#itldub

Our solution to the socket problem described earlier: We simply removed the sockets as they were not particularly secure (the hot glue broke away from the plastic side of the panel after a few bends)

Then we marked and cut small access holes between the two panels as shown to the right of the picture above.

Inside the panels the mains lines are split using standard insulated screw bocks, which safely distribute the power to each transformer.

“Live fast and die young”, “Work hard, play harder”. These phrases are very much prevalent in today’s busy, technologically commanded and fast world. There is very little time given to “useless” tasks like preparing food or even reading a book. This modern world does not encourage sitting back and thinking about the consequences of our actions for ourselves, those around us and the planet we live on.  

How did we reach this state of life and mind? Some have noticed this overly fast-paced approach to life and the impact it’s having on our environment and population and have decided to use design as a tool to address the decline of the modern world.  Alistair Fuad-Luke, a design activist and writer of 'Slow Design' - a paradigm for living sustainably?" decided to take a new outlook on design thinking; Slow design. The "slow" does not refer to a long, drawn out design process but a meticulous, sustainable and responsible design approach which incorporates the principles of diversity, holism and efficiency for the benefit of the socio-economic and cultural health of the population and the earth. It considers how our actions impact the environment around us and how we can shape design for the better to create a richer and more panoramic experience for everyone without harming our planet or doing any long term damage. It is in direct contrast to this fast paced life we live full of fast food, fast cars and virtual insanity.

According to Malow's Hierarchy of needs, physiological needs like air,water and shelter, are at the core our existence and without their fulfillment, we would not function correctly or in fact, die. The housing crisis is one issue that can starve people of one of their fundamental needs, shelter. There are many projects that aim to demonstrate the slow design principles, one of which is paraSITE, a project by Michael Rakowitz. A controversial but striking and poignant title, this project used the slow design approach to amplify the issue of homelessness in Cambridge, Massachusetts whilst providing somewhere for the homeless to shelter. It was by no means a solution to the housing crisis, but "a symbolic strategy of survival for homeless existence within the city".  

Physiological needs not only include shelter but of course, food.  Without food we would die. Unfortunately our fast paced life has led us to neglect the importance of this fundamental need which was once, one of the most important aspect of our social means. Humanity has gone from worshipping grain and offering it as a gift to the gods, to wasting up to 30-40% of the world food supply every year (“Creating a Sustainable Food Future – Reducing Food Loss and Waste” – UNEP). 

The production of food is now a mass industry with five multinational corporations controlling our global food trade - it’s a scary thought.  The way we treat food, how we grow it and how we dispose of it is unsustainable and with the world’s population expected to hit 9.6 billion by 2050, we could be in big trouble. It is estimated that it takes 10kcal of exosomatic energy to produce 1kcal of food energy and deliver it to a consumer in the U.S food system! (Originally from a refined study done by David Pimentel and Mario Giampietro in 1994 under the title "Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy").   

What could we do to reduce this wastage?  How could we contribute our time to work for the better of our local farmers, community and city? This was the inspiration for our project entitled “Craft Farm Lab”, which involves addressing the transparency of the food system and the need for an emphasis on the "quality over quantity" aspect of farming by encouraging the popularity of local produce and the farmhouse “craft” branding of products.  We decided to tackle this area as it is our responsibility as consumers and inhabitors of this planet to try to live as sustainably as possible, reducing our negative effects to the environment and creating a better future for all.  

You may ask, "How can the primary elements of slow design be applied to Craft Farm branding to increase business for local produce and farmhouse industry?".  The key aspects of slow design include holism, sustainability, democracy, diversity, adaptability and durability; all of these are relevant to the aims of “Craft Farm Lab” and are crucial to its design process. When considering the effects of increasing the business for local produce and branding, we have to take a holistic approach as this change can have short and long term effects on the agribusiness and our food system, for better (or worse, but we highly doubt this!). The benefits of the project would mean a reduction in harm to our planet and a more sustainable approach by minimising transport of the food from the local grower to the local consumer or supplier and the minimisation of waste by discouraging large scale farms which are more wasteful and produce more CO2 emissions. 

The transparency of the food system is an issue we aim to tackle within this project and this allows the consumer to see what they’re buying, where it’s from and how it was grown/raised, adding a democratic aspect as they can choose not to buy something if they don’t agree with the production of the product.  Last of all, the beauty of locally grown food is that it has a distinctive nature and quality about it that will vary from one place to the next.  Slow design embraces all these qualities and it’s holistic, diverse and sustainable approach are perfect in the design and communication our project.

Food is a very powerful tool which should be celebrated and enjoyed at the centre of our human existence; we wouldn't survive without it, so why abuse it like we are today? “Craft Farm Lab” aims to improve our awareness of the food system and become “food-thinkers”, people who think about food, know where it’s coming from and know how to use this food to utilise its nutritional content.  It aims to encourage the support of local produce and small farm branding, which can be fully utilised through local “networks” or farmers markets. Carolyn Steel coined the term “Sitopia, from the ancient Greek, ‘sitos’ for food, and ‘topos’ for place”.  Her vision, like Ebenezer Howard’s “The Garden City”, is to make food a part of the landscape and the social life of the city once again. “Craft Farm Lab” will aim to take one step forward for this vision and teach us to respect food like we did before.

User Centred Design

User centred design (UCD) is the method of placing the end user of the product at the heart of the design process. This varies from the standard form of design thinking by emphasising considerably more on design ethnography. The actions that we take when we interact with a product being the central influence allows for innovation of not only products, but industries. The Apple versus IBM in the 80’s is the perfect example of this. Apple were designed with what the consumer wanted, they were the first computers with computers and they were easy to use. Just as this changed Apple’s business, it changed the industry of microcomputing. What makes Apple brilliant at product design, is they put your user experience at the forefront of their design process. Where you have to learn how things work on Windows or on Android, iPhones and iPads are used everyday by an age range of 0-100+. Because they are easy to use. Although user centred design may not result in the most amount of features, it will result in the most used features, as they allow for an optimal user experience.

To see the level of importance put on UCD, as opposed to ‘Design Thinking’,we should look to LUMA Institute, the industry leader in UCD, in comparison with IDEO, leaders in design thinking. The LUMA Institute have challenged the IDEO ethos in the way they hesitate to use the term ‘design thinking’. The LUMA institute are education consultants which work with companies to equip employees for human centred design innovation. ‘Innovating people for human centred design’ is how the LUMA Institute present their concepts and their teaching encourages ‘looking, understanding and making’ in a variety of industries. “Though LUMA occupies the same philosophical space as IDEO, the popular leader among design/business strategy firms, LUMA focuses more on teaching” (Designenvy, 2011). Though IDEO use some design ethnography in their process to understand the target audience for their designs,like in “The Deep Dive”, http://youtu.be/2Dtrkrz0yoU, LUMA focuses on putting people at the very heart of the design process. We can see the benefits of LUMA’s strategy in product design throughout many industries. This ethos for design can create vastly better results than merely imagining what a user needs. Here is a talk by LUMA CEO, Chris Pacione, about innovation, http://youtu.be/DjQlupn5cTw .