I'm Back

So i'm back from the university term! At the start of the term I had grand plans of sport,  jobs, projects, blog posts, and also 'real' (university) work. Things didn't go to plan, my usual policy on doing 150% of what is required in the Design parts of the course, combined with the fact that the course was worth 150% of what it was last time (yep that's 2.25 times the work!), meant I had a very slim amount of free time. I committed it to doing extra design reading!!! Among which:

The Steve Jobs biography was a very interesting read, I thought it was going to be a rather rushed compilation of meaningless chronology (the Jony Ive biography obviously left a bad taste!), but no, Isaacson had obviously put a lot of research into the book, with a surprising amount of design insight, although it did little to calm my dogma.

Living with Complexity, the newest new Donald Norman book was OK. Yes, system design and the basic idea of the book, that there is a distinction between Complexity and Complication, are great principles. But I get the feeling that this could be done in an extended blog post, and didn't need a full book.

The Interior Design book, Design after Modernism, by Judith Gura, although, now I notice, the wrong Design after Modernism book, was actually very interesting, as interior designers are more likely to see design for what it really is, and not just look at individual products. It was good to see the variety of 'After-Modernism' we have at the moment, seeing the difference between Decontructivism and pure Postmodernism, or assessing the re-Modernism of the contrasting High Tech and Minimalist lines of thought.

As part of PDE, we went on a choice of  industrial visit, of which I chose to visit the Mitsubishi Electronics factory in Livingston, Scotland, it was great to see the variety of production techniques, the clean production line, and to see something serious being made in Britain.

Projects wise, we had a project called 'Movable Feast', which asked us to design a solution to the problem of people eating without a table. And a group project based around an RSA competition brief. I will trickle a little intro to the Movable Feast project in the near future, but the RSA project will have to wait for a while, assuming we submit it to the competition. Watch this space in the next month! i've got a bit of free time!

Apple Ads.

I wouldn't say that  I am someone who believes advertising has anything positive to give to society, but I think it's safe to say that Apple have produced some great adverts.

Some awe-inspiring stuff eh? Over the university term, I polished off the Walter Isaacson  Steve Jobs biography, in which Steve Jobs has a rant at the advertising guys when they deliver to him 'Typical Ad agency bullshit'. Apple have made some comical moves this year, in terms of design, but less noticed, but no less garish are the new line of adverts:

Typical Ad agency Bullshit?

Graphics

A part of a Pre-School preparation activity, I decided to re-aquaint myself with my graphic abilities by redesigning an awfully designed magazine. This proved to be an easy task to set up, as my dad is a member of CAMRA (CAMpaign for Real Ale), whose local branch is the authority on such visual tastes.

Safe to say, any redesign would have been an improvement.

I've used cooper black as I think it preserves a slightly wonky feel that the real ale crowd would probably appreciate. The rest is just a standard application of the most sensible basic layout laws.

So the University term is back upon us! This will mean the blog may not be updated quite as frequently as it has been over summer. I still need to update it with some things from my trip around Athens and Crete, and some more of the ranty dogmatic stuff will come if I have the time and the passion.

New Celebs

Today we have witnessed the launch of two design products from some of our most beloved designers, the Samsung Serif TV by the Boroullec Brothers, and the 'liberating' Punkt MP01 smartphones.

The Serif TV shows the Boroullec Brothers' interpretation of what TV should be; a TV designed more as a piece of furniture. It's interesting, semi-functional, semi-quirky form makes us long for an escape from recent ambitious but failed attempts to deliver a paper thin display. It's splayed edges allow the top surface to be used as a place of rest for various things, and the bottom offers a functional base. However, I find the typographic reference queasy in the same way I think the Mondaine Helvetica watch is tacky.

