Prototyping

been busy today buying steel and tool dip and making prototypes. Here is what I have been up to today....all day...and night

I think I am on to something here....finnaly

I found a tool that have been looking for to pull inspiration off of the Ice Axe. It is beefy, manly, has the essence of and allure of adventure and, works with my title, wonderful story possibilities.

I stopped by Jerry's this morning and and picked up some 1/8 in weldable steel and tool dip to make some prototypes with

I did some picture mash-up in Photo Shop, that I am going to print off and do some sketches off of to really get the form down a bit.

here are my newest mash ups:

some things I have been looking at

personal connections to kitchen tools

This is an article I found on personal connections to kitchen tools on the blog "The Improvised Life"

the oddness and power of real cook’s tools

Ellen Silverman

Just about every cook I know has a favorite fork or a spoon that they use for all sorts of purposes in the kitchen; they reach for it before any other tool when they need to toss or stir or shift something in a pan, because it feels right in their hand, makes them feel right in the kitchen, and able to deal with whatever comes up.

Ellen Silverman took a picture of mine. I am certain that each utensil in this odd assortment HELPS me to cook. Each has a unique feel of its own. All are balanced, attuned in some special way that helps me to listen to whatever I am making. These implements are so much a part of my cooking that I am often not aware of all the different things I do with them.

They are the opposite of kitchen catalogue offerings; all except one are cheap and beat-up. They all have stories.

The long, skinny fork is a fondue fork I bought as a set at the flea market years ago. The length is perfect, like a smaller, more elegant version of a two-or-three pronged cooking fork. I use it daily for tossing and spearing things, or peeking under something that is browning in a pan. It is the perfect fork for eating private bowls of salad.

The extraordinarily thin, long wooden spoon was brought to me by a friend from Colombia, South America. Though it looks like a doll’s spoon, to my hand, it has a much better feel than regular wooden spoons, more sensitive somehow to whatever I am stirring or tossing. My boyfriend uses it to stir the coffee he makes Brazilian-style: freshly ground beans dumped into a little pot of barely simmering water and stirred until it’s just on-the-verge of boiling again, then poured through a filter. That spoon is part of his waking up.

The silver spoon was forged by my friend Holton Rower, who is an artist. It makes me feel like an artist too. It is the perfect sauce-making spoon, made for tasting from either end. It is so beautiful, I use it as a serving spoon as well.

The silverplate fork with the bent tine was my Greek grandmother’s. She used it for everything: to make scrambled eggs, to spear a baked potato, to toss long strands of thick macaroni with clarified butter and aged Sheep’s milk cheese, as an accompaniment to her Kapama, a cinnamon-scented lamb stew. I don’t use the fork often, but keep it as a kind of talisman in my utensil drawer, to see whenever I open it, and remind me of my grandmother and a lineage of cooks that came before me…

and here is the link

had a slight freak out and just need to think for a little bit

I talked with Wonhee a bit earlier to day about dropping the idea I had and just design handles for kitchen tools scene I have been doing a lot of research on them anyway. She said that that was ok (as she let out a heavy sigh).

And the more I thought about it, the more it felt like I was giving up. and as my mantra goes:"Play hard. Work harder. Have fun. Find your limits and test them. Always get right back up, NEVER stay down. NEVER give up."

so I wrote an email to Garth Morgan to see if I could talk with him about my product and have a jam session to help work out my idea.

I decided to let him know what I knew about my product so he would be up to date on it and that actualy helped me work out some of the issues I has having.

Anyway here is a bit of the email I sent:

Right now I am really in not a good spot with this project. My research never paned out no mater where I looked, I could not find any conclusive demographic data that I could use. I even have a friend that works for Nielsen and he couldn't help me very much.

