Design 21: Social Design Network

In Hye,

I actually have both a disabled dog and a masters in Design, so I feel well suited to comment on your work. My dog has lost most of the use of his rear legs due to a neurological disorder. He can drag himself around, but cannot run or walk any distance. He can't get up stairs alone, either (and I live in a three-story walkup). My dog will never get better and will need help for the rest of his life, so an aid like this is essential.

This project, as with all ID projects, could be greatly helped by focusing on the end user, not experts. Partnering with users and trying to make a simple mockup can tell you so much about how to improve a concept.

One HUGE problem with your solution is going to the bathroom. The dog would urinate all over your device, making it very unpleasant to use more than once.

http://www.walkaboutharnesses.com/ makes a very simple fabric sling that serves the purpose of aiding my dog to walk and get up and down stairs very well. It has cut-outs to allow him to go the bathroom with some help. It cost $60.

I also bought a wheelchair on eBay made out of PVC tubing for $100 with shipping. It was made by a very nice lady in Buffalo, NY.

This concept has some potential that could realized with further research and development.

I agree with Koen's disagreement!

Soundbites are dangerous - taking the abstract for the whole, complex argument is walking away misinformed...or partially informed.

When I originally posted about the Belu Water project, it was less to say that the job was complete but rather to highlight what I thought was positive thinking in this "green" direction...They were creating a synergy between better materials practices and direct public benefit (improving public waterways) and carbon footprinting. Check out their website for the full story

I think it's great that we should all be directing our attention to ways to do it better. But we should also applaud those of us who are out there trying to improve things, even if it's only a first draft!

Koen's point about recycling is a very good one. The materials may be conserved, but energy is required each time we slag it down and reform it...so we should try to reuse (or avoid consumption) wherever possible.

But I don't think we can change people's "bad manners" in one stroke. It will take time and many efforts on many directions to make us all rethink our consumption patterns.

Short notice, I know...but Paul Polak is giving the keynote address at Pratt's Higgins Hall on Thursday the 27th at 6pm.

Mr. Polak founded International Development Enterprises which is a great organization that designs solutions that address root causes of poverty. His products include a $25 treadle pump and small farm drip-irrigation systems priced as low as $3 which helped increase poor farmers' net income by $288 million annually. IDE received a $14 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation in 2006, and in 2004 it received Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year" award in the social responsibility category.

check out the rest of pratt's green week at http://www.sustainablepratt.org/greenweek.

If you haven't already, read this article. It's a sobering, thoughtful critique of designdom's optimism. I was taught in school that designers could design anything. Once we learned "design thinking" we could approach and solve any problem. Research, user ethnography, brainstorming, mapping, prototyping, testing, validation, second prototypes, etc...it's a pretty powerful paradigm, to be sure. It sounds a lot like the scientific method in many ways...and makes us think we can solve the world's problems.

"In particular, design metaphors obscure the ideological—and political—decisions involved in tackling societal issues. Depending on your perspective, “drunk driving” can be a symptom of some broader systemic failure (from un-walkable suburbs to deficient public education), a lapse of individual responsibility, or a right to be defended. The solution to the problem is inseparable from its conception. Conceiving of global ills as design challenges may sometimes be in order, but only when a consensus exists on goals, budgets and relevant values. Such is rarely the case."

While I share the optimism of my time...that design can change the world, I think taking a moment to realize that great designs often fail to catch on is worthwhile. We can think great thoughts, design wonderful social systems and processes, but we can't make the horse drink. Maybe it wasn't really good design, then, if it didn't catch on...or the market got in the way, the time wasn't right,etc. In t...

There have been a few Design21 competitions that focus on "awareness campaigns" with the idea that if people don't know about a problem or issue, not much will happen. I saw this article in Wired which demonstrates, I guess, the converse argument. Some researchers from the Nature Conservancy found a correlation (which isn't causation) between the rise in video games and the internet with a drop in fishing and hunting permits. "Good!" some may say...."people are enjoying nature without killing it." But I think, sustainable use of natural resources creates a population of people inspired to preserve nature.

