Learning Report 1st Draft

The module of Green Design introduced an entirely new concept of physical design, requiring extensive research, as well as a broad outlook and an innovative and creative ability to encapsulate a unique response to the outlined brief.

I initially underestimated the difficulty that this design project ultimately posed. The sheer amount of additional tasks required, combined with the vast amounts of necessary research on elements such as potential materials and resources, amalgamated with issue that many of the concepts I devised were already out there.

From my initial research it became obvious that green design could be seen as both a necessary but furthermore a contentious issue. Designing ‘better’ for the future goes beyond waiting for governments and legislation, and through internet based research, the growing voices of campaigners to implement integrated changes within society, highlighted that advancing technology combined with the willingness to change habits and lifestyles means that every one of us can make a difference if so willing.

Resources such as the films ‘The Age of Stupid’ and ‘The Story of Stuff’ highlighted the fact that many parts of the world have become spoilt; consumerism is a key concept that exploits natural resources, powers economies and leads to incredible amounts of waste. My visit to ‘The Centre for Alternative Technology’ however was a firsthand experience in learning how there is an alternative, through the adaptation of lifestyle. From creative design and use of alternative materials the centre showcased green concepts through large-scale projects, such as Zero Carbon Britain, the straw bale theatre, and the rammed mud walls of the lecture theatre, illustrating how, with pioneering and careful design, we can reduce our carbon emissions by reducing waste.

The reduction of waste was an important concept within the brief, designing packaging that possessed the ability to effectively carry 6 bottles of cider/beer, through the utilisation of materials that were environmentally friendly and which ultimately could be adapted to contribute a secondary use. Surprisingly, research into packaging led me into the past, traditional Japanese packaging with it’s simple yet beautiful designs, are both practical and functional for the job that they are designed for. Exquisite and elegant, they battle against our consumerist manufacturing ideologies and insert us into a world that withholds more innocent and natural philosophies. Traditional Japanese Packaging utilises natural materials whilst eliminating the modernist method of mass-production, an element of life that is prominent within the majority of shops currently open for business. Western countries such as The United States and The United Kingdom possess enormous stores that are, in essence, shrines to the mass-manufacturing industry, with hundreds of the same product adorning the walls (often modelling a clever marketing scheme) they are a consumerist junkies dream.

Green design and sustainable living are casually growing with popularity, individuals are becoming more aware and a select few have already contributed to the planets healing process by making the necessary sacrifices and altering their lifestyles. A collection of people have moved into constructions known as ‘Earthship Biotecture’, these are sustainable homes made from renewable materials and are designed to make a reduction in the carbon footprint of a house. Although these individuals are benefitting the environment, others continue to ignore the climactic issue, the majority of people continue to follow the statement ‘ignorance is bliss’ regardless of the prominent weather results we are subsequently experiencing that seem to suggest otherwise. The manufacturing industry continues to devise methods of manipulating the consumer into purchasing more products that we do not require, the event Black Friday is a superlative example of this point.

Black Friday illustrates the obsessive nature that we withhold as hordes of people stampeded the shops to get the best deals physically possible on products they do not need.