Ideation and Prototyping: A Reflection on Creation and Design

For this design and prototyping exercise, I thought about prototyping a bird following a discussion with a friend about her pet cockatiels. I designed a prototype of a parrot called the Lilacine Amazon parrot. These parrots inhabit various tropical rainforests within six areas in south Ecuador¹. They hunt for food in pairs during the day and communally roost in the tree-tops at night². Unfortunately, they are critically endangered due to deforestation and ecological disruption brought on by agricultural clearing or exploiting the rainforest’s resources³. I was alarmed when, during my research, I read that “A third of all Psittaciformes are classified as threatened and over half of all populations are in decline (Berkunsky et al. Reference Berkunsky, Quillfeldt, Brightsmith, Abbud, Aguilar, Alemán-Zelaya and Masello2017)”.⁴

It was challenging to sketch this bird from different angles, and I found myself overthinking various proportions or details. As a solution, I looked up the anatomy of a parrot and used its skeletal anatomy as a reference in both my sketching and my building. Oddly enough, I felt the building phase of this project was more manageable than sketching my ideas, even though I had never crafted a prototype before. I gathered the following materials: cardboard, plastic bags, water bottles, construction paper, old fabric scraps, food wrappers, and paper clips. The first thing I began to build was the spine and rib cage. I used a strip of cardboard and cut slits on the sides and then folded them over each other to form a study but flexible shape. I then took a water bottle and cut the lip and the bottom off. I then began creating my wings by taking cardboard scraps and fastening them with plastic bags to allow for adjustments and movement. I used cardboard scraps for the legs as well, but I secured them to the body by puncturing a hole on each side and fastening it in position using paper clips and a good amount of tape.

Now that I had crafted the body parts for my parrot, it was time to assemble them. To secure parts in place, I used thumbtacks and hot glue to maintain a hold. I then proceeded to build the head and break using the bottom end of a water bottle and, you guessed it, cardboard scraps. Now that I had a good foundation, I needed to cover my skeleton, and luckily, tucked in the back of my closet was a bag of fabric scraps from an old DIY project. Using colored tape and fabric scraps, I glued around my frame, making mental notes of where I would add and arrange its ‘feathers’. Once I added the fabric, I was concerned because my prototype didn’t resemble a parrot. I almost didn’t want to continue because I worried I would ruin any progress I made. I had a true “trust the process” moment as I began to create feathers using green and yellow construction paper, food wrappers, and the box from a six-pack of seltzer water. I started with the tail and the legs and left the wings for last. I decided to do two rows of feathers for each wing.

Finally, I glued a red spot on its head, not unlike the reference images I saw during my research, and added the eyes I made with construction and printer paper.

After completing this exercise, I better understand the process it takes to design and prototype something, as well as the significance surrounding the subject of the design or the design itself. I  reflected on how much recycling I saved that I didn’t use, how most recycling is not upcycled and contributes to the pollution of our environment and has been driven by the consumption and exploitation of its natural resources.

Footnotes:

1.  “Lilacine Amazon.” American Bird Conservancy, 27 Apr. 2022, abcbirds.org/bird/lilacine-amazon/#:~:text=This%20parrot%20is%20only%20found,parrot%2C%20the%20Great%20Green%20Macaw. ↩︎
2. “Lilacine Amazon Parrot.” Newquay Zoo, 6 Aug. 2024, http://www.newquayzoo.org.uk/animals-az/parrot-lilacine-amazon/. ↩︎
3. “Lilacine Amazon.” American Bird Conservancy, 27 Apr. 2022, abcbirds.org/bird/lilacine-amazon/#:~:text=This%20parrot%20is%20only%20found,parrot%2C%20the%20Great%20Green%20Macaw ↩︎
4. Biddle, Rebecca, et al. “Conservation Status of the Recently Described Ecuadorian Amazon Parrot Amazona Lilacina: Bird Conservation International.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 1 June 2020, http://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bird-conservation-international/article/conservation-status-of-the-recently-described-ecuadorian-amazon-parrot-amazona-lilacina/0F375BC4D52F2EC20947D0520F2D03EA. 
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Bibliography

1. Biddle, Rebecca, et al. “Conservation Status of the Recently Described Ecuadorian Amazon Parrot Amazona Lilacina: Bird Conservation International.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 1 June 2020, http://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bird-conservation-international/article/conservation-status-of-the-recently-described-ecuadorian-amazon-parrot-amazona-lilacina/0F375BC4D52F2EC20947D0520F2D03EA.
2. “Ensure Long-Term Survival of the Lilacine Amazon Parrot.” Rainforest Trust, 19 Sept. 2023, http://www.rainforesttrust.org/urgent-projects/ensure-long-term-survival-of-the-lilacine-amazon-parrot/.
3. Feistyfeathers. “Avian Anatomy.” Feisty Feathers, 5 May 2016, feistyfeathers.com/2016/05/05/avian-anatomy/.
4. “Lilacine Amazon Parrot.” Newquay Zoo, 6 Aug. 2024, http://www.newquayzoo.org.uk/animals-az/parrot-lilacine-amazon/.
5. “Lilacine Amazon.” American Bird Conservancy, 27 Apr. 2022, abcbirds.org/bird/lilacine-amazon/#:~:text=This%20parrot%20is%20only%20found,parrot%2C%20the%20Great%20Green%20Macaw.