The Punkt MP01 promotes itself as a liberating and tasteful dumb phone. The phone offers only basic functions in an attempt to streamline peoples lives who have been confused by the current movement for more and more complex smart-devices. As an essay in good form it seems faultless - the off-kilter row of buttons is a clever use of gestalt, and the application of Ramsian minimallism is perfect, as is the perfect relation between the phones aesthetic and what can be seen on screen.

But let's be serious. Firstly, I'd like to what prices are being charged for these devices. Punkt clocks are selling for £85 at the moment, but will not wake me up 21 times as well as a £3.99 Alarm clock I can buy from Argos. Unfortunately, I also doubt the TV will be sold at a properly competitive price.

The problem with this 'designer price' is that it will totally consume the objective and intention, however well meaning, of the phone in question. I recently helped my grandma choose her new phone, we got her the most basic Doro - Phone.

Oh look, it's virtually identical. Yeah, the execution isn't quite the same but here is a phone which made it's way into the EE store virtually for free after a £20 top-up. The lack of a superstar name behind it meant it made little impact upon the readers of Dezeen.

The above cases are what is unfortunate about the world of design today, in a similar sentiment to previous posts on this blog. 'Design' wallows around, I think it focuses on either making an 'impact', focusing on ideas, 'art' and/or fashion; or burying itself in execution; with much focus on virtuvian ideals, whilst failing to make any market impact. On the other hand, design which makes it into peoples homes is oftentimes either plain Bad, Manipulative or Trend focused; and therefore wasteful.

The Television is an example of a massive company - Samsung (that great bastion of real design passion) - basically using the design world for a brief kick, (even though it is losing other battles in other fields to actual good design). The Punkd phone represents the other side of where consultancy design is today; a small partnership destined to live in high end, cultural, stores. Both of these are disappointing fates for genuine design talent and good intention.

Apple have proven there is a way to be both big and human focused, and I really pray there will be some other kind of similar movement in a different field in the near future - perhaps Tesla will do it? Nest? or maybe a revolution will arise in an already formed company.

Urbanism

I don't know what I think about Urban Design.

Urban Design is at the crossroads of Architecture and other disciplines like civil engineering and Sociology. So, as a Product Design Engineer, it is rather out of my ballpark. Regardless, I have taken quite an interest in it. Studying both Leon Krier and Le Corbusier, perhaps the most divided views on this subject, I have arrived at quite a complex situation. I have also ended up getting myself halfway though both 'housing design quality', a rather dry academic view at the policy and economic aspect of the situation, and Deyan Sujic's 100 Mile City.

Krier, for the uninitiated, is regarded as an ardent Neo-Traditional, who, though a selection of witty drawings, and passionate articles, argues for us to reclaim our Architectural history, and forget Modernist persuasions. He argues that visually, we should use both local vernacular, and monumental Neo-Classicism. But more importantly, he argues that we should aim to re-create the cityscape of traditional european cities consciously, that is to say, that the effect of the tangled roads of places like London and old Barcelona should be planned out, in order to deliver good quality public space.

Corbusier, swept up in the vibe of the early 20th century, argued something completely different. He believed that the automation and efficiencising of industry would liberate people with more free leisure time. He planned his cities based on the idea that we would all sleep and eat in vertical tower blocks, connected by efficient highways to our work and to each other. His conceptual city plans, such as 'Ville Radieuse', spaced out blocks in generous parkland. Theoretically, to provide efficient connection to our essential needs, but also to enable us to, with the time provided by said efficiency, connect to our surroundings and nature.

Now obviously, retrospectively, there is a huge amount on negative impact in Le Corbusier's legacy. One spawn of his impact is the 'tower in the park', a design that was wholeheartedly accepted by the developers, politicians and social engineers of the post-war period, as a way to cheaply, effectively, and efficiently deal with slum conditions, and lack of housing in the lower classes. Living in Glasgow, I can confidently say that yes, this was a failure. The sight of these blocks literally scares me. A lot of these, in Glasgow, have been demolished. Most of the infamous Gorbals are gone, and Red Road is to be got rid of soon. They seem to have isolated and compartmentalized their residents, whist the middle classes are happy to continue the sprawl outwards into the greenery.