Along with the awareness campaigns we're building we should support causes that bring kids into the wilderness, building the next generation of Nature's protectors.

Peter asks a great question: Single use versus recyclable...

I think the strongest reason to use compostable, single use containers is that a shocking number of plastic containers never make it to the recycling center.

That is the user-centric, behaviorist argument.

The question of which is "better" in terms of total energy cost and impact on the planet is a much bigger question.

There are so many plastics out there...some can't be recycled at all, some are too expensive to recycle...however, few materials are infinitely recyclable...In Cradle to Cradle, the authors talk about "downcycling"... glass is technically totally renewable, but once you mix colored and clear glass you have an interior product: it can no longer be used for it's original purpose. Old tires can be ground up and used in roads or as sandals, but then reach a dead end.

The plus of corn (or beet or potato or rice) plastics is that they can be grown sustainably and possibly without petroleum input. That's a real advantage over petroleum-based plastics.

It may be a day late and a dollar short, but the good folks at Designism 2.0 emailed me that their full podcast is online here. Relive all your favorite moments! Mine, as you know, was Mr. Wolff hushing the whole crowd with his "Stop designing stuff" rant. And then Dr. Milton Glaser operating on him.

Delicious.

Do check it out. The enthusiasm and hope is a great thing. Design can make a difference.

Wow...just to get some of the initial wow off my chest...Michael Wolff was a breath of acrid fresh air that turned a big pat on our backs into a gripping deathmatch of design philosophy.

Milton was right: We should take part in the world around us...because we have to. It's our imperative as citizens to do something. Not just stay home and read, as Michael enjoined us to.

"Design is an Act of Planning"

Yes Milton! He went on to say that Design is not style...Design is its result, its consequence.

Michael said: "Everyone can Design. Design is Over."

Yes Michael! Everyone can use Photoshop and Illustrator and Maya and make a computer model of a shitty product or a bad awareness campaign. Michael said earlier that Design had to be Disruptive to rise above this cacophony of banal design.

But no...Milton told us that New Design is introduced in terms of the Known. Good design seems familiar, then...not alien.

It was so very exciting.

many other good things: Ellen Sitkin's ad work on buyameter.org, Andrew Sloat's sweet and endearing constitutional educational-love-ins. I have a bubble from Ji Lee's bubble project that's going up in the Clinton-Washington G. Look for it!

My thesis is complete and I'm very happy!

Our project was all about getting people moving around cities. The bicycle is great device, but too large for most urban dwellings. Bikes are also long range vehicles - all wrong for the shorter distances many have to travel in dense urban spaces. I think it can replace bikes and encourage more people to leave their cars at home for short errands.

Fact One: many subway lines are at capacity in NYC...and very little expansion is planned

Fact Two: 1 million more people will live in NYC in the next 10 years.

Fact Three: Many of these people will seek more affordable housing...which is largely away from subway-rich areas.

Fact Four: Buses are on average about as fast as running.

Fact Five: Euro-styled Bike parking around subways takes more real estate than NYC can afford.

The footbike is like an oversized scooter-cum-half-bicycle. Our user testing showed that people enjoyed riding it, and that the folding functionality was a welcome feature. The stem also folds down, allowing it to ultimately fold into thirds...It can definitely address some of these urbanization issues...I'll upload some pics on more coroflot site soon...

hey all, my thesis partner and I did a presentation about our solution for crowded cities...foot bikes. Yes, footbikes.

What's a footbike?

Well, it's like a scooter and a bike had kids. Large wheeled, comfortable and stable, you can fold it up and bring in it on the train, store it in your house and use it to get where you need to go...Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan's Design Meetup hosted the event (every month at Design Within Reach) and he was kind enough to blog about us...I'm hoping to get some updated images. He's showing our micro-scooter concept, not the footbike as it is envisioned now...