Product Design Paper 2 - Design Theory (3.2.2)

Why do design movements matter

-They are responses to their time: reactions to what happened before, and driven by new technology, materials, politics and economics

Arts and Crafts

-1860 to 1910

-Reaction against industrial mass production, celebrates handcraft

Art Deco

-120 to 1939

-Glamour and luxury of the machine age, geometric and decorative

Modernism - Bauhaus

-1919 to 1933 for Bauhaus, modernism continues

-Function, simplicity, mass production, no ornament

Postmodernism - Memphis

-c.1980s

-Reaction against Modernist austerity, playful, colourful, ironic

Arts and crafts context

-The industrial revolution brought cheap, poorly made over-decorated factory goods and poor working conditions

-Writer John Ruskin and designer William Morris argued that craftsmen had been degraded to machine operators

Arts and Crafts principles

-Handcraft and the dignity of the maker

-Truth to materials (visible constructions such as exposed joints)

-Natural Motifs (leaves,birds , flowers), Durability and quality

Arts and Crafts examples

-Morris and Co. wallpapers and textiles

-Morris's Red House

-The Guild of Handicraft

Arts and Crafts Evaluation

-Handmade work was expensive, so the movement's goods were bought by the wealthy, which contradicted 'good design for everybody'

-Its legacy is huge: it influenced Modernism's honesty to materials

Art Deco context

-Boom years after WW1 and the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes

-It celebrated speed, luxury, travel, and modern technology

Art Deco principles and features

-Strong geometry, symmetry, streamlining, bold colour and luxurious materials (ivory) alongside new materials (chrome plating)

-Mass produced objects could look glamorous

Art Deco Examples

The Chrylser Building, Clarice Cliff ceramics, Cassandre's travel posters

Art Deco evaluation

-It is largely decorative so it sits uneasily with the modernism 'Form follows function'

-It declined with the great depression and WW2

-It combined industry with ornament and appealed to a public tired of austerity

Modernism and the Bauhaus Context

-The Bauhaus school was founded in Weimar in 1919 by Walter Gropius, moved to Dessau and Berlin and was closed in 1933 under pressure form the Nazi regime

-It aimed to unite art, craft and technology for industrial production

Modernism and the Bauhaus principles

Form follows function - rejection of ornament, geometric shapes and primary colours

-Use of new industrial materials designed for mass production and affordability

Modernism and the Bauhaus examples

-Marcel Breuer's Wassily chair

-Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair

-Marriane Brandt's tea infusers and Kandem lamp

Modernism and the Bauhaus evaluation

-Modernism produced timeless, mass producible design and the international style

-It strongly influenced Dieter Rams, and through him, modern consumer electronics

-It became cold, uniform and inhumane, and often too expensive for ordinary workers, so the goal of affordable design for everyone was partly achieved

Postmodernism and Memphis context

-By the late 1970s, many felt that modernism had become sterile and corporate

-Postmodernism rejected 'less is more'

Memphis group

-Founded in Milan in 1981 by Ettore Sottass with younger designers

-Its work is playful, bright ironic, mixes patterns ans pastiche

Postmodernism and Memphis features

Clashing colours, plastic laminate, unusual geometry, ornament and humour restored, and form that is expressive rather than fictional

Postmodernism and Memphis examples

-Michael Graves's Alessi kettle with a bird whistle

-Phillip Starck's juicy salif

Postmodernism and Memphis evaluation

-Memphis made design fun and personal and showed that products convey meaning and emotion

-Impractical in use, a short-lived fashion, expensive limited editions, difficult to produce at a low cost

Philippe Starck

-Made the Juicy Salif lemon squeezer, Louis ghost chair

-Main principles of playfulness, humour 'democratic design'

-Postmodernism link

-The Juicy Salif is more of a sculpture than a functional product

James Dyson

-Made the Ballbarrow and the DC01 vacuum cleaner after 5127 prototypes

-His principles included engineering lead problem solving, relentless iterative prototyping, applied science and persistence

- he had radical innovation that disrupted established vacuum cleaners

Margaret Calvert

-She designed the UK road sign system and the transport typeface

-Her principles were clarity, legibility at speed and consistency

-Her designs are a model of human-factors-led design are are still used over 60 years later

Dieter Rams

-Made the SK4 record player, T3 pocket radio

-He had a philosophy of 'less is better', and had ten principles of good design

-Movement is Modernism

Ten principles of good design

1. Good design is innovative.

2. Good design makes a product useful.

3. Good design is aesthetic.

4. Good design makes a product understandable.

5. Good design is unobtrusive.

6. Good design is honest.

7. Good design is long-lasting.

8. Good design is thorough down to the last detail.

9. Good design is environmentally friendly.

10. Good design is as little design as possible.

Charles and Ray Eames

-Made moulded plywood chairs, the fiberglass shell chair, the Eames lounge chair and the Ottoman

-Their principles were that mass production and technology applied to comfortable, affordable design - 'the best for the most for the least'

-Mid-century modernism

-The lounge chair became a luxury item, showing the gap between modernist ideals and reality

Marianne Brandt

-Studied at the Bauhaus, then joined and led the metal workshop

-Made the MT 49 tea infuser, Kandem bedside lamp, and ashtrays

-Had principles of pure geometric forms, industrial material, and design suitable to mass production (lamp)

-Bauhaus modernism

-She was a woman in a male-dominated field

Rams vs Starck

-Rams reduces and restrains Starck explored emotions, humour and expression

-This is 'form follows function' vs 'from follows emotion'

Dyson vs Rams

Both are functional, but Dyson is driven by engineering innovation and visible technology, whereas Rams is driven by minimal aesthetic and timelessness

Calvert vs Eames

Both use user needs and tested design to serve large numbers of people in public information and in furniture