Due Date:
Before Class 07 (02/16/2026 @ 10AM)

Objective:

Practice basic design research by investigating an everyday object you use.

Learn how to find sources, collect images, and organize your work in a simple online folder.

Instructions

  1. Make a list of at least five everyday objects, things you use every day. Pick one.
    • Examples: door and/or door knob, toothbrush, backpack, umbrella, shoes, train, sidewalk, flush toilet, refrigerator, headphones, light bulb, et cetera.
  2. Create an online folder to keep track of your research as you carry it out.
    • Use whatever you’re most comfortable using: Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, even GitHub could work
    • If in doubt: as a CUNY student, I think you have a Microsoft 365 that gives you a OneDrive – and Google Drive is a fairly ubiquitous piece of infrastructure that is easy enough to pick up
  3. Find sources:
    • Find at least 3 credible sources of information (patents, company histories, design blogs, museum collections, news/magazine articles)
      When in doubt, this isn’t the worst place to start: https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/finding/
    • Avoid random “listicle” sites without authorship; for our purposes do not use LLMs like ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini for research (though feel free to ask them for suggestions on where/how to get sources, or how to appropriately cite various sources).
    • For each source, include it on a spreadsheet with: citation, link, 1-2 sentences describing what you learned from it. See an example of how to format such a spreadsheet here.
  4. Research and answer the following questions about your chosen object (~300-400 words, stored in research folder):
    • Description: What is it? What does it do?
    • Origin story: When, where, and why was it invented? How did people do this activity before? What materials and/or constraints shaped it?
    • Impact: How has it changed everyday life, culture, or design practice? Why does it matter?
  5. Images:
    • Gather at least 2 images of the object. It’s alright if one of them is taken by you, but at least one should show it’s design clearly (diagram from a patent, a product shot, an advertisement).
    • For each image, record: file name, where you found it (URL, magazine date and volume, page number, et c), and rights/credit if listed (eg MoMA, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons, public domain).
    • Save them in a subfolder labeled “images”.
  6. Reflection (200-300 words):
    • What was the most surprising discovery you made about your object?
    • How did you decide which sources and images to include?
    • What would you investigate next, if you had more time?
  7. Organize your work in a simple online folder (template here)
    • One document to collect your research sources + discoveries (description, origin story, impact).
    • One document that contains your reflections on the process.
    • One subfolder that collects images.
      • In that subfolder, include your record of the images, contained in a single document or spreadsheet.
  8. Post the shared link to your folder in the activity03 post in the activities forum in Discord.
    • Don’t forget to set the permissions so that anyone with the link can view it!

Deliverables

  • Online research folder (research doc, reflection doc, image subfolder, image sources)
  • Posted link in Discord