Concept Mapping

A concept map can help you organize your thoughts and brainstorm stellar ideas for any creative project (Wiki How, 2014). Concept mapping was something we learnt about in Applied Design Concept and has proved very useful in coming up with ideas for Caramello.

If you haven’t worked out what Caramello is going to be by now I can tell you the basis which is a new form of communication that involves positively affirming someone else as opposed to affirming yourself. The medium that will be used is a decal sticker for your car that can be removed and put on multiple cars. The concept is that the affirmations on the decals are migrating amongst different cars via people placing them where they want to. The basis is that in giving we receive and so the positivity is like a boomerang.

The first step in making a concept map is to  brainstorm a list of important topics. For Car@mello I have made a list below-

• LANGUAGE
• SELF-BRANDING
• LOVE
• GRATITUDE
• SOCIAL MEDIA
• MENTAL ILLNESS
• DEPRESSION
• COMMUNICATION
• STICKERS
• DECAL
• CAR AS A MEDIUM
• MIGRATION

The second stage step is to choose the most important topic.

-COMMUNICATION

The third stage is to link the key words to the second most important words from your list.

The fourth stage is linking the second key words to less important words.

The fifth stage is explaining the relationship between the terms.

The concept map has organised my thoughts like a brainstorming mind map. We start with communication: Gratitude is Caramello’s new form of communication, it is a new language that brings and expresses love, it is a drug for mental illness, it is the new social media that removes depression. The Decal’s are a medium to communicate with as are stickers, they migrate between cars which is the vehicle we are using to change the concept of self branding.

And that is my concept.

What design problem does Car@mello solve? Mocking Affection?

Good design solves a problem and working out what the problem is that your solving and defining it is the first step to concept generation. When I look at Caramello some of the problems I’m looking at are-

PROBLEM-Facebook makes us depressed

PROBLEM-Road Rage causes deaths and anger

PROBLEM-Mental Health Issues are on the rise

PROBLEM-Communication at an all time low

PROBLEM-We have no skin left to tattoo or pierce

PROBLEM-Suicide rates high in teenagers

I have shown you in my last post the many faces of our current generation of communication. What I have tried to evolve is a new communication that involves giving to others as opposed to commenting on yourself, sharing of oneself as opposed to selfies and affirming others instead of trying to affirm yourself. There is a small percentage of liking others posts on social media and making nice posts that affirms others but imagine if all the communication was positive. Imagine how that could change our day to day happiness.

 “We are never truly happy until we try to brighten the lives of others” Helen Keller

This is  a complete reversal of our current communication on social media. A healthy step towards thinking about others instead of ourselves.

If we use the stick figure family stickers as an example of the way our mind works, it started of all new and happy and fun…’Hey look at me and my family’…as shown below.

Look at my Funny Family

Soon enough people got bored of seeing nice things. It didn’t make them feel good in any way. It wasn’t self branding. It was someone else saying “Look at me and how happy my family is”. Another form of a selfie that like Facebook just makes us wonder why we don’t look that good or why are they having so much fun? It turned into alternate stickers as shown below.

Then we tried to reignite it into a selfie.

In fact taking a look at the new trends in our society a big new trend is ‘Mocking Affection’. At Trendhunter it tells us that

“While the number of ways to show one’s love in society is seemingly endless, innovations that make a mockery of affectionate behavior are on the rise in a variety of markets. Consumers are taking to social media and poking fun at holidays to present disdain for the overarching sense of happiness in culture” (Trend Hunter, 2014).

Caramello has been designed as a platform to bring back to our lives, especially the lives of our youth a communication that is positive, interactive and gives us an alternative to current social media. It is a tool to connect us in a way that creates harmony. It incorporates our creativity, passions and imagination. It utilises our physicality.

Steven Stosny PhD tells us in an article he wrote on creating lasting happiness that,

“If you focus continually on making the world a better place in some small way, you and those you love will be happier, your life will have more meaning and purpose, and you will create a legacy that will give you peace in your later years” (Stosny PhD, 2014).

Our primary communication is emotional transmission, which is why communication techniques that involve negativity aren’t helpful. We interact emotionally with everyone we encounter and draw energy from and contribute energy to all people around us (Stosny PhD, 2014).

We can conclude from this that the more positive energy we put out, the more positivity we create globally and with negativity the same sum applies.

So Caramello is solving an age old problem of creating communication that only involves lasting positivity. In my next post I’ll define Caramello more by concept solution ideation.

Stosny PhD, S. (2014, March). Anger in the Age of Entitlement. How to Create Lasting Happiness. Retrieved from Psychology Today: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-of-entitlement/201403/how-create-happiness-lasts

Trend Hunter. (2014). Mocking Affection. Retrieved from Trend Hunter: http://www.trendhunter.com/protrends/mocking-affection

A People-Driven Era

“Often companies oversimplify their view of people”

is a belief held by Todd Wilkens, senior design researcher at ‘Adaptive Path’. He even invokes a quote from the Cluetrain Manifesto, citing that the organisation often see their audiences as “a gullet whose only purpose in life is to gulp products and crap cash” (Holsten, 2011).

