Pigment Lab Process + Long Life Design

  1. Documentation of my second FNBK entry

2. Watch the following video on Long Life Design  (Links to an external site.)and answer the following questions on your LP:

1) How would you describe Nagaoka’s “non-designing” design practices?

  • Nagaoka’s “non-designing” design practices means not designing a completely new things but recreating designs that has lasted long and getting inspiration from original products.

2) How do your opinions of “good” design compare with Nagaoka’s?   Would you define good design differently, how so?

  • According to the video, Nagoaka’s “good” design includes simple construction and easy repair, and I have quite similar idea with Nagaoka. I also think “good design” is something that is simple and easy to use.

3) Nagaoka says that we have entered a new era where people want to buy things that mean something to them, that truly matters, and that we have entered a new era. Do you feel these ideas are specific to Japan or are applicable to other countries too? What evidence do you have of your opinion (what makes you say yes or no)?

  • I think those ideas apply to other countries as well. Since nowadays there are tons of designs that we as customers can choose from, we tend to buy things that has personal and unique meanings. For example, when I buy interior products I put pictures and postcards that has meanings and designs that fits my personal preference.

4) What kind of design do you think appeals to young people today?

  • I think young people have always been looking for trendy new items but currently there are many people looking for old school fashion / design and products as well.

5) Near the end of the program, the host of the program says the future of design could be, “people who make things with care and people who use them with care” and that this could be a new form of prosperity. Do you agree? Why?

  • Yes I totally agree. People today look for designs that has meanings and personal touch, rather than one of those mass produced products that are everywhere. If designers create products with care, customers who use the products will be pleased to have such products with efforts and I think this special job of designers could create new form of prosperity.

6) What do you think of the student projects shown at the end of the program?

  • The student projects presented a lot of good examples of how young designers can take steps to create products with environmentally friendly materials that promotes the concept of long life design. The ideas were very inspiring and the final products are so well made.

7) Do you consider yourself a long-life designer? Would you like to become one?

  • As a student designer I would like to focus on recreating things by engaging with long lasting designs and getting ideas from designs that has traditions and history.

3. Which criteria might assist in meeting the challenges created by climate change and how? How would you describe them compared to Dieter Ram’s 10 principles of good design

  •  Environment would help reducing the effects of climate change obviously when creating products environment should be considered and it is especially important nowadays where the environmental impact and pollution is massively getting back to our lives. Buying and selling is a necessary process for economy and thus it is an inevitable thing. If we cannot change that, I think there should definitely be a change in our production method. For example, using einvornmentally friendly materials  instead of harmful materials that we are using in factories.

 

4. Reflect on your process in the science labs this week:

Which bacteria did you use and why?

  • Deinococcus radiodurans and E. coli because I wanted to use pink and blue/white that matches with my sketch.

How does the genotype of the bacteria constrain or expand your ability to “paint” with it?

  • I think it both constrained and expanded my ability to paint with it. It was difficult to paint because the bacteria strains were transparent. I could not really see what I had drawn. But at the same time, I think it boosts my creativity because I can just draw freely without any restriction and the result could turn out completely different, which could be an inspiration too.

Did you consider how temperature might influence how your paint would appear?

  • Yes. The higher the temperature, the more pattern and colors on the Petri dish. So I put two sample plates on a shorter time and lower temperature and longer time / higher temperature for the other two. I put drawings like trees and flowers on a high temp/longer time because I want it to be more expanded.

Which petri dishes did you use and why?

  • I used two LB and two LB+X-gal. I used two kinds of bacteria strains so I was curious how the two growth media would make difference in colors. I predict two pink colors for Deinococcus radiodurans and different color variations of white and blue in E. Coli plates.

Which components can be varied and which must remain stable?

  • The color pink for Deinococcus radiodurans should come out constant regardless of any growth media and for the plates with E-coli, the end result should come out differently (white and blue)

Which applicator(s) did you use and why?

  • I used toothpick for the drawings that requires details and I used paint brush for some drawings that has smooth and flowing lines. I did not get any thick lines with paintbrush it was quite easy to control. Toothpick was a bit hard to use because its tip is really sharp it could cut the surface.

What effect does the application have?

  • The amount of bacteria varies. For example with paint brush, I can put more bacteria that would give more colors and patterns. With toothpick, I can only put small amount of bacteria on a Petri dish which will result in thin lines and small patterns.

How did you control the amount of paint distributed?

  • With paint brush, it was easy to control the amount of paint provided. If I want just a bit of paint I could just dip the paint brush on the plaint and if I want a lot, I just soak the paintbrush on the paint plate and apply it to my Petri dish.

Do you think your work can keep growing? What would make the paint “die”?

  • Since the paint is made of bacteria, a living thing, it needs food and other conditions to grow. If they run of out of supplies they will start dying. Also, antibiotic materials could also kill bacteria.

Hypothesize about the results of your choices in the lab. What do you expect to occur?

  • I predict I would get two pink colors, one white and one with both white and blue. For the last one I applied both white and blue in one plate so I could get a mixture of those colors. The ones I put in shorter time and lower temp area I think the bacteria would grow less than those that were put in longer time and higher temp. I think I will get some unexpected patterns or completely different result because I used bacteria, which is a living material that grows over time.

Are you enjoying the lab so far? What feedback do you have about the experience?

  • I enjoyed the lab a lot if there were some masks that students could wear it would have been better.

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