Assignment 03 (A03): Hunting Down Design

My team was composed of me and:
Jessica Kline - http://jklinedesign200.blogspot.com/
Breanna Rayne- http://breannaraynedsgn200.blogspot.com/

Clue 01:
There are several places on OSU campus where you can find the Barcelona Chair. Take a picture of one of your team members sitting  in the chair, but still compose a good picture showing both you and the chair. Also note the name of the designer and something interesting about the chair or the designer in your comments.

Barcelona Chair was designed by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe. For a short time in the 1930s Ludwig was an instructor at the school of design in Germany, the Bauhaus.

Clue 02:

Find the Knowlton School of Architecture’s Library and explore the space noting the various chairs from design’s history. Pick a chair that you find interesting (not the Barcelona chair) and compose a picture of you in the chair reading a design-related magazine. In the comments, tell me who the designer is, something about the chair, and what magazine you are reading.

 The Chaise Lounge "Relaxation Machine", designed by Le Corbusier in 1928. The magazine I was reading was the Manu Real Urbanism. 

Clue 03:

Take a photo of one of your team members in front of a building on campus that was designed by Peter Eisenman. In the comments, tell me something interesting or controversial about the construction of the building on campus.

This is in the middle of the Wexner Center. A couple yars after it was built watter would leak from the ceiling.  So it had to be fixed.   

Clue 04:

A famous architect by the name of Philip Johnson designed the Sony (originally AT&T) skyscraper in New York City which is a great example of post modernism. He’s also responsible for two buildings on the Ohio State campus. Find one a get a picture of both the building and an architectural detail that you find interesting.

I thought that the arches were pretty remarkable considering the heighth of each undividual one. 

Clue 05:

Take a photo of one of your team members in front of a building on campus that was designed by local architects Acock & Associates. In the comments, tell me something interesting or controversial about the construction of the building on campus.

This is the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library.  This library was renovated or expanded 3 times.



Reading Reflection Heskett Ch. 7&8 (RR04)

          I agree with John Heskett in the aspect that everyone secretly wants to be someone else, or at least would change a certain characteristic about their self.  This is why people have plastic surgery and use Botox.  Everything that happens now in the United States is aging you on to buy a new product to make you look younger or buy a new car you will be the coolest kid on the block.  All that we perceive is telling us that we’re not perfect, and that we can buy our way into looking or feeling what we think is ideal.  The main problem with the ever rapidly technology advancements is how these new innovations are going to be used, viewed, and how clear the product is. Consumers want their products to be made well enough for them to understand without much effort.  Designers face these challenges quite frequently.

Course Reflection (CR04) Design for Accessibilities

          A big part of the design world is designing for the disabled or impaired.  There are multiple types of impairments hearing, learning, visual, mobility, etc… In 1990 the ADA stated “Reasonable Accommodations,” this meet that designers must provide equally accessible buildings, services, and public areas to all people with disabilities in an incorporated manner.   Over the years architects and designers have had to create things to aid the impaired.  In my opinion this is a huge area for improvement just like there is in the medical field for designers.  In the future universal design will expand to just about everything.  All cars will be able to pick up wheel chairs from the ground, steps will become obsolete, and there will be so many options for customization in everyday living.

Journal 04 (J04): Found Faces

Here are faces that I have found out in public; some intentional and some unintentional. 




Man hole covering




My shoe




Microwave



Outlet



Xbox

Side of a building



Reading Reflection (RR03) Hesket ch. 4-6

          Objects are a crucial way of how we interpret how we live.  All of the world goods are used to perceive, indicate, and view other social and cultural systems.  One of the best things designers can do is to give the consumer something new and innovative that they never knew they wanted.  Some companies also work where one individual can have a dynamic impact, especially when it comes to the certain role an object should play in one’s life.  A good quote said by Dieter Rams:  “products should provide quiet, efficient service when required and otherwise fade into the background.”  Thinking about appliances around my home I couldn’t think of one that did not follow this quote.  A necessity of a product design should be personal flair.  This is what I like about the design industry.  There’s a certain creativeness and complexity to it.  The adaptability of jobs in design is remarkable, and is what I am very much interested in.  The expected rational methods of working are thrown out the door unlike Architecture and Engineering. 

