PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: Hairbrush
Manufacturer: Goody
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Inventor-Samuel Firey; Lyda A. Newman “Improved Hair brush”
Year invented: Samuel Firey-1870; Lyda A. Newman-1898
System of your daily life where this product takes part: It takes place when I’m getting ready, typically in the morning.
Explain its function and relation to the system (200 words): A hairbrush is used to smooth out hair. Typically used to get rid of any knots in someone’s hair. It is also used to style hair. There are different types of brushes used for different styles and for different types of hair. There’s a tooth comb, paddle brush, round brush, detangling brush, bristle brush, and more. I use my hairbrush usually in the morning or whenever I am getting ready. I mostly use the brush to get rid of knots and just detangle my hair. I have one hairbrush that I use. I use the paddle brush. The paddle brush is used for long straight hair. It helps to detangle my hair. It’s relation to my system is basic, it’s used to help me style my hair and help look a little more put together.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better? (300 words): The original hairbrush in 1870 had elastic wire teeth with natural brushes. The “improved hairbrush” had bristles that were separated wide for easy combing. I think a way it could improve the system, is to make it less time consuming, As a result of myself having long hair, it can take a while to brush out my hair especially if there are a lot of tangles. So I think one way to make it better would definitely be more time efficient. I also think that if there was a way my hair could be styled with my hairbrush instead of a curling iron or a straightener. This could help save time and money. That way I could detangle my hair and style it in one go. Additionally, this would save money because I wouldn’t have to buy many products, I could have one simple product. Furthermore, I think to have something that could style one’s hair and contain some hair product could make life easier. Hair product meaning things such as hairspray, dry shampoo, gel, and more. It could be something that the person has to fill in by themselves, that way if they wanted to change the hair product they could. Therefore, the hairbrush would be able to distribute an even amount of hair product to that person’s hair. Additionally, there are many hairbrushes that are made with rough bristles, some might like this but it tends to wear out after multiple uses. If I was able to create a hairbrush with softer bristles or rough bristles (if preferred by the consumer), I would use a material that wouldn’t be able to wear out or break after a few uses.
PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: Toothbrush
Manufacturer: Ranir
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Inventor- William Addis (first mass producer)
Year invented: First invented in China in 1498; Mass produced in 1780.
System of your daily life where this product takes part: Just like the hairbrush, I use it to get ready for my day. It’s part of my morning routine.
Explain its function and relation to the system (200 words): The basic function of a toothbrush is to clean one’s teeth. It is something to benefit the hygiene of a person. It helps to prevent any diseases that could occur because of unclean teeth and it helps with bad breath. There are different types of toothbrushes. There are toothbrushes based on the bristles. Whether it’s hard or soft. There are electrical toothbrushes and there are even toothbrushes with water jets for a replacement of flossing. It’s relation to my system of getting ready is part of my morning routine and most peoples. Also brushing my teeth helps me to feel more awake (in the morning), it helps me to feel refreshed. It can seem like a “wake up,” just like a shower.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better? (300 words): This product has been improved many times over the years. I think to make this product more interesting or efficient would for it to automatically have toothpaste on the bristles. To have toothpaste infused in the bristles could add to the effect but the only problem with that would be that over a few uses the toothpaste effect would wear out. I do, overall, think this idea would be better for temporary uses such as traveling. Hotels could have this product for people just like how they have mini shampoos and conditioners. Something that could help this product would be to have floss in the toothbrush. A small compartment could be placed in the toothbrush to store the floss. This could be placed inside of the handle of the toothbrush. This could also be a solution to the automatic toothpaste problem. The only thing that consumers of the toothbrush would have to do is refill it when the product is done. This could also help to minimize space in cabinets or drawers. That way consumers wouldn’t have to have a bunch of different products taking up space. Furthermore, this product could be foldable, that way it would be easier to carry around.
PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: Towel
Manufacturer: Loft
Designer (if not known who invented this product): no known inventor, invention is associated with the city of Bursa, Turkey.
Year invented: 17th century
System of your daily life where this product takes part: As the other products do this takes place when I’m getting ready, specifically to shower. Also use towels to clean up spills, then wash them again.
