Product name: Metro Card
Manufacturer: MTA
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Raymond deKozan
Year invented: 1993
System of your daily life where this product takes part:
Transportation System
The MetroCard was created in 1993 and since then has been very helpful in New Yorkers daily commutes helping people get to work and see friends across the city. The MetroCard enables you to use the subway system. The subway system is a system of trains that are part of the transportation system. The subway can transport you from place to place throughout the city. It connects the five boroughs of New York easily and the MetroCard makes it possible. This card allows you to pay $2.75 for you train ride just by sliding it through a scanner and going through a turnstile. The card can be refilled with money at every subway station and can be reused until expired. The money paid for the ride goes toward funding the MTA. With the money that goes towards the MTA, it benefits the travel system. The funding keeps the subway system efficient, safe, and clean for users. If this system didn’t run as smoothly as it does it would make the New York transportation system collapse.
The MetroCard has only been in use for a little more than twenty years and is quickly becoming outdated just like its predecessor. Before the card, you would pay for your ride with a coin but was updated for more convenient use by the MetroCard. I think it would be hard to improve the card because of so many people already using it but with a change for paying for the ride already having been done I know it is possible. The MetroCard can be recycled but is made out of plastic is still bad for the environment so it would be beneficial if there was a more sustainable way of making a payment. Also, it is very inconvenient to have to go into your wallet or purse to find you MetroCard to swipe especially if it is cold or a person is carrying a lot and can hold up a line of people trying to get through. A lot of these problems can be taken care of in many ways. Many cards can be scanned by just a tap without taking it out of a purse or wallet. If this could be done with a MetroCard it will keep everything moving smoothly. To combat the problem of sustainability there have been many talks of moving the MetroCard to an app and paying that way. Many trains and buses already use this method so we know it is possible to make it work that way. Although the idea of having a card on your phone sounds great in theory there are complications. The problem with this solution is that not everyone has access to a phone so another idea would be using a more sustainable recyclable material that won’t have a bad effect on the environment like wood or plastic made out of recycled plastic.
Product name: Macbook pro
Manufacturer: Apple
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Steve Jobs
Year invented: 2006
System of your daily life where this product takes part:
Internet system, communication system, social media system, designer system, etc.
The MacBook Pro is a laptop computer invented in 2006 and has been in a crucial necessity. The amount of systems this computer is part of is endless because of its many uses. One of its biggest and main uses is the ability to connect to the internet. With apps on the Macbook like Safari and Google Chrome the ability to use the internet on the easier and faster. The internet’s ability to connect to different sites and people makes communication to people all over the globe. With social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The MacBook Pro also continues to make communication a priority with apps like iMessage and FaceTime. These apps allow you to speak with friends and family from all over and makes connecting with people so easy. One more system that the Macbook pro is known for designs. With the Adobe products like Photoshop and Illustrator and the touch screen toolbar designers can use them to make their work move swifter and enables them to create. Each system is related to each other and is works together in most computers.
The Macbook Pro already makes life easier by making it faster to create, do work, and communicate. the Macbook Pro is a great invention but there is always room for improvement and the makers of the product, Apple, try to update their product at least once a year. Although Apple is trying to improve the Macbook Pro I believe there are issues they are overlooking in the design aspect. The Macbook Pro is a laptop and meant to be portable. Depending on the size of the computer you choose it can be very heavy and hard to carry around. I think to make the computer work better for its purpose if it was able to be made out of a lighter material it would be beneficial. The design system that the Macbook is apart of is crucial to their selling base and although you can attach a drawing tablet to aid this system I think it would a greater advantage if the trackpad could double as a drawing tablet and be used with a stylus similar to Apples Ipad. The Macbook can be recycled after you purchase a new computer to be resold but I feel that this product could still be more sustainable. The laptop has many plastic parts that can be damaging to the environment. I believe that if we used recycled materials for the keyboard it will be a small but helpful part in helping the environment and benefiting another system.
Product name: Copic Markers
Manufacturer: Copic
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Too cooperation with Magic Markers
Year invented: 1987
System of your daily life where this product takes part:
Art system, Communication system
Copic markers are a very well known art supply in the art world. Copic markers are alcohol based markers that come in unique colors. The markers are refillable and are double-sided. They come in different shaped brush nibs for a variety of different techniques and styles. Copic Markers are known for their ability to shade and create depth. Artists use these to create pieces like comics and illustrations. These markers are used by both aspiring artists and professionals. They are part of the art system because they are tools used to create art and function as ways to express creativity which also relates to the communication system. Art can communicate whatever the artist is trying to express which makes art apart of this system of communication. As Copic Markers being part of creating art and having the ability to not only draw but write copic markers are also part of the communication system.