So I have been looking the handles of kitchen tools, hand tools, power tools, and sports equipment and how they relate to the function of the object and I have not found any thing that I am excited about. (and yes I am complaining a bit)

Here is what I do know about my product right now:

Demographic: I have dropped the bachelor part and just made it for men

Name: RTK- Reclaim The kitchen

General size and proportions: over sized about 15 inches long- the handle will be about 5 inches long and and a hefty 1.25-1.5 diameter, a 5 inch neck length, and a tool head length of about 5 inches of about 3.5 to 5 inches wide

Materials: I want it to be all one material so seams for things to get in to and grow germs, preferably nonstick pan safe. what this material is I do not know.....may be two materials if the structural core is completely coated....... so maybe steel core with silicone covering

Tools: I want there to be 4 tools in the set- spatula, slotted spoon, spoon/ladle, and tongs. I want to prototype two of these but I think I will only get to one with the time I have left. The tools I want to prototype are the spatula and the tongs, if I have the time, as I think they would be the easiest to do at this point

What is looks like: I have no idea.....but I have been looking at mountaineering tools while I have been writing this and I think that might be what I have been looking for..maybe.... ice hammers and such...hummmmmmmmm

so that is the summery of what I know for sure about my product right now.

YAY I HAVE MY BRAIN BACK!!!!!!

ok I recognize I am behind and not in a very good place as far as progress on my project right now, this is due to the fact that I have been sick scene the midterm and I was working on ¼ brain power. The cold and flu stuff are mostly gone now and I have my energy and brain power back, getting the engines restarted and revved up…..


Due to the fact that I was sick and that I could not find a chef to talk to me about cooking utensils, I polled studio for what tools people use on a day to day bases I came up with the most common things that came up are knife, spatula, spoon, and fork. And after a few hours of searching the web I found an article on Squidoo.com stating that the basic 5 tools you need are silicone spatula/scrapers that are safe up to 600 F and a set of 4 tools consisting of a spoon, a slotted spoon an spatula and a pasta scoop.

Also with my regained thinking and reasoning powers (woke up this morning and I could actually think clearly again) I started looking at existing kitchen tool sets they all varied a bit in what they consisted of but I am going for the bare minimum needed to do your day to day cooking.

So I have made a bit more progress: I have nailed down what exact utensils are going to be in my RTK Cooking Tool line the plan as of now is that I am going to prototype a spoon and a spatula and draw up designs for a slotted spoon pasta scoop and a rubber/silicone scraper and spatula thingy.

Here is a link to the article: link

talk with Donald

I had a talk with Donald today about my project 1. I explained my concept about using the concept of fetishism in the contest of how people and especially men, put special meaning on objects or identify with object due to their aesthetic aspects and or function, to design a line of cooking tools for men.

My original intent with the project was to create a line of cooking utensils that were designed specifically for bachelors. I have dropped the bachelors bit due to my seeming lack of ability to find any conclusive demographic data, or rather any usable demographic data really. The plan with this data was to find out what the major interests of a specific age group was, ie.: most liked bands/musical artists, TV shows, sporting events, ect.. and look at these things and try to pull a visual language out of these different elements and meld them together to use to inspire a the design of this line of cooking utensils. Since this has not worked out I have turned to looking at hand tools and other masculine objects.

Donald and I talked about using the esthetics of hand tools and some how using the aesthetic of the gun. I am not quite sure about pursuing using the aesthetic of the gun putting on the back burner for now and maybe pulling something out of that pot later on (…..hehehe I made a cooking pun)

We talked about my trip to Jerry’s and Heartwicks and what my findings were from that which I posted on my previous blarg entry. One of the findings I posted was that in a product line of cooking tools, all of the tools had the essentially the same handle with very minor adjustments here and there depending on the tool, and the tool heads all matched the aesthetic of the handle. So the plan was to derive a handle that I liked and then design a few tool heads off of that.

Donald thought this was a good way to approach it, but that if I took this approach and stuck with the tool handle idea it need to be much much bolder, which I agreed with. He suggested I look in to more heavy industrial tools like airplane mechanic tools. He also told me that I would need to design at least 3 of the tools out of this product line………….. soo I kinda need to hop on it and get to work…..

