BP: Space

Four Work Modes:

• focus

• collaborate

• learn

• socialize

Media explains office culture as only having fun with coworkers while at the office. In shows like The Office, Parks of Recreation and the Dilbert cartoon the employees don't really get any work done. These employees avoid their cubicles and organize fun events with other employees such as costume parties or shopping sprees in the town. The whole mission of the office environment seems to me like having a good time instead of completing office tasks. The media portrays the employees in the shows listed above as fun people to hang out with but not people to hire in your office due to the lack of productivity. Now, these media designed employees do pay attention to Gensler's four work modes. They focus on having fun, collaborate with other employees to have fun, learn how to have fun with the other employees and socializing with other employees while having fun.

Now back to reality. In the real office environment employees focus on completing work in their cubicles. They collaborate with other employees in small study rooms to create a game plan for completing the work in the best way possible. They learn by attending meetings held by supervisors to gain insight on how to improve. Finally, they socialize with other employees through team building exercises to establish a comfortable work environment.

Design is ever present in the office setting. Every object that is placed in the office is done so to create an environment with efficiency and productivity in mind. To help explain this I will highlight a few design elements from each of Gensler's work modes. I'll start with focus. To allow employees to focus, the office space has individual cubicles with high walls to allow the employees to mentally escape and be free of the office distractions such as their fellow employee throwing a ball up in the air over and over again.

Collaborate. To encourage teamwork and collaboration offices have small rooms that allow employees to huddle and formulate a plan to work as a team and get the task done. These rooms usually have projectors with a screen or a dry erase board to allow the employees to illustrate their ideas.

Learn. To allow supervisors of the office to teach their employees how to be the best they can be offices have bigger huddle rooms equipped with several chairs and sometimes desks with dry erase boards or projector screens in the front of the room. These design aspects allow the supervisor to easily illustrate his or her ideas to the employees and help them become better overall.

Socialize. To allow the employees to socialize with other employees in a relaxed environment, office spaces usually come equipped with cafeterias or lounge areas. These areas have some sort of entertainment that employees can discuss with each other, such as televisions. Also, these areas come with tables and comfortable chairs, so the employees can relax and not become burnt out from working. This keeps the employees' morale up and allows them to discuss topics with other employees that are not work related.

BP Artifact

The artifact that I chose to present in front of the class was my GoPro Hero 3. I use my GoPro often to help me fulfill my passion of photography and film making. I was never really interested in photography or film making until my sophomore year of college. I began to take pictures of trees, clouds etc. One day I noticed that a friend of mine began to create videos of her rafting and participating in other outdoor activities. I was curious as to how she filmed these videos without ruining her camera.

I asked her what kind of camera she was using when filming and she told me she was using her GoPro. I began to do extensive research on these small action cameras. From my research I learned that these cameras were virtually indestructible. You could take them in the snow, water etc. You could mount them to your pets to see the world from their point of view. The only limitation was that of your imagination. I needed to add this camera to my collection.

Photo by Cody Cioffe

I saved up the money needed and went to best buy to get my GoPro. I picked out the middle of the line model which is called the Hero 3. I was so excited to play with my new toy. I didn't stop at buying the camera. I began to buy a harness for my German Shepherds, a harness for my life jacket and a floating handle so that I could mount my GoPro wherever I needed to in order to get the best angles.

Today, I have made over 5 different movies using my GoPro. These films consist of my dogs wearing it while hiking and myself wearing it while knee boarding. The extreme durability of the camera as well as the variety of mounts I have accumulated over time allows me to create films with perspectives that were not possible before. I love this camera and it was one of the best purchases I have ever made.

BP: Object

American National Character as explained in the online class lecture is compiled of characteristics such as highly mobile, free-thinking and athletic. These are the characteristics that I will be explaining in this blog post.

The first characteristic that I will be explaining is highly mobile. To help explain the highly mobile characteristic I chose the once very popular pager. The pager eliminated the need for phone calls and introduced the invention of texting. Instead of picking up the phone and calling someone people would send messages directly to the persons pager which would then be read by the user. The pager was a compact device that could be clipped on the users belt which made it highly mobile.

Pager. Digital image. Amazon. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004W4E9>

The second characteristic that I will be explaining is free-thinking. To help explain the free-thinking characteristic I chose the boombox. The invention of the boombox allowed music to be played on a device that was portable. While not able to fit in the pocket of the user the boombox was easily carried on the shoulder of the user. The user would often walk with their boombox on their shoulder playing their favorite music at high volumes for all those around them to hear. I find this explains the free-thinking characteristic quite well because owners of a boombox played their favorite music without a care of who was listening.

Boombox. Digital Image. IMDB. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan 2016. <http://www.imdb.com/media/rm233999616/tt0098258?ref_=ttmd_md_pv#>

 The third characteristic that I will be explaining is athletic. To help explain the athletic characteristic I choose the popular Converse all star. When these shoes were first introduced they were worn by athletes all over the United States. They were THE athletic shoe. If you were an athlete you wore Converse all stars. If you saw a person walking down the street and they were wearing all stars you automatically assumed they were an athlete of some sort. That is the influence these shoes had on people. Even today these shoes are still quite popular among athletes.

Converse All Star. Digital Image. Wanelo.N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan 2016. <https://wanelo.com/p/39517106/converse-women-s-chuck-taylor-all-star-athletic-lifestyle-shoes-academy>

BP: Water Bottle

Design in the development of the plastic water bottle involves three important aspects. These aspects are the lid, the SKU number and the bottle itself. I’ll start with the lid. The lid of the name brand water bottles such as Aquafina, Dasani and other name brands are either green, blue or clear. Why is that? 

Well in class we learned that companies such as Aquafina and Dasani choose these colors for the lids because they symbolize different aspects of our planet. Earth (green), water (blue) and also the clarity of the purified water inside the bottle (clear). What is ironic about the lids is that they are made of plastic which is very harmful to our planet. 

The SKU number on the water bottle is placed on the label for the consumer to trace where the water that is inside the bottle originated from. These locations are usually springs that are glamorized on commercials for these water bottles that convince us that we are drinking clean pure water untouched by water bottle companies. It is ironic that water bottle companies add salt to the water to make it taste better, so the water is not truly unaltered by these companies.

The last aspect of the water bottle that I am going to discuss is the bottle itself. The bottle is made of clear plastic with ribbed sides. Why are the bottles designed this way? Well the transparency of the bottle is intentional so that we can see the clean pure water inside. The ribbed sides have two purposes, the first being so that the bottles are easy to grip but the second is so that when light hits these ribbed sides the water inside glistens which further makes us believe that the water is pure. 

Photo by Cody Cioffe

The important lesson to take away from these aspects of the water bottle is that the companies ensure that they are preserving the environment when in reality they are damaging the environment by using plastic as their material of the water bottle. They try to make the bottle and its components look as visually appealing as possible. So, these water bottle companies convince consumers that they are saving the environment by purchasing water bottles but consumers are doing the exact opposite. Ironic, isn’t it?