CHELSEA-BRIGANTI-11.23.09 feedback

-Evoke more of a hopefulness with board graphics
-I need to add a lot more information about stem cells and the heart
-include a visual example of a stem cell
-List Stakeholders
-Show the magic of my topic visually

This week I spoke with:

-Allan Wexler

Karen Tinney - November 23

Feedback from Jennifer:

1. Take out community aspect, it is distracting and not the focus of the project.

2. Re-focus on the actual application, combination and streamlining possibilities of the project. 

3. Focus/identify the materials which are made in America, use them as a starting point - map out the production and why it necessitates being made in America.

4. Concentrate on communicating ideas through realistic models of the products I am suggesting, make them believable. 

Roberto Fantauzzi 11/23

Notes:

* Further development and exploration of materials & process visualization
* Hypothesis and Proposal statements updates
* Further information needed from external relationships

Thesis board & feedback

Content Feedback

- More specific reasons of why combining with newsrack, and what would be benefit from it.

(I am not going to stick with just a newsrack, but also try to work with other components as

well. More research on current movement of city's re-designing newsrack, and contact to

people who are involved if possible.)

- More observation for physical function of the developing product, throughout the recycling to

managing and collecting by each stakeholders.

- Green map research for reference

- Contact to Private recycling business company to discuss / get feedback on proposing system.

Board Feedback

- Order to follow the board.

- Developing clear diagrams to explain.

- Clear titles for each section of development

* Come up with 3D sketch model.

HS 11/23

Intro

Because of our bad habitual behaviors, including the extreme consumerism,

The natural resources are decreasing, and environment pollution is increasing dramatically. It causes greenhouse effect, global warming, sea level rise, bad air to breathe, and many human illnesses due to the damage of the respiratory organs and immune system.

Out of many proposals, Trees solve the most of the environmental problems.

Trees do so many things; purifying air, stopping flood, controlling the temperature, absorbing bad chemicals and compost, and also providing fruits. Trees can absorb CO2 and reduce greenhouse effect, global warming, and also sea level rise.

Mission

So, we need to save our trees and plant more trees.

My goal is to provide young people with a better understanding of how trees interact with our urban environment; how our urban forest provides us with cleaner air, a cooler city and a thriving wildlife; and how trees can make a real difference in creating a more sustainable city.

Design opportunity *

People have a tendency to ignore big problems that they can’t solve by themselves. And we don’t know how and where to plant trees. And we also don’t know how to take care of trees for more than 10 years, especially in Urban Area.

I want to approach this matter by providing people the enjoyable tree activity.

Because I believe that it will create the synergistic acts carried out by many people to begin to have the positive outcome on a large scale to solve the problem.

Survey

I did a survey to figure out how to link trees and fun activity together.

I asked 30 people; “What do you do for fun in the city?”

The answers were (LOOK at the graph)

Two people said they want to go to the parks, like Central Park, to get closer to the nature. But they feel lazy to go and play in the park.

Realization

I realized that we need small parks in Urban Area, which we can easily access to whenever and wherever

we want.

WHAT DO TREES MEAN TO URBAN PEOPLE?

According to the research about NYC tree facts,

There 24% of land covered in trees, and

- Total annual benefits from street trees: $122 million ($209 per tree)

- Annual energy cost reduction: $28 million

- For every $1 invested, New York street trees return $5.60 in benefits

- Annual pollution removal: 2,202 tons

- Annual carbon storage: 1.35 million tons

- Annual storm water capture: 890 million gallons

- A large, healthy tree removes almost 70 times more air pollution each year than a small or newly planted tree.

Through this research, I decided to focus on street trees to make the small parks.

The concept

I came up with the idea of creating tree huts to create a new fun activity for people in public. This will make people to know and care more about trees.

The capacity will be around 3 people.
It will be prefabricated structure, which means easily shipped and assembled.

The product cycle will be circular compare to our existing linear consumerism oriented product cycle.

They can also be the shelters when the area floods.

