MindMap of Why the Product is Disposable and Hard to Attach Emotionally
Children chair that can be adapted to an adult stool for years of usage
The space chair for funky/unique design that would allow for emotional attachment
Chair that turns into a Lounge chair for added function with rotations legs and back
Design for Physiological Pleasure after Market Attachments
Added shock absorbers in between the hard ridges for the back for added comfort and the seat
Attachments for 2 or more chair to create a long bench that can extend either concave or convexly and can be used in a group situation indoor or outdoor with added cushion for seat surfaces and back.
Design for Psycho/Socio Attachment after Market Products
The couple chair has arms rests and back and seat cushion that attach to the other chair with flexible connection to change angle of chairs to allow hand holding while doing everyday activities e.g. eating or watching TV
Child seat attachment to 2 adult chairs for party functions allow adults to keep a close eye on the child for comfort of mind.
Plastic bag cushion to put old memorable clothing articles such as wedding dresses or baby clothing to be ziplocked and form seat cushion that people can personalised with coloured themes or type of clothing.
Final Group Project
The kids toys attachment allow the kids to play with this chair as if it was their own world, they can play around the chair and with the chair as part of their learning phase when they're younger. As they get older, they'd be able to use the chair in a more appropriate way e.g. learning how to eat from a proper dining table, adding those attachments to the back of the chair as part of their storage space as well as adding additional backing comfort support. Thus as a furniture that a child grows up with, it'll always be a product that they'll remember with great fondness and be unwilling to part with due to the history that is embeded in it. In the future, those attachments can be removed, and the chair can be used for adults as normal. Hopefully, if they're so attached to it, they'll keep it for they're own kids to use and play with as well.
Polyurethane Foam used in kids puzzle mats that are flexible enough to slot on to the chair legs and will stay on it. It's soft enough it won't hurt the children, soft enough to kick out of the way for the adults when walking around the chair, sturdy enough to last being roughed on by the kids as chewing toys and not hazardous or things to throw to each other at.
The kids will use it as learning toys to spell things out or just building blocks on the chair legs. They can also play around with the cars to slide across the bridge of the legs, improving their creativity, creating their own world of imaginations. As they get older, as was mentioned above, they can fill up the back of the chair ridges for back cushioning. Parents can then leave them to play around the furniture safely and withing their reach and not worry about them exploring the electrical sockets or any other dangerous household items. They also don't need to buy more toys that comes separately and find storage space for them to put away when they finish playing with it. With these blocks, they can just slot onto the chair legs and leave it there.
For people to buy these attachments for the Stefan chair, they would have a change of family status as in they have young kids now and need a more kids friendly chair without buying new furnitures for families with low income and up.
Reflection
This task has challenged the way I think about product's endurance in a user's life with the main focus on why they would dispose of it and rectifying those issues as before I thought this product is fine the way it was, people would use it and keep it as they need it. I honestly didn't think we'll find so many reasons why they wouldn't be wanted anymore.
A new idea for me is adding product attachments to another product that already been designed. Firstly because most of the time we've been taught to design for products that are wholesome and self sufficient. But there are already so many products out there, why not design to improve the existing one without redesigning the whole thing, thereby reducing the use of material for new products and the amount of products being disposed due to changing trends or lack of extra functions.It's a much more eco-friendly way of approaching design than designing from scratch.
The group project was a really good way to figure out problems because people feed off each other's ideas and we came up with lots of things and different people have different opinions about issues like what shape would suit the target market's age and therefore what kind products will eventually come out as this aftermarket attachment. The discussions were stimulating and I think it helps bring out the best outcome that would suit a whole range of people than if one person was designing the product.
If the product was designed from scratch, one of the things I would design differently is the aesthetic of it, adding curves to make it more user friendly, perhaps creating quirky characteristics in the object that would enable it to become a conversation topic and therefore create enjoyments for the user and thus developing emotional attachment. One of the major important essential feature of a product that is required today due to the flood of mass produced items in the market is individuality, so creating unique features that make it, not so much a one off creation but more something that can be called a "designer" item would generate extra value for this chair and prolong its life use.
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