1917-1931

Design Timeline - De Stijl

In the 20th century post World War-I era, there was a movement away from old philosophies in art and design. The emerging Industrial era also influenced machine aesthetics to be adopted in design. De Stijl was one such design movement to emerge in this context. 

A Dutch artistic movement that believed in reduction to bare forms and colours with extreme adherence to Rectililearity of surfaces. All surface decoration except color was to be eliminated, and only pure primary hues, in addition to black and white were to be used. De Stijl (Duch for The Style) was an important movement of this era that also came to be known as 'Neoplasticism'. The style was principally represented by Lines, Squares, and Rectangles, often in Assymetrical layouts. At a more fundamental level the proponents of De Stijl sought to express a new Utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order. De Stijl and other similar movements around this time are considered to be precursors to the Bauhaus movement.

The Red and Blue Chair is a chair designed in 1917 by Gerrit Rietveld. It represents one of the first explorations by the De Stijl art movement in three dimensions.

Eco Tourism development methodology
approach paper, presented by Cluster One.
Oct, 2012

Background to this post. Lot of people believe Eco-Tourism to be tourism activity to benefit from fresh air and good weather. However the actual concept of Eco-Tourism deals with Environmentally responsible travel and visitation to natural areas !

Visitations to natural areas have emerged as a viable tourism activity in most parts of the world. While tourism activity can be effectively harnessed to generate resources that sustain upkeep and maintenance of the tourism infrastructure, it can also cause imbalances that impact social, environmental and cultural values.
It is thus imperative to adopt a more sympathetic and sustainable approach to tourism and the developmental activity associated with it. It is this form of tourism activity that leaves minimal impact on the environment that is known as Eco Tourism. World Conservation Union (IUCN) describes ecotourism as: “Environmentally responsible travel and visitation to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features, both past and present) that promotes conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local people". Unregulated nature tourism as opposed to ecotourism may lack mechanisms for mitigating impacts on the environment and demonstrate appreciation for local culture and customs.
It is a responsibility shared by all in the present generation to avoid irreversible environmental damage and leave our natural resources as they were found. A Greenfield Ecotourism development must always have a well documented management plan to fulfill the project objectives. An ecotourism management plan is a tool to guide he development of tourism in a protected area by synthesizing and representing the vision of all the stakeholders while fulfilling the conservation objectives for the site. Discussed below are the basic components of methodology of development and management tool: (concepts related to sustainable architecture and building practices are not discussed here)

