Special Carriers
Studio Fall 2020: Project 2
9/22
Today we were assigned our next project: designing special carriers for a specific object out of cardboard, with consideration of the object’s characteristics, form, and function, as well as desirability and enjoyability (ex. gift-giving) — all without using any adhesives!
I chose a loaf of bread, because I thought it was very timeless, and carries a lot of cultural and historical significance. I was reminded of the Bible story where the crowds following Jesus grow hungry, and a little boy offers up his small lunch — 5 barley loaves and 2 fish — in simple, childlike devotion, and Jesus uses it to miraculously feed the multitudes. I wanted to approach this project with this lens of bringing, carrying, something small but heartfelt (and tasty) to someone I love: “It’s not much, but I want to give you what little I can. I bring it to you in love and care and with my whole heart.”
To familiarize myself with existing carriers for bread, I looked up some examples:
I found that a lot of the packaging I saw for loaves of bread used thin materials, like paper, clear wrap, and cardboard, because most bread holds a pretty solid form and doesn’t need much exterior reinforcement to protect its form. Looking back on my past experiences in buying bread or pastries, I realized most of the time the bread was wrapped in paper or put in a little paper/cardboard box, and then placed into a separate bag to carry. This is practical, because the bread needs to be kept from air to stay fresh, and a bag with a handle makes it easy to transport. However, it doesn’t lend much consideration for the bread’s form or align with the shape of the object inside.
9/24: Class cardboard activity
Today we were given some tasks to get familiar with the cardboard. Mine was to create a closed cylinder — some questions to consider were,
- how to bring the cylinder sides together (belt loops? clasps?)
- how to connect different planes together (cylinder sides/top and bottom circles)
- how to keep it as few pieces as possible
I was able to successfully make two closed cylinders, both with only one piece of cardboard each! The first one had its circular planes held in place by friction. It worked, but it wasn’t the most secure, so I tried another, this time cutting flaps around the circular planes to tuck into the cylinder’s sides. I had a lot of fun with this exercise:-) cardboard is cool!!
9/25: Making a “stunt double” of my object
My first idea was to have a “base” piece acting as the foundation/ground of the loaf, and then long straps like sunrays that would clasp together to form a little exo-skeleton type form.
I would say it was partially successful. The layers of connecting “rays” all stacked together on top of each other and made it really bulky, but the overall shape was pretty accurate, if not a little too tall.
However, I wasn’t very content with the model, and knew there had to be a better way to represent my loaf. I recalled one of my classmate’s hemisphere explorations from our class activity, and found that this type of modeling was called “sliceform.”
9/26: Sketch Model Iteration 1
My initial doodles were fun to imagine, but they weren’t very realistic — or practical. When I took a long, hard, look, at my loaf, I realized in its simplest essence it basically looks like a trapezoid, so I decided to run with this simple shape for the general form of the carrier. My idea was to have “walls” running up the length of the loaf that tapered into a handle at the top, but wasn’t sure what to do for the other 2 sides. Then I realized I could attach “flaps” to the sides of the “walls” to wrap around the loaf! One side could act as the “door” for getting the loaf in and out. I drew a quick sketch and got to measuring and cutting the cardboard.
I cut a small insert on each “wall” and a clasp for the rounded side flaps to fit together. The handles, however, still needed some work — they didn’t come together unless held by tape.
What works:
- The overall idea works well: the form of the bread is shown, you can tell what’s inside, and the “walls” hug the round loaf nicely without compromising the characteristics of the stiff cardboard.
- It’s simple and all one piece!
- The side flaps curving around the edges of the loaf actually hold its shape and fit the loaf perfectly, and the clasp mechanism works.
What to work on:
- The bread fits very snugly, almost too much so: account for more volume next time
- Figure out handles
- Is there a better way to attach the flaps?
- Another concern I got feedback on was the fact that much of the bread was exposed. While this is successful in revealing what’s inside, it’s counter-intuitive to the bread’s nature, as it needs to be kept from air to stay fresh — and most people would not want their bread to be in direct contact with possible germs (ex. CORONA) or humidity, rain, etc. Another question to consider: is there another way to hint at the form of my loaf without exposing it to so much air?
