#historyofdesign

[green-hypocrite]

Planned obsolescence

Obsolescence, what is it? It's act of planed aging of a product. You may ask why would anyone do such thing when we have trash crisis? Well the whole concept was invented in a beginning of XX century simultaneously with the development of the mass industry, and actually it became an answer to other crisis — Wall Street Crash. At first this concept seemed good. If products would break after certain time, people would be buying more which would increase demand for products and in result demand for workers. This would fix the problem of unemployment and it would fuel the economy. As you know this happened and now we must deal with consequences.

Let's go back in time to 50's. Back then the situation in the USA and in Europe was different. America after 1929 needed something to push economy forward and the idea of shortening time usage of product seemed perfect for that. This led to unlimited consumption in 50's, people love the idea of having new stuff whenever they wanted for lower price, not thinking what to do when something breaks just buying another, newer version of that item. In Europe situation was kind of opposite. After wars there was significantly less raw materials, everyone was looking for stability and comfort so the European market was answering the needs as well as it could — products had great quality and long durability. Nowadays the situation has evened out due to globalization.

Obsolescence can take various forms, from making products that will break after one use, to not using newer, better technologies for economic reasons. We live in times when fixing something is more difficult (sometimes impossible) and more expensive than buying it new. My favorite example are nylon stockings. When you think about it the first picture you see is a hole in tights, but it wasn't always the case. This invention was adopted so well due to great durability of nylon, then scientists were asked to change the structure of this material so that it would break easily, in result women would buy more and more. This leads to catastrophe, we can't produce objects without end because it became producing endless amounts of trash. Asia is buried in all used items that countries from other continents sold them, their rivers have more old electronic that water, and the fact we don't see that doesn't make this problem less important or less real.

You will think that all fault is on a designer but that's not true. I mentioned above that people liked this idea (they still do). Designers are working for companies and companies are trying to satisfy the customer. As consumers, we have the right to “vote” with our money. It really makes a difference which store are you buying from and how much effort are you putting in maintaining long life of your belongings. Consumer decisions have the biggest impact on economy so don't ever think that you can't change the world, everyday you have the power to do that so chose wisely.

GH

[drawdownbooks]

Parallel Narratives: Annotated Student Bibliographies toward a Broader History of Design Available at www.draw-down.com Annotated bibliographies included in this edition: Colonialism, Appropriation, and Fetishization of Native Women in Design and Art: Angel DeCora, Tammy Garcia, Edmonia Lewis; Asian Female Designers; Tony Arefin and Associates; The Branded Image of Terrorist Organizations and State Propaganda; Corita Kent; Cuban Design; Girls, Girls, Girls: Their Impact on the Gaming Industry; The History of Emoji; The Graphic Language of Jazz; Hell on Earth: The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings; The History of ID Software; Ivan Bilibin, Russian Illustrator; Kim Swoo Geun; Leica; Rob Liefeld and Comics in the ’90s; José Guadalupe Posada; Satoshi Tajiri, Pokémon Creator; Sulki and Min; The Swastika, Paganism and Mythology; Vietnamese Design; Design of the Tulalip Tribes; Women of Automotive Design; Through the Eyes of Design: A Focus on the Basque Country; Design of the Mexican Revolution; How West African Textiles Changed the Design World; Women and Contemporary Calligraphy; The Women of the Taller de Gráphica Popular. #graphicdesign #Bibliographies #HistoryofDesign #ParallelNarratives (at Cornish College of the Arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5gXNQMHzrm/?igshid=mtm8nucs2rfp

[drawdownbooks]