How to use

1. People (sharing tree experience with friends) pay money hourly.

2. Tree Planting Organization will use the money to plant trees.

3. This will provide more Trees in the city.

More awareness & More trees

Next step: safety, security, and sustainability

My next step is to research tree architecture and architects to make the huts safe and stable.

- Collect children' drawings of their vision for future

- Tree criteria

- How the program works

External Relationships

Design & Source Productions Inc.: Nicole F. Smith, Environmental Director

NPR: I will make surveys & questions and contact

MillionTrees NYC

- CONTENTS OF URBAN AREA is

PARK, COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTAIL, PEDESTRIAN, AND DRIVEWAY

- THE COMMON TREES IN UNRBAN AREA?

THE LONDON PLANETREE, AND THE NORWAY MAPLE especially on streets

TREES OF HEAVEN, BLACK CHERRY, AND SEETGUM as total

After Presentation:

Concentrate on:

The proposal is too Blue sky. Work on Logic, value, target, how it translates

Revisit the proposal

Dramatic graphic effect: Comparison Earth before, Earth going bad, & Earth after.

Visualize

Articulate

Clarify

Envision

Experiment ideas and proposals through sketches and 3D forms

Policy, safety, security, and sanitary issues

Stakeholder / Persona

Define short-term outcome, & long-term outcome.

Contact and ask

1. Laurie Kerr

2. John krieble

K.White Thesis Board

I made four prototypes this week and presented them to consumers of both sexes and various age ranges. The models--

inspired by research and surveys--comprised a biometric scanner, money microchips, wearable finances, and a deactivating

I.D. card. The goal I aimed to achieve through the models was to see how people reacted and/or related concepts of literally

being their money (scanner), storing their money (microchip), wearing their money (wearable finances), and reducing odds of

identity theft (I.D. card) by developing an I.D. card that stored the most crucial information inside on a chip that could be

deactivated if it were lost or stolen; hence, preventing access to personal info needed to steal I.D. (address, birth date,

I.D./license number) by literally deactivating one's identity.

Evanee Wu: 11/23/2009 Thesis Board

Feedback:

- It's great to focus on one specific endangered food, but it seems to be a little bit random. Communicate with people that this project is using quince as a case study.
- What's the design intervention? Research on the demands and find the design opportunity from there.
- The skincare made out of quince may be good for sensitive skin. Talk to some experts who've done natural skincares.

Angela Thesis board

David Hood-PreMidSemesterReviewBoard

Chika Nakayama

article in NY Times that deals with the problem of setting prices for luxury goods

Luxury Stores Trim Inventory and Discounts

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By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

Published: November 18, 2009

All around Saks Fifth Avenue, merchandise is sold out. The $2,520 Marni shearling vest? Gone. The $5,295 Brioni leather bomber jacket? Only one left. The $1,995 over-the-knee Christian Louboutin boots?

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Todd Heisler/The New York Times

The $1,995 over-the-knee Christian Louboutin boots at Saks have sold out, unless you can wear the only pair left — a size 11.

Multimedia

 The Takeaway With Louise Story

Related

Luxury Brands and the Case for $4,000 Sunglasses (November 19, 2009)

Times Topics: Luxury Goods and Services

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Todd Heisler/The New York Times

“We're out of stock on a number of hot items people want,” said Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive of Saks.

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Todd Heisler/The New York Times

A fur-collared jacket at Saks sells for $2,695.

