Blog Assignment 8

Nowadays, as the environmental deterioration is becoming increasingly important, governments started to promote an idea of sustainability and reusability. This ideological message informs design, and lends contemporary designers to create thing that consumes renewable energy resource. For example, the solar toys from above image. This kind of toy suddenly became popular in China since last few years. The reason for this is the sustainable idea of using solar energy to provide a small action in the cute looking toy. It is free-pollution and self-rechargeable.

From the example, I feel that politics and design is two inseparable ideas. They influence each other, and have the same purpose lend people to have a better life. Design could be seen as a policy that the government use to promote their ideology, and politics could be seen as a leader tells design which way to go.

Image is from http://www.guangyigongyipin.cn/athena/offerdetail/sale/guangyigongyipin-181305-629237344.html

Blog Assignment 7

As a designer, I think I have the responsibility to consider the global problem such as inadequate resource and environmental degradation. Then, I am able to use my design to manipulate people’s taste in order to solve the problem and make people live in a harmonic way with nature.

In addition, I do not think my unique background will strongly influence the way of how I design. The real element, which will affect how I do and what I do, is the way of how I am taught and what I am taught.

The reason I believe this is people start to traveling around the world frequently and easily these days. In other words, people who come from different backgrounds are able to get to together and share their culture, knowledge and thought. Globalization is happening in every field include design, especially New Zealand where I could meet people from all over the world and be taught by lecturers from several countries. I seem like a sponge absorbs all the knowledge and ideas around me. Those ideas inform my approach as a designer, and my background is just a part of the whole.

Blog Assignment 6

Bauhaus, the most widely known school of the design history, represents the best-recognized design movement in the past. It founded the fundamental pedagogy of design, which schools still use in now days. For example, Bauhaus provided the common first semester that introduced materials, drawing techniques and forms to students and stimulated their interest in these creative technologies before they focus on a particular workshop. In my first year of design, the study system is very similar to the course only the time became longer. For having the common study course, both schools have the same purpose that is giving students the creative ability and a genial idea of all kinds of design in order to make them aware about which particular workshop they are truly interested. Furthermore, these two schools teach students both techniques and philosophies of design, which allows students to have the skills of both craftsmen and designers. In addition, you could see from both schools that the change of social situation causes the change of design school’s ideology. Therefore, nowadays educational system of the design schools are developed basic on the Bauhaus’ fundamental pedagogy, we could still see many similarities between both systems. What might the future design school look like? We will find out soon.

Blog Assignment 5

“To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. Form a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense.”

When I read this quote at the first time, I agreed with it. Considering the photographic negative, every print from it does not have any differences. Even though this idea is the fact, it is only about the physical object. How about the feeling of the photographer to the photo? The feeling is the soul of the photo. In the other word, the prefect picture, which the photographer wants to catch and show people, is the authentic print. The physical print is only the most appropriate one to the ideal one, and the ideal photo will be in his/her brain forever. Therefore, I disagree with him, because the authentic print does exist, but we cannot see it, we can only feel it through the physical print.

Is there a role for the ‘authentic’ in an age of digital design and manufacture? In my opinion, the answer is yes. The reason is that every individual product will have its own experiment, such as, they will have different owners, they will be in a different environment and their owners might get them in a different way. Each experiment makes it different from the others; even they have the same looking. The experiment changes the way of how their owners think of them. Therefore, for each owner, each product is the original one, ever there are thousands copies of it in the world.

Blog Assignment 4

In the image, there is a piece of ceramic designed by Jennifer McCurdy from a exhibition in 2008.

http://northtemple.com/2008/09/09/ceramics-jennifer-mccurdy

In my view, the ceramic is a representation of contemporary craft. The reason I believe this is that Jennifer McCurdy is not only the designer of it, but she also executed it by herself. She knew the property and the quality of the material she is using. She intimately engaged with the process of making the ceramic from the beginning to the end. While she was fulfilling her idea, she put her emotion into it and keeping thinking about how to develop it. During the practice, she built up a special connection with her piece, which only designing can not achieve. Therefore, the ceramic is able to convey both McCurdy’s idea and emotion. Moreover, the way that she participated in the making process is the most important evident to improve that the ceramic represents a contemporary expression of craft.

Blog Assignment 3

WALL TEARS by Yuka Yoneda

from http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/27/wall-tears-elegant-wall-art-blown-from-recycled-glass/

Owen Jones wrote in The Grammar of Ornament (1856) that, “Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely constructed.” Considering about his background, he meant manufactures should be functionally decorated, and the decorations have to be appropriate to it. In other words, designers should always consider the utility of the production first, and the embellishments should be subordinated.

In my opinion, if designer is creating some functional manufactures, his principles will be definitely true. Otherwise, he will be wrong. In current days, there are numerous designs which exist for decoration only such as the Wall Tears by Yuka Yoneda, so decorations can be purposely constructed.

However, he was living in completely different world compare with us. He was one of the reformers of design in the latter18th century and the early 19th century, who was strongly influenced by A.W.N. Pugin. During that specific period, there was a significant growth in both economy and population, which lead to a number of issues of social. Many conflicts between working-class and upper class deteriorated the social instability. Reformers tried to through revival Gothic style to reduce the fear of social unrest. Therefor Jones' principle was true in that period.

Assignment 2

The first one La Chaise was designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1948.

The second one was designed by Anne-MetteJensen and Morten Ernst in 1994.

Both of they have organic curve surfaces with rational straight line structures support them.

Sensuous impulse in design is a strong reflection from designers who have been searching for a new style in a cold rational world for a very long time. They look for a completely fresh way to design things that are totally out of any classical principle which they are tired of. Therefore, they start to create a large number of illogically imaginary arts to break those rules. It seems like a wild plant glowing madly on the ground. This phenomenon is likely to spread as fast as explode, and the design might become more and more fantastically imaginary and irrational. To sum up, sensuous impulse is the process of changing from classicism to romanticism.

Sensuous impulse is not only appear in the history, but also in the recent days. The reason for that is there is a swing between the straight line and the curve (They are the representation of classicism and romanticism respectively), but the range of the swing is been becoming smaller and smaller. The creations designed by people are getting closer to the balance between the straight line and the curve.