think stating that way created a racial divide. I do; however, believe that in some way the remark was not about the politics but about the man. They did not want to listen so they cast it off as lies.

I am of the opinion that if there was not the word "racism" or the idea of the term of it then it would have died out long ago. In order to have the term, you have to have the ideas and those ideas lead to gaurding conversations and tentions between relations. I think political correctness breeds racism in some form or another. I don't think we should view Barack Obama as just the first black president (note: I do think he should be credited for this because it shows the progress of this nation), but I think he should be known for that he has done. He is a president that speaks his mind and isn't afraid to cause a stir. He is also the president and people should respect that.

Design Skills

Some Definitions for Social Design Class:

What is Design Thinking?

Design thinking is taking an idea and thinking of a creative and sustainable way to solve it. Design thinking is "thinking outside the box". You aren't trying to invent the wheel, your just trying to make it better with design thinking. Its a way of taking an exisiting problem and solving it with a solution that will improve the conditions the problem came from.

Sources:

http://designthinking.ideo.com/

http://www.idesignthinking.com/ <--Great Site


What is "Design Skills"?
Design skills is a broad term. I can be tecnical skills with 2D or 3D modelling or it can be abstract skills like inventiveness and imagination. From http://www.lukew.com/ it is the "mingling of medium and message".
Sources:
http://design-skills.org/
http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?613

What is "creativity"?

Creativity is thinking of something in a new way. It is being uique, and a mix of social flair and design skill.

Sources:
http://creativity-online.com/
http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/whatis.htm

Retirement Elusive even in South Korea

I was reading the Monday, September 14th, New York Times today and I came across the article "In South Korea, Retirement Can Be Elusive". We were talking in last social design class how in Asian cultures it is more prevelant for Adult children to take care of their parents. This article says that tradition is changing. In this new modern world, there seems to be just no place for the elderly. The government of South Korea is holding silver job fairs, basically job fairs for the 70+ year olds living there. In a recent survey there, they found in 2009 only 48% of elderly South Koreans were living with their children. That is down from 72% in 1990. It seems to be drastically in decline as financial stressors and lack of room in urban cities increases.

It is really sad to see this tradition changing. I have always respected that in the Asian cultures and wished that the U.S. Cultures would adopt some of the time principles. At the same time, I personally do not like my grandparents much and would not like to live with them. I guess in that resepct I am a hypocrite.

The New Ipod

(delayed article post from Thursday, September 10th due to no internet)

I was reading the New York Times and flipping through the 50 million articles on the healthcare debate and the flood in Turkey when I found an article that was seemingly small in comparision to the rest but struck a cord I guess.

It was about Steve Job's speech about announcing the new Ipod and talking about his Transplant which I might add was a bit off topic. The article centers not on the new electronics but about the man. I think honestly they should have covered something about this new contraption I am selling to hundreds of kids a week at work.

This "new" ipod, is a revamped version of the old ipod; however, they had added a camera and a video recorder (but no microphone to pick up sound, sorry kiddo you gotta buy that seperate). I want to know why EVERYTHING today has to have a camera. Isn't it enough to hold an entire collected of DVDs in the palm of your hand? Now you have to have a digital camera too? How long until someone hacks the wifi in the ipod touch and uses it as a digital stalking device? I remember the days of the good old fashioned CD player. They were big and clunky and you couldn't hide them in class so you were actually forced to listen to the teacher and you could only hold a cd at a time so you were forced to listen to the same band preform a few times and you would stop. Today kids are so plugged into their ipods it will be a miracle if they can hear in 20 years.

Ideas for Social Design Project 1

I was thinking about this for a while and I decided to center around a few of the more important issues from my Creative Caffeine assignment (that can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42073068@N05/3883091760/in/set-72157622226771476/).



I am a youth cheerleading coach and my girls are between the ages of 7 and 9 years old. They act and look much older then they are. I personally think they are trying to be little Hannah Montana's. But, the more disturbing part is a lot of them wear short skirts and makeup. Due to privacy issues with me being a coach I can't show the faces of these girls but you can see just from what they are wearing the problems.

This got me to thinking what really was the problem and how I would work it into a guerilla/DIY project that would work on a larger scale. I think the problem is not with the youth of America alone. I think all women find this unconscience need to wear make-up and paint themselves up like clowns to fit societies idea of beauty.

More research of the history of make-up to come; however, I have some ideas about what I might do:
1. Window clings to the bathroom mirrors of the women's room with informational facts about the history of make-up.
a. clings with a slogan like "think before you ink" or "save it for the clowns"
b. "Why?" typography cling that is asking "why are you doing that" with a researhed quote about media influence or about man being attracted to women due to appearance alone.
2. Informational Brochure, would probably be linked to the window clings maybe taped to the inside of bathroom stalls talking about the history of make-up and the history of female oppression and how they are linked
3. Stickers that just say "why" stuck to boxes of make-up.

