ContentsTusk: Humans as batteries

Trisect: A modern prescription bottle

Gord: A more sustainable water bottle

Parabox: Luxury and ordinary

Webster: Lamp with atypical material

FormX: An innovative weightlifting fix

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OVERVIEW Tusk was designed to take the unused energy of the human gait or walking cycle and redirect it to power one’s portable gadg-ets. Tusk creates hyper-local energy economies within the human body by harvesting mechanical energy and converting it to electrical energy -creating a sustainable closed-loop system.

OUTCOME Tusk Makes a proper connection between the energy our gadgets use and the energy our body expends daily was paramount to Tusk’s suc-cess - the energy our gadgets used is comparable to the energy we expend daily.

TUSK

WHY The reasons for taking on alternative energy are fairly obvious nowadays. With mounting pres-sure to become energy inde-pendent as a nation in the next decade, I found it necessary to invest my time to, one, add fuel to the alternative energy fire, and two, to make a real, func-tional product out of all the un-polished, unfinished ideas set out by other designers and inven-tors with s imilar design cr iteria.

FOOD MECH

ANICAL

ENERGY ELECTR

ICAL

ENER

GY

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Lucky for me, New York City is a little bit of an insomniac.

BASED on the observations I made people-watching in some of the densest public spaces in NYC, I provided just some of many potential design interventions.

Possible to have easy, wireless, portable charger?

Store signs remain on beyond business hours.

Can the lit sign only come on when people are

around? Can foot traffic possibly power the sign?

Cars, people, animals, and bikes share the space

- can the concentrated energy released in the

intersection power something in the immediate

area i.e. traffic lights?

Street vendors’ business hours are limited to the

sunset. Can there be an efficient way of lighting

their space while harvesting personal or environ-

mental energy?

Obviously places where energy is expended free-

ly. Can the energy be harnessed to power lighting

or televisions, for example?

OBSERVATION

CELL PHONE USE

LIT STORE SIGNS

INTERSECTIONS

STREET VENDORS

GYMS

EVALUATIONDIRECT INDIRECT

Direc t and Ind irec tTWO MODELS OF ENERGY HARVESTING

After analysing and watching people go about their daily lives, I figured there were two potential models for energy harvesting: direct and indirect. Direct is more personal to the user; their expensed energy would be harvested to power something directly on them i.e. cell phone, MP3 player. The second, Indirect, is more impersonal to the user(s); their expensed energy would be harvested to power something in their environment or vicinity; some-thing that wasn’t immediately in their possession i.e. street lights, subway stations. Harvesting energy both ‘directly’ and ‘indirectly’ was compelling enough to cast the net wide and consider all means of energy harvesting, from solar panels to the more unconventional, like humans.

Times Square + Herald Square, NYC

Times Square is probably the most highly trafficked area in New York City with more than 450,000 thousand pedestrians passing through everyday – it’s an energy hub. Times Square serves as the perfect example for the indirect model of harvesting energy because of the high foot traffic and the amount of environmental energy consump-tion i.e. the iconic tabloids, screens.

Union Square, NYC

Union Square: Union Square is a popular public gathering area. However, the ambience is very different from that of Times Square and Herald Square. The greenery, very limited in NYC and lack of tourists invites those who just want to clear their head and lounge for a bit. As I suspected, there were many people lounging on the grass and sitting on the benches while fidgeting with their phones and other electronic gadgets. Union Square serves as a good case study for the direct model of energy creation and harvesting be-cause people are in need of an immediate battery boost after heavy cell phone use.

To understand what energy economies existed in New York City, I went out and people-watched to under-stand where possible design interventions can take place.

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Su rvey 1100 PEOPLE SURVEYED

Survey no.1 was dedicated to understanding, on a broader sense, how peo-ple felt about alternative energy and how much they were willing to support alternative energy initiatives. In this survey, I considered taking advantage of introducing large scale energy harvesters such as solar panels and wind turbines. Also, the idea of harvesting human energy and use it as a renew-able energy source to power local energy economies was introduced.

