Courses

Around 11AM, I started walking towards Toby Estate Coffee 44. An ideal brunch timing in New York City. I love the West Village, the simple yet classic townhouses with exposed brick walls all lined up along the streets. A quiet neighborhood but it was not due to lack of people. The people here are just quiet, most of them working in coffee shops. Just like the architecture, the people emulate a simple and classic look. The dress sense, of course being winter consisted of a lot of Canada Goose. I would say everyone in this neighborhood is fairly wealthy, a lot of branded items here and there. No one wore anything out of the ordinary, neutral colors, classic turtlenecks, jeans. Paired together nicely with a watch or a bag. Simple, yet aesthetically pleasing. Similar to the overall environment in the coffee shop, with the clean and elegant typography and the bonzai plants and the recurring exposed brick walls with marquee lights. Everything around me, just screamed “Instaworthy.” Everyone clearly thought the same because there was no shortage of picture-taking. There is a certain sophistication in the simplicity.

I didn’t realize that I was such an awkward person, I initially couldn’t bring myself to ask people what they were wearing and to take a picture. Thats why I only asked two ladies what they were wearing. The first lady I talked to was sitting right next to me, her name was Nousha. I saw her with her film camera around her neck and I was automatically intrigued. She was wearing vintage Clarks, Tanya V leggings, a Uniqlo jacket, a red scarf from India and an H&M beanie. Uniqlo is definitely an all around favorite in the winter, the “HEATTECH” clothing line is warm but it also lightweight. I could definitely spot out some Uniqlo pieces in the crowd, including my own. I had three layers of HEATTECH on.

I met the second lady that I asked for outfit details in the line when I went to order a latte. Her name was Kate and she seemed approachable so I felt less nervous. She was wearing Superga shoes, LaRock jacket, Rag&Bone tank top and an H&M sweater. Clearly H&M is a popular fast fashion store. I had never heard of Superga or LaRock before this encounter so that was interesting to learn.

My name is Anisha Subberwal. I’m 19 years old. I’m majoring in Communication Design. And, you’re probably wondering what that entails. Its basically Digital Design, so I learn the basics and art of typography and graphic design but I also get to learn web design, User Experience and User Interface Design. Studying User Experience design is exactly what it is, designing how the user navigates through the website/app and User Interface is just the aesthetic of it. Sorry, for boring you with some web terminology. My minor is Fashion Communication, I know… its a lot of communicating. Thats like fashion advertising, branding and merchandising. I currently intern at Jimmy Choo as a visual merchandiser, so I’m gaining a lot of work experience in my minor. I’m still trying to find a middle ground with everything I’m studying. A little more about me and less about my academics, I’m basically a foreigner everywhere I go. I moved from India which is my birthplace halfway through 4th grade. Then I moved to Indonesia for about 2 years and I went to the American International School. After that I moved to Singapore for about 2 and a half years and I went to a British School. Two schools actually. And then, I moved to Taiwan where I stayed about 11 months and switched back to the American system. And again there was another move before sophomore year of my high school, I moved to Hong Kong where my family currently resides. We’re coming on to our 5th year and that seems amazing considering our moving history. Where are you from? Wheres home for you? Probably two of the hardest questions I have to answer. When I say Hong Kong, people usually say “Where are you really from? You don’t look Chinese.” I feel like I’m in that scene of Mean Girls. But when I moved out of India when I was really young, whenever I visit I feel like I’m in a foreign place. It just doesn’t feel like home.

• What aspects of your chosen design will you pursue in your final paper?

One aspect I definitely want to focus on is the versatility of my object, the mason jar. How the simplicity of the design allows one to do so many different things to it and completely transform the object. Aside from just aesthetics, the utility of the object as well is almost undefined, even though its original purpose was for kitchen use to store food, the space in the container allows for the storage of almost anything. Another aspect I want to look into is the popularity, how did this banal jar become such a trend?

• How will you research your topic (i.e., what types of sources will you need to use to answer the questions you are asking)?