          Communication is very important when designing an object.  This object needs to convey its purpose with its look.  Walter Landor believed that getting to understand what the consumer’s outlook on the company and products are is just as important as the manufacturing of the products.  I agree with this statement because if a company has a bad reputation then nobody will want to purchase their goods.  Information needs to be readily available and easy to understand.  If not then the producer will be at a major disadvantage.  I get this a lot online.  When I can’t accurately navigate my way around a site then I usually get frustrated and leave the website.  One thing that I think is huge in designing a product is the public’s involvement.  To enhance the understanding the relationship of what the consumer really is looking for and for those who actually create the image. When I read this I thought of Mountain Dew, and how they get people involved by asking what the new flavor should be. 

          The environment influences us all.  People give objects a special meaning.  For designers they sometimes create something to mimic their selves.  This to me is something that I don’t see happening very often.  Starting in the 1960s in Japan there was a push in leadership rather than control.  Instead of workers doing what they are told and that carrying out, workers were encouraged to work together, use the creativeness, and contribute to the process.  These innovations are the basis of how organization’s environments work today.    In 1999 it went even further by changing the environment from just your cubical to opening up the office space and actually bringing the outside environment inside.  The point of this was to relax the workers, put them into a better place where they could focus and come up with innovative ideas.   

Assignment 02 (A02): Designer Investigation Post 3 of 3

          Carolyn Davidson was the designer of the famous Nike swoosh in 1971.  She was a graphic design student that while in college at Portland State met Phill Knight who gave her a whopping $35 to design what was known then as Blue Ribbon Sports Inc.(BRS).  Davidson left Nike in September 1983 due to the rapid expansion of Nike.  12 years later, she got an invitation to lunch From Knight who gave her a gold swoosh ring and an undisclosed amount of Nike stock.  The brand name ‘Nike’ was picked to represent the Greek goddess of victory, and the swoosh represented the wing of the goddess.  Actually the “Just Do It” slogan was thought up of, and used before the Nike swoosh.  The Nike swoosh did not get trade-marked until 1995.  Carolyn Davidson retired in 2000.  She designed a little winged shaped figure in no more than 17 hours in the early 70s for a small company, and she is now living the dream.  She is now involved with the Ronald McDonald House.

http://www.dinesh.com/history_of_logos/miscellaneous_logos_-_design_and_history/nike_logo_-_design_and_history.html

http://blogulate.com/content/price-of-the-swoosh/

Assignment 02 (A02): Designer Investigation Post 2 of 3

          Howard Dwight Smith was an American Architect born on February 21^st, 1886 in Dayton Ohio.  He designed and developed buildings all over the state of Ohio, and been most active right here on The Ohio State University’s Campus after he graduated from OSU in 1907 with a degree in Civil Engineering and Architecture. His two most famous works are the Ohio Stadium, The Horseshoe, and the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, St. John Arena, and the French Field House.  He had a hand in designing over 30 University buildings.  He was a die-hard football fan, who had seats in the Horseshoe right behind Orville Wright who also happens to be a big Ohio State football fan from Dayton.  From 1929 to 1956, Smith was named the University’s architect and head of the department of architecture.  This must be a good reason why Ohio State has such a challenging architecture program.  Smith Hall was named in his honor after he died from a stroke in April, 1958.  Smith’s Grandchildren went on to be quite successful and famous:  Beverly D'Angelo who was a motion picture actress, and Jeff D'Angelo who became a jazz musician.

