Nathan Shedroff's "Design is the Problem"

In "Design is the Problem," Nathan Shedroff discusses the ways that design influences society through sustainability, design, and business. He says that sustainable design is, "Design and development that meets today's needs without preventing those needs from being met by future generations." What Shedroff is saying here is that designers need to create content for today's issues in a form that won't make things worse for our children in the future. In order for this to be so, the form that designers must keep in mind when creating products is to design products in a form that can be "reduced, reused, recycled, and restored." In other words, they need to be economically friendly. These products need to use up fewer materials while simultaneously providing more meaning for society. Designers need to design products for society today that don't hurt it in the future. The content of these products is derived from designing techniques such as prototyping, ethnographic techniques, and critique.  The final form is adapted to suit the business world after it goes through some checks like total quality management, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), the Doblin Value Model, and other things.  Great designers concerned with sustainability must do a lot to design the best form that a product should take to both suit society's needs while simultaneously not harming the planet.

(image thanks to:   http://sustainabilityninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/feature-images/government-industry-sustainability.jpg )

Headbands

A recent rise in fashion has been shown in the area of headwear, namely headbands.  They are used in society for many different purposes from holding back a person’s hair to merely just being an accessory.  For example, in the television show Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester’s character Blair Waldorf utilizes headbands in the first two seasons very well.  In practically every episode she wears a very sophisticated headband that is an accessory that adds to her classic “school girl” look.  On the other hand, a lot of athletes wear headbands mainly for the purpose of keeping their hair out of their face.  There are many different types of headbands that are either pre-made, like the more fashionable ones tend to be, and home-made ones, like the ones athletes make out of pre-wrap.  Headbands come in all sorts of shapes and sizes for people to accessorize themselves with.  They can be made of different materials, like plastic or nylon, and they can either be stylized and fancy or just plain-looking.  Society uses headbands to either make a fashion statement by distinguishing themselves from others, or to just merely make sure that their hair doesn’t bother them as they participate in an activity.

image thanks to:  (http://kuwait-style.com/images/2008/10/10-14-08-GOSSIP-GIRL-BLAIR-HAIRBAND-STYLE.jpg) 

"Objectified" Film

Henry Ford once was quoted in saying that, "Every object tells a story if you know how to read it."  The film "Objectified" reveals many honest truths about how objects are designed for society.  One type of society that they are designed for is industrial; whose main goal is mass production.  In this type of processing, however, the content of the objects becomes less unique since so many are being produced with the same shape and form so quickly and less precariously.  The film also discusses how the goal of design is for it to create a better experience for someone; so, basically, how to improve the content of products.  One way in which designers do this is through CAB (Computer Aided Design), which is where the ergonomic details of products are perfected.  The film also says that it's important for designers to have a sense of what is and what is not important when they are designing the content of a product for society.  These designers believe that design is the search for form, what form should an object take? They need to think about what happens after a product is designed and how people will use it.  They need to know these things because they don't want to make useless objects that only end up in landfills. 


(image courtesy of:  http://www.typeneu.com/v2/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/objectified.jpg )

Video Game Consoles

What do Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii  all have in common?  They are video game systems whose physical designs are very important for consumers.  The gaming society buys consoles based upon a number of different factors, one of which is the size of the console.  When game systems are made, the designers take into account the fact that even though they have a ton of hardware to work with; they need to get it into the smallest, sleekest form possible.  They know that the consumers do not want to buy a huge product that is cumbersome, in the way, and a pain in the neck to move around.  It is so important, in fact, that the designers will make newer versions of older consoles that are smaller and may also hold more data and such.  For example, Playstation 3 has just come out with 2 new versions of the original PS3 system, one that has the biggest hard drive yet, but it is also the sleekest and smallest of the PS3 models.  These designs are very important to the gaming society because when a consumer comes down to deciding between systems with similar games, like Xbox and Playstation, they may base part of their decision on which one looks better, or which one is smaller and easier to take with you back and forth between you and your friend's house. 

(image thanks to: http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/6356/consolesizes6cv.jpg )

Color Theory

Color theory is defined as the study of color and the role it portrays in design or art.  The important thing that you should know about color theory, first of all, is that it is not an object but actually a characteristic of light.  A little bit of history for you is that this aspect was first demonstrated by Sir Isaac Newton when he showed how a prism broke up light into its different hues.  In truth, objects do not actually have color, but they do reflect certain rays of white light, giving them their colors.  There are many different parts to color theory including additive system, subtractive system, and the color wheel.  Additive system is a way of mixing colors where the colors start more black-oriented and are mixed to where they end up being lighter and more white-oriented.  Subtractive system is where colors are mixed and the result tends to lead more towards a darker or black color.  The color wheel consists of colors that are arranged in a way that shows their relationships.  It consists of primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), secondary colors (purple, orange, green), and tertiary colors (a combination of a primary and a secondary color).  Color theory is used by designers to determine which colors are more complementary of each other so they will be more appealing to society.  For example, the traditional Christmas colors, red and green, are complementary colors that appeal to society.  Color theory is a HUGE part of design and will forever remain that way.

Cover Art

Have you ever noticed a book solely based upon its cover art?  You had no idea what the context of the book was, who the author was, or even what the title of the book.  Your eyes were just captivated or your interest peaked by what was on the cover of the book.  Designers use many different types of styles in which to capture society's attention when it comes to cover art.  Some book covers are loud through their sparkles and flashiness while others are just strange and may just have a picture of an object on them.  For example, the Twilight series have covers with objects on them like, hand holding an apple, a chess piece, and more. Other books like the Alex Rider series are flashy and just draw in your eyes right away.  Designers help authors choose many different ways in which to represent their books.  That cover art is important because it must draw in readers while also showing off some piece of the context of the book.  It gives society hope that what they are about to indulge themselves in will be worth their time and to their enjoyment.  Designers use these cover arts to capture society's attention through either intrigue, fascination, or other reasons. 

(images thanks to:

http://www.stliz-hs.org/images/uploads/image/10299664.jpg

http://luinriel.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/breakingdawn.jpg )

Accessories

Accessories are everywhere.  They surround us.  They are practically even apart of us.  People generally use accessories to add to outfits that they are wearing.  They wear them to give their look that extra "pizz-azz" or subtle feel of elegancy.  They come in all sorts of styles, colors, shapes, and sizes.  It is even found that most people believe that accessories "make or break" an outfit.  They also personalize it, too.  For example, a girl may have this fantastic gold and sparkly dress that, when worn alone is descent, but when a small purse or a necklace or a bracelet is added to the outfit, her outfit seems to all of a sudden become complete.  People everywhere have the same types of clothes, somewhat.  We all wear a popular brand, so someone else is very likely to have that same shirt or pair of jeans you are wearing.  How do you differentiate yourself from them?  The answer is yet again, accessories.  A person could add some jewelry or sunglasses or a jacket, practically anything to "accessorize" their outfit.  One way in which society uses accessories is to design their outfits for themselves so that they may have their own style and be independent.

(picture thanks to:  http://lh3.ggpht.com/_38VmJuTPeWE/SZxfksIYJfI/AAAAAAAAN9k/u-aj320QeRI/s800/the%20red%20carpet.jpg  )