I’ll have to look into the art of simple design; the thought process behind that, and specifically the design of containers. I’ll definitely need to look into some sources that help me understand the point of view from a product designer perspective. Hopefully I’ll find some articles or interviews. I could look into the mason jar manufacturer specifically, the history of the company to get a timeline on when the mason jar became popular. I will also look into some DIY videos and blog posts, just to see how it all started and how creative people get with transforming the jar.

• One or two key questions?

I mentioned it above but I can state it again here.

How did this simple jar become such a trend?

What about the jar makes it smart product design? In what ways is the simplicity effective?

Was the design intended to be used for just one purpose?

The object I have decided to explore a mason jar. It is a molded glass jar specifically soda-lime glass originally created to store food. The lid is made out of stamped steel. There is a rubber ring at the back of the lid which creates that perfect seal.The bands are apparently reusable. They come in two sizes,2 ³⁄₈ in (60 mm) inner and 2 ³⁄₄ in (70 mm) outer diameter, and wide mouth, 3 in (76 mm) inner and3 ³⁄₈ in (86 mm) outer diameter. It is designed to have some “head space” between the food and the top of the jar. When you hold a mason jar you can feel the thickness of the glass, there is also an engraving of the producer who made the glass. The ring of the lid and the center part are two separate pieces, you can choose to just have the ring on and remove the center part if you would like to make the item inside the jar easily accessible.

I want to understand how such a normal everyday object got transformed for so many other usages. It’s almost more of an aesthetic appeal now-days. You can see mason jars being used as cups for beverages in so called “Hipster cafes” and its not even just coffee now, people use it as a holder for juices and smoothies and fruit-infused water. People also use it for other craft purposes, there are many DIY ideas with the mason jar such as painting and decorating your mason jars, using it to make/store cute gifts or as a vase for flowers or put fairy lights inside. The design of it is so simple it allows for all these creative measures to be taken. A jar thats original purpose was to simply store food in a household has been taken into the artistic field with not just crafty projects but for presenting aesthetically pleasing food and beverages.

Citations:

Image Credits: Nicky Corbishley All Rights Reserved Copyright 2011

Library of Congress. PreservedFood1. Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.

Says, Mae, Linda Says, Kareen Says, Su Says, Samantha Says Kurek, Lyndsay Says, Gloria Says Perez, and Katie Says. “Mason Jar Projects.” It All Started With Paint. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.

Planning:

I had changed my idea from my previous one after attempting to 3D print a phone case. I realized that I’m more of an artist than a mechanic (obviously) so I shifted my focus to more of an installation piece. I was inspired by Dadaism, so I decided to use found objects as a means to broadcast my message.

My Research Paper focused on the effects that makeup application had to ones self-image in the long run. From that topic there were a lot of sub categories that came with it. When answering the question of why is it that girls wear makeup, topics like cultural differences and influences like social media and advertising were brought up. I chose this topic because I think the cosmetic industry plays a huge role in society today, and we never realize the implications from such a simple everyday task as putting on makeup. I decided to go with the Dadaism idea because that movement is known for protesting against societal norms. A protest “against this world of mutual destruction.” I wanted to touch on all the topics I mentioned in my essay but also have some sort of focus. So I decided to go with concept of enhancement. The constant need for self improvement, in this case through cosmetics and social media. The extra lighting and the selfie stick for adjustable angles. The colored paper on the box below to represent usage of filters. And the box above with the broken triangles to symbolize a distorted self-image. Since this project was about Prototyping, I would want this installation piece to be much bigger and more interactive if I had to build it. I would want the objects to be much bigger than its regular size. I would want my audience to be able to walk through the boxes. Almost like an animation movie, when the characters shrink and all the objects become larger than life. Because thats essentially what is happening, not literally but symbolically.

Creative Brief (updated) :

My initial idea was to create a 3D printed phone case and install the LED lighting myself to portray the concept of enhancement. Although that didn’t work out after printing out the first time. I also realized that it wasn’t doing justice to all the topics I had talked about in my research paper.