Designing Non-Human

Design is at its most diluted form anthropocentric. To design for a nonhuman is to adopt the lense of the creature or thing that the design is meant for, and furthermore considering yourself in the equation as an equal. It is understanding what we can learn from our nonhuman counter-parts; what they know that we don’t. I chose slug as my nonhuman, one that visited me in Tompkins Square Park. In adopting its outlook I learned what it was to be small and slow, but not much else. I felt I needed more background on my slimy friend before I could design. To sum a slug, it is magnificently designed to deconstruct. It is a plague to crops and loves to eat. I could get somewhere with this. I also learned that people hate slugs. Slugs wreak havoc on gardens eating crops and leaving a slimy residue that is apparently hard to deal with. 

I decided to make a slug catcher that does not harm the slug itself and is also convenient for the gardener. It’s a little teeny copper fence that is set up in slugs favorite dark and damp spots. They wander into the fence and then the next day the gardener can relocate the slugs.

 

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