field trip 13 August 2014

This was the first technology design integrated workshop which involved the development of rough sketches. The goal of today was to get the team and the farmers on the same page, even if it didn't involve developing the actual food storage design. before today I had a sense that the social scientist students had no firm grasp of what design is, how it happens and what it can do. The same can be said for most of the farmers I'd met...

UJ sponsored us a ride and off we went, dropping each group at their individual sites. I was now better acquainted with the social scientist students as this was the third time we were meeting .

A bit disappointing on my arrival at Siyazenzela... Only two out of the seven farmers were present, Earl (picture below) and Phumlani. This was the first time I'd met Phumlani out of the four times I had visited the site. All the farmers I had so far met at Siyazenzela were highly motivated, committed and willing to share their say. Phumlani had started working at the site in March this year and seemed more timid than the other farmers. I explained the project to him and asked for his participation. A bit unsure of what it would involve, he agreed. Earl enthusiastically took us around the farm to show us progress on the new seedling and crop development. It had been three weeks since the last crop rotation and progress was looking good!

I began asking specific questions about food storage and Earl explained that they have access to a small fridge and they use crates to carry their produce from their site to various points of purchase. He went to one of the classrooms that they use for general storage to bring us the crates that they use for transporting stock.

Earl explained how the crates stack and how he fills them with different produce. He explained the process of carrying the full crates to local vendors, household customers and street-walking customers. Points of difficulty and limitation were highlighted... He also mentioned that an excess of produce becomes a problem because his small fridge has limited space. approx. 20% of produce is given away to the school and approx. 15% is used for the compost heap. This excess in produce surely varies between sites and would otherwise go to waste. Earl: "we do not waste."

Earl explains that he often has three crates stacked upon one another and he has to lift the lop ones to access the produce in the bottom crate. He mentioned difficulty in carrying the full crates long distances. Phumlani remained neutral...

Before the meeting progressed, I felt it was necessary to explain design, the process and the possibilities. I prepared a rough example of a project and showed the group pictures of the different stages. The project was a wheel chair design. I explained the process very simply, from the beginning: There is a problem that some people can't use their legs, or don't have legs, and so they couldn't get from A to B. It is the job of a designer to fix the problem, but the solution can only come after the problem and context is properly understood. I said that this is the stage we are at with the storage project. I then explained general concepting up until refinement. I said that any designer can lock themselves in an office and start and finish a project by this is not that. This is co-design and that means we are all designers now and in order to get the best result from this project we all need to make a 'dent' in the design. At the end of the wheel chair project, the disabled people can now get from A to B. The aim from here on is to find the problems so we can solve them.

Up until this point, Phumlani hadn't said a word. I wanted to familiarise everyone so I took out my play-dough and Lego. Ever so slightly, Phumlani started to engage. The atmosphere became a little more light hearted and my team members also started to play with the mediums.

I planned for everyone to use the toys to communicate their ideas, but things don't always go as planned. Everyone much preferred communicating their ideas verbally. I gave a brief explanation of different types of storage. (cool, dry, humid,air tight, dark, etc.) there was interest around how each type worked so i explained evaporative cooling, vacuum sealing, drying etc. Earl was very interested in which type of storage was best for which types of produce. I explained that freezing is only appropriate for some types and can do damage to other types. There was interest regarding more storage space in order to increase production and income and therefore the area of the farm. I could sense that there was a bit of confusion in the air so I used the mediums to present a visual description (image below). I roughly modeled their existing small fridge (pink clay on left). The toothpick coming out the back symbolises a wire and that it takes electricity. (The farmers are not happy to pay any excess electricity. Many farmers I interviewed buy small amounts of limited electricity like airtime.)

The colourful model on the right is the storage that I am proposing, based on the current, familiar stacking system that Earl was using. It represents all the things that were mentioned in the meeting up until this point. Each block represents a module of different storage type. The discussion about transporting produce to markets and other points of purchase is resembled by the Lego base with attached wheels. The ownership and user interface is resembled by a very well modeled, pink handle held up by toothpicks. This suggests the farmer can push and pull their produce wherever they like. There is no wire attached and this suggests that it is off-grid. originally there was a yellow block in place of the second pink block (far right). It was changed to pink after Earl said,"what if i don't want the dry storage." It was noted that the system had to be customisable to what was being grown on each particular farm. and also allow the farmer to have as meany modules of different kinds, that would fit onto a trolley frame. They could choose which ones to transport and leave some on the site. I said,"you can have three blocks while another farmer has four, or you can have two blocks of cool storage because you have a lot of spinach."

I drew a rough map of the farm, vending corners and market on a piece of paper and suggested that the unit can be moved on the roads between these points. Earl was engaged, but Phumlani might have dozed off for a moment :O

The model was used in a scenario type situation. We were trying to find problems in packing, transporting and selling activities.

Earl expressed that he would like space between the modules so he can get his hand inside to access the food. He would also like the customer to have visibility. For this, angled Lego blocks were used as well as a basic side view sketch (below). An issue was raised of bruising vegies while the unit was in motion around town.

Nearing to the end of the meeting, I make a rough sketch that represents all that was spoken about up until this point. I gave the sketch to Earl, with a pen, eager for him to make some marks. I tried to encourage him to ruin the drawing. I could see he was conservative with a pen but he made some small scribbles in at the points of his concern.

This sketch, by no means, will dictate the form of the product yet, as it was mainly done on the spot as a means of communication, But it was necessary in order to understand some of the initial concerns of a farmer. Earl circled the handles asking if he can push and pull well. This suggests that I must consider all user-interface aspects. He made a scribble lower down on the unit suggesting mechanical advantage and comfort issues. For now, I represented the accessibility and visibility of each level by adding a space between modules. The approach to this will still be widely explored. The wheels were discussed verbally. Earl said that he wants four wheels. This might suggest that the unit looked unstable. stability, durability and cost will be explored regarding this.  two flanges were added instead of wheels in order to symbolise this concern for now.

The introduction helped put us on the same page. The playful approach to visual representation assisted the flow of conversation and moved the concept forward somewhat. What I originally thought would be a stationary unit to be used purely for storage on the farm site has now transformed. The major themes at this point are TRANSPORT-ABILITY, MODULARITY, ACCESSIBILITY, VISIBILITY, DURABILITY, COST, USER-INTERFACE, VERSATILITY, CUMSTOMISATION, OFF-GRID and over-all the design needs to be APPROPRIATE!!

During the meeting, I asked Earl that, If he no longer had storage problems, and therefore no food to give away to the school, would he still give food to the school instead of make income off that food? He said he would still give it because of the relationship, but other farmers might not feel the same.In hindsight, this may be an issue with my technology. I do not want to cause a problem while solving a problem. The context is incredibly complex but possibly the increase of land used, leading to an increase on income, will allow for the school to have a dedicated section of the farm and so everybody still wins. its a tricky one but will consider this further !...