Oh I made a kinda shoddy prototype on Tuesday to mass out the my ideas and see what the actual size of the object would be.

back from the mostly almost dead but not really- mostly

Ok so I have essentially been sick since the midterm, which means I have been loopy and out of it and not been able to think very clearly at all, and on top of the having a few too many projects going on at once. So that is why I have not posted in a few weeks.

Last week I went to Jerrys hardware store and Heartwicks kitchen store to look at and compare the handles of the hand tools and the cooking utensils. I found the shape of the hand tools were specifically developed for the function of the tool. With the kitchen tools, this was not the case.

While the handles of the hand tools varied a lot it was to support the function of the specific type of tool. The kitchen utensils handles were the same for all the tools in the product line, with slight tweezing depending on the tool, if there was any change in the handle at all.

Men less likely to cook then wemon

Abstract from an article on Highbeam Research

Article: Women cook for families, men cook as hobby.

Half of women (50%) say they enjoy cooking very much, while 11% don't like to cook, according to an NFO WorldGroup study conducted for Taste of Home magazine. Men are less likely to dislike cooking (8%) and almost as likely to say they like it very much (48%). Women are more likely than men to say the primary reason they cook at home is because they want to cook for their family (21% of women versus 9% of men), while men are more likely than women to consider cooking a hobby (21% of men and 11% of women say so).

Link

concept explorations round 2

Interview with Expert Doug Wilson

I interviewed Doug Wilson, a Business Professor at U of O and Marketing Guru, to help me better understand who I am design for.

I came to the interview with the target market of adult single males in the 20-35 age range in mind. Doug advised me to be as specific as possible when defining the target market.

He told me to look at income levels (Rich Vs. Poor) and occupation (Blue color Vs. White color) and education levels.

By narrowing the demographic I be able to find out what their main interests are and I will be able to derive a visual language from that.

He advised me to look at purchasing data to see the male vs. female ratios. A good place to get this information is media kits for Food magazines and the FoodNetwork channel, as well as visiting kitchen stores to see what the male vs. female ratio is and what they buy. He also strongly suggested looking at the demographic data to existing brands.

He advice was to take a look at the BBQ experience. And in regards to kitchen utensils, he said to “heft it up a bit, make it more tool like”

Resources he suggested for this research are Claritas.com and Heartwicks kitchen store in the 5st market.

Concept Explorations

I would post some concept explorations but my blog seems to be broken and will not let me post pictures now even though i just posted my inspirational images...............................

Inspirational Images

Chrome Knuckle Cork screw

Crowbar bottle opener

Sword Roaster

A view in to Mens cooking for Women

Ok through my internet trekking for power tools, sports equipment, and cooking utensils I found this article on the WomensHealth.com:

What's Cooking?

The surprising answers to your burning questions about guys and their eating habits

Dev Sherlock

Recently, while performing a random Web search, I stumbled across a gift item labeled "The Ultimate Guy Food Crate." The promo copy read: "For the guy who loves football night, send a bit of savvy that he'll really enjoy. Beef jerky, nuts, pretzels, chips and salsa...and the all-time favorite, crispy potato chips." Jeesh, you'd think men and their Dorito-loving palates hadn't progressed an inch in the last five decades. But c'mon. Our relationship with, er, grub goes beyond junk food. The kitchens that were once foreign territory to our dads are now places where many of us have been spotted in full apron regalia, broiling salmon and chopping, you know, vegetables.

And as it happens, a guy's eating habits and his relationship with cuisine reveals a lot. "If you watch someone eat, you'll learn everything you need to know about them," says chef Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential and host of the Travel Channel's No Reservations. Easy enough to say if you're a professional foodie. But when it comes to the lawless world of dudes and food, where pizza equals breakfast and cereal equals dinner, what if you don't possess such behavioral acuity? For insight into the most puzzling guy food habits, I checked with a shrink, some food pros, and a couple of regular joes. What they said may surprise you. So grab a brewski and let's find out what's cooking?

