DCS2 Group Blog

Week 12 reading notes Mcdonagh, D, Formosa, D, Kohlbacher, F & Herstatt, C 2011, ‘Designing for Everyone, One Person at a Time’, in The Silver Market Phenomenon: Marketing and Innovation in the Aging Society , Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 91–100. The need for designers to focus on the diversity of each consumer is a difficult but realistic challenge. The goal of a designer is not to design something that works for everyone, but to design products, technologies and services that everyone can use. At the same time, the needs of some special groups, such as the disabled, should also be considered. We also have to design for real people, not a fictional person or group. When designing a product for a specific group of people, such as a syringe- self-injection, at home , for rheumatoid patients, the design team needs to get real and effective test feedback from real patients so that the product can be improved and finally be suitable for patients.  The final s...

Week 11 Reading notes: Croker, R (2017). ‘Unmaking Waste’, in Chapman, J (ed) Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Product Design. Part III: Materials and Processes, Chapter 17. The development of science and technology, the reduction of the cost of production of products, and the capitalist's desire for profit, these elements have affected the consumption of consumers, causing many products that are clearly still usable to be discarded and replaced. For example, some telecom operators have introduced so-called concessionary contracts where signing a contract can get a new phone to tempt consumers. But in fact the consumers themselves probably don't need a new phone, and the one being used can still work just fine. At the same time, marketers in the marketing sector "tricked" consumers with their excellent sales programs. In today's society, most people have good financial means, and everyone is looking for "better" and "newer", and for material e...

Week 10 Reading notes: S. Moeller, E. Powers, J. Roberts, «El mundo desconectado» y «24 horas sin medios»: alfabetización mediática para la conciencia crítica de los jóvenes, Comunicar; Comunicar 39: La formación de profesores en educación en medios; 45-52 URL https://www.scipedia.com/public/Moeller_et_al_2012a Introduction: A study of 1,000 students at more than a dozen universities on five continents that participated in "The World Unplugged" has helped teachers better understand their students' Internet usage patterns and enhanced their ability to help young people improve their media literacy. The 1,000 students took part in the 24 hours without media exercise to learn about the influence of media on them and how much they depend on it. Results: Most of the students said they could not leave the media, as if they were addicted to it. After leaving the media, they felt lonely, sad and even lost the power of life. Participants also said that social media helps them buil...

Week 9 Reading notes:  McCollough, J, Bayramoglu, MF & He, M 2018, ‘Transitioning into a ‘throwaway planet’’, International Journal of Consumer Studies, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 131–140. This article tells us the reason why the United States becomes a throwaway society and why other developing countries are in transition to a throwaway society, that is, why consumers tend to replace products rather than repair them. In addition, it also demonstrates the methods of investigating the causes of this social phenomenon and the results obtained after the investigation and proposes some solutions to how to solve the growing problem of a throwaway society. Reasons: 1.New production methods, new production techniques, outsourcing of manufacturing, reduction of trade barriers, improvement in transportation efficiency, and other efficiency improvements reduce the cost of new products. 2.The average wage of American workers has increased. 3. Manufacturing plants move to places...