“All gone, except for this,” said Nick Passerelli, a Saks employee, dangling a size 11 boot from his fingers.
After a brutal year in which the nation’s luxury retailers were forced to offer their wares at stunning discounts, they are trying to get their magic back. And they may have found a way: deliberately running low on merchandise.
Saks, the chic Manhattan department store, is a prime example. Its inventory is down by double digits compared with last year. That is partly a response to lower demand, of course, but it is also a business strategy aimed at weaning consumers from deep discounts. By carrying fewer goods and selling them at full price, Saks is essentially telling customers: buy it now or live without it.
“Upscale stores want to train the customer that luxury equals exclusivity and that they cannot assume they can wait and they’re able to buy it on sale,” said William S. Taubman, chief operating officer of Taubman Centers, a mall developer and owner.
This less-is-more strategy is risky, of course. If retailers sell out of goods too soon, they will lose profits they need. But they think it is even riskier to stock up too much.
This time last year, purveyors of high-end goods were drowning in merchandise. Consumers had stopped spending in the economic downturn, forcing stores to cut prices sharply to unload designer goods. At 50 or 70 percent off, once-expensive stilettos and suits flew off the shelves.
But the discounts prompted some consumers to wonder what those items were really worth in the first place. And to the distress of retailers, shoppers began to feel entitled to those eye-popping discounts — not just at big-box stores like Wal-Mart and value-price department stores likeKohl’s, but at Saks and Neiman Marcus, too.
Now, as the economy stabilizes, luxury retailers are taking measures to stamp out discount fever.
They have significantly cut their inventories and are trying, with some early success, to sell their wares at full price. Both Saks and Neiman Marcus have gently told customers that there are fewer goods to go around this year.
Burton M. Tansky, president and chief executive of the Neiman Marcus Group, says he does not think he is retraining consumers. Rather, he said, he is doing what is best for the health of his company.
“We’ve told our customers that the availability is less than they’re used to seeing in the stores,” Mr. Tansky said. “We’ve suggested that it would be prudent to shop early.”
If a particular item sells out at Neiman Marcus, the ability to restock the shelves will depend on the merchandise category. In general, though, lead times for manufacturing luxury goods are long.
“As you go up the ladder to European designers, it’s virtually impossible,” Mr. Tansky said. “But in contemporary apparel, women’s shoes, it’s possible.”
Saks, too, has told customers its inventories are lean.
“We’re out of stock on a number of hot items people want,” Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive, said this month as he walked through the sprawling shoe department at Saks in Manhattan. “Our associates are telling people, ‘If you want this item in your size, we only have three of them, we only have two.’ ”
That strategy might be working. “I’ve been running out of sizes because I’m selling out,” said Lera Alexkseyeva, a Saks employee who sells clothing by Brunello Cucinelli. Saks bought 21 gray cashmere and fox fur jackets designed by Mr. Cucinelli in the medieval village of Solomeo, Italy. All but one jacket have sold — at $2,695 each.
A big question this Christmas will be how successful retailers are with the strategy. Some surveys have found that, so far, the prospect of lean inventories is not prompting consumers to hasten their holiday shopping. Shoppers could wait out the retailers until late in the season, in the hope that they will panic and put high-grade merchandise on sale.
“Bargains seemingly may matter more than selection for the consumer,” Michael P. Niemira, the director of research and chief economist for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said in a news release this month.
Regardless of when consumers choose to shop, retailers are glad to have a better handle on customer demand.
Speaking about the luxury market, Peter E. Nordstrom, executive vice president and president of merchandising for Nordstrom, said, “The business might not be exactly where we want it, but it is relatively stable.”
Nordstrom has always had a wider range of prices than Saks and Neiman Marcus, and so has less need to hit the reset button with shoppers. The chain weathered the downturn better than its competitors. And while it has less inventory than last year, Mr. Nordstrom said when it came to Christmas, “we think we’re going to have enough.”
Saks came in for sharp criticism from designers last year for the magnitude of its discounting. Mr. Sadove is being aggressive this year about managing inventory, and acknowledged the possibility of not having enough merchandise even for customers willing to pay full price.
“I think we in the industry may go too far and cut back too much,” he said. “You’re going to lose some sales. And that’s O.K. versus having too much and having to sell it at these very high markdowns.”
In fact, chains said they were selling more merchandise at full price today than they were a year ago. And while the stores will not reveal exact numbers, they say a reason their earnings are improving is that they are selling a higher proportion of goods at full price. This month, Saks posted a profit for the first time in months, and Nordstrom said its profit rose as well. Neiman Marcus will report its earnings in December.
While there will be sales this season, as there are every year, most analysts are predicting they will be less drastic than last year.
That is good news for high-end chains that suffered after years of giddy double-digit growth fueled by easy credit. While those days are gone, for now at least, some industry veterans say luxury retailing will thrive again by returning to its roots.
“What’s luxury retailing about?” Mr. Sadove said. “It is about a scarcity of supply.”