Another condition I believe to be relativly unadressed, is that it seems our current particular breed of 'starchitecture' was conceived by Le Corbusier. The postmodernists of the 80's thought they had torn modernism to shreds when they put a silly roof on a skyscraper, but what they failed to address was the actual impact this kind of architectural D*ck-measuring was having on the cityscape. Again, bringing it back to Glasgow, the recent Clydeside development, contributed to by the likes of Zaha Hadid, and presented as a vision of the new, cultural Glasgow, is actually a barren wasteland as far as I can see; broad, tall,  magnificent, neo-futuristic, concrete and glass structures emerge from nowhere from the neighboring car-parks. An area with 2 TV studios, 2 Museums, a National Convention center and a gigantic auditorium is basically empty besides the peak flows just before an event. This tradition stems from the monumentalism first delivered by Corbusier's Ronchamp Chapel, his state buldings in Chandigarh, and projects such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim.

Now, there is some nuance here, the BBC Scotland building, the most 'modernist' of them all at the Clydeside, is the only one I haven't got tired of. And with regard to the concrete tower block, it was adopted because it was cheap, and those 60's blocks have ignored the sensitivity that Corbusier seems to have adopted with his built Unite d'habitation blocks. But the point remains that he was essentially wrong. No amount off well proportioned interior space can convince the majority to give up their gardens and quiet roads. And it doesn't seem that many of those modernist architects themselves would have. 

Leon Krier attempts a different Post-Modernism than the likes of Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas. His argument is propely in favor of traditional development. Although I haven't been there, Poundbury, Krier's plan sponsored by the Prince of Wales, in Dorset, seems to be at least an exceptionally interesting place. The road network is consciously scattered, and the homes are a blend of vernacular and classical, fronting directly on the roads, and forming squares and other interesting linear public spaces. This is a total departure from modernism, and it is convincing. It seems like 'normal' people wouldn't mind living in places like this. Krier has dropped a random city center into the middle of a field, and it seems to work.

This is actually very confusing though. Inspired mainly by great Product Design, I am in admiration of many of the modernists. I do believe that neutral, uncluttered spaces are both livable and comfortable. But the confusing junction that is Urbanism is the big tear at the seams. Should I still wear all black?!?

No, i'll still wear all black, it makes me feel cool and intelligent. And yeah I still think that both Postmodern and traditional product design tend towards the ugly. There is however, in conclusion, a quote from each that I can fully agree with. Krier Says:

"The city is the focus and purpose of design, the giver of meaning; individual buildings are born out of its order and requirement. They are never isolated works of art in and of themselves. The city is the work of art. Otherwise sick to sculpture and painting, which is private... and achievable.

Corbusier states, on a slight different topic:

"The styles of Louis XIV, XV, XVI or Gothic, are to architecture what a feather is on a woman's head, they are pretty sometimes, but not always, and nothing more."

This would place me, ideologically, if I was to be so brash at this early stage of my career, somewhere close to David Chipperfield, in terms of visual Architectural language; but in very close agreement with Krier over the overall shape and form of what a city should be.

It seems unfortunate to ditch the moral conclusivity of the early modernists, but it does seem that rectangles can't be the solution to everything.

Icons

The DK book 'Great Designs' outlines the history of design through over 100 design icons. These iconic pieces of design will be familiar, and are mostly the same as the ones featured in many other books, documentaries and films on the history of design.

Looking at what is featured in the book however, it seems that there is an issue, in that hardly any of the featured designs have ever made it into the homes of a significant amount of consumers. Don't read this as a criticism of the book though, or even a criticism of the attitudes of the design community, the problem is that good design has a genuinely hard time squeezing it's way into the hands of the majority of the population.

