As a designer, I believe that when creating products, all designers have goals… one would be to create something that will make people’s lives easier on an everyday basis. Designing something aesthetically pleasing just comes with the package. After a while,
newspapers, lights, and wheelchairs become a part of one's lifestyle. Good design reaches out to certain groups of people which makes it a “personal” design. Two of the three timelines were about lights that heal people and wheelchairs which transport people with disabilities. These are all designed to reach out to individuals on a more personal level. Ergonomics reach out to people in a more general sense of personal design. Ergonomics IS personalizing. Design is generic because it caters to all of the people who use that product but it is specific because it targets a certain group. Personal can mean chairs that mold a person's bottom or a toothbrush's angle to make it easier to reach "hard to reach" areas. All things around us are personal because designers gather research from everyday people.


Light therapy was first documented in 1856 and is still used today to treat problems in a safer way with fewer side affects. With medications only taking you so far… it's amazing that something as simple as light can heal disorders. Depression is something many
struggle with and medications pile up and after a while, they have a negative
affect on the body. Light, even sunlight, is harmless when used correctly and it has the power to heal. Studies show that 15 minutes of sunshine every morning is healthier for males but females can also benefit from feeling happiness throughout that day. The healing light timeline was about healing people with different problems through LEDs, lasers, fluorescents and dichroic lights. From babies who have jaundice, people with acne, people suffering from depression, or whether it’s patients with hard to heal wounds; people have learned to create different types of light and use them to their full effectiveness by personalization.


Anything that will make life easier is welcome like the idea of a paraplegic being
able to keep up. A wheelchair is what paraplegics depend on and almost can't function
without it. The wheelchair evolved from a stiff chair that was uncomfortable to a more ergonomic chair and a chair that is reaching out to everyone's demands… Everyone who needs the wheelchair to go from point A to point B can rely on this chair with wheels and they are once again in control of where they are headed. Carrying oxygen tanks or making big and small chairs depending on the patient’s size, wheelchair designers have researched a lot to make the chair into what it is today. The first designer of the wheelchair made it specifically for himself so he personalized it and made it accommodate him. Starting out in wood, people have created better; lighter more durable wheelchairs and they no longer had to worry about splinters and longevity of the product. Today it is made of light weight aluminum with a suspended cushioned seat with no hard support to cause discomfort. Design to me should be simple, inexpensive if possible and definitely specialized because all people have different likes and needs.


Design should be simple and clean like the design of a simple brown moving box. Its sole purpose is to hold items but be strong and durable enough to contain all the items and not break. It is also easily stored when filled and also easily stored because it unfolds and can
be put away flat. They are also cheap and accessible to all people and light in weight.
Personal designs affect more people by reaching out to them and they can love it for what it is and they can connect to it. It shouldn't have anything too decorative because it can distract the consumer from the way the item is meant to be used especially if that ornament is a big part of the product and has no function. A chair can have a seat, backrest and legs but it doesn't need a handle. A chair that has intricate detailed designs that has been hand carved into wood is unnecessary because it can't be mass produced. It's a beautiful piece to have and items like that can be collected but other than that, the product cannot be accessible to all people and the material does not help the object “work” to its full potential. It can be made of aluminum and made lighter and cheaper and probably more durable. If people can still connect to the piece after it has been stripped of all unnecessary things, then that is personal and they can appreciate the design. Basically what you see is what you get.

Design is personal to me because if I were the one who designed it... I would obviously design with myself in mind. I would make it comfortable for me but others probably won't agree. Like beds… they are hard or really soft and comfortable. I would like to connect to others through design. For others to connect to my artwork like I do my own would be amazing… when I design I want it to be simple and visually simple as well. I would design something that one wouldn't need an instruction sheet for and something that anyone can look at and appreciate the honesty of the design. I would not want it to be expensive and I would want it to be accessible to all people. As an industrial designer, I would want people to hold the item in their hand and feel the same way I do when I hold it and understand the reasoning behind all the dips and curves. I like honest design because like people, I want to know what that thing is all about without a lot of explanation. That is personal to me because then I can relate to it right away and I don't need to second guess anything. There is that personal and then there is this personal. I like old antique objects. I love the history that is stored in those pieces and the worn out look like it belonged to someone. I love it because to me that is also personal and it tells a story. In old Africa, the people carved people out of wood to represent maternity and fertility. They would carve a face into the dolls and rub the face every day with hope that they could become impregnated one day. Soon enough, the women would rub the faces so often that they would rub the faces right off the dolls showing history. Like that, I would like my design to have a big part in people's lives.