1) Finalize your final project project idea + work plan. Narrow your three ideas into one final idea. Then, answer the following on your LP:
1) What is your project idea and why do you want to make it? Describe how this design/object/idea will specifically help YOU (make sure it is designed for you, not someone else, or an anonymous user) be more resilient and navigate environmental change over the next 50 years.
My project idea is making a visualizations that will show the pictures of the endangered animals on the mirror in the bathroom. So every morning when I brush my teeth looking into the mirror I’ll see these images and I’ll be reminded to be resilient so during everyday event I would be aware to make a better choice.
(However, considering to be use less materials, I actually considered to make the visulizations showing on a computer, like a desktop picture. So everytime when I turn it on and look at the computer screen it automatically show me the screen, so I don’t need to consider the hardware part and actually the extra materials gonna be used)
It is more a raising awareness for myself. Cuz personally I love animals and I always feel guilty when I knew many animal went distinct because of human activity. But when I normally make consuming choices like buying clothes, I will forget the need to be resilient. So I’m trying to draw connection.
There are two parts in the project, the software part which is making the graphic coding script to show the content when human is looking into the mirror. And the hardware part (if I go with the mirror one ) which is a mirror that can show image(this part is more complicated and beyond the scope so I plan just make a production proposal for this hardware part).
And as I grow older and older, there must be something else I should always keep reminding myself to do (like don’t take flight but take trains instead). So I can change the content of the sketch.
2) Describe your work plan for the next month.
So there are three weeks left. I’ll use first two weeks to get the images and and writing the code. And I’ll set the deadline for coding after two weeks cuz I know I won’t finish it on time because there is so much code to write so during the third week I could still work on it. And if I go with the mirror one, I would need to do research on mirror (one side mirror) to find good material for it, and see how I can use old equipment to do the projection, making a plan for the hard-ware part.
3) How will you source materials?
I’m gonna source the picture on the website Jamie showed last time in the homework. And I have the equipment to write and show the visualisation sketch. For the hardware part, if I’m gonna use the mirror, I’m gonna source the production of mirror and see if there is a “green” one-side mirror that is available for use.
4) How does your project specifically encourage resiliency or use resilient materials?
I think I explained it in the first answer. As it draws my attention to extinct animals, it will reminds me of the right choices I should make by raising my awareness of the earth and the animal species are in danger. And in this way, I’ll be reminded that I actually need to take actions every time when I purchase something or choose the way of transportation. I think the constant education is needed since people in the modern society actually enjoy the indulgence of efficiency and ease brought by industrialization, mass production and material consuming.
5) How will it be repaired?
If it’s a desktop picture thing, it only need to be maintained and adjusted to fir updated systems or desktops. It does not require physical materials actually. But if this project involves the hardware part, there are more things need to be maintained and repaired, the hardware part. I think I need to think about the source of monitor/projectors and the mirror, they are the only things I think I need to repair. If the mirror is broken, I would say I’ll use kintsugi to adhere the mirror fragments together. Aha.
2) Explore articles published in the New York Times within the last month in the “Climate and Environment Section
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1) What was the most interesting visual that you found (photograph, diagram etc.) and why was it so powerful to you? Include the image and the link in your post.
This is the most interesting diagram/image that I found through this article How AMericans Think About Climate Change, in Six Maps (https://nyti.ms/2mL0o4J). This diagram shows how Americans think global warming is gonna harm to people. The left one shows in most area in United States, 50-80% people think global warming will harm people in the United States. The left one shows in most areas only 20-40% people think the global warming will harm him or her personally. This is interesting as we can tell that there is a public awareness of climate change or global warning, but people do feel weak connection between their everyday life and the strange climate change. To me, this is interesting because first, most of Americans seems accept the fact that global warming/ climate change does exist, but people do not see how it will influence on their personal lives. This public awareness hasn’t turned to into effective individual awareness for most people. And this illusion of less urgent threat actually prevent people from adopting practical resilient lifestyle which is good for environment. And it is important to build this personal/individual connection between people and their everyday life through design, and this is what my final project aims to do.
2) Given what you learned in this article, how different do you think the planet be 50 years from now?
It is hard to predict overall changes on the planet, even the wholesome prediction about the nationwide changes in United States. But from the article I read, it seems coastal areas now have a more urgent desire or motivation to be adapted to the climate change. I guess it is due to the strange weather change in recent years because people living along the coastal area experience more threat brought by the flooding or tornados. I think there be more resilient infrastructure built in next 50 years around the coastal area in different countries, however, the central part in the continent might take less actions on the climate changes. But climate-wise, there seems to be a bigger chance that the climate change is going to happen more drastically than now.
3) In what ways do you think these realities will impact your work and life 50 years from now?
As a designer who dealt with user experience in the digital product industry, I think I have to consider how our product is going to influence user to take actions on their everyday life. For example, if I’m working on a transportation navigation app like Google Maps, my design work might influence the user to prefer to take public transportation rather than drive alone in their cars which might lead to more air pollution and greater use of gasoline. And I also HAVE to think about this environmental factor because more and more potential user are concerning about environmental issues, and they will choose products that care environment/climate change more in the market.
And in my life, I think I would like to learn more repair skills. It is strange I would say. Cuz back in China, when someone constantly repair stuff, it will be seen as a way to be thrift, doing it for saving money. But now there is another cause. You repair stuff because you want to extend its lifespan and in order to avoid consuming new product which leads to more material consuming.
4) How might your Long Life Design final project address, acknowledge and/or work with such climate related changes over the next 50 years?
The article shows American people’s general attitude and ideas about how climate change will affect their lives and how much attention they actually draw to climate change/ global warming. We have to admit that however serious climate change is gonna be, the first step of the solution for us is always gonna be raise the awareness of people who gonna start to make changes by adopting a more resilient lifestyle. And this awareness has to be a personal awareness which will promote their personal actions during everyday life.
According to the data showing by the diagram in the article, we can tell that the majority of people in United States are not actually have this kind of personal awareness of climate changes which will actually influence on their everyday lives. The absence of their awareness make such people loose the chance of arming themselves with a more resilient life style. And me myself, is one of these people.
I constantly forgot to take the right choices, because when I wasn’t to teach to use the most environmentally-freindly but not the most efficient method since I was born. So the constant education is quite important. I need a something that can always remind me to do the right choices in my daily life so I can make the right choices and I’ll remember to do it.