Looking at the last two paragraphs of the book, which includes the selected icons of design from the 1980's onwards, we see the following:

Carlton Bookcase - Ettore Sottsass	The Face magazine - Neville Brody	Whistling Bird kettle - Michael Greaves
Wood Chair - Marc Newsom	Carna Wheelchair - Kazuo Kawasaki	Bookworm Bookshelf - Ron Arad
85 Lamps chandelier - Rory Graumans	Vermelha Chair - Campana Brothers	Dyson DC01 - James Dyson
Verdana Typeface - Matthew Carter	Brick Shelving System - Bourollec Brothers	Fjord armchair - Patricia Urquiola
Garland Light - Tord Boontje	Lover Sofa - Pascal Mourgue	Miura stool - Konstanrin Grcic
Evolute lamp - Matali Crasset	Spun Chair - Thomas Heatherwick	Apple iPad - Jony Ive
	Masters chair - Phillipe Stark

Now these designs are certainly significant, and all are generally genuinely good design, but out of the 20, I could only say that The Face, bird kettle, DC01, Verdana, Spun chair and iPad, have made any kind of impression on the mainstream.

A realistic 'hall of fame', with respect to what is actually, or at least has been, present in our environment, would look something like this :

IKEA KALLAX shelving system	The Face magazine - Neville Brody	Whistling Bird kettle - Michael Graves
IKEA IVAR wooden chair	NHS issue self-propelling wheelchair	Built in bookshelves - Anon
Homebase 'Milan' light fitting	IKEA POÄNG chair	DC01 Vacum - James Dyson
Verdana Typeface - Matthew Carter	B&Q 'Maple Effect' Floating Shelf	Vantage 2 Lever office chair
Round paper light fitting - Anon	NEXT Alexis Leather Chair	Traditional stool - Anon
Lloytron Flex Lamp	Spun Chair - Thomas Heatherwick	Apple iPad - Jony Ive
	Series E Chair - Robin Day

Now i'm not saying that these products are neccesarily a better option, but this is my impression of what the market as a whole has selected. In design school, along with all the things on form and function, we are taught that our design output should attempt to be beneficial, or at least not harmful, to society as a whole; along with going through a design process with sympathy for both cost constraints, and other corporate interests. The classic iconic designs,  if they reach no-one besides collectors, or the upper middle class, are clearly failing at one or both of these objectives.

Much of the world of 'design icons' is an interesting look into the ebbs and flows of 'contemporary' art and design history. But the house of the layman has hardly changed, besides the addition of an obnoxiously large TV, in 30 years. The world of modernism, post modernism, and whatever comes after that is almost completely detached from reality. To take an exert from Papanek's 'Design for the Real World':

"In his novel Magister Ludi, Hermann Hesse writes about a community of intellectual elites who have perfected a mystical, symbolic language, called the 'Bead Game', that has reduced all knowledge to a sort of unified field theory. The world outside the community is convulsed by riots, wars, and revolutions, but the players of the Bead Game have lost all contact. They are engaged in exchanging their esoterica with one another in the game. There is a disturbing parallel between Hesse's game and the aspirations of the contemporary artist when he speaks of his goals in the exercise of his private visions. He discourses on space, the transcendence of space, the multiplication of space, the division and negation of space. It is a space devoid of man, as though mankind did not exist. It is, in fact, a version of the Bead Game. "

I do think that the arguments that have been exchanged in the last century are extremely important, and as a new generation of design students it is extremely important that we study the 'masters' and learn of their motivations and their mistakes.

But if design genuinely has anything to offer to the people, our motivation should, in a large way, be focused on dragging good design from the elite and delivering it to the people. It has already been proven that good design is not impossible, and there is no reason why it should be any more expensive. But if we'd prefer to waste our time on another round of the bead game, no wonder the moneymakers are looking elsewhere for inspiration.



A large proportion of these images have been stolen from the internet with disregard to copyright, clicking on such images will link to what I can best make out to be the original source.