Blog 1

I found several things interesting in our class lecture on design philosophy. I thought the idea to design for the other 90% of society was interesting. I feel that often we neglect to think of the rest of society and only create products for a certain category of customers. I thought a good example of a product created for the other 90% was the rolling water tank. This water tank helped to solve a problem that many people were experiencing everyday. Now with this tank water can be more easily transported to and from the home. Designs such as these are improving the quality of life for many people and solving important problems of the other 90%. I also thought the philosophy of designing the system was interesting. Rather than just creating products, it can be beneficial to design new systems and programs to serve the customer. As was discussed in class, cars have been designed and produced for years. Yet, the concept of renting a car for a short term is a new idea that had never been tapped into. This idea has been turned into a program where people can register for the program and conveniently rent cars as they need them. This shows how designing a system can be helpful for the customer.

One thing that I found somewhat misleading was the philosophy to design for simplicity. In lecture, it was said that it is better to have a product do one thing well than many things OK. I believe that a product can be multifunctional and remain beneficial to the customer. There are many examples of such a product, such as the iPhone. Before the innovative iPhone people only thought of cell phones as that – phones. Now however, we see that a phone can successfully include many functions in a way that to the benefit of the customer. However, I do agree that including too many functions in a single product can lead to confusion and deterioration of product quality.

I think the new line of bottled water, H2Orange, is a creative design concept. The bottle is shaped like the famous UT tower and has text in burnt orange. The design of this water bottle is innovative in that it took an ordinary product, the water bottle, and turned it into something that people can get excited about. This product will appeal to students, faculty, alumni, and supporters of the University of Texas – Austin. Another thing I like about this new product is that a portion of the profits goes toward funding scholarships. It is a product that the customer can feel good about buying. The customer can feel they are supporting their school while funding scholarships.

            This water bottle seems to correspond to many of Dieter Rams principals of good design. H2Orange obviously meets the principal that good design is aesthetic. The tower shaped water bottle is attractive and draws the eye. H2Orange also meets Rams principal that good design helps us to understand a product. The design of this water bottle helps the customer realize that the water bottle is affiliated with the University of Texas. The customer then realizes by purchasing this product, they are supporting the university and a scholarship fund. I also feel this water bottle meets Rams principal that good design is innovative. I feel H2Orange is a new and original concept. This is my first time to see a water bottle with such a complicated design. I have also never seen a university create a water bottle resembling their famous landmark. I feel that since this product design is so new that it will draw interest from customers.