Blog assignment 10

Considering both this week’s lecture and reading, “Pop to Postmodernism” by Jonathan Woodham, respond to the following (approximately 150-300 words, as needed):

Postmodernist and ‘remix’ techniques are a vibrant part of our design culture today. Find an example of contemporary design—2D or 3D—and post it to your blog along with a description of what techniques it utilises (i.e. historical quotation, ornamental eclecticism, wit or irony, manipulations of scale, cultural symbols etc.) and how they serve to ‘add meaning’ to the work.

Post your response in your DSDN171 blog with an image of the selected design. Be sure to specifically address the image in your response and use proper APA style citation for all references.

Designers today look at the past to try and design new things for the future. Many designers specifically look at postmodernist designers for inspiration. I think that Timothy Schreiber is one of those designers who look at that time period when designing. I believe this because of his futuristic looking chair.

The official name for this chair is Timothy Schreiber’s beautifully futuristic Morphogenesis Lounge Rocking Chair. In this chair there are very little straight lines and a lot of curves.

During the time of the postmodernist era, America landed their first man on the moon. So during this time everyone was looking into the future and how the future will look. Because space travel was such a big thing there was many designers at the time who were thinking how things would be if they were to live in space. As we still haven’t been able to live in space designers are still designing on what they think it would be like to live in the future.

Schreiber’s chair also has some unnecessary ornaments. Under the chair the supports are formed to make more curved shapes. Where they could be just plain shapes. This defies the laws that Pugin set. Defying those laws was also something that designers did during postmodernist times.

These add ‘meaning’ to the designers work by making them more aesthetically pleasing and also making them more valuable. If the supports on the chair were to be plane shapes of the main chair be  then there wouldn’t be any originality or identity to the designers work and it would be similar to many other designers pieces of work.

Schreiber T (2008),  Futuristic Morphogenesis Lounge Rocking Chair

blog assignment 9

Considering both this week’s lecture and reading,“Design and the Democratic ideal” by Jane Pavitt, respond to the following question (approximately 150 ‒ 300 words, as needed):

What kinds of political or ideological messages inform design or the branding of design today? Identify one example and describe in what ways it expresses larger cultural, political, or ideological beliefs.

I believe that in design today that identity is a large ideological message that companies are trying to get a cross to the consumer market. With so many people having items like cellphones, iPod’s and laptops which are similar to one another that giving people there own identity with there personal items.

Cellphones and iPod’s can have thousands of different covers that can be bought. Laptops can also get skins to put on the cover to make it different than other people.

An example I have is the skin, which I am getting ordered for my own Mac. Because many people, (especially in the architecture and design school) have Macs it can be easily switched with someone else’s. My design is meant to represent my identity. With HPA being my last name. Having the background black and HPA in white is to tell that I am a New Zealander. Beat That Beat is reference to music because it is something I love and it is in red, white and blue because they are the colours of England, which I was born in.

This expresses a larger ideological belief because everyone has their own identity and letting people show how they are with their stuff makes people stand out. If people weren’t able to customize their products then it would look like everyone is the same and there is no difference in personality of people.

figure 1 (personally created)

Hpa Richard (2011), designed on http://www.wrappz.co.nz/createyourown

blog assignment 8

In our reading this week,“The first machine age in Europe”byDavid Raizman, we learned that Hannes Meyer, the Swiss-born architect appointed director of the Bauhaus in 1928, argued that design is a product of “function x economy”, aligning design with a scientific model driven by new technologies and manufacturing potential. Considering this week’s lecture and readings respond to the following question (approximately 150-300 words, as needed):

Do you agree or disagree with the position that design is a result of “function x economy”? Do you think design today an ‘art’ or a ‘science’? Should it be one or the other, or can it be both?

(figure 1)

I disagree with Hannes Meyers idea that design is a product of function x economy.  I personally think that aesthetics plays a major role in design, especially in the recent years. The aesthetics of the object may not even have anything to do with the function Most of the time these days’ people buy products not just for their function but also for how they look. An example I have is a chair.

A chair was made to sit on. And that is it. But now these days’ designers have used science to make the chair more ergonomically better. Even though the main purpose of the chair hasn’t changed but it makes it more comfortable to sit on. But people don’t really buy the chair that is the best for them ergonomically but they buy the better looking chair. The image I have (figure 1) shows a chair that I think is very aesthetically pleasing. It looks comfortable and it looks like what you are meant to do with it.