Why do guys leave all the ingredients, pots, and utensils on the kitchen counter when they cook?
We approach cooking from an angle we can understand. It's not just making dinner, it's a construction project. And we're going to make it bigger, messier, and more complicated than necessary. Heck, if we could get a crane to lower in the ingredients, we'd do that, too. We want to see everything laid out beforehand like we're assembling an Ikea desk, and then lord triumphant over the shambles as if admiring the wake behind our powerboat, a testament to the amount of work that went into this glorious meal. Of course, that's not the only reason we don't hang around to cuddle with the dirty bowls after having our way with them. "The average guy is only trying to reach the finish line," says David Joachim, author of The Tailgater's Cookbook. "And the fastest way to do that is to just plow through."

What's up with grill lust?
We love to play with fire, okay? "You see this pattern in very young boys," says Leon Rappoport, Ph.D., psychology professor at Kansas State University and author of How We Eat. "And not in girls, which argues for it being an instinctive tendency." Instincts aside, we like to see what's going on when we cook. (X-ray vision would be nice too.) "With a flame, you can see and feel the heat; there's no mystery to it," Joachim says. "It's a simple equation: Food plus heat equals cooking."

Why do men hate recipes?
Because any schmuck can follow one. "There [is] an inborn tendency, traceable to our hunting ancestors, which emphasizes the survival value of self-reliance and independent judgment," Rappoport explains. Translation: The Cro-Magnon dude who didn't rely on the rest of the clan to find the best mammoth-hunting grounds may have gotten the best bounty — and probably had more of it for himself. Plus, following a recipe to a T slams the door on our creative side, which we sometimes want to show off. "I always feel like I can improve on a recipe with a couple of tweaks," says my buddy Kevin. "I like to think of it as a jumping-off point." Add a pinch of cayenne (or half the bottle) to chicken Kiev — et voilá, chicken Kev!

Why do men like knives so much?
"Because they're dangerous and empowering," Joachim says. You can mince a garlic clove with one as easily as you could, well, kill someone — if you had to. It's the perfect multitasker. Who needs a Leatherman if you have a Ginsu? "You can even open a bottle of beer with it," Joachim says. "That is gold for a guy."

Why do men go for extra-spicy wings, hot peppers, and "challenging" foodstuffs?
When it comes to the truly bizarre, like Rocky Mountain oysters (aka bull testicles), there's a good chance it'd never be eaten if there wasn't a group of guys standing around goading one another, or if someone wasn't still harboring a grudge from the pickup football game earlier that day. In a social setting, "consuming an unusual or 'dangerous' item proves one's nerve/manhood/courage to others or to oneself," Rappoport says. Um. Exactly. Plus, we believe that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, which is why we'll order the blowfish sushi or pour on the habanero hot sauce until it scorches our eyeballs. "Spicy foods elicit the same response as danger, causing the brain to release endorphins, which is pleasurable," Joachim explains. "And, like riding a roller coaster, your body feels the rush but your mind knows you're ultimately safe." Which, okay, makes the whole thing sound a lot less macho.

If a guy is a picky eater, does that mean he's not adventurous in bed?
I always say, "Passion for food means passion for life." And for the record, ahem, I'll try anything. But there's no easy answer to this. My friend Doug loves exotic food loaded with flavor — Indian, Thai — because "it's like an amusement park, the culinary equivalent of a funplex with batting cages, a driving range, go-karts!" And drum roll, please, he claims legendary status in the boudoir.

