Blog assignment 9

In today’s society I believe that designers are being more and more influenced by ideological messages.  Ideologies have been used in history especially during the cold war in the 1940’s where there was a strong idea of how the living standard of the average person should be.

 One of the main influences I think is the “Green” or eco-friendly ideas where we are getting more concerned about our planet with global warming, pollution etc. that being more eco-friendly is being vastly promoted throughout design in consumer products. It’s all to do with how the consumer thinks and if you are promoting yourself as helping reduce pollution then when people buy your product they will feel as though they have done some good in helping the planet and that makes a product more appealing to most consumers. 

One example of this is a taxi service called Green cabs with the slogan “safer for you, safer for your environment” where their main advertising scheme is promoting that if you get their taxi with their eco-friendly cars you are helping the environment and part of the design of the taxis is that it is green with a globe on it so it is easy to distinguish.  Using ideas such as these adds value to the product and in the consumers eyes they are getting a taxi that offers low taxi fares and as well as the eco-friendly idea so the consumer is getting a wider range of benefits which will make it more appealing. I think the use of this idea is becoming more and more popular and as it is a serious issue the world is facing I believe more and more companies will start putting this idea into their designs. 

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Image sourced from:

http://www.unep.org/CLIMATENEUTRAL/Portals/0/Company/GreenCabs/ImageGeneratorCA72EB42%28The%20green%20cabs%20are%20Toyota%20Prius%20vehicles%29.png

Blog assignment 8: Modernism

I believe that today design is a mixture art and science. They both need each other in order to have a balanced out design and without it the design would become focusing too much on how logic a design is. If only the science was put into consideration which can constrain and limit the abilities of a design. 

I disagree with Meyer’s view of ‘function x economy’ I think that as the times change so does our demand for our design. No longer are materials fairly expensive and hard to get a hold of. No longer are designs made to just do its function while using the least amount of material as possible and as cheap as possible. In today’s world that is not enough to just have the function due to the fact that there are more resources and materials that can be spared to use for the function of a design.  The design has to stand out to the consumer aesthetically to get their attention and add extra meaning to it otherwise even if it is true to its function it would not get a second glimpse with any aesthetics to it.  For example with The Palm Islands which is an artificial archipelago in Dubai which can be seen from space. This goes far beyond the point of the function of an island but it is because of this unique aesthetic to it, it is so famous where if it was just an island it would still provide the same function but would not be as renown. 

For a design to be successful I believe it must have the function (science) element in it as well as the aesthetic (art) side to it.

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 Image sourced from: http://www.dubai-information.info/palm_island_dubai.jpg 

Blog assignment 7

The concept of a “symbolic universe” as a cultural structure of legitimation” is often apparent in low points of society such as the great depression and where world fairs were often made to express an idea of a brighter future where society was going to advance into a utopia. The main world fairs were held in the 1930s with the Century of progress exposition (CPE) which was held in Chicago in 1933-34 and the New Yorks world fair that was held in 1939-1940. In these fairs new technology were displayed to show a better world in the future and a way to improve living standards. 

Examples of a “symbolic universe” today is in a game called fallout which is set during the 22nd and 23rd centuries, its retro-futuristic story are influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s America, and its combination of hope for the promises of  a “better tomorrow” and a utopia. Here are close relevance of dire situations present in a society in the cold war where there is devastation (the great depression) and ideals of a near future world that is better than the one the society is in at the moment.

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Kihlstedt, F. (1986) Utopia realized: The world fairs of the 1930s.
Image sourced at: http://images.wikia.com/fallout/images/c/c0/Fallout_3_cover_art.png

Modern Vision.

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.” With saying this he is getting his point of view across of how technology is changing and at that point of time one of the big changes is the ability to more easily reproduce work so accurately compared to the past that we don’t need the original.

I agree with this and that because of the new technology we have and especially with digital media to have the original other than the point of being reproduced is irrelevant, for example if someone makes a poster or some digital media on the internet and it is widely produced where you have the original or copy of it in the end you are getting the same image and if there is no difference about it to the point where it would be even impossible to know which one was the original then there is nothing to gain from having the original. This also has an impact of the aura of the original where now days you would show someone your copies of your work and then the originals on a screen and it would not be anywhere near as impressive and special as something like the paintings describing moments in history such as the Oath of the Horatii, 1784 by Jacques Louis David.