9/28: Sketch Model Iteration 2
Today I had a EUREKA moment: after considering some of my reflection questions from the last iteration, I was reminded of these cake rolls I used to eat when I was younger, and how they came in a pull-out box: one “outer”/cover box, and a smaller, open box inside that pulled out with the roll cake inside. I thought if I could make the top rounded instead of just a rectangular prism (like a half-circle, but straighter toward the bottom), this would be a really good way to show the form of the bread and mimic its shape, while keeping it relatively protected from too much direct contact with air. This would also make the carrier more interactive.
What works:
- I made the inner box just a fraction of an inch slimmer than the outer box, and the friction was just enough to keep it in place without any extra reinforcement.
- The carrier captures the round shape of the loaf well while also using the straight, stiff nature of the cardboard.
- I was able to solve the problem of hinting at the form of my loaf inside without exposing it to as much air!
- I was pretty happy with the handles. After trying to come up with how I could attach a handle at the top, I realized I could use the curved/pointed top of the rounded shape to my advantage and cut into the carrier itself to create handles!
- I thought the pull-out tab on the one side of the inner box pretty clearly communicated how to access the loaf.
- It’s fun! I also realized when playing with the finished iteration, that it was reminiscent of pulling bread fresh out of the oven — making the carrier engaging and more than just a mode of transportation.
- The inner piece could also be pulled out completely and used as a bowl or container for the bread once at its destination — dinner party, lunch get-together, potluck, etc.
What to work on:
- My original idea was for the sides of the carrier to be parallel, which my first iteration wasn’t. I don’t think it‘s necessarily bad, but I want to try making them straighter next time by making the “curves” longer.
- My first iteration was basically all held together by tape — both the inner and outer components. I need to figure out how to connect the two ends of the outer component together, as well as how to make the two closing ends of the inner component stand up straight.
- Next time, I want to cut out the handles to be rounded at the corners to better mimic the loaf shape.
- Another note: the “pull-out” function makes the carrier have a minimum of two pieces, which isn’t ideal.
Iteration 3: “Oven Carrier” 2.0
This was another iteration of my “oven carrier” idea, but moving into actually figuring out the mechanics of the components without using tape. Both the inner and outer component came together… but the flaps and attachments made them bulky and hard to assemble together into a single model (for example, the attachments colliding with each other as shown in the right-most picture above made it very difficult to slide in and out).
What to work on:
- The wrap-around-reinforcements are successful in keeping the sides upright, but may collapse when pulled out of the outer component… MECHANIC WORK! Also, it’s a little bulky.
- The outer component also needs work mechanics-wise — it comes together, but the clasps make the inside bulky, and I’m not sure that it’ll hold the weight of the bread, especially as it’s on the side/bottom of the carrier.
- Again, too short/tight, I need to give it some more wiggle-room.
- The assembly of the inner component isn’t the most intuitive.
Iteration 4: “Oven Carrier” 3.0
What works:
- I finally figured out a clasp mechanism that works for the inner component — that doesn’t protrude outward (making it harder to slide in and out) and stays put (for the most part) when pulling it out!
- The handles better mimic the form.
What to work on:
- In trying to make sure the carrier wouldn’t be too “tight” like the past iterations, I overshot the length of the outer component, and made it too big (as seen in the gaps between the outer and inner component.) I need to find the perfect ratio for an outer component that won’t be so tight that the top flattens, nor so room-y that it doesn’t wrap around the inner component well.
- Try the inner-component-clasp-mechanism again, but put the clasps on the inner, longer sides — to they’ll be hidden from view, making it look cleaner, and so that the walls of the outer component will serve as extra reinforcement.
- It’s a lot of cardboard for just one loaf of bread…
Class Discussion 10/1:
What constitutes a ‘good carrier’?