Su rvey 2100 PEOPLE SURVEYED

Survey no.2 was more concen-trated on technology and the possibility of having a wireless, easy way of charging one’s gadg-ets through harvesting human energy. I wanted to understand what people’s energy require-ments were as far as portable technology goes.

From the very beginning of the pro-ject, an important part of my design criteria was to have a realized, prac-tical, usable product by the end of the design process. The results of Survey no. 2, reinforced by Survey no. 1, helped me conclude that a small-scale intervention would be best in order to fulfill said criteria. At this point, I was pretty certain I wanted to work with the DIRECT mode of energy harvesting, where the user has a personal and immedi-ate access to the harvested energy they have created.

After this survey, I looked further into solar and wind energy, but the cost and scale would inhibit the development of my project. Furthermore, wind and solar energy are highly dependent on the very spontaneous and unpre-dictable mother nature. Humans, as opposed to wind and solar energies, are predictable because they are creatures of habit.

If you knew that your body’s movements could harvest ener-gy, would you move faster/work harder?

What electronics do you carry with you on a daily basis?

Do you carry your chargers around with you to make sure your electronics don’t die?

How often do your batteries die?

How attached are you to your electronics?

How often do you charge your electronics?

Do you not take advantages of cer-tain features in your electronics be-cause it kills your battery quicker?

What kind of phone do you own?

What do you think about wind turbines and solar panels in city parks?

What are your thoughts on the appearance of wind turbines in cities?

“yes please!”

“we need them asap”

“free energy is smart. exploit sunlight and wind power to its fullest potential.”

“I think it will help us a lot. however, it may make the park look like an industrial factory.” “daily.”

“all the time.”

“rarely, charge nightly.”

“charge daily.”

“rely a lot on my phone and iPod”

“very attached to my phone”

“Feel angsty if I leave w/o them”

“Very attached to phone and iPod”

“everyday”

“iPod every 3 hours of use, phone every 4 days”

“laptop constantly or it’ll die every 1.5 hours.”

“nightly”

If moving towards energy inde-pendence raises taxes or makes living a bit more expensive, are you willing to still support it?

From the results of people-watching and surveys, I con-cluded that I wanted to work mostly with the energy source that goes largely unharnessed – humans; we are, after all, organic batteries. I wanted to tackle powering items that people carry on themselves universally i.e. cell phones, MP3s. Coincidentally, the energy output per human is comparable to the energy the cell phones and small gadgets use up.

Demographic 60%

80%

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The energy harvesting shoe is an idea that is as old as time. What intrigued me the most about it, though, was the lack of market-ready product available. Considering the foot and its almost perpetual daily movement, it seemed absurd that no one has yet tapped into the market. There was one person, however, that patented and was ready to make the energy harvesting shoe happen - Trevor Baylis, the man responsi-ble for the wind-up radio. When I emailed his people about the status of the project, I was surprised at the response:

Direction 2 uses energy acquired ambiently. By incorporat-ing a Piezoelectric film into a protective skin often put on cell phones, the technology is able to pick up ambient vibra-tions while the user is making a call, texting, walking, press-ing it against their face while on a conversation, or even placing it down.

Subway stations are known for being very rambunctious and full of energy. Six million people take the New York City subway on a daily basis and with all that energy being expended in one location, there must be a means of harvesting it. This design takes advantage of all the vibra-tions created by ambient sources in a subway station i.e. trains, humans, wind. Piezoelectric strips are placed as cantilevers on a beam to increase and sustain resonance when vibrating. As the piezoelectric strips vibrate, it gives off electricity that is being fed directly into the grid. This design will be placed mainly in subway tunnels as the trains ride back and forth.