Wilken’s goes on to say that we need to “try and understand people as you think of yourself”(Holsten, 2011). Missing from our marketing perspective is the complexity of people and their lives.

With Caramello I have looked at what our younger generation love doing with the help of my teenage girls.

What do they love doing? Branding themselves with Tattoo’s, Hair dye, piercings, selfies, Facebook posts, they don’t just visit a place they let everyone know where they are by Checking in. Their cars have personalised number plates and branding stickers.

All of this is a self-projection of our own identity as we try and find our niche in life, but does it make us happy? Are we actually communicating with others or just projecting an image we think will make us cool?

Recently the University of Michigan did a study on Facebook use with the findings pointing to the fact that the more people use Facebook the more depressed they feel. Facebook use led to declines in moment-to-moment happiness and overall life satisfaction (Kross 2014).

Susan Tardanico argues in a recent article about social media in the workplace that, “With all the powerful social technologies at our fingertips, we are more connected – and potentially more disconnected – than ever before” (Tardanico, 2012). Only 7% of our communication is by the written word and 93% body language, so in effect we have eliminated 97% of communication. This is how gen Y want to communicate and it is causing major issues in the workplace (Tardanico, 2012).

World-leading mental health reformer and 2010 Australian of the Year, Professor McGorry, said that, “50% of people would experience mental health issues on their road to adulthood”. Professor McGorry also says that, “The state of Mental Health in youth is worse and is the leading cause of death in Australians under the age of 40 years”. “There are 2500 suicides a year which is a figure 40% higher than the road toll. The main criteria being people feeling that their life is meaningless” (McRae, 2013).

My aim with Caramello is to try and combat some of these issues and put something meaningful back into our lives.

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions”. – Dalai Lama

Caramello has been designed as a platform to bring back to our lives, especially the lives of our youth a communication that is positive, interactive and gives us an alternative to current social media. It is a tool to connect us in a way that creates harmony. It incorporates our creativity, passions and imagination. It utilises our physicality.

In my next post I will unveil ‘Caramello’.

Holsten, D. (2011). A People Driven Era. In The Strategic Designer (p. 146). Ohio: How Books.

Kross, E. (2014, August 14). Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults. Retrieved 2014, from Plos One: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0069841#53

McRae, L. (2013, July). Stem the Rising Tide of Mental Illness. Retrieved 2014, from LaTrobe Valley Express: http://www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/story/1652740/stem-the-rising-tide-of-mental-illness/

Tardanico, S. (2012, April 30). Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication. Retrieved 2014, from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantarfanico/2012/04/30/is-social-media-sabotaging-real-communication/

Design Concept Generation

Design concept generation is the first step in developing your new design. When reading an article by Filippo A. Salustri about this topic Filippo (A. Salustri, 2003) solved the problem by dividing it down into six steps.

As I’m currently out in the middle of the bush in a cabin near Wombeyan Caves I thought it would be interesting to illustrate these steps with photos that my sister Tara took of my daughter Bridget today whilst I was studying. Bridget is extremely photogenic…well we think she is but she’s not yet convinced.

1.CONFRONT THE PROBLEM
Is it a real problem? Or is it one imposed through some ad-hoc agent, and that can, if treated appropriately, vanish?

The problem is that Bridget doesn’t think she’s photogenic. This problem can be treated by taking pictures and doing our best to capture her in a way that she will ultimately find appealing. The photos taken of her are looking through the dining area towards the verandah which has a beautiful backdrop of the bush surrounds. We start with a basic picture of her on the verandah.

1. Confront the Problem  Bridget on the Verandah

2.CHANGE THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM
Sometimes the source of the problem can be altered to either eliminate the problem or direct it to another part of the product where it can more easily be treated.

Photo’s traditionally look better when the subject is acting relaxed and not posing. Lets get Bridget to be a little free and playful.

2. Change the source of the Problem

Free and Playful

3.ISOLATE THE PROBLEM
Can the effects of the problem be isolated to particular systems or subsystems of a product, thereby allowing designers to focus their attention on it and not having to involve every designer on the project?

Isolate Bridget to standing near the door. The focus now includes the beautiful backdrop and makes her in some ways less of a focus as she is in the dark but focused on in a subtle way as she’s in the middle of the picture.

3. Isolate the Problem

4.INVERT THE PROBLEM
Inversion is a classic technique to solve design problems.

The classic way to invert this problem is to take the colour away and make it black and white. This brings a softness to the scene and focuses back on Bridget.

