"Design is not an academic activity, nor is it an act of democracy. Design is a positive reaction to dissatisfaction." – Micheal DiTullo
 |
| Helmets designed by DiTullo based on heads of frogs |
Micheal Ditullo is a well established designer and the CEO of Frog Design Inc. He has mentioned that many of his inspirations of design comes from observing mother nature's creation.
Writing in terms of biomimicry, this can be known as "innovation inspired by nature", whereby designers such as DiTullo got inspired by the designs of mother nature through observation and the act of mimicking.
 |
| Austin-Healey Sprite's Mark 1 mimicking eyes of a frog |
Just like the helmet designed by DiTullo shown above which resembles some sort of frogly-shaped design, a vintage car named the Austin-Healey Sprite's Mark 1 shown on the right, also has its lights designed like frog's eyes.
 |
| Observe this frog and see what designs inspire you !!! |
The theory behind mimicking all these designs is known to a be the "reductive view of biomimicry approach". Reductive view (also known as "shallow biomimicry"), is the basic level of biomimicry, which solely focuses on the imitation of "a few features and functions of nature" and implementing them into engineering or design domain.
All these designs were based on adapting the beauty and aesthetics of a frog. We can demonstrate an example of how the aesthetics were imitated or mimicked. Just look at the figure below, where the inspiration of design of both cars comes from frogs. However, the vehicle on the right shows a more "aggressive" or "assertive" appearance while on the other hand the vehicle on the left displays a rather "friendly" impression.
These designs were actually intentionally proposed in order to suit and cater to different types of market. The egotistical vehicle on the left targets a younger, wilder generation whilst the vehicle on the right that looks harmless targets the family-oriented market. Based on these designs, we now actually realized how much we can change a perspective just by altering the appearance.
Some other samples of design-oriented biomimicry that were based on inspiration of frogs can be seen below. We hope that this post has helped others in explaining what "reductive view of biomimicry" actually means and we hope that we have aspired you to apply what we have learnt today!
Some other samples of design-oriented biomimicry that were based on inspiration of frogs can be seen below. We hope that this post has helped others in explaining what "reductive view of biomimicry" actually means and we hope that we have aspired you to apply what we have learnt today!
Frog inspired classical desktop by FrogDesign Inc.
Mercedez adapted this vehicle design concept from Poison Dart Frogs
Frog inspired bicycle with a sleek and speedy appearance
Let us know what you think in the comment box below!
Thank you for reading!
Stay tuned for more interesting posts!
:)
Good work saktiya, can see you put alot effort in this project.
ReplyDeleteyes, indeed we are putting alot of effort and thank you for u support, we appreciate it alot
Deletethe purpose of helmet is providing safety,can you explain how using frog/tadpole and inspiration of them can help and provide better solution?
ReplyDeleteHello chong, yes you are righ helmet are meant to provide safety. but in this post we are referring biomimicry in a reductive point of view. As in we are implementing frog features into design, just like how some helmet have a astronauts helmet design or a robot shape helmet design. In the end the function remains the same only the design differs and are meant to target certain customers segments. i hope i have answered your question. thank you for your post :)
Deletei didn't know frogs can be an inspiration of so many designs.. thanks for such informative post! =D
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome! stay tuned for updates :)
Delete