Explain its function and relation to the system (200 words): The towel is used to dry things and/or clean up any messes, specifically liquids. Towels are used a lot for people in general. Thinking of the towel, my mind automatically goes to the bathroom. It’s something that we use to dry off after a shower, we use it to dry our hair, but there are so many other uses than that. If I spill something I use a towel to dry it up. There are different towels made for different things. There are washcloths that can be used for hands and faces. There are kitchen towels and there are even special towels to wipe cars. It relates to my system of getting ready. Comparing to the other products previously, it’s something that takes a part in getting ready. I use it on a daily basis.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better? (300 words): I think this product is pretty simple. Its job is to clean up or dry things off. It gets the task done easily. I think something that would make my life easier was if my towel had a built-in dryer. It would be faster and I could use the same towel to dry my hair instead of waiting. There could be something as small as a button that I could press and it would dry or if it had one that would automatically dry it. Going on with this built-in dryer idea, it would be interesting if it could also dry one’s hair while the towel is drying itself. I would be able to wrap the towel around my hair and while it dries my hair, it could dry the towel. Additionally, I think that a built-in heater could also be something that would turn an ordinary towel into something better. The heated towel would be something that is extremely beneficial when stepping out of the shower. Especially in winter time, it would make it more bearable and it wouldn’t seem dreadful to step out of the shower. This could also be made with the built-in dryer in the towel, it could be a button that I’d press and it would become a warm towel.
PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: Wallet
Manufacturer: Kate Spade
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Designer- Kate Spade
Year invented: The modern day wallet was created in the early 1950s.
System of your daily life where this product takes part: I use it to store my money in an organized way.
Explain its function and relation to the system (200 words): The function of a wallet is to store money and/or credit cards in an organized way. This helps it to stay in one place and makes it easier to keep track of it. Wallets also keep other important things other than money. For me, I have my license and a few IDs stored in there. I also have my registration and my insurance card in there. I also have a few old metro cards in there. They can also have items like pictures or business cards. It relates to the system when I have to purchase something. It holds the money needed to make a purchase. Furthermore, there are different types of wallets. There are wallets with different compartments such as a bi-fold and tri-fold. There are also wallets for traveling that can hold passports and then there are wrist wallets in case a person doesn’t want to carry a bag.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better? (300 words): One way this product could be improved would be if it could count the money that was inside. It could make the wallet much better if it had this. It could even be something small on the inside of the wallet that could let me know how much money I have in my wallet. It could even help with budgeting. Sometimes people can forget how much money they have in their wallets, this can serve as a reminder. If it keeps reminding people how much they have, they would become more conscious of how much they are spending. Adding to this idea, if there was something inside the wallet that could keep track of how much you spend that could also be a big help. The person could have the option to choose if they would want to keep track of how much they were spending every week, month, or year. Furthermore, even though a wallet is something contains important things, people can still misplace them or lose them. If the wallets had some sort of tracking or GPS attached to them it could help. One way to think about it would be like a find my iPhone but for a wallet. So in this case, you can check where it is on your phone or computer.
PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: MetroCard
Manufacturer: MTA
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Designer- Raymond deKozan
Year invented: introduced in 1992
System of your daily life where this product takes part: This product takes place in my life when I’m commuting.
Explain its function and relation to the system (200 words): The function of the MetroCard is for use of payment for public transportation. There are different types of MetroCards. There are metro cards that can give an unlimited number of rides. These can be a seven-day unlimited card or a thirty-day unlimited card. These there’s a card where you can pay per ride. Another card that connects to your credit card and takes out money for each swipe. The card that I typically use is either the 30 day unlimited or the pay as you go card. These seem to be the easiest and most convenient for me. This product relates to my system because it contains the money that I need to use in order to ride on the bus and train.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better? (300 words): This product is pretty simple but I think there are some things that can be changed or modified. Such as knowing the balance of my card. If there was something on the card, that said the remaining balance that would be more helpful then wiping it at the turnstile and finding out that you don’t have enough. Additionally, if there was a way a person could check the remaining balance on their phone, that would be a big help. Going on that idea, if there was a way to just simply add the desired amount on your card without using a machine or going up to the window. Unlike the metro card that is connected to your card, you would just be able to select the desired amount through something such as an app. That way you wouldn’t have to worry about how much you are spending on your card. This could definitely help with budgeting. Furthermore, I think the designs could be changed. The design has changed in the past from a blue card with the yellow font to a yellow card with a blue font. I think that if they had different designs instead of just one single design, it could be more appealing. Also, it could be a good marketing strategy, people might buy them to get a particular design.