1) Preliminary site Evaluation
a) Documentation of Regional Flora and fauna (using matrix study and other methods).
b) Documentation of formal and informal commercial activity and social customs of native
population that impact the conservation area.
c) Study of built fabric, ownership and current and planned activity pattern of the fringe areas to
ascertain the pressures on the sanctity of the reserved area limits, and proposals to mitigate
impact.
d) Mapping endangered species and zones, and proposal of conservation measures.
e) Cultural resources mapping (significant historical sites, archaeological sites ), and proposal of
conservation plan.
2) Site Diagnostic
a) Contouring and study of topography – elevation analysis, slope analysis to ascertain fragile and unstable slopes and buildable areas, documentation of catchment areas, watershed areas, and surface drainage patterns.
b) Documentation of hydrological data, seasonal high water marks, flood lines, and water table.
c) Documentation of geological data, hazard areas, sensitive areas, availability of local building material.
d) Feasibility and capacity assessment of small embankments check dams and traditional / nontraditional water conservation schemes.
3) Impact Profiling
a) Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) – Before undertaking development an EIA has to be done to assess the social and environmental impact. (This may be a requirement by codes and practices).
4) Local Participation
a) large scale natural resource development cannot be sustained without the participation of the
local stake holders. Sustainable income generation for native population in tourism activity,
social forestry and NTFP schemes (Non Timber Forest Produce) needs to be explored and
developed. This is of importance for both economic and ecological sustainability.
5) Suitability Map and Zoning
a) an overlay study of suitability mapping for various activity areas need to be undertaken to
suggest the most suitable area for the activity based on the impact assessment.
b) Minimal alteration of the natural physiographic features should be allowed while undertaking
development. Disturbing natural drainage patterns would disturb habitats and natural
processes. The resulting imbalance may have the capacity to alter the ecology of an area wider
than the site.
6) Visitor Footprints
a) Infrastructure elements such as lodging and trails should be located to optimize visitor
circulation for minimum distances, and minimum disturbances to natural features. Wherever
possible trails should be offered for differing levels of physical ability. Trails should form a closed
loop to avoid visitors retracing their steps. Trails should be clearly delimited to discourage visitors
from leaving them.
7) Built Area Footprints
a) Building activity should be consolidated and localized to minimize area of influence. This
would reduce possibility of environmental pollution and minimize chances of toxic waste and
other pollutants leaching into the ground water during construction and post occupancy.
Human habitation is rarely compatible with natural environment. The conservation zone should
be strictly regulated by development regulations formulated for the conservation of the reserve.
8) Probable tourist activity
a) The possible tourism related activities could be Eco Lodges, Trekking, Nature Trails, Overlooks,
Camp grounds, Tree top trails on ropeways, Visitor centers, Interpretation areas etc.
9) Interpretation
This is by far the most important aspect of any eco tourism venture. The tourist visitations would
normally fall into the following categories:
Casual Tourists
Hobbyists
Scientific or Research Tourism
It is important to provide interpretation to all levels of visitors to the reserve area. The purpose
of providing interpretation is as follows :
i) Educate the uninitiated and increase level of awareness amongst common public about issues
related to nature conservation.
ii) Educate people about best practices for sustainable Ecotourism and encourage responsible
behavior.
iii) Provide entertaining exhibits about natural flora and fauna to increase public interest and
encourage tourism activity to make the venture economically sustainable. (This should be done
within allowable limits of visitations clearly defined in the park management plan).
iv) Provide scientific documentation and literature for serious hobbyists and people with interest
in scientific research.
a) Interpretation can be provided through the following

interpretation walks / trails with suitably designed signage
Static exhibits in visitor center.
Interpretation center – this can be designed as a museum with static exhibits , Audio Visual
display rooms, Interactive Kiosk areas, game panels, a 4 seat automated nature-quiz gaming
room with rewards for winners etc.
10) Guard Training and Interpretation Schemes
Guard training is the most important part of interpretation and mechanism for monitoring and
enforcement of park regulations.
For the successful operation of any Ecotourism park, it has been found that trained guards
provide the most important interface between nature and visitors. Trained guards can provide
the best nature interpretation and also make sure that best practices of Ecotourism are adhered
to by all visitors.
The Ecotourism management plan should clearly spell out the objectives and nature of guard
training to be undertaken. Competent agencies should be involved to design a course module
and refresher courses for training of guards. The course should also aim at developing trainers in
the local community to encourage local participation and to educate native communities living
on the forest area.
11) Developing forested areas
a) Planting schemes should be drawn out from a planting list belonging to the local forest and
vegetation type.
b) The dominant species and lower stories should be planned as per virgin forest areas of the
regional forest type.
c) Delimited planting zones of particular types of species should be strictly avoided. This is
because monocultures are never sustainable.
d) Unique local flora should be showcased only in its natural habitat and not as a standalone
sculpture.
e) The reserve area should be seen as a showcase of the biodiversity of the area.
f) Exotic species should be strictly avoided. An American redwood tree has no business of being
here in a botanical reserve showcasing the local Flora and fauna.
g) Planting should be undertaken for its ecological values, like habitat for fauna, support for
other species, soil conservation, nutrient replenishment, water conservation, draught resistance
and ecological sustainability of the planting zone.
12) Pollution control in the reserve area
a) Make the area plastic bag free: screen incoming articles and provide biodegradable wrappers
and carry bags to visitors.
b) Develop a well organized garbage collection retrieval and management plan.
c) Make the park free of polluting vehicles. Provide means of transport that run on non polluting
energy sources.
d) It is a norm to make all nature reserves horn free zones. Try to curtail noise pollution from the
fringe areas.
e) Develop a clearly laid out plan for periodic monitoring of environmental quality in the reserve
area.
f) No seeds or vegetative parts should be allowed into the reserve area. This can cause exotic
species and weeds to disturb the ecological balance of the area.
g) Only biodegradable detergents, fats, soaps and shampoos, utensils, wrappings should be
allowed into the conservation area.
13) Organic Waste management

