Tag: Design

Umbrella Stand

Presenter: Daisy Yen

Faculty Mentor: Jessica Swanson, John Arndt

Presentation Type: Poster 90

Primary Research Area: Design

Major: Product Design

Douglas Fir trees are usually used as the material for furniture, poles, and flooring in some buildings, which usually consume a large quantity of wood. Since people are now more aware of environmental issues and how long it takes for a tree to grow a certain size, the wood industry has begun designing and producing smaller home-goods products. The umbrella stand represents the smaller furniture and home accessories that are made out of Douglas Fir. The top and bottom pieces are each made from three layers of thin slices of fir, which were soaked in hot water for thirty minutes, then bent individually around a mold to achieve the round shape. They are then glued together after shaping and drying them individually. The four sides are also each made out of three thin slices of fir, which were placed on top of the mold and formed their shape in a vacuum bag for up to ten hours. Through bending the fir, I found out that certain density and colors of grains are easier to bend in certain directions, so choosing the right part of the wood for a specific part is essential and can affect whether the slices are able to bend successfully. Learning how to work with fir requires first getting to know its characteristics so as to be able to work around those instead of forcing the wood to conform to shapes that are not suitable.

Room for Thought: A Transformation of the Values of Emerson and Einstein

Presenter: Zachary Sherrod

Faculty Mentor: Barbara Mossberg, Terry Hunt

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Design

Major: Architecture

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a poetic individualist, and Albert Einstein, a spiritual physicist, both sought meaning and discovery within their minds. Consider a room that transforms the values of Emerson and Einstein into a space designed to evoke genius. Contemporary architectural rooms like the study, library, and office perform rudimentary functions but often inadequately house the intellect and spirit. My concept of a “room for thought” would function as a home for the mind—a space that symbolizes the imaginative process like a kitchen symbolizes the preparation of food. I explored this possibility with diagrams and modeled a stand-alone gazebo encased in a dodecahedron. This twelve-sided Platonic solid has symbolized the universe for millennia and bespeaks self-reliance with its centralized form. Moreover, its multifaceted surface empowers the spirit of imagination, for each side frames a view into an aspect of reality. While this form effectively captures the spirit of Emerson and Einstein, the “room for thought” is most meaningful as a cultural symbol, which could take any number of forms. Whether a separate structure, a bridge between spaces, or a jewel breaking through a conventional façade, this concept defines a sacred space in accordance with the philosophies of Emerson and Einstein.

No More Plastic Water Bottles: A Inquiry into Sustainable Packaging Design

Presenter: Cara Murray

Faculty Mentor: Jessica Swanson

Presentation Type: Poster 29

Primary Research Area: Design

Major: Product Design, Clark Honors College

Packaging design is the discipline of creating the container, graphics and visible exterior of a product. While extensive time, energy, and billions of dollars are devoted to this field each year, virtually all packaging ends up in the trash. While the field of packaging design has traditionally maintained a “throwaway” mindset, the past decades have introduced a more sustainable trend. Given the extreme waste associated with packaging it is important to consider how it can be made more environmentally friendly.

Beyond the fundamental functions of product protection, transport, and identification, I examine the greater purpose of packaging design: who does it serve, what purpose does it serve, and who/what does it impact? Using these questions as a initial framework, this research explores the related materials, processes and applications, as well as the cultural relevance, of sustainable packaging design.

After investigating the past, present and future trends related to sustainable packaging, my research then touches on some more theoretical examinations of how packaging design can be used to encourage sustainable consumer habits. I address here how packaging can remain attractive, functional, and cost-effective, but also incorporate increased environmental consciousness.

Research methods include examination of primary and secondary sources from expert designers in the packaging design field, as well as personal exploration of existing packaging, user interviews, and survey based data collection. Ultimately, my research aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the current field of sustainable packaging, identify cultural relevance of these products, and raise theoretical questions regarding the ethics of our existing consumption habits and waste cycles.

