Week 6 Questions

Question 1: The book talks about some people might choose to be a vegetarian to rid themselves of harmful ingredients that might go into the production of animals, but even on that note, we still don’t truly know what goes on in the production of the vegetables and fruits either. Would you as a consumer be alright with the fact that some of the produce you buy might have harmful ingredients in them or would you be more prone to trying to better your well-being and grow your own produce?

Question 2: Within the Five Guiding Principles portion on pg.181, large companies like Nike are wanting to become more eco-friendly by creating non-toxin ways of tanning leather and a new rubber compound that can become a biological nutrient to the earth oppose to being a threat. What other large companies should really jump on the eco-friendly path? What should they change? How should they change things? Would this change make you switch between two competing companies?

Question 3: Bill Ford’s design team made an effort to “create healthy soil” around the plant of the River Rouge, and his team did so by using not more chemicals, but exploring the use of phtyoremediation and mycroremediation.   What other large plants across the US do not think about their contanimated soil and should they be forced to clean up their soil with these new innovative methods?  If you lived in the same town as a plant such as the River Rouge, would you petition for this plant to clean up their soil?  Do you support these new methods of creating healthy soil and do you think it will work in the long run?

Week 5 Questions

Question #1

Besides styrofoam, what products do you think are causing the most damage to the ecosystemthat would greatly reduce waste by designing its packaging to biodegrade after use? Such new and innovative packaging may cause a rise in product price, how do you think the public would react?

Question #2

The book talks about designing for “mass” customization. This would allow consumers to select products adapted for their localized area. This would lead to many benefits, but it could also give the consumer a confusingly large array of choices and potentially make products from different areas incompatible. Do you think American consumers would be open to this solution, and if not, what could we do as designers to make this solution more appealing?

Question #3

The principle of “food equals waste” is mentioned several times in the book. This refers to the processing of sweage by natural means, using plants and animals that feed off of and purify the sewage. This would mean that the process of sewage treatment would be much more out in the open. In this country we try to get our waste as far away from us as possible. How could this be overcome to get America to accept a “waste equals food” model of sewage treatment?

Design Journal Entry #6

DUE Monday, March 2rd for an in-class discussion

Stamp Project Research – Using the internet, as well as books on stamps and stamp collecting, xerox, scan, and/or print examples of stamp designs you think are exceptional. Add at least 15 examples of interesting examples to your Design Journal.

Next, do some research on the environment. Because this stamp is intended to communicate the message of celebration AND include visual imagery related to the natural environment you will need to find some inspiration for concepts that achieve this dual purpose. Begin by looking through the resources about sustainability on this blog. Then, branch off and look at examples of nature photography, illustrations, and more. Explore all realms of imagery related to the environment. There is no need to stay confined to endangered species or environments. All things Mother Nature are fair game. Document (xerox, scan, print) at least 15 images to use as inpiration for your sketches and this project.

Project 3 – Stamp Design

Create a celebratory stamp design that can be used for many occasions but that also celebrates, emphasizes, or depicts the environment. You will be designing a stamp that would be printed as a sheet (or pane) of 20 stamps. This gives you the opportunity to design not just one stamp, but a few to populate the sheet of 20. You can view examples from the USPS here. These stamps, and these illustrate the pane concept well. The most critical issue about stamp design is that the finished piece will be seen at stamp size.

Target Audience: People who send cards and notes to loved ones of all ages.
Demographics/Psychographics: Statistically, most people who buy cards are women.
Product Description: Small, horizontal or vertical. Stamp will be seen repeated on a small sheetlet of 20 stamps when purchased. On an envelope, the stamp will usually be seen by itself. Show both scenarios.
Key Messages: Celebrate, Happy Birthday, Congratulations, etc. (Ideally, the stamp will be relevant to multiple occasions.); 42 USA
Call to Action: Buy me! This stamp would add a nice touch to the outside of your envelope.
Objections to Overcome: Postage stamps must appeal to the mass market, nationwide.While still being innovative, we have to be careful to not be elitists and speak only to designers.Stamps that appeal to the west or east coast and leave out the rest of the country can be expensive to shred when they do not sell.

Creative Specifications

Creative Tone: Open
Existing Graphics/Brand Attributes: Show stamp designs with serrated edges.Without it, the idea of a stamp is lost.
Required Text: Celebrate, 42 USA
Inks: Four-color process/CMYK.
Other: Stamp template can be downloaded at www.adcmw.org/realshow.

This project, like the Byrd House Market Poster is from the Art Director’s Club of Metropolitan Washington’s Real Show.

Project Schedule:
Monday, February 23 – Research (see Design Journal Entry #6) and 50 thumbnails due
Wednesday, February 25 – 5 hand OR digital compositions due of 5 different designs/concepts
Monday, March 2 – workday
Wednesday, March 4 – 1 digital final stamp design
Monday, March 23 – Final Stamp Designs Due, mounted on foam core

Project Grading: 30 points possible
Process Work (12 pts)
thumbnails: 4 pts possible
hand comps: 4 pts possible
digital comps: 4 pts possible

Final Design (18 pts)
18–16 Excellent; the solution responds to the design brief with a creative, innovative solution; craft is impeccable
15.5–13 pts. Good; the solution mostly responds to and meets the design brief with a satisfactory solution to the problems; craft is good
12.5–11 pts. Average; the solution solves the design problem with predicable elements or ideas; craft has some problems
10.5–9 pts. Below average; the solution is weak and does not address the design brief; craft is poor
8.5 pts and below Work not deserving of credit that fails to respond to the design brief; poor craft

Week 4 Question

1. Do you think that you could incorporate the following idea from the book into your design process: “To eliminate the concept of waste means to design things – products, packaging, and systems – from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist”?  How?

Design Journal Entries 3, 4, 5

Design Journal Entry #3 will be your notes from my lecture about color and printing processes.

Design Journal Entry #4 will be your notes from my lecture about printing methods and inks (from Monday 2/9)

Design Journal Entry #5 will be your notes from my lecture on Monday February 16th about linescreens, resolution, and duotones.

Be sure to label your journal entries so that I can find them when I evaluate them. And, remember that you must include ALL of the drafts, sketches, crit notes, etc., for EVERY project in your Design Journal. If you don’t have these materials in your journal when I check it, you won’t get credit for them!

Week 3 Questions

1)What do you consider to be a better quality of life; Living in a sustainable, healthy environment, or having the conveniences of a westernized culture? Do you think it is possible to have the best of both worlds? If so, how?

2)Cradle to Cradle defines a good quality of life as Living in a sustainable, healthy environment. If this is true, how can we get people to realize that quality of life is about more than just having the conveniences of the westernized culture?

3.) What changes, if any, do you think need to be made in the daily life of East Carolina Students, that would allow our campus to be the peak of a sustainable, healthy environment. Do you think these changes would be considered realistic or would be easily accomplished?