CCDN271

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Assignment Two: Identifying a Standpoint & Support

The theme of a special issue arose from a perceived need to generate a disclosure around the interface between "design" taken as a function of the activity of the "professional" designers and being part of an established cycle of the design, production and consumption of goods; "Do It Yourself" taken as its antithesis-a more democratic design process on self-driven, self-directed amateur design and production activity carried out more closely to the end user of the goods created. I will argue that DIY is design through self-necessity being predominantly "Function over Form" and that it isn't primarily masculine at this day and age. Also these skills need to be pasted on to not just the younger generations, but other people in general. Beginning with Paul Atkinson 2006 text, Journal of Design History, this study will provide an overview on DIY a problem of definition. There remains, however, a need to expand the existing canon of works, as relatively little has been written on the subject of DIY. I nominate Critical Design - Rethinking Design Policy in the Third World as my intersecting theme as I feel that this draws back to the roots of DIY as necessity design from affordability perspectives. Money may only be a temporary solution to third work problems, but skills of a DIY thinker could change the perspective and intentions of someone living in a third world country to transition towards an innovative thinker that could solve this global problem from the inside out. The initial text I will use for this is Journal of Design History by Paul Atkinson.

Output: I will be using a photo essay to illustrate and demonstrate my argument because photos will best communicate the practical design solutions of DIY and examples of transitions of this into third world countries.

References:

Amir, S. (Autumn, 2004). Rethinking Design Policy in the Third World. Design Issues, Vol. 20 (No. 4), pp. 68-75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1512003

Atkinson, P. (spring, 2006). Journal of Design History. Do It Yourself: Democracy and Design, Vol. 19. (No. 1), pp. 1-10.http://www.jstor.org/stable/3838669 

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Historical influences on contemporary issues

Visitors to Mexico City are often struck by the prevalent use of concrete in houses of all sizes, and representative of all social classes. Indeed, cement is a central component of domestic construction in Mexico City. The state of the cement market in Mexico notes that among the constructors of low-income informal housing (who account for between 60 and 70 percent of all housing built in capital city), “more than 60 percent use concrete block construction in the walls and 90 percent of those interview will make floors and roofs out of cement”. An examination of typical middle- and high-income houses built since the 1920s demonstrates that the basic structure of the house is the same as the low-income houses. The decorative elements are superimposed on this structure. This generalised, and well established, use of cement as a basic ingredient of domestic construction contrast with the more limited  use the materials has enjoyed in the other industrial countries.

Walker, A. (2000). Historical Influences on the Use of Cement in Mexican Domestic. Construction History, Vol. 16. pp. 87-98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41613815 

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The everyday/critical design

The unfortunate social and economic conditions of Third World societies have instigated designers and design scholars to pay attention to the needs of this two-thirds of the world population. The “ideology” of design as problem solving drives designers and design scholars to think about how design can contribute to helping Third World societies. The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) organised the “Design for Need” conference in April 1976.

The idea of design for the Third World advocated but either Papanek or Bonsiepe did not really work because they lacked political dimensions in their implementation. Therefore, this article seeks to offer a new perspective to implement the idea of design as a solution for Third World societies by looking at the interweaving of design and politics. 

Amir, S. (Autumn, 2004). Rethinking Design Policy in the Third World. Design Issues, Vol. 20 (No. 4), pp. 68-75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1512003 

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DIY/Craft

The theme of special issue arose from a perceived need to generate a disclosure around the interface between “design” taken as a function of the activity of the “professional” designers and being part of an established cycle of the design, production and consumption of goods; and “Do It Yourself” taken as its antithesis-a more democratic design process on self-driven, self-directed amateur design and production activity carried out more closely to the end user of the goods created.

An important quality that distinguishes DIY from “design” is discussed in a manner that separates “amateurs” (DIY) from designers. It’s possible that the reason DIY has not been examined in published studies as much as might have been is a function of the uncertainty as to where exactly it fits in the discourses of art, design or craft.

Atkinson, P. (spring, 2006). Journal of Design History. Do It Yourself: Democracy and Design, Vol. 19. (No. 1), pp. 1-10. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3838669 

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Gender in design

This section examines the crisis of masculinity at the Bauhaus and links it to the boarder crisis in patriarchy after the First World War. Bauhaus reminiscences and depictions of Bauhaus students and buildings in the catalogue of the 1938 MoMA Bauhaus exhibition show a re-enactment of war trauma in Bauhaus theatre and festivals. These and other experiments led to radical and subsequently conservative revisions of masculine identity. There is discussion from Walter Groupius, as he talks about how the war has effected design “Todays artist lives in an era of dissolution, without guidance. He stands alone. The old forms are in the ruins, the benumbed world is shaken up, the old human spirit is invalidated and in flux towards a new form.” this is the point where an era of masculine design arises. The section draws heavily on personal statements by Bauhaus students and masters, and juxtaposes these with theoretical analyses of masculine formation.

Ruedi Ray, k. (1984). Gender and Architecture. Journal of Architectural Education, Vol. 55 (No. 2), pp. 73-80. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1425608