“Dear Mr Mejia,

The electric shoe was never really developed beyond the prototype stage... At the time, there was a high profile case in the UK of a terrorist ‘shoe bomber’ who had tried to blow up an aircraft and so the project was shelved. - Trevor Baylis Brands plc”

Direc t i on 1Energy harvest ing shoes

Direc t i on 3TRAIN STATION ENERGY HARVESTING

Direc t i on 2AMBIENT CELL PHONE CHARGER

Scale: SmallTechnology: Rotary DynamoTechnology efficiency: ExcellentMethod: Direct

The added challenge of tran-scending the socio-political stig-ma attached to the idea.

More efficient technology yields more usable energy

Lack of market-ready solutions

Scale: SmallTechnology: PiezoelectricityTechnology efficiency: ModerateMethod: Direct

Technology still needs some advancement before it can create enough energy to power portable gadg-ets ambiently.

Scale: LargeTechnology: PiezoelectricityTechnology efficiency: ModerateMethod: Direct

Scale too large to have a realizable, working proto-type that would work directly for the user.

Since one of my main goals was to start a conversation about energy independ-ence and human involvement, I wanted to make the design something that would standout against the New York City backdrop. I wanted to somehow incorporate the entire body in the prod-uct as a means of expressing the idea of humans as machines, so I didn’t want to hide the inner-workings of the product. I wanted to illustrate for the spectators the synergy between human and ma-chine.

Sketching

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With the help of several mechanical, bio-mechanical, and electrical engi-neers, I was able to wire the proper de-vice that’ll help harvest the most energy from the human walking cycle. The pro-totyping phase wasn’t all about hous-ing the device, it was about creating an experience for the user and spectators. The person wearing the device, their outfit/uniform, were crucial parts of the final design and performance.

Pro to t yp ing

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1. Gadget container accommodates different cell phone types and sizes. Device is equipped with a fe-male USB port to accommodate us-ers with different connector jacks i.e. iPhones.

2. Adjustable strap to fit most us-ers.

3. LED indicator lets the user know when the reserve battery is low.

4. Rotary Dynamo efficiently pro-vides the necessary energy to charge electronics.

5. Gear ratio specifically designed to efficiently keep rotary dynamo functioning at top speed.

6. Leg lever securely wraps around leg.

Initially, Tusk was intended to be a shoe-mounted device, but various tests proved that a knee-mounted device produces significantly more energy (10x more, to be exact). Tusk produces an average of 5 watts of electricity, enough to power mobile devices and other handheld gadgets - powering a device for 30 minutes with just 2 minutes of use. Furthermore, the metabolic cost of producing one additional watt of electricity is less than one-eigth of that for conventional human power genera-tion - meaning, essentially, that you get more bang for your energy buck. Tusk pro-duces a substantial amount of electricity with minimal effort as compared to similar technologies.

The Label

The Fina l Des ignTHE DETAILS

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The Fina l Des ignHow i t works

Tusk as an intervention

The modern cell phone, the iPhones and the Samsung Galax-ies, cost about 50 cents annually to charge - not much, right? Well, what happens when we take, for example, just a year’s worth of iPhone 5 sales? Keeping in mind that MP3 devices aren’t even being factored in, the energy consumption of a year’s worth of iPhone 5 sales is comparable to the energy consumption of the entire city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa - about 54,000 homes. That’s just for one smartphone model over one year.

Tusk combines the convenience of charging your device on the go, always ensuring you have a charge for emergencies, and relieves the some strain on the grid. Tusk’s goal isn’t to change the world overnight or inspire world peace, it’s a necessary step in the right direction. Tusk constitutes a clean, portable energy alternative to conventional batteries for electronic mo-bile devices.

Energy consumption of a year’s worth of iPhone 5 sales is

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The Nex t Step

Tusk was purposely packaged as a futuristic, but functional product. However, I’d love to see it adapted not only for people who can afford expensive gadgets, but also for the less fortunate living in areas where electricity is scarce or nonexistent. For example, in certain parts of Af-rica, children can’t complete their homework because they don’t have proper lighting.

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OVERVIEW On average, an American takes about 4 - 5 prescription drugs daily? Face Check. However, many are not taking them correctly because the packaging instructions are not clear. The goal was to design an experience that was fluid and benefitted users’ contemporary needs.