Today we discussed some of the criteria/goal points for our carriers, and ranked them in order of priority. This is what our group came up with:
- Functionality is the most important criteria, because if the carrier doesn’t first and foremost carry the object well, it simply fails its job as a carrier.
- Experience and communication: it needs to be clear to the user how to use the carrier, so that the experience of using the carrier is intuitive, simple, and pleasing, and not confusing or complicated.
- Beauty fell at the bottom of our list, but is no doubt still an important criteria (personally, I think goodness and beauty are not so different: I think that everything truly good is beautiful and everything truly beautiful is good). On that note, is the carrier beautiful? Does it invoke a sense of pleasure and joy?
Some more key takeaways from the class discussion:
- Clarity: does the carrier communicate what it’s made for?
- Is it easy to open/access? How about assembly: is it easy to put together?
- Share-ability/Gift-ability: how does the carrier play out in gift-giving? How can it be “part of” the gift, and more than just the “holder” of the gift?
- Reusability: HOWEVER, something I thought was so significant was the idea brought up that sometimes, things are more special when it can only be used once — for example, a wedding dress.
- Which leads us to, is the carrier special?
- Engaging Interaction: how can the carrier be interesting enough to engage the user, but not confusing? (like a poem!)
- Craftsmanship: is the carrier made well?
- Respect: does the carrier respect the object it carries? For example, does it protect the object, and how is it informed by the needs of the object? Does it preserve the authenticity and characteristics of the object, and not take away/draw attention from the object? How about respect for the limitations and characteristics of the material (cardboard)?
- also, side note: turns out air exposure is not too big of a worry!
Reflection:
I honestly had no idea a discussion about cardboard carriers could be so profound!! I especially loved the ideas brought up about the special-ness of objects (ex. wedding dress) and how the engagement aspect of our carriers might be analogous to poems. I feel like I’m walking away from today’s discussion with a resolution to try and answer as many questions (as well) as possible with my carrier.
“Trees — they answer so many questions: shade for the ground, a home for the birds, oxygen for us to breathe, leaves that indicate the changing of the seasons — the natural world is perfectly designed.” — Steve
That being said, after such a thought-provoking discussion, I began to ask myself if maybe I had settled on a concept too early on— I realized I had been so dead-set on the oven idea, that I hadn’t really given much consideration to other possible explorations. I still really liked my oven idea, but decided I wanted to play around just a little more before I got too boxed in.
10/5, Iteration 5: Initial Prototype
I headed back to the drawing board to explore some more ideas. My first idea was to have a singular, long strap that would loop through itself to have one handle, letting the bread hang between the loop, but I figured the bread would easily slip out the sides since the loaf tapers at the ends. That led me to think of perpendicular straps coming off the main strap to fold over the loaf — and then I realized this might be a really good handle-connection system to try out!!
What works:
- It mimics the form and curvature of the bread without compromising the stiff nature of the cardboard.
- It’s simple and only one piece! This alleviates the two-pieces/ too much cardboard problems that the oven carriers had.
- I’d say it’s very intuitive! I think if someone were to be handed the flat-pack carrier with no instructions or pictures, they would still be able to figure out how it works.
- The carrier is structurally very sound! The two flaps double the reinforcement, and there’s really not very many things that can go wrong with the structural integrity of the carrier itself.
What to work on:
- I got feedback that the top/flap area reminded them of a venn diagram, which is not quite what I was going for… how can I make the carrier more bread-like?
10/5, Iteration 6: hybrid between models 4 and 5
I was really happy with and intrigued by my latest model, but couldn’t bear to let go of my oven carrier quite yet… so I made a hybrid between the two:
Takeaways from crit/feedback time 10/6:
Today our group received some feedback from Alice and Nick, and it was really eye-opening. Nick mentioned that although the oven concept is fun, there’s a possibility that mimicking the analogous experience of pulling bread out of the oven might actually take away from, not enhance, the in-the-moment experience of opening up the bread from the carrier. That perhaps, taking bread out of the carrier should be about taking bread out of the carrier, and not about taking it out of something else. I had never thought about it like that before!
