Assignment 3, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Design a new mark, or system of marks, which replaces, improves, or extends the current recycling logo to communicate the complexities of the current recycling and to account for future developments.
This is a design project. But it is also a research project. And it is also an exercise in graphic analysis. It is a speculative exercise in seeing the future. It is a comprehensive consideration of complex systems. It is an attempt to redesign a successful and existing mark. And it is, most significantly, a challenge to design something that will accommodate future change. The current recycling situation is complex and horribly communicated so there is lots of room for improvement.
Week 1: Understand the problem. Learn about the current state of recycling in the United States. Learn about the specific recycling situation in Princeton, New Jersey. Understand how that is different than Newark, or Trenton, or Montclair, or Hopewell. Then ask the same questions more broadly. How about Thetford, Vermont? What about New York City? Los Angeles? Boise? Starting in a library, find books about recycling. Let the selection of books help to guide the next steps in the research process. Books are great as they immediately register a moment in time when they are published. Continue the research online. Prepare a five-minute presentation to be shown in Week 2 which concisely outlines the current state of how recycling works.
Week 2: Generate alternative design proposals. The most effective way to filter your design ideas are by directly making them, so get busy. These can start as sketches, but then go ahead and develop each one so that you can begin to evaluate what is working and what is not working. You will present at least 3 distinct alternatives in class.
Week 3: Based on feedback from Week 2, refine your design proposals. Share your work with other students, and with others in the community. Ask them what they think. Which one works best and why? What would they change? Do they ”get” it? Listen carefully. Keep a resolutely open mind. But also remember that you are the designer, you have the entire problem in your head. And, in the end, trust your intuition. Bring your findings as well as one refined design proposal.
Week 4: Refine your proposal. Elaborate your proposal. Figure out how to present your proposal. Make mockups. Give it some context. Let’s hear about why you made what you made, what research it was based on, and why it is an improvement on what exists. You will present your work in class.
Week 5: Final presentations will be held in class with visiting critics.
Where the previous assignments were prescribed and directed, the working method for this project should more accurately reflect the lateral thinking and meandering processes that are the stock and trade of a lively design practice.
October 25, 2022
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Redesign
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Redesign
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