ULM school

What happened to germany after ww2?

Germany was split up into west and east germany

What was the characteristics of west and east germany?

west germany was influenced by the us, capitalism and market economy

east was influenced by russia.
communism and planned economy

Who did west and east germany design for?

West designed for the global market,

east designed for its own market

What years did ULM school span?

1953-1968

Who were the 3 headmasters of ULM school?

Max bill

Thomas Maldonado

Thomas Maldonado and Otl Aicher

What did ULM educate designers to design?

Universal

Long-lasting

Ergonomic

Functional products

What was the 2nd phase of ULM?

A new Bauhaus

What could the ulm chair do?

You could sit on it and you could carry something with it

What company did Hans gugelot create designs for?

Braun

What was Otl aicher known for other than being one of the founders of ULM school?

Braun logo

Graphics for munich olympics

What is systems design about?

The product line looks like it belongs and works together as a system

flatpack design

Modularity

What was the 3rd phase of ULM

Design and science

Form giving needed to be rationalized and based on scientific knowledge

In the 3rd phase of ULM, what should form giving be based on?

Rationalized and based on scientific knowledge

The golden ratio

the golden spiral

Why was ULM against “artist designers”

products should have a neutral look and ergonomics instead of one designers personal taste expression

What was the 4th phase from ULM?

Planning Mania

More scientists than designers

What was the 5th phase from ULM?

The ulm model

Fix the issue of to many scientists

Balance between theory and practice

what were the 2 quotes from Dieter Rams?

Less, but better

Good design means as little design as possible

Name as many of the 10 design principles as possible by Dieter Rams

1. Is innovative

2. Makes a product useful

3. Is aesthetic

4. Makes a product understandable

5. Is unobtrusive

6. Is honest

7. Is long lasting

8. Is thorough down to the last detail

9. is environmentally friendly

10. Involves as little design as possible

What is Dieter Rams principle: good design is innovative about?

Innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology

What is Dieter Rams principle: Good design makes a product useful about?

A product is bough to be used.

it has to satisfy a certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic

Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it

What is Dieter Rams principle: Good design is aesthetic about?

The Aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because the products we use every day affect our person and our well being.

Only well executed products can be beautiful

What is Dieter Rams principle:Good design makes a product understandable about?

It clarifies the products structure.

Better still, it can make the product talk.

At best it is self explanatory

What is Dieter Rams principle: Good design is unobtrusive about?

Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools they are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained to leave room for the users self expression

What is Dieter Rams principle: Good design is honest about?

It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

Coke is the opposite (open happiness)

What is Dieter Rams principle: Good design is long-lasting about?

It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years.

-Even in todays throwaway society

Iphone calculator and Dieter Rams’ Calculator

What is Dieter Rams principle: Good design is thorough down to the last detail about?

Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the user

What is Dieter Rams principle: Good design is environtmentally friendly about?

Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment.
It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

What is Dieter Rams principle: Good design is as little design as possible about?

Less but better

Because it concentrates on the essential aspects and the products are not burdened with non-essentials.
Back to purity - back to simplicity

What companies were inspirered by ULM school?

Bang and olufsen

Apple (dieter rams)

What is the paradoxal quote from Klaus krippendorff about?

Making something new and different, while making something recognizable and understandable is hard

What are product semantics?

How people make sense of object,
how these objects are embedded in society,
And what they contribute to the ongoing development of culture

how would one do sense making with non familiar products?

Focus on qualities of the product.

what the object is, what is it made for, what id does, how it’s parts are connected and work together.

Who uses it and when?

How do you do sense making with familar objects?

Sense making through meaning

Who gave it to me?

how was it acquired?

of whom it reminds me?

Is there a distinction between what an object is and what it means to someone?

There is, and it is based on feelings

How does sense making and context affect eachother?

Objects are always seen in a context with other things, situations and users, including the observing self.

What an object means in one context is not the same as in another

Why should you study Product semantics?

Form follows meaning, brings the user back into the picture and strongly suggests that designers need to discuss both the Contexts in which their forms are used how these forms are making sense of or what they mean to someone other than themselves.

No one knows if the users and designers meaning of a product is the same

Which of the 4 contexts that affects the meaning do we focus on in this course?

Operational context

People interacting with artifacts in use

What are the 6 themes which offer important insight into the symbolic significance of physical objects and the relation between products and practices?

1. Acquisition

2. scripting

3. appropriation

4. Assembly

5. Normalization

6. Practice

What is the theme Acquisition about?

Different ways of thinking about:

1. What things are for?

2. how they fit into?

3. How they extend existing means and significance

Why people acquire new consumer goods:

1. Social comparison

2. The creation of self identity

3. Mental stimulation and novelty

4. Specialization

What is the theme Scripting about?

Objects can be designed so they permit and prevent certain courses of actions

They can be material or semiotic (sign)

They can be relatively open(flexible) or closed(prescriptive)

example - numbers for guiding actions

What is the theme appropriation about?

How you use products in difference ways than what it was designed for.

The design is of little or no relevance to the process of appropriation as it happens during the use. (depends on the context)

What is the theme assembly about?

refers to the ways in which suites or complexes of artifacts relate to each other

Product families

upgrading (use new tools for old hardware?)

preassembled bundles

what is the theme Normalization about?

The process of how new objects become established

Fashionable objects of desire = acquisition, is legitimized in rational or functional terms

Routinization= the items in question have become so ordinary that their acquisition needs no justification at all

What is the theme practices about?

The consumer goods are important for the practices they enable, not for their own sake,

A water hose is not important in it’s own sense. It’s important for watering flowers, putting out fires…