The case study I choose is the toaster project. This case describes how the author conceived and manufactured an electric toaster, refined the raw materials in an abandoned mine and finished it. The process took nine months and cost £1,187.54, but the final market price was £3.94.
I deeply admire the author's perseverance. It takes a lot of time and money to conceive and realize this process. They were pioneers in making electric toasters out of the refined waste that was nothing like what the big manufacturers make today. I think this is an example of speculative design:
- Environmentalism is aesthetic.
- The creation of something that has been eliminated is needed for the future.
- A meaningful idea is the right direction and making a simple model will be of great help to future update iterations, which is the core of the design.
- In the relevant case studies, I have reviewed, a lot of inspiration comes from seeing what we need in the future after experiencing certain things. These designs may need to go through the test of time, and the end will give us answers. Facts have also proved that we can predict future design requirements and seize the opportunity.
- This course is the first time I have meet the term speculative design, and it brought me new thinking and understanding of what design is. I will continue to study the experience of the predecessors through case analysis and learn how they can achieve more accurate ideas and predict the future design field.