OUTCOME Trisect is a three-sided prescription medication bottle design that greatly reduces confusion and increases proper adherence for patients consuming pre-scription drugs. Benefits are achieved through intelligent - but simple - design.

TRISECT

WHY Not taking prescription drugs properly is responsible for 100 billion dollars in direct and indirect costs annually. Many people have been seriously injured or have died because current prescription bottle standards are antiquated.

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“Medication nonadherence is responsible for $100 billion in direct and indirect costs.”

The ProblemA BETTER UNDERSTANDING

In April 2010, the U.S. Government passed the Healthcare Reform Bill, which will extend healthcare coverage to an additional 32 Mil-lion people. With an increase in insured people, comes an increase in prescription drug consumption.

According to Freedonia, a leading research group, by the year 2012, the medicinal packaging industry will grow to be a 16 billion dollar industry with plastic bottles remaining as the primary container for drug storage. “The strongest influences on growth will evolve from standards and regulations that address such issues as patient drug compliance, drug dispensing errors, drug counterfeiting and drug diversion.”

Studies show that many people are confused with the current am-ber-colored prescription bottle and labeling, from educated to un-der-educated, affluent to poor. 69% of people, even if they are able to read the label information, still take their medication incorrectly. Reducing the confusion associated with generic prescription labels, reduces the amount of mistakes while taking the drugs, and in turn, decreases potential litigations against the supplying pharmacy.

There are very few interventions in the market that currently ad-dress the aforementioned issues. The most prominent example is Target. Target redesigned the generic prescription bottle, which has remained largely unchanged since the late 1940’s. They stand as the sole competitor in the complete revamping of the generic round prescription bottle.

The Label

As illustrated in the examples below, the current prescription labels are difficult to decipher. The most important information gets lost within often uncategorized and difficult-to-see sec-tions. The priority of the information is also not in the consumer’s best interest. For example, the drug name, dosage, and directions are some of the most important pieces of information needed by the patient, but precedence is given to the pharmacy logo. Counter-productive, no?

The Bottle

The iconic amber-colored prescription bot-tle we all know and don’t love today, does the bare minimum: it contains. Attach-ing an already confusing label on a small, rounded surface is just asking for trouble.

As healthcare becomes more readily available to the majority, the incidence of injuries and mis-administration of prescription drugs increases exponentially. A design intervention needs to be implemented to break the cycle.

Trisect is a three-sided prescription medication bottle design that greatly reduces confusion and increases proper adherence for patients consuming prescription medication.

In t e r ven t i onWhere? Why?

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The Fina l Des ignTHE BOTTLE

There are many issues concerning consumers and their inability to decipher the label, considering that only one percent of the 3.5 billion prescriptions filled in the us have highly readable labels. Taking this into account, thinking outside the box or the generic prescription bottle was necessary. In the prototyping and sketching phase, the mechanism of the bottle and graphic label were the priority.

Basic label layout

The label is to be too small to fit all information.

Can the label get larger as well as the font?

Priority is given to the pharmacy dispensing the

drug while important patient information is bur-

ied.

The tight round bottle is affecting the legibility

of the label information. Is it possible to change

the bottle’s shape so the label is clearer?

Would it be easier if some of the information

were highlighted or color-coded?

Directions on how to take the medications are

overly complex. What ways can they be simpli-

fied?

OBSERVATION

CRAMPING

INFO PRIORITY

BOTTLE FORM

MONOCHROMATIC

ADMINISTRATION

EVALUATION

While examining several prescription bottles and pertaining labels, I pointed out the qualities that needed immediate improvement. Also, establishing a template for an easily readable prescription label was a crucial part of the process.

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The Fina l Des ignTHE BOTTLE

The Trisect prescription bottle’s design is ergonomic. The triangular shape increases lever-age, which then enables users to open it easily. Along with the increase in leverage, ridges are integrated into the cap to increase the grip to further facilitate access. This benefits all users of the Trisect prescription bottle, but is especially beneficial to those with bone and joint conditions such as the elderly, the demographic that most often uses prescription medicines.