Joachim is willing to give picky eaters the benefit of the doubt — something about them possibly unleashing their inner wild man in private. But Rappoport points out that, apart from food and drink and the incidental oral pacifier like cigarettes or chewing gum, the only other things we willingly take in our mouths are body parts of our chosen sex partners. Well, duh. So where's he going with this? (Stay with me here.) "Someone who has experienced anxiety about eating, which may go back to difficulties breastfeeding, is likely to be anxious about food consumption in general, and thus cautiously defensive and picky," Rappoport says. "Accordingly, they'll associate oral intimacies with anxiety." Yikes. Or just heed the wisdom of our man's man, Bourdain: "If [a guy] is not willing to try new things, I feel sorry for [him]," he says. "It makes [him] a bad guest, a bad traveler, and, most likely, bad in the sack." Whatever the case, there's one course most guys will never pass up — and that's you, for dessert. If you want to bring along some chocolate sauce or whipped cream, be our guest.


and the link: Men and Food

Project 1: looking at masculating cooking utensils through the lens of fetishism...(the anthropological scene of the word)

ok I just read this interview in a book that Wonhee has let me barrow.
The book is titled I Miss My Pencil by Martin Bone and Kara Johnson

(I just ordered it from Amazon)

The article talked about how Fetishism affects design. And I mean fetishism in the pre-Freud anthropological scenes of the term…so not sexual,… well directly anyway. Fetishism as in: the association objects with special meaning, magical powers, objects as a god or a conduit of a god.

There are 2 quotes that I really love in this article from Morgana Maye:

“One of my favorite current uses of the term Fetish actually is in gamming. There are a series of video games that have fetishes as weapons with magical powers.”

“….. I am talking about the way in which textures and tastes and smells and the visceral experience of an object are connected in the way the object itself is sold.”

I really love that last quote.

This will help me in thinking about how I will approach designing the cooking utensils.

I talked with Wonhee today and she gave me a bit of a push so that I will have a bit of head start with ideas for the forms and what visual language I will use. She wants me to play around in Photoshop merging power tools and sports equipment with cooking utensils to get an idea of what an end product will look like.

I am also going to look at the Black&Decker line of kitchen appliances to see what they did.

Expert contact comunication - Garth Morgan

This is the email communication that I have had with Garth Morgan so far and it has really helped:

Dan to Garth:

Garth,

I have completely changes my direction for this project. I let my desire to do a packaging project get in the way and painted my self in to a corner with that.

So here is the new direction:

For my project I am going to design something that makes cooking more fun, exciting and playful for Bachelors.

I want to do this because it is a lot of work to cook for yourself and not much fun. It is just easier to buy unhealthy TV dinners, easy unhealthy foods, and fast food. Cooking is healthier, cheaper, and impresses the ladies.

That would be the mission/problem statement in essence. I have not ruled the packaging idea out of the picture completely, just leaving it as an option.

I have contacted Doug Wilson, a business professor I have had here at U of O to help me nail down my demographic a bit more and help me find what their major areas of interests are, so I can find out what the general aesthetic interests are and what they would be more likely to respond to.

The tentative idea is a (or a line of) cooking utensil(s) and/or pans that would make the experience of cooking more enjoyable, and therefore more desirable to do. And an other idea would be, depending on the demographic, something having to do with a game or other entertainment.

I have made way in contacting a chef to find out what the bare essential cooking equipment would be and any ideas they had about making cooking more fun.

I kinda took my sweet time arriving at a final direction, which I hope will not come back to bite me in the butt.

I have attached a copy of my Syllabus with a class schedule so we are both on the same page about when things need to happen. I would like to talk with you about creating an action plan this week sometime, when ever you have the time (preferably before Wednesday). I don't have classes before 4 pm Monday through Thursday. Friday class starts at 2 and gets out at 8.

Also what are your thoughts on this direction? Do you have an ideas or things I should look at or consider?

What in your mind, would make cooking food more fun/enjoyable/playful for a bachelor?

~Dan Munger

Garth to Dan:

Hi Dan,

First step is to gather "data" that bolster your plan of action. Find your demographic and spend some time with them in whatever way you can. They won't tell you what to do, probably, but if you listen carefully they will reveal why they hate cooking, or why the love eating out, or what they like to eat vs. what they always eat. "It takes me 30 minutes to make dinner, 10 minutes to clean up, but only 5 minutes to eat - too much work." Or, "I can never decide what to eat." Or, "I simply don't enjoy cooking , and I'm willing to pay to eat out." But what else? "Chicks dig it when I cook once in a while." "I had a great meal at the Excelsior, and I'd love to be able to recreate it without dropping $40." And isn't there something in the handbook that demands that every man be able to grille a perfect steak? What about tailgaters?

