Assignment 9 - Politics of Design: the Cold War, modernism + democracy

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.

There are a lot of political and ideological messages and movements which are made for informing design and branding today, an example of this is the eco-design campaign (also known sometimes as green politics). Eco-design is an approach where the environmental impact of a product is actually shown within the design. Eco-design tries to put across the idea that each individual should actually hold responsibility for the impact they make on the planet.

 

 

 The image above was created by GE Global Research and was meant as an example of nature vs civilisation. The reason behind this design was to show how the roots of industrialisation are similar to the roots of a tree. By showing something negative and comparing it to something natural is a sort of oxy-Moran where it's trying to expose what were doing to the natural balance and the world we live on.

 

 

Image from - http://ge.geglobalresearch.com/blog/life-cycle-assessment-ecodesign/

Assignment 8 - Modernism: standardisation, rationalisation, and the search for the universal

In our reading this week, “The first machine age in Europe” by David 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?

I agree that design is a result of “function x economy” because buildings or products need to be designed solely for easy and comfortable use. Furthermore the designer should consider how much the consumers can afford and not just how artistic the design is (although that is important too). Sometimes, products or buildings are designed to look ‘good’ but because of this the design can become inconvenient for people to use. 

 

 Today’s design has radically changed, mainly due to the development of science and technologies. Now production is faster and there is more variation in materials. However, just because design is now driven by technology does not make it a science. However the Scientific aspects of design are still necessary. Science provides people with new knowledge and information they need to create useful objects. So Science is also considering people’s needs but doesn't actually focus on the emotional effects a work of art can have. Without art we would not have works like those of Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso or Monet. Without Science, products of design would not be very functional, but without art the product would not be very appealing to people. So all in all, Science complements art and design of our age and makes it more practical but has not replaced the fundamentals of design it's self.

Assignment 7 - Narratives of Progress

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?

A “symbolic universe” of today would have to be Facebook. Facebook is a social network website which has created a new social structure contrasting with “the real world”. There is no real social status in Facebook as only the title of "Friend" can existed in this cyber world. People make new relationships easily by simply clicking the accept and/or request friend button. In this cyber world, people are equal and share information with people that they accept as "Friend". In “the real world” however, you would have systems which would involve other social statuses such as father/son, mother/daughter, employer/employee.

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Facebook is linked to other countries via the internet, so people can share information and make new friends from all over the world. This was mearly an unattainable nerdish dream until mid 21^st century, but with the continuing development of technology and the internet people can now have conversations with friends anywhere without the limit of time and place. These changes also gave new views of nationality. Now people are getting closer and it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from - this is the forming a new way for society around the world. As the world is getting closer, the simple notion of nationality is getting weaker. Media and design have also been helping to bring about these changes.

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Facebook emoticons. retrieved from:http://facebookemoticons.biz/
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KREMSA-an interactive agency-facebook. retrieved from:http://www.kremsa.com/work/facebook

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?

I actually agree with Benjamin because the idea of having a more “authentic” original piece of art is an old fashioned idea and doesn't seem to apply much to digital art.

The picture above is The Last Supper, painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the Renascence. This picture is a prime representation of how valuable an original work of art can be. In this case having the original version is much more valuable than a copy as only the original allows you to see unique texture and certain key style points of Leonardo da Vinci’s brushstrokes. There are hundreds of copies and interpretations of this picture but because the copies are using different materials under different conditions they can never match the depth, feel and meaning of the original. Also, people feel that there is a particular aura surrounding a piece of art which is a one of a kind that never seems to fade, even after hundreds of years. Something that can never be re-created with even the most advance of technology.

However as digital technology has been improved, works of art are also altered to be more like digital art works rather than hand craft. This development is one of the key points behind the creation of mass production of art. This means that digital art has lost the idea of art being authentic as people can see and feel exactly the same way from a copy to the original piece of art. People can't really notice any difference from the first or the hundredth photo copy. At this point, today’s digital art copies do not allow to people feel the same unique aura which Leonardo's works has created.