Patricia Voto Board Update:

Lauren Rossi: Poster for Nov.

Surveys:

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share a great survey website I've used in the past www.qualtrics.com. There's a free trial you can sign up for & what I like most is the ability to upload pictures into your questions.

Good Luck,

Patricia

ny times article about a product that curtails talking on the phone while driving

DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION

High-Tech Baby Sitters Get Drivers Off Phone

Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times

Ken Mayer, an engineer at Ford, in a simulator used to monitor drivers distracted by cellphones.

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By SAM GROBART

Published: November 21, 2009

Dede Haskins’s cellphone has been her constant companion for more than a decade. And she has always considered herself a careful driver — even using a hands-free set so she could keep both hands on the wheel.

Driven to Distraction

Technology vs. Technology

Articles in this series examine the dangers of drivers using cellphones and other electronic devices, and efforts to deal with the problem.

Previous Articles in the Series »

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Interactive Feature

Gauging Your Distraction

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Kirk Irwin for The New York Times

Bill Windsor, safety officer for Nationwide. The insurance company offers discounts to drivers who use a call-blocking service.

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But after missing one too many exits because she was distracted by a phone call, Ms. Haskins decided it was time to get tough with herself. So she signed up for ZoomSafer, a free service that uses her phone’s GPS sensors to determine whether she’s at driving speeds, and then disables her cellphone until she stops the car.
“I really love my cellphone,” said Ms. Haskins, the chief executive of a software company in Washington. “But I know I’m not driving safely if I’m using it while behind the wheel.”
Of course, there is a simpler, no-cost solution to limiting phone use while driving: the off button. But going cold turkey is hard for many Americans who have become addicted to their gadgets. And so technology companies are trying to solve a problem caused by technology with more technology.
But the solutions reflect markedly different answers to a simple question: How much can drivers be trusted?
One group of companies assume that some people know they can’t help themselves, and therefore want a service to automatically disable their cellphone when it is in a moving car.
But other companies say the habit can be made safer with hands-free technology. Ford and Microsoft, for example, are selling systems that rely on voice commands to dial phones.
Hands-free devices are far more popular. But it is cellphone-muzzling technology that has caught the eye of large auto insurers. That’s because some studies show that talking on phones while driving is dangerous, even if the driver is using a headset and has both hands on the wheel. One insurer has even said it will offer discounts to customers who use a call-blocking service.
A number of fledgling companies like ZoomSafer, Aegis Mobility and obdEdge employ systems that place restrictions on phones based on the phone’s GPS signal, data from the car itself or from nearby cellphone towers. Any incoming calls are then routed to voice mail or a message explaining that the phone’s owner is driving. Exceptions can be made for certain numbers.
Passengers in cars can override such systems, but in many cases doing so automatically sends an e-mail message to the account administrator — say, a parent or employer — alerting them that the cellphone is in use.
Employers that want to make sure their drivers abide by bans on cellphone use are obvious potential customers. Community Coffee, a Baton Rouge, La., coffee roaster and distributor, has had such a ban on its 400 trucks for three years, which the company says has helped reduce its accident rate by 30 percent.
It started testing a call-blocking system from obdEdge, called Cellcontrol, in August. ObdEdge charges companies $85, plus about $5 monthly, for each vehicle equipped with Cellcontrol.
“We realized we had to go beyond education and policy,” said Jamey LeBlanc, the risk manager for Community Coffee. “You’re going against human nature here, so you need something that works independently of that.”
In effect, addiction to gadgets is creating a new gadget industry.
“If we could control ourselves, we wouldn’t need any of this technology,” said Donald Powers, a managing partner at obdEdge. “We know it’s such a bad habit, but we crave being connected.”
Other companies insist the habit is not so bad and can be mitigated by employing voice recognition and speech-to-text technologies in cars.
Such systems are typically developed and promoted by some of the biggest names in electronics and automobiles, as well as well-financed trade groups like the Consumer Electronics Association and CTIA, the wireless-industry group.
Ford and Microsoft, for example, joined forces to develop the Sync system, which uses voice commands to pick out a name from a phone’s address book to place a call, It can also retrieve incoming text messages and read them aloud.
In 2008, 918,000 hands-free systems were installed in cars, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. By the end of 2009, the industry group estimates, that figure will climb to 1.6 million systems. In many cases, hands-free kits are packaged with other options that together cost around $1,000. “We are trying to take what people are doing and make it safer,” said Doug VanDagens, the director of Ford’s Sync project. “Voice provides the safest options and keeps the driver’s eyes on the road.”
Manufacturers of such systems argue that their products make driving safer. As proof, they point to a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study published this summer that concluded that hands-free conversations were only a minor distraction to drivers.
But not everyone agrees that this technology is the safest option.
Studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, for example, show that drivers are four times more likely to have an accident if they are talking on the phone — hands-free or not — while driving.
The reason, researchers say, is that drivers often become engrossed in their conversation, rather than focusing on driving, even if their hands are on the wheel. “Once a conversation begins, we don’t see a difference between hand-held and hands-free,” says Adrian Lund, president of the institute.
The insurance industry is starting to put its thumb on the scales of which approach — blocking calls or hands-free talking — is safer.
The Nationwide insurance company said last month that its customers who sign up for the call-blocking service from Aegis Mobility would be eligible for a discount of around 5 percent off their annual premium. (Aegis has agreed to provide Nationwide a list of policyholders who are using the service.)
“Clearly, in addition to saving lives, it will lower auto-insurance costs,” said Nationwide’s safety officer, Bill Windsor.
State Farm Insurance, the nation’s largest auto insurer, is also studying call-blocking systems.
By contrast, no insurer offers such discounts on hands-free systems.
“We’re not convinced,” Mr. Windsor said, “that hands-free is safer.”

