For my bridge 1 project, Chindōgu & Culture Jam, I worked to solve Melanie’s problem by designing and making a Chindōgu.
The first process for working on this project was interviewing Melanie. It is definitely hard to get to know a person well in such a limited amount of time, however, Melanie’s answers her extremely helpful to me.
Here are some extracts from the interview Q&A.
1. What are the little problems you have in your daily life? And why do you think you have these problems? Due to my nose bridge, my glasses constantly go to the bottom of my nose resulting me to not see through my glasses thus causing me to constantly pushing my glasses up my face. Although it is not bothersome since I am already accustomed to it, I wonder how it would be like to not be constantly pushing up my glasses. 2. What are some habits you have? I tend to pick out my scabs which is sorta satisfying for me but I know I shouldn’t do it because it leaves scars on my body. I also roll my shoulders so that they can crack my bones. Playing with my hair. 3. What’s are some of the most annoying habits you think you have? Picking my scabs. It would be cool to have some sort of contraption that gives me the same satisfaction when I scratch out my scabs. 4. What are some practical skills would you like to master to make your life more efficient? Peeling fruits/vegetables! I am always cautious of possibly cutting myself with the knife. Become a really good cook. Be good at cutting my bangs. 5.If you could have one single object when you are deserted on an island, what would you want to take? My glasses…I need to see in order to survive
I picked out these answers especially because they seemed practical enough to construct a Chindōgu that would be “unuseless”. Based on these answers, I started designing my Chindōgus. The process was quite challenging as I had to make something that was “almost” useless, a combination of useful and useless. However, every time I think about a potential Chindōgu, they seemed all functional in many ways; I could imagine myself using the products. As I have mentioned before in my other post, I find being creative —
at an extreme level to construct something that is mind breaking —hard. But still, I tried my best to design peculiar chindōgus.
Here are my notes and sketches.
The first designs made to solve Melanie’s problem with her glasses sliding down due to her low nose bridge. Because of this problem she has to constantly push up glasses to clearly see. Also, in her answers Melanie answer that if she is to take a single item to an isolated island she would take her glasses. Knowing the frustrations associated with this problem, as my glasses also slide down from my nose, this problem seemed interesting. So I designed few products that would keep her glasses in place regardless of her nose. Therefore, most of my designs are related to attaching the glasses part to the head.
The second designs were about Melanie’s fear of cutting herself while she cut her fruits and vegetables. So I thought of a device that would cut fruits without having to hold a blade. However, this seemed too practical and after researching more about this, there already products that existed in real life.
The last design was for cutting her bangs perfectly. So I designed a rectangularly shaped cutter, where you press the middle to cut the hairs. I never had bangs, so it was hard to understand the mechanisms in cutting a bang and the necessity for it. Still, I watched a lot of Youtube videos and got bits of advice from my friends on cutting bangs. To cut bangs, first, you need to grab the parts you intend to cut and make it into a triangle. So I made the device to gather the hair like them and include a replaceable blade to cut.
Among all of my designs, I decided to solve the glasses part because I was able to personally relate to it and the designs seemed most intriguing. And among all of the designs for this problem I choice this variation to work with.
This is chindōgu that attaches the glasses to the face and the glasses part sucks the skin to prevent it from sliding down. It is sort of like a double safety device. The headpiece itself keeps the glasses in place and the suction part seals the deal.
Here are some more sketches on this product. 
For the glasses frame, I decided to cut it with wood. And for the headpiece, at first I was deciding between leather and fabric, however, leather was too expensive to make the whole piece. But then when I made a visit to Paper Presentation, I found a paper which sort of resembled crocodile leather. Though its look is hilarious and dorky, I also wanted it to be fashionable. Therefore, all of the parts are connected with velcro so that they could be easily attached and detached for the purpose of style.
I tried cutting the frame using a bandsaw, but failed, so I used laser cutting on plywood.
I had sewed everything by hand because I do not know how to use the machine.
On the frame, I attached rubber sheets and suction cups for the purpose of it sucking the skin, however, the rubber sheet was thicker than expected so it did not turn out as I expected.
This is my final Chindōgu!
For branding I chose Samsung. I do not know the reputation for Samsung in the US, but in Korea, Samsung is famous for being a copycat. So for culture jamming, I wanted to incorporate this aspect into the advertisement. A person wearing Apple’s goggles is entering a Samsung store, however, in this store, goggles identical to the Apple’s designs are displayed. Also, the slogan of the advertisement is also an imitation of Apple’s “Think Different” — “See Different”. While speaking about the function of the product, it also shows the copycatting aspect. Because I wanted to make an illustrative advertisement, I drew everything on Photoshop.
