It’s not enough for an industrial designer solely to meet the desires of the public; designers must also challenge behaviors and propose new, better, or alternate ways of living through object. The following student projects fit within this category of design intent known as critical design.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN GRADUATE THESIS WORK

The Graduate Thesis is a supervised independent studio continuing an in-depth design process, and spanning an entire year. Emphasis is on ideation, prototype iteration, formal and technical development, model fabrication, and user evaluation. Through guided exercises, the student identifies an area of interest, defines and frames a relevant problem, and through extensive research and iteration, addresses the problem through a comprehensive, object-based solution.

PRESENCE OF OUR PAST
Digital device designed for us to store and experience our photos in a meaningful way
Jake Vail

What if we could reproduce feelings from our past; prodded by a single glimpse at our memories and moments, aimed at reminding us of who we are? Typically, memories and the emotions they produce are evoked through the display of precious objects in our domestic environments that serve as memory triggers: photographs of our beloved, souvenirs from our travels, keepsakes we hold dear, and heirlooms we’ve inherited. We choose to showcase many of these artifacts in our environments and utilize them for their emotive significance and passive comfort. For others, perhaps those more peculiar to ourselves, we may choose to conceal and keep private.

However, with the advent of digitization—particularly digital image capture and cheap data storage—we are producing more content than we can glean meaning from through existing outlets. Cameras embedded in our portable devices have coerced us into capturing anything and everything, documenting our lives with almost reckless abandon. We share, post, store, and often then forget. Where we once could easily revisit these fewer, well-intentioned memories, we now accumulate a plethora of digital moments, somewhat indiscriminately; so much so that it is impossible for most of us to manage, let alone revisit and experience them in a purposeful way. By harnessing this growing quantity of our captured digital imagery, I propose a new way of reflecting on our past memories and experiences.

Motivated by the embedded values within tangible objects and the realization of the inherent potential in our accumulated digital artifacts, I have proposed a means of translating our digital memories into a feeling; a present reminder of our past.

SUBVERSIVE SUSTAINABILITY: Mycelium
Sustainable products based on the natural qualities of the mycelium mushroom.
Jacob Rynkiewicz

What if we could make disposable products which had ZERO negative impact on the environment, and didn’t require consumers to bear the responsibility of proper disposal?

This is possible through the use of a biomaterial made from agricultural waste bound together with the growth of mushroom roots.

This project categorizes and questions the premise of current recycling paradigms, relying on both user awareness and willingness to participate. Through an in-depth material exploration of mycelium, a type of mushroom with a unique ability to decompose some known carcinogen and polymers such as cellulose acetate, I set out to design products where product use without awareness or intent of sustainable consumption still yields environmentally friendly and biologically healthy result. Mycelium composite materials are applied to ink toner cartridges to decompose toxic ink leftovers, cigarette filters for expedited decomposition of polymers and single-use cups.

CONCENTRATED DILUTION
Discursive objects designed to address the connections within our ecosystem and the negative effects of consumerism
Varun Dimaek

Metal mining and processing typically releases some level of pollutants into surrounding ecosystems. Although, the damage caused by this pollution may not be readily visible, its impacts add up over time, affecting the reproductive viability and lifespan of organisms in the polluted environment. 

Concentrated Dilution is a dip pen set that visualizes this process. With every use of the pen, it is cleaned off in a clean reservoir of water. Over time the pollution adds up, until eventually the inkwell is indistinguishable from the water well.