Convert all biodegradable waste to compost.
a) Environmentally appropriate technologies and facilities for the treatment of organic wastes
should be considered, such as composting, septic tanks and biogas tanks.
b) Systems designed should be modular in nature scalable and customizable in capacity.
c) System should be designed with odour control features.
d) Materials used should be non-corrosive.
e) Materials used should be non-staining.
f) Materials used should be dimensionally stable durable and inexpensive.
14) Comprehensive water management system
a) A comprehensive water management system should be developed which should include
storm water management, waste water collection systems, waste water treatment to a level
acceptable for agriculture, irrigation system and flushing, rain water harvesting, sewage
treatment etc.
b) System designed should be durable, non-toxic, non-corrosive and durable.
c) A continuous water quality monitoring system should be put in place.
d) Water sources should be located where other activities will not impact them and in such
manner that water courses should be located to minimize disruption of natural processes.
15) Non Bio de-gradable waste
a) systems for separation of non-biodegradable waste should be put in place. The separation
should ideally be done at the source.
b) Burning or dumping should be discouraged as it can produce hazardous smoke and leeching
into the ground thus polluting both soil and ground water.
c) A comprehensive plan aimed at segregating, recycling, composting, or reuse of solid waste
should be developed.
16) Security Audit
a) A security audit should be carried to ascertain all security hazards and loopholes, including
physical intrusion and data theft.
b) A modern and efficient security monitoring system should be evolved.
c) Suitable devices to alert security apparatus should be installed at all strategic locations.
d) Suitable deterrents for unlawful activities should be installed.
e) A security control room designed as a central command post should be made functional.
17) Hazard Management
a) Comprehensive response plan and resources should be made available to possible hazard
from wildlife.
b) Response plan against natural hazard should be put in place. Locations of possible natural
hazards should have adequate safety and relief features.
c) Response plan to human hazard and necessary installations for deterrent and relief should be
put in place.
d) Action plan against fire hazard should be made operational.
18) Energy Audit
a) A comprehensive energy audit should be carried out.
b) All systems should be designed for energy efficiency.
c) Non polluting and renewable energy systems should be explored.

visit   www.cluster-one.net   to see our portfolio.

Image Optimization
not many people seem to know this

Hate it when people send bloated presentation attachments. Download 15-20 MB and all you get are 3-4 slides with a few images.
Amazing how you want all the cool presentation tools & tips but do not know how to manage design information.
Simple rule is, what you need to see on screen does not need to be print quality. Forget print quality, at 100 dpi screen resolution, you won't be able to appreciate resolution beyond a point.

The method to be used to get your image sizes down is known as optimization. One can use an image editor like Fireworks or Photoshop, or any other image editor.
Step1- Get the image size scaled down while maintaining the proportion. An image width of 800-900 pixels would fit into most laptop screens. Google, facebook etc page layouts are mostly around 900 pixels wide. Work with a smaller size if it's to be inserted in a slide.
Step2- Export or save as 'gif' or 'jpeg'. . . GIF OR JPEG is the question.

Your un-optimized file formats are like PSD, PNG, BMP, TIFF. Any of these files can be saved as GIF or JPEG.

GIF and JPEG are optimized file formats.
GIF is designed to handle images with solid blocks of colours. Like below:

So images with solid blocks of colours (like maps and diagrams) are to be converted to Gif file format. This would retain the image quality better and also reduce the file size better.

JPEG is designed to handle tonality. Like below:

Images with tonality like real life images, photographs, colour with gradients. These type of images are to be converted to jpeg file format.