 http://www.wosu.org/archive/horseshoe/men.htm#m

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Howard_Dwight_Smith

Assignment 02 (A02): Designer Investigation Post 1 of 3

          DeRuyter O. Butler graduated from The Catholic University of Architecture and Planning in 1977.  During college Butler went to class and worked on an average of two hours of sleep five days a week.  Butler has been Creating billion dollar casinos in Las Vegas for about 24 years now. When he was 21 his mother died.  So Butler bought a house in Maryland where he cared for his two younger siblings, who were 4 and 13 years old.  The famous Steve Wynn, who has built almost every one of his modern casinos with Butler, said that they are connected at the hip.  Some of DeRuyter Butler’s hotels/ casinos in Las Vegas: The Golden Nugget, Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, and the $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas.  He has also spent time designing others in New Jersey, Mississippi, and his most recent the Macau Wynn in China.  Butler’s Bellagio was jump started by the movie Ocean’s Eleven.  He has also designed a 40-Foot active volcano, a pirate-ship which sinks underneath a lake during a show where actors battle, a 130-foot mountain with a series of waterfalls flowing into a lake, and The Bellagio’s lake inspired by Italy’s Lake Como which synchronizes a fountain with music.

Google Images: This is a picture of the multi-millionaire designer DeRuyter Butler.

Google Image: The Wynn Las Vegas($2.7bil), built in 2005 the most recent Butler project built in Vegas.



Google Images: The Bellagio($1.6bil), built in 1993 with the Lake out front, inspired by

 Lake Como in Italy.

Google Image: Treasure Island($450mil), built in 1993 with the pirate ship out front.

 Google Image: The Mirage($630mil), built in 1989 with the 40 foot active volcano.

          Wynn has sold nearly all his casinos after he has built them, and along with Butler gone on to design some of the most glamorous gaming resorts in not only the U.S. but in the world.  Every one of these projects consists of architecture, landscaping and designing; all to bring visitors to another world where they can get away from everyday middle class society.  DeRuyter Butler owns 11 addresses in Las Vegas, Nevada and one in Del Mar, California.  

Sorces:

http://publicaffairs.cua.edu/cuamag/fall07/features/transporting.html

http://www.ratevegas.com/blog/2006/03/two_way_intervi_1.html

J03- Survey

Survey Questions (Votes)

• Cucumbers(3) vs. Pickles(7) 
• Ranch(4) vs. Ketchup(6)
• Miley Sirus(2) vs. Taylor Swift(8)
• Hollywood(5) vs. Miami(5)
• Reading(3) vs. Videogames(7)
• Getting the Munchies(5) vs. Home Cooked Meal(5)

Conclusions:

1. Most women prefered reading over video games
2. All college men prefered videogames over reading
3. All men liked Taylor Swift over Miley Sirus
4. Some aspects that could have had an effect on the outcome of this survey were the temperature here in Columbus. Lately it has been below freezing, and this could have had people lean more towards 90 degree weather in miami instead of moderate temperature in Hollywood. 
5. Most of the people in college choose a home cooked meal because they haven't had one sense christmas break. 

Course Reflection (CR03)

           Methodology…  This is a set of working methods that designers use to design a product.  Different processes can be used: linear, cyclical, and branching.  I don’t see how a linear process can be used very often.  It has no deviations or possible changes to problems.  If you only have one set path to go, there are so many things that could wrong, and only one option for the customer to choose from.  I could see companies and designers using a multiple cyclical process, and also more commonly using the branching technique.  There are five design processes: Problem Definition and Constraints which is what type of product the client needs, goals, time it must be finished by, money the client is paying for the job, and the target audience.  Next is Research.  This is where you study your client, the people who are going to be using the product, the code and legal search, and benchmarking.  This step is crucial to get all the correct info of what the product is all about before the brainstorming happens.  The third step is the most important when it comes to designers.  It is divided into four subcategories.  A product is developed, refined, and then presented to the client for their feedback and then the final product is decided.  This is where you would think the actual designers would be the most engaged.  After this happens the product goes into mass production and is evaluated.  The designer will now know if he/she pleased the clients and in some cases if the designer can keep their job.