Are the factors economic? ease of use? what happens during preparation or after? There are hundreds of books written by "experts" like Rachel Ray on preparing great meals in 30 minutes with a smile on your face. If it was that easy, every bachelor would do it. How much prep and forethought is required? How much work is there after? How do I prepare my leftovers for storage? Where do I put them? How much beer does it displace in my fridge? What can I do with fast, boxed food (like Hamburger Helper) that is way more interesting, easy and fast than what it is all by itself?

That should get you going in a direction: Utensils for cooking one thing, lots of things, or nothing at all. Recipes? Location? Process?

All the way through, with every half- or fully-baked idea or direction, hold it up to the presentation filter. Does this make a good story? If I had to describe this to Grandma, would she get it?

Be sure to ask the biz professor how he suggests you interact with the demographic. He might even have resources that can connect you with targets for interviews, focus groups, shop-alongs, or in-home observation. When you talk to the chef, find out how much your demographic overlaps with his , and if not how much opportunity that presents. Connect the dots, write it all down, create a plan that has clear steps with clear deliverables. (Even "fuzzy" steps should have clear deliverables - an answer to a question, for example.)

Give me a call when you have a draft of your plan, but only a draft. Time's wasting!


Remember, it's way easier to solve one problem rather than many. When solving multiple problems, it becomes a difficult story to tell. (I never buy those RonCo things on TV because I can't figure out what they do - slicing AND dicing AND making little fleurettes? I just want a carrot peeler that doesn't take my finger tip off.) At the end, it may be a single bug you're addressing, and that's okay if it's the most compelling bug."

Garth

The Bachelors Cooking Pad (a tentative title)

Food Networks:
The Bachelors Cooking Pad (a tentative title)

Abstract:

My goal of the Project 1 is to make some part of the Food network more fun, exciting, and playful. This goal was derived from Manifesto that Diana Lein and I wrote for Project 2 in which we rebranded vegetables in to candy in order to change the perception of them from undesirable into the forbidden and there for desirable.

Through reexamination of my research to date and my personal experience I came to the conclusion that I should try to make the cooking experience more fun for single adult males.. aka bachelors.
It is so much work to cook for yourself and not much fun. It is just easier to buy unhealthy TV dinners, easy unhealthy foods, and fast food instead of cooking healthy foods that taste good. Cooking is healthier, cheaper, and impresses the ladies.

I figure if I can design some thing to facilitate this cooking process, make it a more attractive, make it a desirable process this would be a good thing and would help make the general population healthier. I want to achieve this by making the process more fun, exciting, and playful.

I do not know where this will take me at this point as I have just recently arrived at this problem statement. I have to track down some new experts to help me out, but I am very excited with this direction and I can’t wait to see where it will take me!

Project 1 Reanalyzed/Rethought/Redirected/Redone/Re-Everything

So I let my desire to do a packaging project get in the way of project one and I ran myself in to a corner and had no idea what I was doing. So I decided I had to go back and look at every thing I had done so far, manifesto, blargging, research and expert contacts.

SO…..

Boiling it down (looking at the essence of what I have done so far)

Manifesto - fun/ exciting

Research/Blarg - playful

Expert - intriguing/experience

· Conclusion: Project 1 should deal with making some part of the Food network Fun/Exciting/Playful.

Directions

Food economy: make shopping more fun?

Packaging:…….?

Origins of food:…….?

Personal: cooking and eating not fun any more

· Final direction: making cooking and/or eating more fun

Problem Development

Project 1 should deal with making cooking and /or eating more fun for…. who?

· People in general?

· College students?