Alternative Energy- Traffic

Cosmetic_Raising awareness

Ingredients in cosmetic

new bicycle law going into effect: smells like an opportunity for product designers!

I was very interested to learn from Sun Ki that in several weeks the new "Bikes in Buildings" law will go into effect in New York City. This says that building owners must provide indoor bike parking if:

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  It is a commercial office building;
  
  
  
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  It has a freight elevator; and
  
  
  
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  A tenant/subtenant requests bicycle access.
  
  
  
  As designers, we have to pay attention to events like this. When the rules change, you should automatically start thinking: "what new products will be required to allow people to adapt to these new conditions. A number of possibilities jump out, but I don't want to say what they are (yet). But, the first thing that I did was to do some quick on line research.  I found a publication from Tranportation Alternatives that provides a bunch of ideas.  That document can be found here.
  
  
  
  Since outdoor parking is the biggest problem for people who want to commute on their bikes, this new requirement that parking space be made available indoors should be an effective tool in promoting biking and reducing automobile traffic.  Some issues that still need to be resolved by the introduction of new products might be:
  
  
  
  1.  People may not want to ride on a bike wearing a nice suit. Maybe people need an easy way to change clothes (or at least shoes) when they get to work.
  
  
  
  2.  The new regulation says that buildings that have freight elevators must provide indoor parking. How will multiple bikes fit into freight elevators? Do they need some kind of hanger or brackets on the wall for carrying bikes?
  
  
  
  3.   Will people also use their bikes for business meetings? If so, they need to be able to park their bikes in any office building, not just their own. Does this suggest some kind of special locking system?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Violaine de Pourtales (sketches from last week)

Man shops globe on Sundance Channel

Hi all,

I just wanted to share a link to the show Man shops Globe on the amazing Sundance Channel.

The show follows Keith Johnson, buyer-at-large for Anthropologie and his trips around the earth to pick up merchandise for the interior-design chain.

I found this show to be very rich in the way it contrasted urban big business vs rural craft passion and the different rules of conduct and negotiation.

This might be interesting to those who aim to focus on Crafts and global economics in their thesis.

Best,

Ben