I also got feedback that the oven concept might be asking too much of the cardboard, as sliding things in and out isn’t very natural to the cardboard’s more sandy, papery texture.
At this point, I decided I should follow the signs and drop the oven carrier. I thought it was funny that I had been so (naively,) dead-set on the oven idea for so long — after my first oven model, I was honestly really convinced I had my overall concept down and just needed to refine from there on out (as evidenced by my extreme enthusiasm in the “what works” section of that first iteration… and my refusal to let go of the idea throughout the following models). Cheers to character development… !
Something else I really liked was something Steve said, about thinking about who the carrier is for. That design should be sympathetic and respectful, considerate of the user, assembler, the object itself, the material — even the garbage man who would eventually dispose of it! That design isn’t about trying to show off how clever you are and saying “Hey, look how great I am! Bet you didn’t think of this!” — but about sympathizing:
How can I make the user happy? How can I meet the user where they’re at? How can I be compassionate toward those that this carrier will come in contact with?
10/7: Iteration 7 / Prototype for Peer Review
After bidding a bittersweet farewell to my oven/pull-out carrier, I decided to revisit my 5th model, and experiment with some variations of the fold-over carrier. I was thinking of ways I could spice it up a little, add a decorative touch. I was inspired by another classmate’s model that mimics a stalk of wheat, and decided to try modeling the fold-over flaps after the pattern of wheat bulbs! I figured this might also work well since the wheat icon is very symbolic of pastries/bread/bakeries, and is included in a lot of bakery logos:
The flaps looked fairly wheat-like when cut out, but not so much when assembled together and folded-over — the communication of the wheat isn’t very effective.
Peer Review feedback and reflection:
10/12: Iteration 8 / Post- Peer Review Prototype (Refining Concepts)
The wheat-variation of the fold-over model wasn’t very successful, so I decided to try going another route: making the carrier more round and loaf-like, so that the carrier looks more like the object itself, and not just decorated with things related to the object.
I also wanted to try something to help keep the bread in place: my idea was to have tabs that could be punched through to stick upward, securing the bread from its four sides. I could make several cuts, so that you could simply punch through however many tabs you needed to accommodate whatever size loaf. I also considered cutting out a small part of both the bottom and side (like a pop up card), but figured this wouldn’t be as adjustable.
The tabs worked, but they were… messy. Because the cuts were so close to each other, it was hard to get clean lines, and the cardboard corrugation would kind of buckle under the close cuts. Also, they grew easily frayed, and the hassle of reaching under to punch them through was just not really worth the fraction of an inch of support it added. Overall they were just unnecessary, and I decided I would scratch them going forward.
Other than the tabs, I was really happy with the carrier! I felt like it was my most effective, bread-like shape yet, and it was overall just very simple and pleasing.
But! I also wanted to revisit the “wheat” pattern idea one more time, but on a smaller scale. I thought if it was thinner and didn’t have to fold across the top of the carrier, it might communicate the “wheat”ness a little better. I made some mock-ups of the flap ends —
I wasn’t really sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I thought the wheat-ness was a little clearer this time around, and that it might add a delicate, aesthetic touch to the carrier. However, I also felt that it might take away from the “bread-ness” of the carrier, and the thin, sharp corners of the wheat outline wouldn’t make for very good flap ends, since they might bend easily, be harder to grasp, etc.
10/14–15: Takeaways from solo zoom with Steve, Stacie, office hours with Nick, Alice:
- With Steve and Stacie, I shared some of my concerns about my carrier being so simple, and how it feels a little strange to have something so simple after such a long, extensive process of exploring so many other ideas. That there’s almost like a sense of regret? dissatisfaction? that I’m not able to include/showcase more of these explorations and such in the actual final product of the carrier itself. However, they talked about how the final carrier actually is the ultimate culmination of that process, and how that’s actually what gives me the authority as a designer to speak on why I made the decisions that I did— the ideas I developed along the way, the ones I let go of, the ones I kept, and all the “why”’s in between — that led me to the final product.