· Single Adults?

o Bachelors?

There is lot going on here…. to broad… so I should pare it down to a more researchable topic

Problem Statement

Project 1: Make Cooking more fun, exciting, playful for Bachelors

· Reasoning: it is so much work to cook for your self and not much fun, and it is just easier to buy unhealthy TV dinner things or easy unhealthy foods and fast food. Cooking is healthier, cheaper, and impresses the ladies.

Plan of Attack

Contact marketing guru for expert possibly Doug Wilson to narrow down the target markets and find what the major interests for this target market are, so I will have a better idea of the my product should look like.

Get back in contact with Garth Morgan and talk with him about new plan and new direction and form a schedule and cohesive plan of attack for this project

ok so I am having major problems. I cant seem to come up with a core concept/ problem statement/ idea for my project. I thought I wanted to do a package design project but I don't know for sure now or even how to aproch it or what I would want to acheve with it..

In short I am a bit lost with this project.... so many possibilities, so many options, so many ideas, just out of reach.........................

(complain, whine, bitch, moan, and complain a bit more)

Fennel fishy

food art

play with your food

random fun food fun find
PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD FACE

Experts .... I NEEEED YOU *dose a little dance*

hehe Shin Chan reference for you guys.

on a more serous note I have been having trouble tracking down an expert to talk to about my project, a little confused at where to Start as my project is packaging design which is a part of PD.
I am thinking about a marketing expert and .... I have no idea who else

And also don't really know what I would ask at this point I have to many directions to go n my head at this point. I could take an altruistic rout and do a reusable thing or a thing that has to do with diet, or local economy, or I could do something that is really fun and playful.

I was really inspired by Ruby's presentation last Thursday and I have realised that really being a colege student has taken the fun out of cooking and eating in general. I usually eat Chunky soup, or a sandwich, or Tyson chicken nuggets... and I just watched FOOD INC....... and I ... will probably still eat them cause they are in my freezer and they are easy and I am lazy.....Well any way I kinda want to explore packaging as a way to revitalize the eating experience

any way at this point lacking focus and lacking expert

packaging

ok so here is some interesting websites on packaging one is about a grocery store in London called Unpacked that is essentially packaging free, except for resuable packing that they sell that you bring back to get more food stuffs in. the point is to try and get rid of all the excess packaging that is around and in the bumps and reuse packaging as much as possible: Link

The nexe is the Muji Silicone ice ball maker. Very simple clean minimalistic style packaging dne I got to thinking why not have the ball just packaged as it in a wrapper, instead of the box? and I answered my self:there are 2 parts and it is made out os silicone so the box ships better with out them coming apart and it looks cooler in the box, and it stacks better. :link

save energy while cooking

This does not seem to have any relation to my projects at the moment but I thought it was intresting:How to Reduce Energy Use While Cooking

all kinda obvious stuff but good to point out..

Food packaging

Ok I was putzing around looking at Corr77.com when I saw this packaging project by Chinese designer Daizi Zheng named Stereotype.

It calls attention to the contents of the package by using by contrasting imagery of the packaging. This contrast makes you reconsider that is actually is in the package and how it compares to what is usually in those packages. Blueberries in a pill blister pack, celery in a French fry box, carrot sticks in a cigarette box.

Really I love it and I think I might be wanting to explore the idea of packaging design for Project 1. I am finding myself fancied by packaging design more and more.

Anyway here is the link to the article: Stereotype

Project 2: I am for a new food perception…A manifesto.

This a manifesto that Diana Lien and I wrote for Project 2. This manifesto will inform, shape, and guide out project.

We are for a new food perception…

a manifesto.

We are for food that is simple, fun, and inspiring.

We are for food that is playful, colorful, and teases the senses --- taste, smell, touch, texture.

We are for a new food perception that revitalizes the eating experience.

That is joyful and memorable,

That communicates and sparks social energy,

That enhances, promotes, and creates happy interactions.

We are for a new FOOD HIGH.