Spoke with Lyn. We talked about the story of the products, from display in shop to packaging, materials and end of life. The story of the product is important because it conveys the 'wearing in' and 'wearing out' of the tools to the user. Maybe the bowl cover could function as packaging.

I am struggling with designing the dough scraper. Could the dough scraper make use of 3D contouring on the handle? Using traditional knife making techniques with contemporary CNC technology. Use clay for tests.

The lame could fit together with the dough scraper for storage/packaging. This would contrast the starter bowl which is in constant use and doesn't need to be put into storage.

In our group session with Emma we talked about the six week hand-in of the report. The report is essentially everything we've done so far, in 2000 words.

• Bibliography = everything you've read
  
• Reference list = everything you've cited
  
• In the image list, use "author's own" for original work
  

Emma suggested looking at reports from previous students who were using similar primary research methods to us to see how they used them, analysed them and wrote them up.

This week I read about downshifting in regards to meaning of life, and regaining the essence of leisure. I spoke about the readings with my parents, who talked about the protestant work ethic, a term I hadn't heard before. The protestant work ethic is the view that a person's duty and responsibility is to achieve success through hard work. This is different from how, say, the French and Spanish work. They work fewer hours, and spend more time socialising (e.g. over longer dinner times). Perhaps it would be worthwhile if I looked for texts on leisure by Spanish and French authors to see how their views compare with the views of the authors of the texts I've been reading. Mum also talked about the arts and crafts movement which focused on economic and social reform and was opposed to industrial manufacturing. This would be worth investigating.

1-on-1 session with Emma. We talked about the secondary research I've been doing and discussed some ideas for my daily diary cultural probe. I told Emma about the case study of applying the Slow Design principles into the design of a mass produced consumer product in Slow Design for Meaningful Interactions (Grosse-Hering et al.). She suggested I try find more case studies. In terms of the principles themselves, Emma said that ritual was probably very important in my project, and I could investigate the rituals of daily life - getting ready, making coffee, tea. I could therefore say my product area is, for example, 'drinking', and link it to the particular activity of making tea. It might be worthwhile to investigate cultural traditions. I am designing an experience for the user, and the product is a catalyst for that experience.

For my daily diary, Emma suggested that I delineate the day in some way (e.g. splitting it into 5 boxes) because the participant is more inclined to fill in boxes rather than an empty page. Delineating the day with times might not be the best, but mid-morning, noon, early-afternoon, late-afternoon, evening etc. could be better. Looking at a particular activity rather than a place would help for looking into people's rituals. I'd be looking for preparation and experience. I could ask the participant to do the diary 2 or 3 times: 1 weekday and 2 weekend days would allow me to contrast weekday rituals to weekend-day rituals.