In the Design Activism reading, there was a big focus on consuming less and trying to find a better way of living through less consumption. This made me think about how We could use parts wasted to make something people will want. This triggered my design concept, my concept is for a new startup company or manufacturers to take leftover or scrap pieces of fabrics and make decorations out of them. On HGTV I saw a lady frame some funky patterned fabric to make a cheap decoration for the walls. I have noticed in many furniture stores lately that a very trendy furniture style is to get a neutral colored sofa and pair it with a funky side chair. Many furniture stores also sell accessories to go with the furniture. If a manufacturer could take the leftover fabric used to make the chair and use it in a framed decoration or other piece, that would reduce thrown away scraps of material. If there are smaller pieces then the person creating the artwork could sew together the smaller scraps.

The most important thing I learned in this class is that synthetic fibers are actually better than natural ones in most ways. That will make me use these materials more often in my designs and when shopping. What I wish I had learned in this class was more ways that Interior products could be reused. I felt this course was mainly apparel focused and it would have been nice to see simplistic examples. I would also like to learn more about how governments regulate companies on environmental wastes. I know that Germany is pretty green focused and I think that would have been something interesting to learn more about

Call of Duty

My husband is a serious gamer who has a nice collection of video games, systems, and other parts that go along with it. My brother and most of my guy friends are the same way. When I moved out of my dorm a few years ago I did not know what to do with m mini fridge. I tried selling it in a garage sale, but no one wanted to give me more than $15 for it and I felt that I could make better use of it rather than take that much of a loss on it. I had it stored at my mothers for awhile, but recently decided to turn it into a video game storage unit. I did this by filling the inside of the fridge with his games like an entertainment center holds DVDs. I put his controllers, small cords, and chargers in the smaller pockets in the door of the fridge. I also added some game related stickers to the outside of the fridge to customize it for him.

My concept for others people and maybe even manufacturers would be to turn a broken or worn mini fridge into a storage container like I did. This prolongs its life and also because a functional household item. It does not even have to be just a video game center. Turning it on its back and putting a cover over it to turn it into an outdoor cooler for Barbecues is another idea. Once you get tired of it as one function it could be turned into another and another. 


The C2C Metabolism that I used was the Technical Metabolism. The Technical Metabolism influenced my concept because I thought about how my product went or has the potential to go through several product cycles and maintain value and function through the different changes. The principle from Quinn's reading that guided my concept was use waste as a resource. Even though I was not going to throw my fridge away, a lot of people would have. If someone has a broken mini fridge than this is a substitute to just throwing it in a landfill. You can use a broken mini fridge for many different things. 


The C2CAD reading talked about how a designer needs to think about the "functional, aesthetic, and economical needs". My concept hits all 3 of those points. It is functional because it takes care of storage needs and hides messy or unattractive items. It takes care of aesthetic needs because each individual owner can decorate it or add covers to their choosing; they can make it into anything they want it to be. It meets economical needs because it can be reused and turned into other functional items as each cycle ends.