Image optimizers let you choose jpeg quality in terms of percentage. Mostly 65 to 75 percent quality is good for screen view, depending on the original image quality. In case of gif ,one can choose the number of colours to be used to define the colour block. 256, 116, 64, 32, 16 and so on. However the shade will also change slightly as you reduce the number of colours. The file size of-course will also come down.

An image with solid block of colour when converted to jpeg will show blotches as the image quality is brought down. An image with tonality, when converted to gif will show banding to define the gradient.

A note about jpeg. It is a lossy file format... which means that every time you save a jpeg file, it looses a bit of clarity. So the rule is to work in un-optimized file formats and save the final work in a suitable format.

Wall Thickness plastic parts

part from our height gauge project

For Product Design students...
Most students have the habit of modeling in surfaces. Since too many of them are using surface modelers. Wall thickness would go missing. Resulting in only a render as an out put... and no parts and assembly detail.
Also results in a shoddy render job as the edges do not have any rounds... this way you can never render the partings properly.

There's always this confusion with Wall Thickness. Here's some guideline for wall thickness of common resins. The information is simplified, but can be useful. (All values are converted from inches!)

Wall Thickness
Resin	min (mm)	max (mm)
ABS	1.143	3.556
Acetal	0.762	3.048
Acrylic	0.635	12.7
Long-fiber reinforced plastics	1.905	25.4
Nylon	0.762	2.921
Polycarbonate	1.016	3.81
Polyester	0.635	3.175
Polyethylene	0.762	5.08
Polypropylene	0.635	3.81
Polystyrene	0.889	3.81
Polyurethane	2.032	19.05

Source: protomold.com website

1930s
Design Timeline - Alvar Alto

Alvar Alto's tea trolley. 

It first appeared in 1936, and has remained in production ever since. Bent and laminated wood is used both as structure and decoration.

In the years after 1917 when Finland gained its independence from Russia, it's designers were trying to find an expression for their national identity. Alvar Alto was an important part of this movement. It is believed that, during this period upto the end of thirties, he produced some of his best designs. Alvar Alto though a modernist was not given to extremist ideas in design. Finland during this time had a very vocal Functionalist lobby known as the 'Funkis'... Alto, though was never a part of it.

Cantilevered chair, 1931-32 by Alto, out of laminated wood and lacquered plywood.

source- partly from conran directory of design

Styling in Industrial Design

In the debate around Styling vs Design, we choose to take a positive view on Styling. Design may be seen as a set of specifications to organize Products, Systems,Procedures and Communication in a logical, efficient, safe and sustainable manner. In Industrial Design, these specifications typically deal with the Style, Shape, Colour, Clarity, and Aesthetics on one hand, and Strength, Durability, Stability, Manufacturing technique , and Human Factors (Ergonomics) on the other. 

In 'Good Design' it is desired that the former dealing with 'How it's going to look' and the later dealing with 'How it's going to perform' are adequately addressed. Good design addresses social responsibility. Good Designs are sustainable and environment friendly. Good Designs are simple and efficient. Good Designs are error free. Good Designs are easy to use. Good Designs make our life better. Good Designs are also enjoyable and desirable.

However, the accusation against Styling is that it is only decoration. It strives to make products handsome and desirable without insisting on 'Good Design'. It demeans the profession of Design and reduces it to a profession of Make-up artists. Although, it may be true in certain cases, we, while allowing a healthy debate , take the following stand on these issues:

1) There is nothing glorious about a Design that is not Desirable.
2) Styling not at the cost of Good Design.
3) Good Styling is an aspect of Good Design.
4) Where price and quality are indistinguishable, styling becomes a critical diferentiator.
5) Effectively Styling communicates positively and evokes physical and emotional responses that contribute to a better connect between the product and the user.

What then is Styling:
Styling may be seen as the final process crystallizing Form and Details, often using the phenomena of Semantics and Metaphors to develop effective communication with the intended user. The Exercise of Styling deals with finer aspects of Form and Detail, Tactile and Aesthetic quality of surfaces, Graphics and Branding, Product Information, Colour and other aspects of product Aesthetics. 