RR02 Short Intro, Heskett ch. 1-3

          Design matters immensely to all of us whether we know it or not, and it represents a huge frontier of potential in everyday life.  This belief is what this book, “Design, A Very Short Introduction” by John Heskett is concentrated on.  One of the most mysterious features of the modern world is how the word design has been broadly elaborated throughout the history of this earth.  Design is the crucial details that have shaped our environment for the enhancement and pleasure of everyone who witnesses it.  It affects all people but in their each individual way they perceive the details.  All aspects of the environment are capable of improvement in some way or another.  The structures and forms that are put before us are all subject to change or to be innovated at one point or another with the improvement of technology, tools, knowledge, cultures, values, etc…

         Human nature today has continued to be for the most part unchanged.  In other words the methods of which we design or alter objects has changed such as culture and technology, but all for the same reasons.  Natural objects have been used as tools and apparatuses to enhance the appearance, job, function, or purpose of something.  Stereotypes of what things are supposed to look like have been adapted, developed, and were transformed over the years, and this is still happening today.  Objects are not just limited to a simple answer to a problem but it is extended to give an idea of how life was lived in the past.  In the mid-eighteenth century the industrial system became prevalent which brought mass production changes that most designers were unwilling to change to these burdens.  After the First World War a school for designers called Bauhaus changed the spread of power of art by mechanically producing new innovations for the entire society.  Before this Henry Ford produced his famous Model T in 1907 for the wealthy.  After World War II, designers started focusing their talents towards fundamental problems to businesses.  Throughout the history of design as the evolution of design goes on, it is layered and new innovations are made without starting from scratch.

          Utility and significance are two tools used in the explanation of design.  Utility is “the quality of appropriateness in use” (Heskett, 26).  Significance of design is “how forms assume meaning in the ways they are used, or the roles and meanings assigned to them” (Heskett, 27).  For example the toothpick:  A Norwegian company produced a toothpick that had a wedged point on one side.  This was designed for ‘utility’, which people could effectively use.  A Japanese toothpick, which was circular and had one pointed side as well, offered the same ‘utility’ as the Norwegian toothpick.  This one though had incisions on the other end which could be snapped off, and served as a rest for the other pointed end after its use.  This served as ‘significance’ to the product.  Languages also created new problems when advertising elsewhere.  For instance the visual imagery of when Coca-Cola took their product to China.  The pronunciation of the brand name was ‘Bite the wax tadpole’.  So the problem was identified and changed to mean ‘Tasty and evoking happiness’.  Certain designs can create a change in values or ethnic limitations.  This can either be a good thing or potentially become threatening or give offense to a specific culture.   The assumption of having the same standards throughout the world can bring new problems.  Some theorize by contemplating that the understanding of design should be focused on the end outcome being in terms of what goals and perceptions the designer(s) used.

J02: Found Patterns

Here are 10 pictures of patterns that I found to be interesting.  Under each photo I provided a description, where, and when each specimen was found. 

I found this pattern on January 10^th on my back from a class.  It is the side of a building.  This design is very unique.  It is not the same pattern layer after layer.  The stones are all different sizes of rectangles.

This is a drain on one of the walk ways in between 17^th and 18^th street.  I took this image on January 13^th.  I was drawn to this pattern because of the equally spaced groves in the metal.

This is a trash can on the south oval taken January 11^th.  There are two different widths of the metal bars.  Even though they are different sizes the space in between the bars are the same. 

This is wood paneling on the side of my dorm.  This image was taken January 14^th.  The panel is symmetric in size, but unique when it comes to the design of each individual panel. 

I took this picture on January 10^th.  This is a stone layered walkway in between the main oval and the south oval.  The overall repetitiveness of the stones is what drew my eye towards them.  Each one is color coordinated and is the same size.

I took a picture of duct tape in my room on January 11th.  I examined this specimen for a while.  The repeated ridges are what make the tape easier to cut or rip. 

I took this picture was taken of my bed post on January 15^th.  The texture of this metal is very different than I expected.  It is a little bumpy and uneven throughout. 

