Pratima ManiFaculty: Julia WargaskiThesis I. Fall 2011.11/21/2011 Upload

I. Project Summary

CONCEPTExploring people’s relationships to their possesions, why they consume/dispose of objectsso rapidly and heightening their awareness about how their lifestyles truly factor a larger picture.

GOALSTo increase awareness about the reality of product sys-tems and bring about the realization in people that their possessions are part of a large and dizzingly complex web of interactions, systems processes and people.

To somewhat refute the current prevailing idea of ‘sustainability’ and ‘greeness’ in popular culture. Both these words, I think, have become over-used terms that have lost their impact and have become associated with pseudo-hippy, hemp-toting, bike-riding sub cul-tures. I would like to propose that sustainibility is much more an issue of common sense than being a warrior of mother nature.

To make people reconsider their relationship with objects and to consider the amount of ‘noise’ that exists around them.

To communicate all of the above in a manner that IS NOT DIDACTIC and actually engages people as op-posed to boring them to death.

CHANGES SINCE LAST UPLOAD:Shifting away from focusing on ‘planned obsolesence’ - research indicated that the concept didn’t have much concrete evidence to back it often wanders dangerous-ly close to being conspiracy theories. Product obsoes-cence will still be discussed but the focus will be more on people’s perception of objects.

II. Mindmaps:

So far I have mainly been working on research for my project seeing as the graphics I produce will be highly dependant on aquired infor-mation.

The following spreads feature the 3 main mind-maps I’ve constructed to summarise the key areas of my research1.

I. Widespread ideas and fallacies that exist regarding sustainability

II. What ‘sustainability’ in product design actually entails.

III. Potential ways that sustainability can be integrated into the consumer electronics field/ the psychology that characterises people’s relationship with objects and their perceptions of sustainability.

1 All minmaps are summaries of information found in the fol-lowing documents:

I. Design for Environmental Sustainability by Carlo Arnaldo Vezzoli (Author), Ezio ManziniII. CEA 2010 Sustainability Report

III. Current Prototype “An Unfolding Storytale” (Interactive Print)

CONCEPTA regular book which features a fairty-tale style story on its pages. It will be illustrated as per children’s-book conventions. The story will roughly allude to the major issues surrounding over-consumption. The pages of the book can then be unbound and individu-ally unfolded to reveal a ‘subversive’ level that con-tains humorous/sarcastic graphics and mini-stories that provide more information on the issues hinted at in the story. The basic aim is that the surface level of the story is for children, and the deeper layer is for older readers and when the children grow up they ‘graduate’ to the next level of the book.

TARGET AUDIENCE: Children and adults, separately.

POSSIBLE GOALSAdding spreads to the second level of the book which allows the readers to somehow contribute or leave their mark on the book? This needs to be considered properly as whatever they add should be legitimately relevant to the book’s content and definitely shouldn’t be frivolous. Their additions should be something that strengthens their relationship to the book as an object.

MECHANICSThe following spreads detail how the mechanics of the book will roughly operate.

Regular book from the front. A letter size version would be constructed from folded 11x17 sheets bound up at the open ends

On the surface level, features the fairy story which reads as a regular book.

Binding in undone. Binding will be reversible eg. using string that can be untied and retied.

Interiors of the pages contain fold outs and exten-sions that tell a different story.

Each individual page can be opened out to reveal another level of information on the interior.

INTERIOR GRAPHICSAn example of the type of graphic that might be found on one of the second-level spreads of the book. The i-pod tree is a sarcastic take on the naming conven-tions of modern day products. I find the categorization of music devices with terms like “1st generation, 2nd generation, 3rd generation etc...” quite funny see-ing as these terms refernce idea of history and lin-eage whereas more products are fairly transient and unimportant in the priority list of our minds. I poked fun at it by creating my own version of a family tree with formal portraits of each member of the ipod nano family. I then added scribbled anecdotes as though a member of this family hasd made comments about his ancestors and their personalities.

IV. Feedback

OBSERVATIONS/SUGGESTIONSThere should be a way for users to add their own an-ecdotes or ideas to the second level of the book.

It’s going to be important have well considered illus-trations. Aesthetics of the fairy tale and second level of the book should be harmonious but distinct enough that people can tell immediately which side of the story they’re looking at.

The story should not focus too much on characters. Fairy tales are quite vague on that front anyways.

Attention will be need to be paid to the binding. It needs to be easy to take apart/ put together, or people will lose patience. It should also be easy for people to re-order.

The story could have different permutations/ combi-nations depending on how the pages are re-bound.

QUESTIONS GOING FORWARD: Who is my audience specifically? (what age range?)

Will there be childrens’book illustrations on the sur-face level of the book? Will these illustrations tie in with the graphics on the second level of the book?

How will I divide the information between more information-heavy and more humorous/ whimsical spreads? Should I keep the two separate? WIll this make the book disjointed?

Do I have to offer suggestions/guidelines/ a ‘where to go from here’ section for readers at the end of the book? (eg. suggestions of websites, further readings, etc) How do I reconcile this with my desire for this not to be a 10-step guide but more of a story and infor-mation feed?