Heskett Chapter 7 and 8

The talk about cultures and subcultures caught my attention originally because I have previously had a class about immigration and we talked about how technology has changed the way people assimilate, but we really did not get into all the different types of technology.  There are online newspapers, communication via satellite, and the internet that all aid in helping people stay connect with their culture.  I have had some experience working with video conference units, and using a system like this makes it really easy to connect with someone else in a different location.  Using this system you are able to see and talk to each other, business have started to use this technology to connect with partners in different locations.  I have also seen similar technology used at the Ohio School For The Deaf where a student can connect with someone on a different line and have a conversation.  Their system is a bit different though because of the situation, on one line there is someone speaking over a phone and then an interpreter is translating what is being said to the student and vis versa.  It is interesting that there is this kind of technology out there, and how effective it can be to communicate with people in a different location.  It has become easier to use this kind of technology because of it being accessible to almost anyone who has a computer any more.

Faces

Designs With Accessibility In Mind

This past week in class we learned about how design can help improve people's lives.  I have had a little experience with discussions very similar to this before, in high school I took two American Sign Language courses and part of our learning was to find out how new technology can help improve the lives of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.  So the things we discussed in last weeks class made me think about what I had previously learned in ASL.  The use of lights in a deaf person's home is very important for several different reason.  Lights flashing can signal that someone is ringing the door bell or that someone is calling the phone.  They can also be used to know when the fire alarm is going off.  The flashing of the lights differ from situation to situation so the individual in the home knows exactly what it means.  Other technology I know that is used is the shaking of the bed, this is their alarm clock for in the morning.  Because of not being able to hear it is impossible for them to hear these sounds like a door bell, phone ringing, or their alarm going off it is important to have an alternate way of knowing these things.  Expecially when it may come to having a house fire and needing to get out as quick as possible.  I know that their are a lot more improvements out their that can aid in their living, and even the technology that is available can be made better, it just needs to be designed.

Hunting Down Design

The Barcelona Chair was designed by Mis van de Rohe.  The chair's frame was initially suppose to be bolted together but stainless steal was used instead and this allowed for the metal to be formed without seams.  

Gerrit Rietveld designed the Red and Blue Chair.  In 1918, after starting his own furniture factory, he changed the colors of the chair after being influenced by the De Stijl movement.

Peter Eisenman was the designer of the Wexner Center.  The double passageway represents the Columbus street grid.

Philip Johnson designed the Math Tower.

The William Oxley Thompson Memoral Library was renovated by Acock and Associates.  The renovation included getting rid of hazardous materials and also expanding the 1977 edition of the library.

http://efdsgnw11.blogspot.com/   Elissa F.
http://kursinskis.blogspot.com/  Nick K.
Our group prepared for the scavenger hunt by checking out the internet first to answer the clues that we did not know.  After we found the answers we left Hopkins, and traveled as a group to each site and took each other's pictures.  The additional research needed for interesting facts about the designs were finished individually on our own time.

