CR01

First class. Monday, March 28, 2011

We spent our first class getting to know everyone. We were given a playing card at the beginning of class then were asked to pair up with the person who had the same face value of the opposite suit. So for instance I had the King of Hearts and was to find the King of Diamonds. Once we found each other we were given a short amount of time to get to know the person then, we had to introduce the person to the class. I thought this was a clever way to get us to interact with each other. I came away from class one knowing .5 is not the lowest dot number in the class and that most of us can't juggle.

Class two. March 30, 2011

Our second class covered a brief history of design. We discussed the difference between fine art and design with fine art being defined as art for oneself where as design is directed toward others. For example, Industrial Designers develop products to help people do things with greater ease.

Primitive tools are a good example of using design as a way to better our lives. Primitive humans realized using tools instead of their own hands made tasks easier more efficient and put less strain on their bodies.

From primitive tools we jumped to the Industrial revolution which is where, I think, design as a profession really evolved.

We covered the steam engine which was developed by James Watt in 1765 and made mass production possible. Out of mass production emerged the middle class which in turn created a need for new products. What I found interesting was the style of products of the era. For the first time people could afford items usually reserved for the upper class. Products reflected the lavish excesses of the wealthy. One example was a toilet intricately designed with the head of a chimera. It makes me wonder if this is what made designers such as Louis Sullivan state that form should follow function and the reason Adolf Loos had negative feelings toward excessive ornamentation.

Another thing I found interesting in our discussion was while talking about Louis Sullivan. After the Great Chicago Fire hundreds of designers and architects came to Chicago to help rebuild. Was it this need to rebuild that helped develop new ideas in building and engineering? If so could the same be said for Europe after World War II? With innovations in industrial design, building design and transportation, was the need to rebuild the reason for this boom in design?

We covered the Bauhaus and Walter Gropius. We found out that OSU's design department is based on the Bauhaus Model that states design students should have a basic understanding in drawing, color and design history before entering the design program.

We also discussed the beginning of corporate culture. Making a company more recognizable and marketable was essential to selling products. Corporate Identity was one way of making a company a household name. Stream lining being an example of redesigning existing products to keep people buying them.

We finished by talking about the evolution of the chair.

Class three. April 4, 2011

We went on a walking tour and visited two of the campus libraries. The first was the fine arts Library inside the Wexner Center, the second was the architectural library. We were also given our next assignment which is a designer investigation. Using the resources at these two libraries, we have to research three designers and write about them in our blog.

Class four. April 6, 2011

In class four we covered the subject of what design is and had an in depth discussion of the three disciplines of design taught at Ohio State. Even though I already knew the three disciplines I found it interesting to learn what each disciple specialized in. I, for instance, didn't know an interior designer was responsible for product displays in retail establishments. That is something I thought a graphic designer would do. I was also interested in the discussion on the differences between architects, interior decorators and interior designers.  This is a subject I can relate to as my wife, an interior design major, is regularly referred to as an interior decorator. This discussion clarified the three.

I find industrial design interesting because it takes things into consideration I would never have thought. For instance, designing products so they are intuitive and user friendly. Industrial designers have to assume a user has never picked up a cell phone before. 

We finished the class with a short film on Paul Rand. Rand was famous for his corporate logos, which include the logos for UPS, ABC and IBM. One point Rand makes in the film that really stuck with me is when comparing graphic artists to fine artists. He felt that if he made graphic art fine then why shouldn't it be considered fine art as well.