ASSIGNMENT 4

Plan the attack!

Paragraph 1 – Research Statement

I’m going to ask “How does critical design make us think about the role of technology in everyday life?” Nowadays, in a very-called “hi-tech” age, people seem to know that technology is important. Despite many means of communication as TV, movies, literature, etc. make technology more acknowledged, design also contributes to the approach. Critical design is one of uprising design movements, significantly changes people’s consideration about technology in everyday life.

Paragraph 2 –Role of modern technology in everyday life.

Technology is important in everyday life. In the talk The accelerating power of technology, Ray Kurzweil talks about how fast the world is adopting new technologies (Ray Kurzweil, 2013). We are now improving our technology in acceleration. Ray (2013) states “The actual paradigm-shift rate, the rate of adopting new ideas, is doubling every decade, according to our models.” In the text The role of technology. Ceramic Industry, Carl Frahme states that how beneficial technology is in Ceramic industry (Carl Frahme, 2005). In the text The role of technology. America's Community Banker shows examples how significant technology is changing the whole Mortgage Lending Industry and Banking. Also the effects of mobile technology to human society in Cell phone culture: mobile technology in everyday life (Gerrard Goggin, 2006).

Paragraph 3 – What is Critical Design?

In this paragraph, I am going to use Dunne and Raby’s website to define critical design. “It is more of an attitude than anything else, a position rather than a method.” (Dunne and Raby, 2013) Critical design is about improving life because it implies messages make people consider what we have. “Mainly to make us think. But also raising awareness, exposing assumptions, provoking action, sparking debate, even entertaining in an intellectual sort of way, like literature or film.” (Dunne and Raby, 2013). In Domesticating the Revolution: Information and Communication Technologies and Everyday Life, Roger Silverstone (1993) states critical design is an approach to designing for change, also acting with critical theory to improve our ability to change. This reinforces to define critical design.

Paragraph 4 – Example 1 of a Critical Design

The exhibition Between Reality and The Impossible conducts “speculating, imagining, and even dreaming, to create and facilitate reflection on the kind of technologically mediated world we wish to live in. Ideally, one that reflects the complex, troubled people we are, rather than the easily satisfied consumers and users we are supposed to be.” (Biennale, 2010). I will use the text Profile: Dunne & Raby to describe more about the work. The exhibition used four different contexts depict unreal emerging where certain viable technologies, cause society to change. (Profile: Dunne and Raby, 2010).

Paragraph 5 – Example 2 of a Critical Design

I am using the book Design noir: the secret life of electronic objects to describe another example. Another Dunne and Raby’s project, “Placebo”, is designed to initiate debates about our environment is full of electromagnetic. “Designers cannot always solve problems, we cannot switch off the vast electromagnetic networks surrounding us all. Although we cannot change reality, we can change people's perception of it.” (Dunne and Raby, 2001). Dunne and Raby chose critical design as a mean of communication toward the electromagnetic issues, so they created “Placebo”. Moreover, I am going to use the journal Furniture of the future (Sharon McCord, 2001) to describe more on their “Placebo” project. Going through different prototypes of “Placebo”, Sharon (2001) analyses how they alert the people to the invisible world of electromagnetic.

Paragraph 6 – Evaluate Critical Design

Why critical design is good to make us think about the role of technology? “Mainly to make us think. But also raising awareness, exposing assumptions, provoking action, sparking debate, even entertaining in an intellectual sort of way, like literature or film.” (Dunne and Raby, 2013) Critical design acts a medium to change people’s perceptions. “Critical Design is one of many mutations design is undergoing in an effort to remain relevant to the complex technological, political, economic and social changes we are experiencing at the beginning of the 21c.” (Dunne and Raby, 2013)

Why Critical design is bad? I am going to use the article Critical design and critical theory: the challenge of designing for provocation (2012). “Critical design literature defines critical design and offers dozens of examples of it, but it says much less about how to do it.” (2012) “If critical design is a form of design research and not only a form of design practice, then one might expect it to feature a set of described methods and practices that allow others to pursue a similar approach.” (2012). Limitations of critical design in term of strict framework which hard to pursue, instead of better supporting them with more specific question, problem.