Designer Investigation

Buckminster Fuller-  Fuller was a designer, inventor, poet, and futurist who learned by working at different industrial jobs.  He was able to solve problems involving human shelter, nutrition, transportation, environmental pollution, and decreasing world resources.  In order to solve these problems he was committed to do more with less and he did this by using new technology.  He designed the 1927 Dymaxion House, which is referred to as Marshall-Field.  The 1933 Dymaxion Car was also another of his designs.  The 1947 Geodesic Dome was designed as an emergency shelter for the British War Relief Organization.  The dome was designed to be able to be set up and took down easily.  It also was made to cover a maximum amount of space without any internal supports.  Now this is used as an inexpensive way to shelter homeless people in Africa, or to house a weather station in the Antartic.  Along with all these accomplishments he has wrote 25 books.  Eero Saarinen-  Eero is an architect who followed in his father's foot steps.  A lot of his early works were collaborations with his father.  After his father passed away he renamed the family business to Eero Saarinen and Associates.  His architecture has been characterized by expressive sculpture forms and his basic design ideas were of those of Modernism.  When he was making a new project and a material that he wanted did not exist he would invent it.  Eero was also a prize winning designer of furniture.  He designed several different chairs which include: the Grasshopper lounge chair and ottoman, the Womb chair and ottoman, the Womb settee, and the Tulip chair or Pedestal chair.  Some of his chairs were put into production by the Knoll furniture company.  Other projects of his include the Trans World Air Lines Terminal at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, the John Deere Administrative Center, the Bell Laboratories headquarters, and Dulles International Airport.  Jasper Morrison-  Jasper is an industrial designer who went to school at Kingston Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art.  After he graduated in 1986 he opened his first office for design in London.  As a designer he would travel around London on his moped and find small industrial workshops that would produce his products.  These products were formed out of materials that have already been formed.  Out of this process things like his flower pot table was made, this was a glass table that was helf up by flower pots.  After doing this kind of work for a while companies like the German door handle maker, an Italian furniture manufacture, and a Swiss furniture company all commissioned his work.  As a designer he tried to design every day house hold items that were lighter, softer, inclusive, and that generate light and space.  These products were part of his Some New Items For The House collection.  Jasper kept his connections with his friends that he went to school with.  He would collaborate with his friends like James Irvine and Andreas Brandolini.  Clients who hired him allowed him to experiment with new materials and technology.  As a result he designed objects like the 1999 Low Pad Chair, 1956 Steel and Leather chair, and also the 1999 Air chair.  He did not only design furniture, on his list of things he had designed included the tram system for the city of Hanover, this was a two year project for him.  In 2000 he added a new studio in Paris to his work while he divided his time between Paris and London.  

Edmondson, Amy C.  A Fuller Explanation: the synergetic geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller.  Boston:     Birkhauser, 1987.Marks, Robert W.  The Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller.  Carbondale, Southern Illinois Univeristy     Press, 1960.Muriel Emmonuel.  Contemporary Architects.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.Hoffman, Douglas R.  From Maybeck to Megachurches.  Architecture Week No. 61, 2001.Morrison, Jasper.  Everything But The Walls.  Lars Muller 2002.Dormer, Peter.  Jasper Morrison.  Phaidon Press, 1990.

Survey

This survey was given to five different people and these were the questions that were asked along with the answers:
1. Do you like football or basketball better? Football 4; Basketball 1
2. Would you rather have a cat or a dog? Cat 1; Dog 4
3. Do you like pepperoni or cheese pizza best? Pepperoni 2; Cheese 3
4. Would you rather have a car or a truck? Car 2; Truck 3
5. Would you rather do your shopping in-store or on the internet? In-store 4; Internet 1

Chapter 4-6 of Heskett

In chapter 4 the book talked about how designers create a design for an intended use but over time there are more uses that are found.  Knowing the different uses and object can do can help with the marketing of the product.  If consumers know that there is more than one use to it that will benefit them they are more likely to purchase the product than if there is only one for two uses.  The book gave the example of the 3M post it sticky notes.  The sticky notes do not only serve as a reminder for us but they can be used as book marks, faux labels, and shopping reminders.  Chapter 5 discusses about how visual communication design does not only enable users to use a resource efficently but also used to persuade comsumers about a product.  Enabling users refers to how easy a website can be naviagated.  I know if they did not go through the process of making sure it was easy to navigate by the adverage person it would be hard for me personally to get around because I am not too knowledgeable when it comes to getting around a computer.  Signs and advertising is used to persuade comsumers about a certain product.  When doing this the designer has to be careful and appeal to the audience that is intended and not to affend them in any way.  Chapter 6 talked about interior design and how the amount of space that is allowed has a big influence on how appliances can be set up.  Homes in the United States tend to have a lot more room than homes in places like Japan.  And when homes are larger the appliances can be much more luxureous, like being able to lay in the bath tub and be completely covered compaired to just taking a dip in it, or like having larger washer and drier in its own seperate space.  The home is one of the only places someone can involve their own likes and interests that fit their lifestyle insteasd of trying to form to the needs of others.  This part of the chapter is what really appealed to me because really when you go to work or school it is set up for an environment fit for work, and when you go shopping stores are made to find the items you came in for plus has visuals do you find things that you did not come in for.  Really the home is the only time where you can create your own ideas and showcase them.