- We also talked about how usually, seemingly simple designs are actually not nearly as simple as they look — for example, an egg. It may look unextraordinary, but there are a million reasons why the egg has to be the exact shape that it is. And sometimes, the best designs are so simple and effortless and intuitive and natural that they don’t even draw attention to themselves.
- Nick‘s comments on my smaller wheat mock-ups gave me some good language for why it doesn’t really work: he described that the wheat form vs. the round loaf form almost “speak different languages”, and that having the both of them might confuse users on what the carrier is really about.
In the end, I decided I would stick with my bread-shape carrier, basically recreating my latest model but without the tabs. The tabs and wheat pattern were honestly my attempts to “ramp up” my carrier because I thought it was too plain by itself, but after discussing and reflecting, I realized they were just unnecessary, and there would be a beauty to the simplicity of the bread-shaped carrier in it of itself. It would be better to just keep things simple and effective rather than to unnecessarily try and add other elements into the mix without much purpose and if they didn’t really add much to the carrier.
10/16–10/19: Final Carrier Crafting
I thought it would be easy enough to sit down, measure out and cut my template, and assemble my carrier — boy was I WRONG.
For some reason, the carriers would just not align correctly!!!! For my final carrier, I originally wanted to make it a half an inch taller than the latest model, so I changed up the measurements a little —
but it had too big of a gap between the sides… (1)
and when I shortened the longer flaps a little bit so they would stretch more taught against the shorter flaps, the shorter sides protruded out too much (2).
Then, I tried to give extra bend to the scoring, but those sides lost resistance and bended too far inward, not retaining the round shape (3),
or again, the corners would just not align😭😭 (4).
Finally, I decided to just go back to that last non-final model, and traced its exact measurements to replicate it, but without the tabs — FINALLY ending up with my actual, final carrier (right-most in the picture below).
FINAL CARRIER
Reflection
I’m very happy with how my carrier turned out. It doesn’t have any fancy surprises or complex mechanics — which, for a while, I tried to force some of these additives — but upon finishing, I appreciate that you really can’t get much simpler than this: a bread carrier that looks like a loaf of bread, with just a handle on top. After playing around with trying to add decorative elements, I also think there’s a real beauty to the way the carrier simply stays faithful to the loaf of bread. The carrier is structurally sound, intuitive to use, well crafted, and opening up a flap creates a sort of “popping open”/”blooming” effect that I think is really pleasant.
I think this project really taught me the importance of process: even if the whole of all my explorations, successes and failures, ideas and concepts aren’t exactly visible at face value upon just looking at the final carrier itself, in a way, the final carrier really is the ultimate culmination of that whole process. I wrestled a lot before I realized this because I felt like my carrier was so simple compared to all the work and exploration I had done with the other concepts, and felt like I needed to add more pizazz/oomph/gadget-y elements to ramp it up. However, I realized I was being more concerned with how I could “prove my cleverness” as a designer by adding a bunch of superfluous elements than just sympathizing with what would be most simple and pleasing for the user. I learned about how this process also gives me more merit to speak on my final product, because all the work and exploration I did gives me the authority to be able to say, “These are the decisions that I made, and why. I tried this, played around with this, explored this — this is why I kept what I did and why I ditched what I did. What you’re seeing now is what I’ve found to be the best possible way.”
Also along those lines, I learned that sometimes, I have to bid goodbye to initial ideas that I might have gotten really attached to (my oven idea…) and that I should never get “tunnel vision”/ box myself in too early on: to keep an open mind to exploration and play.
I honestly think this project has taught me what design really is: what it actually means to design for people. That it’s not always about coming up with the fanciest or grandest, never-before-seen ideas, but about simply meeting users where they’re at, having compassion and kindness toward those my design will reach, considering what might bring them ease and comfort and joy. With this, I like to think that I’ve been able to circle back to what I had initially hoped for this project: bringing, carrying something small but heartfelt, in simplicity and genuineness, to someone I love.