Paragraph 7 – Conclusion

I will conclude critical design is great to encourage us to think about technology in everyday life. In hi-tech age we are in, critical design is an approach to designing for change, hence that it sparks debates and discourses on technology.

Reference:

Ray Kurzweil: The accelerating power of technology | Video on TED.com. (n.d.). TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved May 20, 2013, from http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzweil_on_how_technology_will_transform_us.html

Frahme, C. E. (2005). The role of technology. Ceramic Industry, 155(4), 23-24. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198535238?accountid=14782

Bush, V. (1997). The role of technology. America's Community Banker, 6(10), 37-42+. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/195158343?accountid=14782

Goggin, G. (2006). Cell phone culture: mobile technology in everyday life. London: Routledge.

Raby, D. &. (n.d.). Dunne & Raby. Dunne & Raby. Retrieved May 21, 2013, from http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/bydandr/13/0

Silverstone, R. (1993). Domesticating The Revolution: Information And Communication Technologies And Everyday Life. Aslib Proceedings, 45(9), 227-233.

Biennale 2010 / Exhibitions / Between reality and the impossible. (n.d.). Biennale 2010 / Accueil_. Retrieved May 21, 2013, from http://www.biennale2010.citedudesign.com/GB_expo_between_reality_and_the_impossible.php

PROFILE: Dunne & raby. (2010). Design Week, 25(43), 13-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/761025566?accountid=14782

McCord, S. (2001, Nov 25). Furniture of the future. Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/326534148?accountid=14782

Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2001). Design noir: the secret life of electronic objects. London: August

Shaowen Bardzell, Jeffrey Bardzell, Jodi Forlizzi, John Zimmerman, and John Antanitis. 2012. Critical design and critical theory: the challenge of designing for provocation. In Proceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '12). ACM, New York, NY, USA.

ASSIGNMENT 3

My question is “How much does Critical Design affect the market or the mass-productivity?” I wonder   why do we have lots of design nowadays, some of them are so common (might be useless), some are really interesting regarding the future. I don’t think Critical Design act like a massive, conceptual change neither the market nor the industry.

Critical design is all about making something new that make people think about rather than to create a new massive changing design in economy or industry. “Critical design is related to haute couture, concept cars, design propaganda, and visions of the future, but its purpose is not to present the dreams of industry, attract new business, anticipate new trends or test the market. Its purpose is to stimulate discussion and debate amongst designers, industry and the public about the aesthetic quality of our electronically mediated existence.” (Dunne & Raby, 2011, pp. 58). For example the work of Michael Burton (2007), the Race. (Dunne & Raby, text “Design for Debate”, 2008) It make us consider the future with a lot of incurable bacteria, viruses emerge. It is just a future idea for debates rather than a new, big, effective design for go to the industry.

Figure 1. The Race, Foot Growth, Michael Burton, 2007

Critical design is not really acceptable.  “Anything outside of the marketplace is regarded as suspicious and unreal. This state of affairs makes critical positions almost impossible, they are dismissed as elitist. It is almost taboo for an industrial designer to reject what the market wants.” (Dunne & Raby, 2011, pp. 60) We people are hard to change, since the massive used products make us got used to. We barely accept products that outside the market. Dunne and Raby also pointed that “product designers in particular, see the social value of their work as inextricably linked to the marketplace. Design outside this arena is viewed with suspicion as escapist or unreal.” (Dunne & Raby, 2011, pp. 59)

Dunne and Raby compared Critical Design and Product Design in order to show link between Critical Design to the industry. I think Critical Design is not affecting much the industry as well as the mass-productivity. Because it make us think about the unforeseen future to reconsider our present rather than increasing the effectiveness of products.

Raby, D. &. (n.d.). Designer as Author from the book “Ericson, M. (2011). Design act: socially and politically engaged design today : critical roles and emerging tactics. Stockholm: Iaspis.”

Raby, D. &. (n.d.). Dunne & Raby. Design for Debate. Retrieved April 30, 2013, from http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/b

Image retrieved April 30th, 2013 from: http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/img/content/image6.jpg

ASSIGNMENT 2

Statement of Intent

Nowadays, with higher technology, designers have chance to design and make better objects. However, many people believes that societies has moved on but design has not; Critical Design is one of affordances for developing design for future needs. To this assignment, I will research on the basis of the Critical Design theme which is to design things make people think, provoke actions and debates. Hence that, I look at few factors that make contemporary design changed in regards of technological and economic frameworks.