4. Invert the Problem

5.REVERSE THE PROBLEM
This is not quite the same as inversion . If the problem is one of stopping a leaky roof, then the reverse is to stop a leaky floor – i.e. rather than stopping the leak in the roof, vent the leak to the floor (and then just drain it).  Reversal is more about reversing the way you think about a problem or a design, rather than reversing the design itself.

So to reverse the thinking about this problem, instead of trying to make Bridget a subtle focus in the picture I’m going to bring her into full focus.

5. Reverse the Problem

6.DIVIDE THE PROBLEM
This is the classic “divide and conquer” technique. A problem which seems difficult can sometimes be handled by breaking into a series of subproblems such that the solutions of those subproblems can then be put together to solve the original, difficult problem.

6. Divide the Problem

One of the subproblems is creating a vision that enables Bridget to feel a nice connection that inspires her to feel photogenic. Very subtly changing the angle of the picture brings a softness and depth to it. Bridget is the focus and is engaging without having to look at the camera. We also remove the other problem which is the line of the door dissecting here face. The end picture is a clever success. Through following these basic principles as discussed by Falippo we have captured an image that Bridget likes.

A.Salustri, F. (2003). Design Concept Development. Retrieved from http://deed.ryerson.ca/~fil/t/conceptdevelopment.html

Solving Problems-Sustainability

“Design, first and foremost, is concerned with solving problems, but from where we currently stand, at the beginning of a new millennium, we survey a landscape strewn with the detritus of outmoded human practices, aided by or facilitated through design, that have had a catastrophic effect on the world’s ecosystems” (Denison, 2009).

Denison further argues that we as designers have produced some of the most profound and helpful things for humanity like the microprocessor, the internet, penicillin and the bike… we have also designed objects that destroy our environment like the automobile. The automobile has changed our way of life dramatically in many positive ways; however it also causes millions of deaths and injuries each year, degrades the air we breath and degrades our urban centres.

Sustainability has always been at the forefront of my designs (Fig.1 Candy Bench)  and in this new age of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ it must be at the forefront of all good design. Business needs to embrace sustainability now whether or not they care about it, as the community and governments care about it and they make the guidelines and buy our products.

Fig.1 ‘Candy Bench’ Sustainable design made using reject food cans, plantation timber, recycled pool noodles and 100% cotton toweling material.

I haven’t as yet explained my concept for Caramello but I can tell you that it is based around decal stickers that temporarily rest on cars. So how can I sustainably make them?

Fig.2 Eco Wall Stickers

The sticker in Fig.2 is from an Eco site called ‘Eco Wall Stickers’. Not necessarily relevant for Caramello as it is a one time application decal but it uses non-PVC, environmentally friendly adhesive and biodegradable packaging. In itself it is a pro sustainability icon.

Whilst researching sustainable stickers I found a company called Lightening Labels which uses EarthFirst PLA a new kind of label material that is made from corn instead of petroleum. I need to research whether they can be re used but the possibilities are interesting.

Customer Window Stickers ‘Lightening Labels’

Denison, E. (2009). Print and production finishes for sustainable design. In Print and production finishes for sustainable design (pp. 6,11,22,23,102,103,112,113). Switzerland: Rotovision.

Design Skills

“Simple can be harder than
complex. You have to work hard to
get your thinking clean to make
it simple. But it’s worth it in the
end, because once you get there,
you can move mountains.”
—Steve Jobs

Thinking simple is the basis of good design. Knowing how to over deliver by under delivering. What do I mean by that? I mean that some of the most exciting design is found in simplicity. Apple have perfected it with all their products. Enormous functionality with one wheel on the iPod.

Recently I have been in Malaysia on an island up the north called Langkawi. I started to notice the simplicity in their design on the island.

Most of their products where based on shapes from nature.

Shells on the beach Langkawi

When I looked at this shell on the beach it reminded me of the lounges in the resort pool, perfectly simple and in sync as shown below.

Poolside Lounge Holiday Villa Resort Langkawi

My friend on the beach was a very cheeky crab trying to sneak into his friends holes.

Crab on the beach Langkawi

In the cafe up the road having my breakfast Latte he turned up as furniture.

Crab furniture cafe Langkawi

And when I had my Latte I looked like  a crab! Or so my partner thought.

Me at Langkawi Cafe with crab fingers

My latte had a delicate design on it like a shell.

Latte Langkawi

Shell on Langkawi Beach

And when walking home I want  to walk on the grass without getting my feet dirty.

Grass thongs Langkawi

Simplicity is the key to good design. I want to incorporate this into my design for Caramello. I often design objects that take a lot of effort to reproduce and therefore want to keep Caramello simple and easy to manufacture and also simple in the way it speaks to people. Like Apple and Steve Jobs making quite intricate concepts simply beautiful.