I believe that design today is both and art and a science and it should stay as both. I think that if they weren’t linked together than many things we have and take for granted wouldn’t have been invented. The science of design is to make things work in a specific way or for them to make us feel a certain way when we interact with them and the art of it is the looks which can hide the science which makes a good surprise for the user.




Figure 1.  2011, Ginotti Good Looking Leisure Chair ,from the Ginotti Furniture Factory
http://ginotti.en.alibaba.com/product/470098122-212117312/2011_Ginotti_Good_Looking_Leisure_Chair.html

blog assignment 7

In this week’s lecture we discussed the concept of the “symbolic universe” as a cultural “structure of legitimation” capable of organizing the social world as comprehensible and connected. The structure of the symbolic universe then, places the individual in a known and knowable space. Such social structures are critical for societies in transition. Can you identify the creation of any “symbolic universe” today (or in recent years)? How might media and design be implicated in the construction of these social universes today?

When people talk about ‘symbolic universe’ they are talking about a utopia. A world where everything is perfect and people can live together without any conflict. In the 1939 New York World’s Fair, General Motors showed the Futurama. A diorama that showed their version of utopia. Because General Motors is a car manufacturer their version of utopia mainly showed how city’s traffic networks would be perfect and made sure there were no traffic jams so everyone could travel steadily with no  delay.

In todays society it will be really hard to actually get a Utopia. Even in years to come people will struggle to get their version of the perfect world.

But thanks to todays virtual realities people can mimic their version of the perfect world into video games.

In Games like the Sims and the tycoon series people can create their own world where they control. The player creates everything in the world from people to a landscape. Games like these can show how different people  perceive their own version of utopia. 

blog assignment 6

Modern vision

In this week’s reading Benjamin argues, “To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense.” Do you agree or disagree? Do you think there is a role for the ‘authentic’ in an age of digital design and manufacture?

In the essay the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction written by Walter Benjamin he argues, “To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense.”

I disagree with his quote. Whenever a photographer takes a picture of something, that image which they got is the original image. And I believe that if that image were to be printed then that would be the original / authentic print. If someone were to ask the photographer for the authentic print, he could get the image and show the person. Any other prints of that image other than the very first print is just a copy of the original print.

I think that there is a huge role for the authentic in the age of digital design and manufacture. The authentic or the original of a photo, design or anything for that matter is one of a kind. Even though there are many copies of it, there will only be one original. If someone were to say I got the first ever of something then that makes it special. The original would be worth far more than any copy. For example, if someone had the very first coke bottle then that could sell for thousands of dollars where you can go buy a copy of that bottle for only $3.50 from the local dairy.

Blog Assignment 5

Colour—abstraction, perception and modernity

How has the experience and experimentation of artists influenced our understanding of colour and the development of a theory of ‘colour vision’?

Around the 19th century artists Goethe and JWM Turner started to experiment more with colour, light and shade in their painting. Through their experiments with colour they learnt that when some colours are placed next to each other that they look different. Michel Eugene said that the change in colour isn't because there is something wrong with the paint but it is how out eyes deceive the colour with it surroundings. This is called Simultaneous Contrast. In the book "Colours of the Mind in Colour and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction(pp.191-212)" it says “I use the simplest colours. I don’t transform them myself, it is the relationships which take charge of them” (Gage, 1993) I believe this is a good quote to help understand 'colour vision' because i think that 'colour vision is how our eyes deceive the colours which we see. I think the quote is saying that he uses just plain colours and that the outcome of the painting depends on how you view the different colours all together.


I think that if artists like Goethe didn't experiment with colours then art in this century would be very different than they are now and that we wouldn't have gotten out 'colour vision'.

Bibliography

Gage, J. (1993). Colour and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction. New York: Thames and Hudson.

Blog assignment 4

Ornament or Nature

Adolf Loos argued in this essay ‘Ornament and Crime’ that “The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of daily use.” He is stating that it is a crime to add ornament onto an object to change people perception on the object.

I agree with what Loos says in his essay. The main reason people put ornament on objects are to make increase the value of the object. Something that may be only $20 without ornaments can easily be $50 with ornaments added to it.

I agree with Loos because I think all the stuff which people use for ornaments is waste of materials that could be used more productively somewhere else.

Here is a mirror which has a lot of ornament on it which most of it is very unnecessary. The ornaments on this mirror would greatly increase the value of this mirror when all you really need is the mirror and a frame.

image from: http://mpmm-hannibal.blogspot.com/2010/06/part-ii-florence.html