PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: Loft bed ladder
Manufacturer: unknown
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Too far back in history to name one specific person
Year invented: 1400-1500
System of your daily life where this product takes part: This product takes a part of my morning system not long after I wake up.
Explain its function and relation to the system : This products aids my decent from my bunk bed in the mornings. The ladder is what facilitates using this kind of furniture and key component to using it. It has an important role in the structure of my morning and it is a part of the bed itself. This ladder attaches and detaches from the railing by the side of my bed. There are multiple times during the day when this product finds its way into my routine and takes part in my system of going to sleep or taking a nap. Anything that has to do with sleeping or resting will include this product. There is no clear point of attachment but it can slide from one side of the railing to the next, depending on what side of the bed I’d like to descend from. Usually, when one wakes up, we just lift our bodies, turn, and get on the floor and off our bed. However, I have a loft bed and this ladder has an important role in my morning system being the first item I use. If I want to get off my bed and onto the ground, I definitely need to use this object.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better? : I have a lot of issues with this product. To begin with, it is inconvenient to have to climb up or down a ladder first thing in the morning when I am still half asleep. However, we cannot change the furniture itself and have to work with the loft. The ladder isn’t even to the ground and rocks back and forth when I climb on it. To fix this issue it would need to be stabilized and perhaps a thicker material. The ladder also doesn’t have a clear point of attachment to the rest of bed and leaves a large gap between the railing I attach it to and the hook it comes with. Thirdly, the ladder can be removed but you have to carry it and place it somewhere else in the room if you wish for it to be out of the desk space underneath the bunk bed. This makes it very inconvenient when you have a small room and shared space which is why we need loft beds in the first place. To continue, the steps on the ladder are very thin and hurt your feet when climbing up to your bed. The only way to comfortably climb up to the bed would be wearing shoes, which isn’t very convenient when you’re climbing into bed. To address these issues, an entire redesign would be necessary. I would make the ladder roll in and tuck underneath the bed to provide easy storage and give more space in the room. Additionally, I would alter the steps and make them inclined and wider to make it easier to step onto and to allow easy folding when tucking under the bed. Lastly. The ladder stored under the bed could roll to either side of the bed to allow the user the choice of where to place and use the ladder.
PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: Bra
Manufacturer: Several
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Caresse Crosby
Year invented: 1889
System of your daily life where this product takes part: This product takes a part of my daily morning system.
Explain its function and relation to the system: A bra is a form-fitting undergarment designed to cover, support and elevate a woman’s breasts. It is important to choose the right type of bra in order to protect the general health of the breasts. A bra that doesn’t fit well and offers little support can stretch and displace breast tissue. Over time, the breasts can sag or droop if the correct bra isn’t worn to support them. Everyone is different a requires different needs. Bras are designed for a variety of purposes, including enhancing a woman’s breast size, aesthetic purposes and for general support of the breasts throughout the day. This product relates to my morning routine in being one the first garments I wear before getting dressed to go anywhere. This products relates to my system of dressing and going outside my home. It becomes a part of my routine before getting dressed and after a shower or waking up in the morning. I choose a bra depending on what I’m going to wear and the style and color come in to play when getting dressed. I have more than one bra and more than one style but I think the bra could be redesigned depending on the person.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better?: This product could be improved in being designed specifically for each woman since all our bodies our different and need different kind of support and assistance. I specifically haven’t found a bra I am 100% content with and I know each one I own could use a different kind of redesign. Therefore to redesign one of my bras I’ll choose a Calvin Klein bra that has good qualities and others that need improvement. This bra is relatively comfortable and the best part about it is the neutral color that goes with any colored shirt you decide to wear. However, the material inside the cup of the bra isn’t convenient since it pops upward and doesn’t allow you to wear a tight fighting shirt without marking your underwire. Additionally, it is inconvenient to hook on the bra comfortably and it usually leaves a mark since it’s so clunky when you do attach it. For my redesign, I wouldn’t have a hook and eye and would have 1 piece in the back and a stretchy material that you can pull over your head with ease. The straps would remain thin and from a comfortable material that is adjustable to get the right fit. The selection of material is the ideal and key component of my redesign in changing the comfort and use of the bra. It would have to be a material that is thin and doesn’t unveil itself when worn under garments yet provides support. The bra would be lined with wire and the cup itself would be shaped in a thin material to provide coverage and support. The goal would be to conceal the breasts but add support and keeping them in place in a comfortable manner.
PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: Hair clip
Manufacturer: Anthropologie
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Ernest Godward
Year invented: 1901
System of your daily life where this product takes part: Thus product takes part of my morning system and shower system.