The Redesigned Label

The Trisect Prescription bottle is a three-sided bottle that allows for an even distribution of information. The three sides help separate the necessary information into different catego-ries, making it easier to understand. Furthermore, the shape of the bottle helps display the information needed on the label more clearly and efficiently. Since the bottle has three sepa-rate faces, the information can be evenly distributed, and split into three. This helps reduce the clutter and confusion often associated with prescription labels. Users can simply turn to each separate face to absorb the information they need.

Side 2: A visual depiction of the administration di-rections helps all users take medicine correctly.

Side 1: Displays the basic information about the pa-tient i.e. drug name, expi-ration date refills, etc.

Transporting the Trisect Prescription Bot-tle is more efficient than the generic round prescription bottles. The triangular form of the bottle allows it to be wedged into each other tightly, saving time and money be-cause it enables more bottles to be shipped on a single trip.

There has been much attention paid to Pre-scription Warning Labels, and how mysti-fying they are to consumers. Descriptions such as, “You should avoid prolonged or ex-cessive exposure to direct and/or artificial sunlight while taking this medication,” not only uses complex vocabulary such as “pro-longed” and “excessive”, but they are mul-ti-step directions - confusing. The goal was to convert multi-step directions to single-step directions as a significant step towards redesigning more efficient labels.Another important aspect in redesigning simple labels, is the graphic design i.e. icons and color. The combination of simple, sin-gle-step directions, and a revamped graphic design language, will produce a more effec-tive line of Prescriptions Warning Labels.

The 3-sided bottles fit together better at any size since the flat-like surfaces allows them to abut one another with greater spa-tial efficiency.

Side 3: Prescription Warn-ing Labels have been re-worded and graphically re-designed to be universally understood.

Better Shipping

Prescription Warning Labels (PWLs)

...AND IT STACKS

Basic label layout

Wait, there’s more

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OVERVIEW Gord is an update on the ancient practice of storing liquids in more natural, organics vessels. By using more organic materials, Gord is a more eco-friendly option to other portable bottles on the market currently.

OUTCOME The Gord bottle takes a step back and finds the intricate balance be-tween the natural and the processed, yielding a product with a lesser carbon footprint than other portable water bottles.

Gord

WHY Fortunately, the portable water bottle industry has gained some traction in the last couple of years. Not only is it a cheaper alternative to constantly buying single-serve plastic water bottles, it is more sustain-able as well. However, there are still manufactur-ing and material improvements that will help keep the water bottle industry evolving.

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The Compet i to rsSurv iva l o f the susta inab le-est

As compared to the competing portable water bottles on the mar-ket currently, Gord is, by far, the bottle with the lowest carbon footprint. This means that Gord bottle uses to the least amount of resources to manufacture - making it more ‘green.’

“Americans consume 1,500 plastic water bottles every second - most end up in the landfill.”

The ProblemALL TOO FAMILIAR

It’s no secret that plastic water bottles have a well-deserved repu-tation for being detrimental to the environment - I won’t bore you by writing an essay.

Gord was designed not to solely reverse the world’s addiction to plastic water bottles, but to provide a healthier alternative to the portable water bottles in the market currently.

Greenhouse Gases released per 1KG of product

In order to seamlessly inject the Gord bottle in the already saturated portable water bottle market, Gord’s form and features needed to be informed by the most popular water bottles.

GORD’S COMPETITORS

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Sketching + Pro to t yp ingNATURE VS. ARTIFICE

What was most fascinating about this project was the ability to curb nature into taking unnatural forms. When it came to the cannonball gourd, an exclusively round-shaped fruit, it was essential to give the naturally grown gourd an unnatural and processed shape - cement-ing the juxtaposition of the organic vs. the processed. Qualities like straight lines and symmetry were incorporated to reinforce that idea. The cap was an important detail because the design language of most portable water bottles had a similar look and function. That would be Gord’s connecting thread to the market.