LAST COPIES! Led by Example — Archive / Available at www.draw-down.com / #LedbyExample was created by Farah Kafei and Valentina Vergara, two #graphicdesign students finishing their senior year at #PrattInstitute. The campaign they initiated rallied for more women at the head of classrooms #teachinggraphicdesign and for the inclusion of more women in the #historyofdesign education. A number of events became part of the campaign, including #MissingPages, an interactive installation that was mounted to highlight women underrepresented in #designhistory textbooks; and Against All Odds, a panel discussion with Carly Ayres, #NatashaJen, Ellen Lupton, and #TracyMa which focused on gender disparity in graphic design education and its effects. This publication brings together the research, planning materials, design process, and physical manifestations that became Led by Example. A section on “Aspirations” for the project also compiles lessons learned and suggestions for concrete change. Useful as a collection for educators and students interested in gender parity in graphic design leadership, as well as those interested in graphic #design education and graphic design education history, this publication also serves to document the power of student-initiated #activism. (at Pratt Institute) https://www.instagram.com/p/Brpm5JEAq8J/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=12zkwixlfz3gi

[drawdownbooks]

Led by Example — Archive / Available at www.draw-down.com / #LedbyExample was created by Farah Kafei and Valentina Vergara, two #graphicdesign students finishing their senior year at #PrattInstitute. The campaign they initiated rallied for more women at the head of classrooms #teachinggraphicdesign and for the inclusion of more women in the #historyofdesign education. A number of events became part of the campaign, including #MissingPages, an interactive installation that was mounted to highlight women underrepresented in #designhistory textbooks; and Against All Odds, a panel discussion with Carly Ayres, #NatashaJen, Ellen Lupton, and #TracyMa which focused on gender disparity in graphic design education and its effects. This publication brings together the research, planning materials, design process, and physical manifestations that became Led by Example. A section on “Aspirations” for the project also compiles lessons learned and suggestions for concrete change. Useful as a collection for educators and students interested in gender parity in graphic design leadership, as well as those interested in graphic #design education and graphic design education history, this publication also serves to document the power of student-initiated #activism. (at Pratt Institute)

[ulfjak]

Week 5 - This Is How You Critically Analyse Artistic Traditions and Lineages

Introducing the ever-famous batik motif of Singapore Airlines which features native floras from Singapore. The motif has been around since 1968 and subsequently adapted by French Couturier Pierre Balmain. In which was applied in the design of the Singaporean Girl's sarong uniform, which then became the airline's official mark to pay homage to our heritage.

I believe that the batik is our reflection of identity to our Singapore heritage as it represents culture. By wearing the sarong uniform, it gives a feel of Singapore despite being miles away or 30,000 feet up from the small sunny island.

Not only do the airline has the sarong uniforms in 10 floras- batik motif, but they have them in 4 different colours which symbolise different Singapore dollars. In my opinion, I find it rather interesting and touched that Singapore Airlines paid attention to details and ensure that their elements are effectively communicated.

The batik motif has been incorporated on other collaterals such as merchandises sold on KrisShop, which is Singapore Airlines' retail flagship store and the strong focal element of the airline.

This was one of the projects that I was tasked to do during my internship in the branding department of Singapore Airlines back in 2021. (Upcycling Project)

It was important that I applied the batik motif in the backing card and designs. This shows the importance of the batik motif and how the airline has always align the elements into everything.

As a designer, learning about the traditions of the Singapore Airlines' batik motif is fascinating as we can see how much they care about the country's reputation and traditions.

References:

"Desktop Wallpaper (Mac) - Batik Side Blue." Singapore Airlines, 7 Nov. 2022, www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/us/media-centre/multimedia-library/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2023.

"Singapore Airlines Cabin Crew." Singapore Airlines, 7 Nov. 2022, www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/us/flying-withus/our-story/our-cabin-crew/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2023.

"SINGAPORE AIRLINES AVIATION TAG A380." KrisShop, 7 Nov. 2022, www.krisshop.com/en/product/ddf33d3101993a77/singapore-airlines-aviation-tag-a380.html. Accessed 7 Nov. 2023.

296 Words, 1970 Characters

[danfutura]

A Brief History of Design

AKA: Today I Learned Episode 9

In past lectures Andy has been giving us brief history lessons on design movements and the evolution of design. I have collected notes from these lessons and feel that it is time to collate them all together in a structured list. 

Disclaimer: This list is no where near complete and just a collection of things I have personally learned from my communication design studies classes. This list may be added to in the future. 