Explain its function and relation to the system : The function of a hairclip is to gather your hair and keep it out of your face and uniformly together. Claw clips are worn in several different ways partly according to their size, with small ones often used at the front and large ones in the back to hold more hair. They are used to keep hair out of the eyes, or to secure a bun, ponytail or other style. It could be for aesthetic purposes or for functional purposes. Depending on the size of the clip and style is the amount of hair it can hold. The one I own is medium sized and pretty wide so you’d expect it to accommodate all of my hair securely in the back of my head. The way this product relates to my system is aiding in getting my hair out of my face when I’m brushing my teeth in the morning or doing my makeup routine. This product relates to any system where it’s a hands-on activity and having hair in your face might be bothersome. Additionally, it relates to my system in also being decorative and an accessory of choice when I decide to pull my hair up.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better?: This product can be improved in the way it grasps hair and the amount of hair it is able to clasp at a time. When I try to pick up my hair with this claw clip, it slips and most of my hair immediately starts slipping out of my clip. The winning factor in this product is the color and pattern which is what keep me attached to it. Functionality wise it is not efficient and could use a better method of operation. When using this product it’s not completely efficient and maintaining all the hair together and snug in the claw clip. The faulty design affects all the systems it is associated with directly and defeats the purpose if the whole time I am wishing I had a better clip or something else to pick up my hair with. In redesigning this product, I would have the claw feature be more inclined and circular and have some sort of grip on the inside of the clip to ensure captures stray hairs. Perhaps making the ends longer and shortening as to tighten and add security to grabbing the hair, would improve and facilitate its function. The style and color of the clip are well done so the redesign would really be the fact that the clip only loosely encompasses and gathers hair. When looking at it from the side, you can tell it is too flat and hair would slip right through. So, we could lastly make it thinner and shorter to ensure a firmer hold.
PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: Tote Bag
Manufacturer: Zara
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Zara
Year invented: 17th century
System of your daily life where this product takes part: This product takes a part of my morning and academic system every day.
Explain its function and relation to the system: The function of a tote bag is to carry one’s belongings. I use my tote bag to carry my notebook, laptop, umbrella and other things I might need during the day that I usually only have access to at home. Before leaving my home to go to class or anywhere else I might need to carry a few things, I grab my tote and fill it with the things I’ll use that day. This is a part of my daily routine and it’s a part of my walking to my destination and arriving. It plays a role in transporting my items but also plays a role as an accessory and as a part of weight and space I have to carry to my destination. More so in new York, there are more things to take into consideration when having a tote and what you need the tote to do for you. Since I take lengthy walks and maybe even sometimes use different methods of transportation, I need to ensure that my tote is comfortable around my arm and is safely and securely transporting my belongings. So this item plays into my transportation system, morning and night system, and depending on my destination, it also plays into what I need when I arrive.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better?: This item can be improved in many ways. To begin, the closure on this tote is one single flap that attaches with a magnetic strip and has a ring at the end bearing the weight and the handle to close the flap. The decorative ring on the bag is poorly attached just by two stitched]s made at each side and one of them is falling apart due to heavy use of the ring to close the bag. To remedy this issue, the redesign would include a different material and attachment method that would provide durability and sustainability. The closure of this bag was also poorly designed since the inside doesn’t have a zipper nor a concrete form to assure you all your belongings will be kept inside the bag with movement. The inside of the bag includes a zipper compartment in the center that also is poorly attached and shuffles around the bag making things get stuck easily under this pouch. This compartment is also only attached by two stiches on each side and none along the bottom end of the pouch. To remedy this issue, a redesign of the compartments inside the bag would be necessary. The inside compartment could remain in the center but would definitely need to be attached al throughout the bottom so things don’t get stuck along that edge. Also, it would need to be attached along the sides of the inside of the tote and another zipper or flap would be included for additional storage on one of the insides of the tote. Lastly, the straps on the bag make it uncomfortable in the system of transporting and slip off easily when walking and wearing a coat in the winter time. A redesign of the straps and the thickness would resolve this issue.
PRODUCTS & SYSTEMS working sheet
Product name: MacBook Air Charger (MagSafe)
Manufacturer: Apple inc.
Designer (if not known who invented this product): Apple inc.
Year invented: 2006
System of your daily life where this product takes part: This product takes a part of my technology and academic system.
Explain its function and relation to the system (200 words): This product magnetically attached to my MacBook and charges the portable computer. The connector is held in place magnetically so that if it is tugged for example, by someone tripping over the cord, it will pull out of the socket without damaging the connector or the computer power socket, and without pulling the computer off the surface on which it is located. The way the cable is stored is by winding it around the hooks that you can pull from the end of the charger. When you pull out these hooks, you can wind the cable and connect it together with a little clip it has attached to keep it all in place. When I’m running low on battery, I need my charger and it becomes a part of my system to finish assignments or use my laptop. This item is crucial to even owning a MacBook and you can’t have one without it. It is something you want to be as portable and compact as your computer to carry them mutually with you. Since these items relate to one another and you can’t have one without the other, there should be a fonder connection in the design.
How can this product be improved to make the system and your life easier/better? (300 words): This product could be improved in the way you store it and move it with you. A common problem I might have with the charger is that it doesn’t effectively fit in any of the packaging for my laptop and it has to travel on its own. It would be much more convenient if the charger was the same compact size but thinner and able to attach to the laptop even when it’s not charging. Perhaps another sort of magnetic strip could attach it to the laptop to make both pieces more communal and more difficult to lose. The chargers are expensive, and people in need of portable computers are often in a hurry or on the move. Having the design of the charger be more conveniently conjoined with the piece it charges would save us a lot of time and money. The material of the cable is also not the best and the way it wraps around the charger block isn’t neat nor convenient. The material of the cord needs to be updated because it wrinkles and turns yellow with time and if bent the wrong way it may stop working all together and leave you without a charger in the moment you would need one the most. The block is portable and has a good size and the idea of the hooks and being able to hide them is convenient and useful. For my redesign, I would make the cord a bit longer and thinner and make it from a more durable material that allows for an even folding into the hooks and uniform storage. It is very unsustainable to have to repurchase laptops or phone charger (they’re made from the same material) just because of the material chosen to make them.