There were several requirements that needed to be met in order for the Gord bottle to be successful. • No undercuts for easy mold removal • Hold at least 27oz. to compete • Regulate drinking spout for universal cap • Easy to remove dried seeds • A means of inserting logo for branding

The Final Form

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Swing-top cap with rub-ber base assures that the gourds varying wall thick-nesses are water tight eve-ry time.

Every bottle comes with its own unique pattern thanks to its organic growth pro-cess. Each bottle is one-of-a-kind.

Cap design follows the de-sign language of the most current bottle design - mak-ing it easily familiar as a portable water bottle.

In-mold dimples for the wires have been designed to keep the bottle as simple as possible without any ma-chining- significantly lower-ing the carbon footprint.

In-mold logo negates the use of machining and la-bels for branding purposes - lowering carbon footprint.

The Fina l Des ignTHE DETAILS

The Gord bottle design combines all the pertinent features of the portable water bot-tle market with some necessary upgrades and enhancements to realize a bottle that is eco-friendly, evocative, and contemporary. At first glance, the Gord bottle separates itself from the rest due to its shape, color, and natural mottling.

The bottle is designed to grow with the least amount of processing so that the carbon footprint would be the lowest possible. Features like the dimples for the swing-cap and the in-mold logo helps keep everything local by avoiding being shipped to other facilities for further processing. Furthermore, the Gord bottle is up to 40x greener than the more popular portable water bottles and 20x greener than the single-serve plastic water bottles. Also, it holds more water than a standard 27oz. Sigg water bot-tle thanks to the Cannonball gourd’s natural size.

The Features

Growing the Gord bottle is simple. The gourd fruit is allowed to grow outside of the mold until it is big enough to be placed in the mold comfortably. After about 6 weeks, it will be removed from the mold and allowed to dry completely, giving it the rigid shell. Then, it is washed to remove the dirt and grime developed during the drying process and it is gutted of all the dried seeds inside. Lastly, the spout is cut to fit the bottle cap.

Processing

Step 1:Grow

Step 2:Dry

Step 3:Gut & Wash

Step 4:Cut spout

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ParaboxWEIGHTLIFTING AND THE OLYMPICS

Vitra, Inc., the world renowned furniture manufacturer, hosted a competition in which the grand prize was an all-expense-paid trip to France. Parabox won. The goal of the competition was to make the Vitra products stand out as usable products and less as works of fine art never to be touched. In order to reverse the canonization of the Vitra products, we forced the high-end objects to coexist sym-biotically with our everyday, cluttered New York City apartments. The juxtaposition of the luxury goods and our everyday possessions makes the products less intimidating and more inviting.

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Webs te rMATERIAL EXPLORATION

Webster is an homage to something I hold near and dear to my de-sign hearts; materiality. You probably haven’t guessed it yet, but Webster, with simple wire for structure, is made completely out of hot glue webs. With some patience and a dab-and-stretch tech-nique, the excess strand of hot glue was extended around the frame to create a beautiful, ethereal form. With enough layers, the light was diffused enough to make Webster a functional, one-of-a-kind pendant lamp. The light source is an LED lamp to keep the material from melting.

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Fo rmXWEIGHT LIFTING AND THE OLYMPICS

Inspired by the unfortunate accident of weightlifter, Janos Baran-yai, at the 2008 Olympics, Form-x combines old-world and new-world technology to help prevent injury to the upper body. The an-cient Chinese finger trap, known to many of us as a childhood toy, is paramount to the Form-x’s function. Just as the finger trap tight-ens once the user tries to pull their fingers out once side, Form-x tightens, without inhibiting proper weightlifting form, to prevent hyper-extension of arms, chest and back. Two seemingly disparate concepts come together to remedy a common problem.

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Thanks.

Jerry Mejia

mejia.jerry@gmail.com

1.646.410.6065

www.jerrymejia.com