Further to 'Spoilt for choice' post

A word of praise for PMC, the municipal corporation of this city. PMC's effort to use SimCity Societies gaming to provide a vision for the masterplan of this city may be questionable. But PMC's support for 'Existing Landuse Survey' (ELU) by various citizen's groups is laudable.
The exercise was undertaken as a part of two day workshop on citizen's participation in preparation of Development Plan (DP).
The workshop was conducted under the initiative of of the 'National Society for Clean Cities' (NSCC). It was facilitated by the Centre of Development Studies and Activities (CDSA) http://www.cdsaindia.org/.
The participaton was about 100 strong in groups of 10. Each group was given a part of the city map. The groups conducted a survey to find out what exactly existed on ground as against things shown on the map.
The effort was to educate the citizens of the process of verifying the ELU survey. The PMC has promised a citizen's role in ELU , being conducted by an arm of the PMC.

This is one masterplan that would be eagerly awaited. Pune being one of the most Industrialized hubs of the country with a large community of IT industry and professionals. It is also the hub for Automobile manufacturing in India. Pune is located in close proximity with Mumbai in the western part of the country. The maserplan is of more importance because of the failure of Bangalore to keep up with the infrastructure requirements...Bangalore being the other major hub for IT industries along with centres like Hydrabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

Way to go !

Citibank on a roll

Citibank has finally responded by suggesting a slew of browser settings.
The setings once caried out, makes the complaint form work. But it still does not address the remaining problems.
For instance, the security tips link on the Log-in page still does not work.
I've tried acessing their online facility using a licensed windows XP with fully updated IE7 with default settings (with JAVA enabaled) and a JVM installed on my machine.
It brings us back to the fundamenal question... that of usability issues.
How will a lay person know the special browser settings to make their very simple functionality work ?

By the way, the complaint form has the phone no. field with the STD code field as mandatory. But there is no field for a mobile phone no. What if I don't want to use a land line no. !!!!

How long before Citibank identifies the real problem with their developers ... that of a lack of understanding of Usability issues.

Citibank Bloopers - testing yet

Well ! to continue with the Bloopers saga !
here's the latest response from Citibank.......
"This is with reference to your email dated May 20, 2008.
We thank you for your valuable inputs.It just makes our job much more easier to ensure that the website is a user-friendly one.
We have forwarded your suggestion to the concerned department to take up the issue and make the necessary amendments.
We assure you of our best attention at all times.
Sincerely,
Officer - Customer Care "
Let's see what happens next :-) !!!

CitiBank Blooper Revisited - test1

This is to acknowledge Citibank India's efforts to rectify bloopers on its netbanking interface ( as stated in their response ). Since the first blooper post on this blog, citibank has responded by addressing the issue over a period of 15 to 20 days. The change it has finally effected can be seen on the home page.
But the change is limited to the home page, where a parallel link of 'citibank india' ( as mentioned in the previous post) page has been removed and the 'citibank India' page converted to the home page.
The effort still shows a lack of understanding of usability issues. For instance, the 'GO' button is the one you have to click to go to the log in page. This link, besides being inappropriate is also accompanied by the ':::LOG IN:::' text next to it written in a jump menu. Interestingly the jump menu has no menu and obviously has no links. It is used only to write text.... Somebody out there is definitely mocking the basic assumptions of interface design.... 'caus it ain't no path breaking design.
Other bloopers that continue to exist include:
1) form handler for complaint form not working.
2) Security tips link not working.
3) Confusion with two inboxes ( apparently one inbox is for help desk the other is for business mails from the bank. which I continue to get on my gmail ID, so it always remains empty !!)
... and many more hillarious ones !!!! keep enjoying

The following example highlights the root problem : point your mouse on the 'GO' button. If you know how to see the script on the link at the bottom left of the browser, it'll show the following' javascript:test1() .... that I believe shows the attitude and practices within the organization.