Title: Birdcage Bottom
Size: 40 cm x 35 cm x 18 cm Material: Cardboard and Parchment Paper Completion December 2021 - Exhibition Text -This product model is meant to be placed into the bottom of a bird cage in order to make it easier to clean for people who might have limited mobility. My inspiration was Murf, an industrial design professor at MIAD. He came to our school to teach us about industrial design, and guide us through our process in creating a product designed for pets, or for humans who have pets.
|
- Inspiration -
My inspiration for this project was Larry Murphey, an industrial design professor at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He came to my school and guided us in our process. He gave us tools and methods to come up with ideas for our products, along with advice on how to market it and convince others that it's a good idea. We did a bunch of practice exercises with him where we made up stories on the spot, sketched out random objects, and presented our ideas to get practice for a real presentation to judges. Along with all this, he also just gave us a basic understanding of what industrial design was in the first place, the perks of going into it as a career.
- Process -
When given the task of designing a product for pets, the first thing I had to do was brainstorm. I started my brainstorming process by creating an empathy map of different things I saw, felt, heard, and------. In my own home, I observed things relating to the different pets I own. I noticed things like my dogs stealing each others food, birds landing on random items in the house, the difficulty of cleaning a bird cage and how gross it was. In my project, one of the main things I wanted to focus on was accessibility. I wanted to make owning a pet easier for someone with limited mobility.
I decided to focus on owning a bird. I made a mind map and started thinking about the different aspects of owning a bird- things like cleaning up, buying food, clipping wings, and keeping it safe. From there I branched off and thought of new or more specific problems that needed to be addressed when taking care of a bird. I wrote down different elements of owning a bird currently that are not accessible for someone with limited mobility, and came up with a list of things that could be improved on regular bird cages.
With my list I sketched out a birdcage and started thinking of how these issues could be resolved. At first I really honed in on feeding a bird, and how it might be draining to refill and empty a seed dish every morning, especially if you cant reach it or lift a heavy bag. I drew a bird cage with an automatic feeder that lets users remote-control their birds food dish. This got me thinking about what other elements of a bird cage could be remote controlled, like opening the top or front hatch so the bird could get out of the cage, and then finally the idea of a rotating bottom that disposed of bird waste without having to touch it.
The next phase in my experimentation was creating a physical model of my product. I went to the store to buy a few different materials for the sheets and tested how durable they were in terms of catching everything from the bird and ensuring that there were no leaks. The one that worked the best from my little tests was wax and parchment paper. I decided to go with parchment paper since wax might be harmful to birds, and birds like to chew on random stuff. I didn't do any painting for my cardboard and I used much smaller pieces since It didn't really need to be to scale. I noticed that the parchment paper felt loose and hard to get on.
Once I had my cardboard all collected, I measured the pieces and cut them accordingly. Originally, I wanted to add a door to the front with a little handle but decided not to. I used hot glue and applied it around the edges to get my box- shape. At the time, I did not have an exacto knife so I just used a pair of scissors to cut the slit into the side where the parchment paper could flow out. It was much more difficult than I assumed and so afterwards I went out and bought an exacto knife to make the slit in my final product cleaner. I then glued on my toilet paper rolls to the back part of the box, close to the ends but not touching them. I trimmed a bunch of parchment paper to get it skinny enough to fit on the rolls, then looped it around and slipped it through the little slit on the side.
With my prototype done, I knew what I needed to do to make my actual model. I used old Amazon boxes and measured out where I needed to cut. This model was to scale, unlike the prototype I made previously. With the exacto knife, I cut out the rectangles and set up my station to paint it. I used a really pretty periwinkle color, just for aesthetic reasons and because I think it would look nice with my own white birdcage at home. I did 2 layers of the paint on each side of the board, and then I painted the rolls. I painted the skinny rolls periwinkle and the bigger ones that would go on top black.
After everything dried I started putting together my model. I first glued on the skinnier blue rolls onto the back sheet of the model. After that, I glued on the left side of the box. Then I measured out how big I needed the slit on the right side to be and used the exacto knife to cut it out. I glued on the other sides onto the base and to each other. The next step was to prepare the roll. I trimmed my parchment paper so it would fit onto the rolls, then wrapped it around both of the cylinders then slipped them onto the thinner ones, giving it the ability to rotate. The last thing I did in my process was
- Reflection -
This project was a lot different than the other ones I have done this year so far. It was very straightforward and I didn't have much room to be super creative- I struggled to come up with a decent idea for my product, and while in theory it sounded really good, the execution of it was a bit sloppy and could have turned out better. I had fun making the physical model, but the planning aspect was harder for me. If I did this again I'd likely choose something a bit more realistic- and easier to construct- than my current product. I do think that my concept was good, and that it could be improved upon and maybe even used in homes if it were looked at further.
- ACT Connections -
1) Clearly explain how you were able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your art?
Murph very directly and personally helped and guided me in completing my project and teaching me what industrial design even is in the first place.
2) What is the overall approach the artist has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Murph seems very passionate about his job and like he really does love industrial design, which makes me very happy :)
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I realized that industrial design is a very laid-back career, good for creatives who are also good at critical thinking, being empathetic, and taking real life needs into consideration.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I have a bird at home and know a disabled woman who owns birds, which was the primary inspiration for my product.
5.) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I came to the conclusion that industrial design might not be for me, but I would honestly like to give it another shot in the future, maybe with a different theme behind it. It feels difficult when every product seems like it has already been invented.
Murph very directly and personally helped and guided me in completing my project and teaching me what industrial design even is in the first place.
2) What is the overall approach the artist has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Murph seems very passionate about his job and like he really does love industrial design, which makes me very happy :)
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I realized that industrial design is a very laid-back career, good for creatives who are also good at critical thinking, being empathetic, and taking real life needs into consideration.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I have a bird at home and know a disabled woman who owns birds, which was the primary inspiration for my product.
5.) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I came to the conclusion that industrial design might not be for me, but I would honestly like to give it another shot in the future, maybe with a different theme behind it. It feels difficult when every product seems like it has already been invented.