I will argue that with higher technology, design is getting closer to create things beyond the yesterday’s imaginations, but through looking at nature, societies and even economy. Beginning with the book “Agroindustrial project analysis: critical design factors”, Austin shows the new analytical framework inside agroindustry captures the advances in the field and present a richer conceptual and technical approach. By changing in regard of new framework, design affects the consuming society, and also the economy. This is a good overview on critical design factors in order to analyze technology approach towards design.

I nominate Massive Change as my intersecting theme as I think design has influenced our perspective and life in order to make ways for newer technology approach. Hence that, it will offer not only newer technologies but also an alternative perspectives of our society, so that Critical Design will act as a more important role in developing design.

References

Austin, J. E. (1992). Agroindustrial project analysis critical design factors (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Massive Change Bruce Mau and the Institute without Boundaries. (2004). New York: Phaidon Press Limited.

ASSIGNMENT 1

The Everyday

In the book “The Design of Everyday Things”, Donald Norman show lots of examples of good and bad design of The Everyday.

“Complex things may require explanation, but simple things should not. When simple things need pictures, labels, or instructions, the design has failed. A psychology of causality is also at work as we use everyday things.” (Norman D., 2009, pp. 9). He also describe how The Everyday have been designed, such as how a door handle show users to push or pull, or how scissors is designed. Hence those, he discusses that designers retrieved those bad and good design in everything to figure out the way to design the best, most effective functioning as for The Everyday design.

This book is relevant to The Everyday theme because it not only explains but also critique about the design. Therefore, what do make things as The Everyday and how they distinguish with other types of designs?

Norman, D. (1990, February 1). The Design of Everyday Things. Paperback.

Critical Design

In the text, “Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects”, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby debate how to apply Critical Design into the electric industry. So they debate the challenge for Critical Design to narrow assumptions.

Through quite lots of their works as examples, such as : Parasite light, compass table, nipple chair… Anothony Dunne and Fiona Raby research how the Critical Design acts as the main role in massive, industrial manufactory. Furthermore, questions are given and feedbacks from production tests that shows people how they use, how they can feel about the objects that much different from massive products.

This text is related to Critical Design because Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby shows lots of questions also discussions how Critical Design get into the industrial and how it affects the way people using things.

Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2001). Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects. Berlin, Germany: Birkhäuser.

DIY

In the journal “Do it Yourself: Democracy and Design”, Paul Atkinson states that a discourse around the interface between “design” taken as a function of the acitivity of “professional” designers, being part of production design and consumptions of goods and the DIY taken as its antithesis – design process of self-driven, self-directed amateur design and production activity.

He also debates the key issue of how DIY acts as the antithesis of product design of the mass marketplace. Yet, DIY acts as a higher level of class, overcome the social stigma to engage more to the working classes that been excluded previously.

Atkinson P., (Spring 2006). Do It Yourself: Democracy and Design. Design Hist: 19 (1): 1-10.doi: 10.1093/jdh/epk001

Google Warming

In the video on TEDtalk.com “Behind the Great Firewall of China”, Michael Anti shows lots of examples of how Chinese copy all the most popular search engines, social networks, blogs… He also debates that when it comes to politics, there are no real privacy on Internet at all.

Michael stated that nowadays trend is the Internet, now we all work in a super broad, super social environment which includes all the tools we call “search engines, blogs, social networks”. Furthermore, the Chinese government could see the risk having the other countries’ control on those tools, it would harm their politics. However, instead of blocking all of this, they see the necessities in those, as long as they would satisfy the needs in China also they could use those as political tools to govern the country. As it is a much broader tool and any forms or medium we did use in the past.

The video is related because I think I can see how the world have change much since the birth of search engines, social network, blogs in particular and the birth of the whole Internet in general.

Anti, M. (2006, July), Behind the Great Firewall of China. TEDGlobal 2012. Retrieved from http://on.ted.com/MichaelAnti