-  Early writing forms: Cuneiform, Hieroglyphs and other early writing forms are found from all other the world. They all seem to have early or basic ideas of letters/ shape that have a meaning. They are also written in a multitude of different way from left to right, right to left or even in a circular or spiral pattern. 

- 1st Century BCE: Books had start to become luxury items, are only available to a select few (rich/educated) as they are labour intensive to make and had to be written by hand. 

- 888:  The Diamond Sutra is the first dated example of block printing, using blocks to stamp letters onto a page. 

- 1041: In China Bi Sheng invents the first movable type to customise pages, sentences, printing large bodies of text onto a page at once.

-  1440: Johannes Gutenberg completes his wooden printing press which used movable metal type. This causes black letter to become popular due to it being the standard letter form to be used in mass produced books.

- 1517 - 1692: Geometric specifications and proportions are added to Latin capital letters to create a font. Letters also start to be placed into a grid with specific coordinates. A shift is seen where printed writing starts to replace handwriting in books. San-serif fonts also start to gain prominence. 

- 1814: A steam powered printing press is used to print the Times.

- 1909: Futurism, an artistic and social movement starts to spread throughout Europe. Futurists tried to create works that emphasised newness ( speed, technology, youth, violence) and tried to abolish tradition or ‘old fashioned’ ways of life. 

- 1919: The Bauhaus, a school of design is founded in Germany by Walter Gropius. This school was very influential in its design teachings and their ideas of simplicity and practicality are still prominent today.

- 1928: Jan Tschichold writes the ‘New Typography’ a manual for graphic designers that presents modernist ideals about font (size, font, colour, use of empty space and composition).

- 1972: The end of modernism. Modernist buildings by Minoru Yamasaki at Pruitt Igoe are demolished for failing to cater to the needs of its occupants. This causes for the rise of Post-Modern movements such as the Punk movement that emphasises rebellious activity, chaos and the breakdown of structure. 

- 1980: Memphis design group is founded. Memphis is almost the opposite of the Bauhaus and parodies traditional furniture design. Described as ‘Ikea on LSD’ by Andy. 

- 1981: Joseph Muller Brockmann creates the book ‘Grid Systems’ that proposes the use of grids to aid type composition on a page. 

Now-ish: The invention of the Desktop computer allows design practice that would normally be outsourced to different professionals to be completed in a singular place by one person. Designers now could compose text and images directly on a page. 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. 

[fredcastillo-blog]

#Repost @michaeltaylorcollections (@get_repost) ・・・ Fearless and innovative from the start, Michael Taylor was described as "the James Dean" of designers by Diana Vreeland. In one of his earliest interiors, pure dramatic glamour is envisioned in vermillion. Experience some of Michael Taylor's most iconic interiors in the @thepeakofchic's must have new book "Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Designers of the Past 100 Years." #historyofdesign #flashback #quintessentialtaylor #interiors https://www.instagram.com/p/BrJLdHolFPi/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1vvxaed3pp1sc

[victoriacooperantiqueprints]

Time to get remodelling... 📐✏️💗 ‘Architecture. Plans for Pediments, and Groins.’ was drawn by T. Sheraton and engraved on copper by J. Pass, for "Encyclopaedia Londinensis; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature, Comprehending, Under One General Alphabetical Arrangement, all the Words and Substance of Every Kind of Dictionary Extant in the English Language" by John Wilkes. It was published by J. Adlard out of London on April 28th, 1798. This lovely print measures 10 7/8 x 8 5/8 inches. Come and check out our website to see more fabulous prints! ✏️📐🏛 #architecture #plans #pediment #design #designfeature #exteriordesign #architecturaldesign #buildingdesign #homedesign #oldarchitecture #1700s #antiqueprints #architecturalprints #originalprint #blackandwhite #engraving #rareprints #coololdprints #homedecor #interiordecor #interiordesign #inspiration #gallerywalldecor #encyclopedia #historyofdesign #historyofart #arthistory #designhistory #howcool #keeplearning