A Better World by DESIGN

Matthew S. Hall
Gecko grip…Gecko Tape…Spiderman …Nice New Bandage Adhesion…
You don’t have to be in to comics to wonder if it could ever be possible to climb like Spiderman. Electrical engineer and Professor Ronald Fearing must have wondered something similar if not the same question. Fearing has studied the adhesion of the infamous gecko’s feet and taken a step closer at bringing this characteristic to our fingertips. The undersides of a gecko’s toes have millions of microscopic hairs which cling to surfaces when slid together. With a polyester sheet like that of milk jugs Fearing laid a sheet of fabric across it and melted it into the plastic. And after pulling the fabric off of the plastic sheet found that millions of microscopic polyester hairs sticking up similar to the geckos toes.
Professor Fearing is now experimenting with this in use of special tape. With a piece of this tape approximately the size of a postage stamp, slid onto a smooth surface he can hang a one pound weight- shown in the picture above. Unlike conventional adhesive tapes, this type of adhesion doesn’t stick when simply pressed against another surface. With a little sliding of the tape onto a surface the tiny little hairs grip and hold.
Imagine the potential for this new advancement- They’re thinking of bandages that don’t hurt to remove to start but the possibilities go on and on! And hey, perhaps we could put some of those plastic milk jugs to another use after they’re emptied. Recycle your milk jugs and contribute to better Band-Aids that don’t hurt to remove, maybe make Spidy- Suits for special force teams… I wonder if they were take a sheet of this polyester and stretch it in all directions and melt the fabric onto it, then remove the fabric and relax the polyester if it would multiply the number of hairs thus increasing the number of hairs per square inch. Would this then multiply the adhesion capabilities? I’ve been thinking about what I hope to areas I would like to design in after I finish my schooling and feel confident that at least one direction I will study/experiment and design in will be medical technologies. Hurray for gecko grip! I don’t like to use Band Aids because of how they pull your hairs when removed or how if you leave one on for more than a day they leave a sticky residue on you which doesn’t like to wash off quickly. We won’t have these problems if we can harness this nature inspired advancement in new designing.

Matthew S. Hall
History of I.D.
11-9-2008 Making a Difference

Too many people think that they (one person) can’t make a difference! Dr. Bruce Becker told us a great little story about a little boy throwing starfish that had been washed up onto the beach back into the ocean. The beach was covered with starfish and the boy would throw one back in the water every other step or so. Then an old man approaches the boy asking what he’s doing. And asked the boy if he really thought it would make any difference. Then the boy held up a starfish and said “It matters to this one!” I have to admit- I got a lump in my throat with that reply.
The class discussion was to inform us of the problems with providing adequate humanitarian relief after major disasters, war, civil unrest and famine. Internally displaced people (IDP’s) flee from area’s of conflict to find minimal to no shelter, clean water, food or sanitary means of waste control. They run with their children and only what they can carry to provide for shelter and food implements. Confined to heavily over populated groups with only the privacy of blanket or plastic bag made walls held up by bamboo sticks. The local water supply could be contaminated with anything from human and or animal waste from up-stream or other toxins. The containers used to transport water consist of any sort of product capable of carrying the water. Often these are reused oil, gas or detergent jugs which they have found. Food is extremely limited to the barren environment and what little is brought by the refugees. And bodily waste facilities are stricken with disease because they aren’t much more than a hole in the ground. These of course fill rapidly and overflow and without cover, the stench spews around the area attracting flies which spread the fecal bacteria’s about the community and food.
To help with the contaminated water situation there already are some different products out there which could be used. One organization- Potters for Peace- Ron Rivera, a sociologist and potter redesigned and develops the ceramic water filtering containers which utilize the filtration of the ceramic with anti-bacteriological qualities of colloidal silver to cleanse the water. Ron redesigned the filter to standardize mass production in sixteen small facilities in fourteen countries. The original design Ceramic Water Filter came from Dr. Fernando Mazareigos, a Guatemalan chemist.
Another method to help assist in providing safe drinking water could be the “LifeStraw”. The LifeStraw is a personal, hand held portable water-purification devise clamed to turn any water into drinkable water. It has been proven to be effective against many diseases like cholera, dysentery , diarrhea and typhoid. LifeStraw was designed by Torben Vestergaard Frandsen and is manufactured by Vestergaard Frandsen. If we could have this devise distributed to the IDP’s along with the ceramic water filtering containers I believe it would help to stop the spread of water-born illnesses. The people whom go to collect the water for the community could quench their thirst once they arrive at the waters location with their LifeStraw then bring large quantities of water back to be used with the Ceramic water filtering containers. Followed with individuals using the LifeStraws to drink the water they dispense providing two methods of filtration.

Matthew S. Hall
History of I.D.
11-2-2008
Genders and Design
How do products get their meaning? To what extent do you believe a designer is able to “design” meaning into a product and determine a user’s behavior? I believe designers have a small ability to design meaning into a product as far as what the product is intended for. However this has limitation to what the product is- for example: a shovel is designed for digging, yet some people use it for prying, lifting, pounding steaks etc. A knife is one of mankind’s first tools. A knife is intended for cutting food, materials and shaping materials. Yet some people misuse them for prying, turning a screw, digging or violence. A spatula is intended for flipping over food while cooking or serving food, but could also be used as a fly-swatter if one was so inclined.
Do you believe design has the power to effect or even control how a person can or cannot act? Tough question- I would have to say yes in some ways. For example with how I was raised, a firearm is intended to be respected as an essential tool used for providing meat at the table. Treated with great respect and care a firearm can last a lifetime and more providing discipline, food, and enjoyment with target shooting. On the contrary television and some contemporary music portrays the gun as a weapon of violence with gangs, terrorists, and many other crimes. I find this very unfortunate for those of us who take pride and responsibility with our guns to be used for recreation because some legislators are trying to eliminate our right to bear arms. They forget that if they take them away= only the “bad guys” will still have them.
In the gender specific designing I would have to say that it’s not that a product has to be used by a man or a woman but that societies and cultures design the expectations among us to make products gender specific by gender roles. Men have been portrayed as the provider of food and money in many cultures and women as one who cooks, cleans and takes care of the children. Therefore implying that a gun is designed for a man and a kitchen and its implements are designed for a woman. Yet all of the above can be used just as effectively by both sexes.
The vibrator was designed by men as a medical instrument to relieve women of hysteria. Today vibrators are used as sex toys by both women and men for self pleasure and or foreplay. I on the other hand am not one among the user group so I cannot contest to how they affect or control ones behavior.
How do you understand the user’s “agency”? Even tougher question, perhaps because the meaning or purpose a product is used for is determined by the user’s intentions and idea’s of how it can be used. For example, I’ve seen a coffee mug used as a flower pot.