Trends of Female Representation in Disney Princess Movies

Presenter: Anna Lind

Faculty Mentor: John Park, Barbara Mossberg

Presentation Type: Poster 24

Primary Research Area: Design

Major: Digital Arts

The Disney Princess franchise, since its formation in 2000, has become a staple of American girlhood. The princess phenomenon has caused many to question the impact that Disney Princesses have on American culture. Since the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Disney Princess films have steadily become more progressive in the ways they portray their heroines. However, because Walt Disney Studios takes a corporate approach to storytelling that prioritizes profitability, Disney Princesses still conform to trends of female misrepresentation in popular media.

For my honors college thesis project I decided to track how the fairy tale heroine is depicted over time. Looking at a total of nine films that span from Snow White to Tangled, I created my own set of criteria to quantify the main character’s agency in her own story. These categories include total percentage of screen time, number of Progressive Actions, and how many times the protagonist rescues other characters or herself. Female representation in Disney’s animated princess movies did get better over time, however, the trends that have persisted correlate to the broader struggles of female representation in the media. The princesses still conform to a very rigid standard of beauty and are out spoken by the male characters in their films. To respond to this lack of positive representation I will be responding to my research with concept art for a Disney-esque animated fairy tale adaption. Fairy tale adaptions have the power to reinforce cultural conventions or break them down, and my retelling will challenge current conventions by showing an example of female representation I would like to see in future of Disney films and popular media.

”Thinking Inside the Box”: Comparative Analysis of Post-consumer Cardboard Building Insulation

Presenter: Nathaniel Leigh

Co-Presenters: Gianna Prather, Alexa Thornton

Faculty Mentor: Alison Kwok

Presentation Type: Poster 23

Primary Research Area: Design

Major: Architecture

In an age where efforts to conserve natural resources and limit greenhouse gas emissions are more critical than ever before, it is vital to reduce waste and use already harvested resources as effectively as possible. Creating products from post-consumer material is one way to greatly reduce the amount of waste making it into landfills. The authors of this study explore the use of post-consumer corrugated cardboard as building insulation. Two methods for insulating with cardboard were assessed – stacked and shredded. The authors hypothesized shredded cardboard would be a better insulator than stacked cardboard. A second hypothesis was tested; fiberglass batt insulation would be a better insulator than stacked and shredded cardboard. R-13 fiberglass batt insulation was used to represent the minimum insulation requirement for a residential building located in the United State Zone 4 climate as defined by ASHRAE standard 90.1. Three identical boxes were constructed, each with a different insulation. Interior and exterior temperature data from each box was collected using HOBO Pendant 001 data loggers. Differences in interior and exterior temperature were compared across each box in order to determine effectiveness. Comparative analysis was used to assess the performance of the cardboard insulation types against each other and the fiberglass batt. All hypotheses were proven incorrect; the findings show that both types of cardboard insulation perform comparatively to R-13 fiberglass batt insulation.

Feminine Hygiene in America: What Problems America Has Socially, Economically, and Environmentally With Current Products and How to Solve Them

Presenter: Brittany Lang

Faculty Mentor: Trygve Faste, Susan Sokolowski

Presentation Type: Oral

Primary Research Area: Design

Major: Product Design

Feminine Hygiene is often a taboo topic in America. Feminine hygiene is and will continue to be an integral part of a woman’s life for years to come. Most Americans do not have much knowledge of hygiene care products and education. In this study, articles were summarized and placed into three categories of menstrual care: social, economical, and environmental. Eighty women were also interviewed and surveyed to discover other problems within their hygiene care methods and menstrual cycle experiences. This information then helped form, from a design perspective, what is missing in hygiene care. Current priorities for users are that products be cheap, accessible, and easy to use. Environmental priorities are: producing less waste, less chemical use, and increased use of natural materials. The current hygiene market has sustainable options called menstrual cups, which are the least harmful, most economical, and most sustainable form of care even though they are not as popular as tampons. This study hypothesizes that because of a lack of education, cultural acceptance, and product presence in the United States; menstrual cups are not making their way into American stores. There is also not a current menstrual cup product on the market geared towards the modern American woman. American women need a product that empowers them, educates them about their body, is convenient, and creates minimal environmental impact.