Modifications for Misuse

Showcase projects
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Hey Everyone,

I’d like to share with you a website that I created in conjunction with my Industrial Design graduate thesis at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Modifications for Misuse: A Look at the Unintended Uses of Everyday Objects - http://modifyformisuse.posterous.com/

Please take a moment and post your best guesses and hunches in regards to these modifications for misuse.

These objects have been modified to perform actions unrelated to their traditional use.
What behaviors do you think informed the modifications of these objects?
What have these objects been modified to do?

This site is a platform for discussion and discovery about the modified objects I have created. They have been modified according to observations of misuse, reuse, unintended use, purposeful appropriation and thoughtless acts. Unintended uses occur as a result of convenience, necessity & play. These objects were altered in order to facilitate specific unintended and unexpected uses and are not meant to be commercially viable products. They are tools to help start discussions and offer new ways of looking at our everyday objects.

Thanks,

Felipe Sarmiento
MID 2012

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This is a fun one (by the way, any product modified for another use is simply another product designed by its own user)!

The pen…if I could see the ends I’d know if there’s another hole but if not, I’d guess with the cap off, the dots show the center line of the length of the pen.

The bottle…not gonna be high pressure so I’m thinking diverting water for gardening with soaker hoses?

The peas - dunno

The fork…an easier way to eat spaghetti, twirl this one and get three times as many noodles! Aside from that, maybe for aerating VERY SMALL lawns.

The plunger…to hang on a hook? To allow it to drip & dry?

I’m out of time - will have to play more later :wink:

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pen - roll it and get a dotted line
water bottle - split water stream (with a slight delay as the bottom fills up)
peas - tie (velcro?) to leg for cooling
fork - back scratcher
plunger - suctioned to wall, put the toilet paper roll on the end and the ring to hold your coffee
wine bottle - measuring points for brewing right in the bottle
hammer - tighten bolt (hole looks like a polygon to me, but I’m not sure)
toothbrush - cleaning, can reach small spaces better
beer bottle - longer/grippier handle for when its smashed and used as a weapon
belt - key rack (use a belt buckle for your keyring)
spatula - paddle?
teabags - i cheated and looked at the website comments so I’m out from this one
knives - looks like a deadly hurley stick to me

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Hey guys,

Thanks for the input and comments but please feel free to post your answers on the site as well! I want visitors of the site to learn from others and so please share your answers on the site.

I’ll be posting the observations that informed the modifications of these objects along with some more in depth analysis and research in a few weeks.

Thanks again!