01
project overview
About:
In this project, we made a decorative bandage. This is my first attempt at designing with unconventional materials, and this project gives us the opportunity to explore more possibilities that materials bring to design.
Group partners:
Lining Zhang, Evelyn, Sia
Project Partner:
Green lab
Brief:
Designed a recyclable and environmentally friendly design project with materials made from algae.
My role & learning outcomes:
first of all, this project was a process of experiential learning for me. I have been using experiences from both past projects and this project to contribute to the team and improve myself as a designer. Given the limited time for this project, gaining experience in interdisciplinary collaboration was a top learning outcome for me. second, choosing the materials is particularly important in the design process. Different materials have different characteristics, the material will help the design idea to be better displayed, and the suitable material can help a good idea to rise to a new level.
02
research activities & outcomes
What algae can be?
Food? Biofuel? Bioplastic? More things?
At the beginning of the project, the teacher of the green lab had a discussion with us about the possibility of materials.
Then we have to learn the recipe of how to making algae fiber, we made our first sample and named it ‘oreo gradient Liang pi
’.
research topic: Decorative & functional
when we got the first sample, we began to investigate the physical characteristic of algae. after the literature review, We found that algae have hemostatic and anti-inflammatory effects, so we thought of whether it could be used as a raw material for wounds. At the same time, our investigation found that most of the existing band-aids on the market are poor in aesthetics. Many children's band-aids have many cartoon choices, but the choices for adult-made band-aids are very limited. So how to design a bandage with both practicality and beauty has become our theme this time.
At the same time, we have made a further extension of the existing design: can we make the plasters have fashionable functions? When it is more than a band-aid, can it exist in life as a fashion accessory or other decorative item?
research outcomes:
So we started our next phase of the investigation, and we found that a large number of medical waste products have been generated in the existing medical market. These medical waste products will not only pollute the environment but also cause the risk of bacterial infection in others. Degradable bandages can be made so that these risks can be avoided. We also found that many households store a lot of band-aids, but a large number of band-aids have expired before they are used, greatly reducing the effectiveness of medical protection. This band-aid can only be discarded by people, Can not be used as other items for secondary use, in this process the impact on the environment can be imagined.
So we started our first phase of testing. We tried to soak the first sample with hot water and test whether it was sticky to the wound. So I drew a wound gesture on my arm and started a one-day test. Test results found. Even after a full day, algae still adheres well to the wound. Then we devoted ourselves to the production of wound sticks.
03
creative exploration and ideation
step1:
step2:
step4:
step5:
test video:
We tried to achieve the balance between
decorative & functional and make wound sticks with different colors and shapes and added shell pieces and gradient effects to the decoration to highlight the beauty of the product and fitting more wounds. In this way, you can continue to use it as an accessory even after the dressing on the top is deactivated, which effectively avoids waste.
04
prototyping potential design directions
We tried to degrade these materials and found that as long as they are heated with boiling water, they can be completely degraded. All the raw materials in this design are from nature, so a cyclic ecological closed loop is formed.
presentation day:
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