Copic Markers, although made for designers, have had the same design to them for almost thirty-two years. The markes have slick simple design like most markers and their design has even been remade by other companies. This design can be improved though. The design should not only benefit the seller but should benefit the user. The design of a product should be for the designers and artists to create and make the most out of their art. Although the markers are already double sided with different shaped nibs on each end, I think it would be more helpful if the tips of the brush were interchangeable for a greater ability to try out different styles. Copic already sells multiple shaped nibs that are very popular and I think to make the most out of a single marker interchangeable tips would help to aid the art and design system. Another problem, like with most of the products listed, is again sustainability. These markers are covered in plastic and there are so many options to create these products out of other than plastic that ends up in landfills. The plastic of Copic markers is not only the body of the marker that houses the ink but the container for markers as well. I believe that instead of plastic these Copic Markers can be made from bamboo. Bamboo is a sustainable and quick growing crop that can easily be made into a container to hold the ink for the markers. For the container, it can be out of recycled plastic.
Product name: Oliver Peoples Glasses
Manufacturer: Oliver Peoples
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Ken Schwartz and Larry Leight are the founders (Ben Franklin is the inventor of glasses )
Year invented: 1987
System of your daily life where this product takes part:
Fashion system, Medical system,
Oliver Peoples glasses are unique and handcrafted to help make lens ware fashionable. Glasses are designed to give the ability of almost perfect sight for the people who do not have this luxury. These lenses are part of the medical system and by correcting a medical problem. Poor vision is a very common problem and glasses are needed to help. With this being a corrective solution to an everyday problem, designers needed to create glasses for the ability to wear them every day. Oliver Peoples designers design glasses so they are fashionable and so people would be comfortable wearing them every day. The fashion system is a system that makes people comfortable and confident to express themselves through wearing clothing and accessories and glasses are no exception especially those of Oliver Peoples. The designers try and create a vintage aesthetic for their brand and so people can complete their aesthetic with their glasses. Glasses are an everyday object that most people need and the designers of Oliver Peoples improved upon the medical system that most people associate glasses with by making them also apart of the fashion system.
Glasses have improved upon many times since their creation around the 13th century. Like stated previously glasses are meant to be worn every day so should be comfortable. While glasses can be comfortable after being worn for a long period of time can get intolerable. Another issue of glasses can be the problem of staying on. A problem most people have with glasses is that they can often slip off your face or move around which when happens impairs the wearer of seeing. This problem can defeat the purpose of glasses and stop them from doing their main purposes which is enabling the wearer to see more clearly. I believe that there is a solution to fix both of these problems to better the use of glasses. A way to make glasses more pleasant could be by replacing the material that makes up the temples, which is the part of the glasses that fold and go behind the ears. If it was made out of a more comfortable, but still fashionable material as to keep the fashion system ingrained in glasses. I think it could be made out of something softer it would get less uncomfortable behind the ears, the place that is most disturbed by glasses. I also believe that it could be a flexible material. The flexible material could be moved to and bended to the wearers liking to create a tighter fit so the glasses would be less likely to fall off. Another way to keep the glasses from falling off could be to put an anti slip material on the bridge of the glass, the place connecting the two lenses, so the glasses do not slide down the bride of the nose.
Product name: Fjallraven Kanken Backpack
Manufacturer: Fjallraven
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Ake Nordin
Year invented: 1960
System of your daily life where this product takes part:
Fashion system, transportation system, packing system
The Fjallraven is a Swedish company was created in 1960 by Ake Nordin. Nordin created Fjallraven to design their Kanken Backpack to be a better backpack then ones created before it. Backpacks have always been part of the packing and transportation system. These bags, like most bags, are made for packing things into a bag for easy transport. Backpacks have been used for a long time and each company tries to improve it. Fjallraven creates fashionable bags in a multitude of colors and sizes. Their backpacks have a rectangular shape with all straight sides and edges. This was the decided design because the designer Ake Nordin noticed that the straight design kept the back of the wearer straight which led to less back pain when carrying a heavy bag. This concept improved upon the two systems that backpacks were known for by allowing the bag to have less of a strain on the back so you can hold more things and be more productive in transporting. With the Kankens variety of colors and slick design, the backpack is both functional and fashionable.
The Fjallraven Kanken backpack was already created to improve upon a system with is straight edges to help the back. I think that the backpack can be used more efficiently in the packing system. The bag has two pockets one in front and one in the back but front pocket is very small and can barely hold my keys and the inside pocket is big but has no pockets so it is very easy to lose things in it. I think to benefit the packing system it would be an advantage to create more pockets for organization purposes. I also think it would help if the front pocket was bigger so it can also be of use. The different pockets can really help for organization and efficiency in the transportation system so people can find things easier when on the move. The Fjallraven bag strives to create a bag that is better for your back and I think even though they have done a great job in doing that I believe they can improve even further. By putting padding on the back of the bag it could create a soft surface for the wearer to lean on instead of having no padding and having the contents of the bag be up against the back damaging the person’s back and the contents inside. By doing this the bag can be part of the comfort system improving how we think backpacks should be like.