---------------> Creative Caffiene for this Project
I walked around and took notes about what I saw for an entire day. Every time I would go to the bathroom I would have to wait in line to wash my hands for the large line of girls fixing their makeup and hair.

Recession Not Just a US Problem

In the last couple of days, there has been a lot of talks about schools and economy in the United States news. I know that Towson Catholic was being forced to shut its doors today due to a lot of fund and a few schools throughout the US couldn't show Obama's speech due to a lack of technology to show it. The lack of technology was due to recent budget cuts throughout the school system making it impossible for the schools to replace broken a/v equiptment.

I was reading the New York Times today and I was surprised to read an article called Recession Batters Britain's Smaller Private Schools. It told a similar story to the Towson Catholic saga that is playing out right now. St. David's School for Girls was recently forced to shut its doors due to a lack of funding. This displaced 240 girls some of them seniors in high school. The school could just not afford the upkeep of the building and the increasing technological demands of today's educational system.

So if this is a global problem of schools not being able to keep up finances in today's world, then what kind of education do we expect our children to be able to recieve? If there is no money to buy the things needed to keep the school running how long will it be until it effects our public school system? I know for years they have threatened to cancel programs like music and arts but finding doing so would only negatively effect the children. How long until they find something new to cut? Like gym? I mean there has to be a way for the school system to be more cost-effective.

This is EXACTLY what we were talking about today!

This article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20090903/pl_ynews/ynews_pl888_1) is a perfect example of what we were talking about in today's social design class. Frankly, it really pissed me off to read this. HOW can people think a speech will "brainwash" their children and why would they want to? Plus, what he is talking about (staying in school, doing well, ect.) should be something that is indoctrinated into our children! What is so wrong with convincing a child to pursue their education! I am wondering if it boils down to the fact we said today, "no one can ever be happy" with the government. I think they are taking offense in this speech just to take offense to something. I personally want to applaud Obama for the courage of making a speech to such a broad audience with such different levels of maturity.

What IS Social Design?

I was asked for my Design class to define "Social Design". So, I began my research like any college student would-- wikipedia. To my dismay, I found wikipedia to be as clueless as I was on the subject: (and I quote wiki here) "Social design has many definitions and the term is put to very different uses across the globe. Some definitions exist within the design world and refers to design in its traditional sense, meaning the shaping of products and services. Other definitions refer to social design as the creation of social reality; design of the social world" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_design).

The last statement got me to thinking. When I think of "creation of social reality" I can't help but get images of Adolfus Huxley-esque Utopian societies. How can one engineer society? I also realized, that my original perception of social design being a "community- centered" principle might have been short sighted. If social design is defined culturally, or even the definition of culture itself, it seems hard to pinpoint what social design truly is. I think in order to determine a definition for social design one must determine what definition they are looking for: personal, regional, or global.





From there I continued my search and I found a site called osocio.org which linked me to a youtube video called "We Cannot NOT Change the World!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_V-zuDbO-k&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fosocio%2Eorg%2Fmessage%2Fwhat%5Fis%5Fsocial%5Fdesign%2F&feature=player_embedded#t=89 ) This was actually quite helpful. It interviewed various social designers and have them define what social design meant to them. This video is very informative in almost a scholarly way about the principles of their definition of social design; however, I still felt it was very ambiguous as to what "social design" was. So, I decided to look at the social designers featured in the video in more depth.



Illegal Beauty (http://www.illegalbeauty.com/)

Illegal Beauty is an organization that follows the stories of "people without papers". Basically, they have set up an awareness campaign about the life illegal immigrants face when they come to a new country. Illegal Beauty works in many different mediums from songs and fashion to full installations.








Retired Weapons (http://www.retired.jp/)
Retired Weapons is an art project dedicated to ending violence and sadness. They publish images of silhouetted weapons with flowers growing out of them to spread there word of peace.


From those two sites alone and the video I have started to come to a conclusion about the definition of "social design". To me, social design is about caring--caring about anything really. Social Design is art, ideas, or actions devoted to social betterment and change. Social Design seeks to right wrongs at home and globally. Anyone can be a social designer, they just need passion and drive towards fixing something in there daily lives. I still feel that I am lacking some information about the true meaning of social design but, I feel I am approaching a definition. I will update as I find out more.

For my Jewelry Majors

Last year I was surfing around the web looking for inspiration for a sculpture project in my 3D design class and I stumbled upon the work of Jennifer Miller. She runs a small business called "Featherdust Studios". I am usually not very interested in jewelry, but, her work has such a whimsical feel to it. I honestly recommend everyone to check out her work. I prefer her jewelry over her illustrations but, both are quite nice. http://featherdust.critter.net/

Right: Tidal Swirls © Jennifer Miller

Below: Checkerboard Smokey Quartz © Jennifer Miller

I really like the way she twists the metal around the stones to incorporate them into the peice. All her works are handmade and she sells each peice she makes. Also, you can find short videos on her website about how she makes them and how they reflect in the light.