I took this picture of a sewage hole covering on January 16^th.  I don’t know what this actually composes of but my guess is that it is some sort of metal.  I found this particular specimen interesting because the groves were difficult to see unless you got real close or you were looking for them to begin with.

This material is fleece.  I took this picture of my blanket January 14^th.  I have always been interested in what makes this material so soft and comfortable. 

This picture was taken of a tree January 12^th in the oval.  This pattern has a natural uneven uniformity to it.  The negative space in this object is what gives it the depth and a kind of interest in the form.

Course Reflection (CR02)

         In week 2 January 10th and January 12th we started off by talking about what design actually is, and how it is different from art.  Art is for the individual how creates it.  Design is for the public and has a use other than just to look at.  It is also purposeful, creative, and systematic.  Design has a history clear back to the making of stone tools in 2 million B.C.  During the Industrial Revolution one notable person in the mid-18th century was James Watt who designed the first steam engine.  This is when mass production took off in big factories.  Later in the 1860s Thonet was the first to bend Beachwood to make new iconic chairs.  The Bauhaus is the first design school located in Germany it taught the design prelim classes which are still used today. 

          Next we learned about the evolution of chairs.  The Barcelona Chair, created by Mies van der Rohe in 1929, can be found around campus such as the Wexner Center, Fine Arts Library, etc...  Eero Sarinen, Verner Panton, and Charles & Ray Eames are also a few designers who made new innovative chairs.  There are three types of design that we went into detail explaining and what kind of jobs is possible for each major.  Ohio State offers: Industrial, Interior Space, and Visual Communication Design.  A symbol is an abstracted message that is more open to interpretation.  An icon is a realistic representation of an object, and a Metaphor is created to make concepts easier to grasp.  Two Examples of Visual Synthesis is the arrow between the 'E' and 'x' in 'FedEx', and an eleven on the sides of the 'T' in 'Big Ten'.

Reading Reflection 01 (RR01)

Tree House Camping
        

          This very short article is about a new type of living quarters for camping.  It is made completely out of cork.  This was designed due to the thermal energy it retains and cork has no negative effect on the environment.  It is also very light weight and is portable.

          When I saw the picture of this 'cork tent' i was intrigued with its design, and it sounded very innovative and one of a kind.  I had no idea that cork was a material used to insulate.  Just by the shear look of this object made it interesting, along with the fact that it is made entirely out of cork.  This could be a big hit if this product is as advertised; warm, compactable, lightweight, and 100% nontoxic.  I thought this was a very unique way to further design camping housing.  It only took like a minute, no joke, to read and I recommend anyone to take a peek at it.

http://www.yankodesign.com/2011/01/07/tree-house-camping/

Journal 01 (J01) & Course Reflection 01 (CR01)

J01

My name is Zach Bergman, and I am a freshman.  I have two brothers and one sister.  My parents are both teachers in my home village of Oak Harbor, Ohio.  I've wrestled since I was five years old, and I also played football in high school.  I originally went into engineering but realized that was not the career choice for me, so I switched to exploration this quarter.  So I am taking a few classes that I am interested in.  Some of my interests include: Design, art, teaching, and sports.  I plan on looking into each of these very thoroughly over the next two quarters.  I am also a die-hard Cleveland sports fan.  Unfortunately Cleveland hasn't won a championship since 1964... My roommate is from Pittsburg, and is a Steelers fan.  So trust me I hear it from him all the time.

CR01

Like I said in my journal entry I do not know what I exactly I want to do.  So my goal is to know what I want to major in by the end of the spring quarter.  When I took engineering 181 last quarter I realized that I enjoy the drawing and the designing aspect of the material in that class.  Therefore I want to look into the design area.  I do not know the particular category I necessarily want to concentrate on.  That is why I took this class, to see if I was interested in Graphic, Industrial, or possibly Interior Design.  This whole blog thing is a brand new experience for me.  So I am looking forward to how this works out.  Hopefully this class will be a good indication if I really want to take this path.