Blog Assignment 9

The "cold war" of 1945 was seen as an ideology war where the communists and the capitalists fought with ideas and design.  It was seen that ideology + design = "the good life".  "The Marshall Plan" was then started by George Marshall who wanted to contain communism through consumerism.  The plan created consumer markets and put out the idea that consumerism: fashion, wealth and mobility was freedom. 

And example of this was after the war where woman were working in factories, the men came back to their jobs, meaning the woman had to go back to the home. They were seen as the consumers therefore lots of marketing came out that put forward the idea of consumer choice.  This marketing was aimed at the woman and featured woman happily surrounded in products.  This was meant to incourage them to buy the goods and make them happy.

Today, this type of marketing still occurs, everywhere.  We are surrounded by advertising, where it be ads on the TV, on the radio, billboards and posters down streets, flyers in the mail, ads in magazines etc.  All this advertising is aimed at specific groups of people, and features them happily wearing/using the products.  It has the same idea that ideology + design = "the good life" and freedom.

The above photo is of a Glassons shop front, a shop for teenagers to young adults.  In the window you see photos of three models wearing Glassons clothes.  They are beautiful, fashionable, content and standing confidently, like they own those clothes.  There is also writing on the window saying "change as often as you like".  All this advertising is aimed at young adults and teenagers as they often care a lot about how they look, they like to be in fashion and have plenty of clothes and variety so they can "change as often as [they] like".  It's meant to pull this user group in and make them want to buy the clothes so they too can be fashionable, beautiful, content, have consumer choice and "the good life".

Blog assignment 8

Walter Gropius was the Bauhaus’ schools first director when it opened in 1919. “He supported artistic freedom and individuality rather than the imposition of typical standardized forms”. (Raizman, 2004, pg. 181) Whereas Hannes Meyer, the Swiss-born architect who took over as director in 1928, argued that “design was synonymous with man-made things and was a product of “function x economy”. His views placed design solely in the service of working-class needs based upon objective standards of economy”. (Raizman, 2004, pg. 187)


I disagree with Meyers view that design is a product of “function x economy”. I believe that design is a product of many more things that may include function and economy but don’t rely on purely those two. Design can be a product of politics, science, society and their trends and technology. I agree that there should be “a balance between the universal and the individual” (Raizman, 2004, pg. 167) and with Gropius and Johannes Ittens views of artistic freedom.

The Hous am Horn (in the above photo) was created by the student body of the Bauhaus after World War 1 when there were housing shortages. It looks at the average worker and analyses tasks and movements around rooms in the home, such as the kitchen, to be more rational. It added an element of “science” and design standards based on considerations of human factors. I think this “science” is a big part of design today, especially as new technology is being developed.  We cannot design without looking at human ergonomics therefore design is "science". But design shouldn't be labelled an “art” or a “science”. I believe it is both. Today we have moved into designing for mainly the “universal” to keep up with new technology but there is still an art and craft in design where we see individuality and “artistic freedom”.

Raizman, D. (2004). The First Machine Age in Europe, in History of Modern Design (pp. 166-191) New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.

Blog Assignment 7

Symbolic universes are created to provide legitimation and structure. They put everything in its right place and provide explanations for why we do things the way we do.  New Yorks World's Fair held in 1939, called "The Dawn of Tomorrow" was all about creating a symbolic universe.  America was just getting to the end of the depression and wanted to look forward.  The fair was all about how science was going to bring a utopia of tomorrow. 

Today there are many symbolic universes created through media.  Where it be through the internet, TV shows or movies.  This media allows viewers to step into a whole new world, and fantasise about what could be.  The Harry Potter series of books and movies created immense populairty over a wide range of age groups all over the world.  It is a series of seven novels and movies about the adventures of the wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story shows Harry's quest to overcome the evil dark wizard Lord Voldemort, which he eventually suceeds in doing.  This story line captures viewers/readers and pulls them into this new fantasy world.  The fact that the series lasted 10 years and many grew with the series, this made viewers feel like they were right there with Harry for the whole journey.

Media and design and the digital world is a huge part of life today and society is becoming more and more dependent on it.  It creates this ideal world or utopia where people can step out of their everyday lives and into this new reality.  It allows them to fantasize about other worlds and to step into the shoes of and follow along with these fictional characters.  No one can deny that they love to fantasize about being someone else, having a different life or being in another surreal world.  We are becoming so used to seeing all this as we are surrounded by digital media and it often affects our behaviour.  In some ways I believe this media utopia is a negative influence on society but in others it's a step towards the future and has many benefits.

Blog Assignment 6

In "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” by Walter Benjamin, argues, “To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic print makes no sense.”  By this he means art used to have authenticity and aura as back in the 18th Century only origionals were created.  As soon as reproduction of art and design, and the digital age began, the authenticity and aura was lost as art was mass produced so much that no difference was seen between the origional and the reproduced.  I agree and also disagree with Benjamin.  I agree that new digital technology has made it harder for us to come across a truly authentic piece of art or design.  Things are so widely reproduced that it's very uncommon to see the origionals of any work, yet replicas are seen everywhere. 

People also argue that no art or design is authentic, as every designer or artist got ideas for their work, from someone else's work. Art and design has been done for so long that almost everything has been done before.  Things may have been expanded on but there will always be elements that are the same.  I believe this, yet I disagree that it takes away the authenticity or aura of origionals.  To know you're standing in front of a great artists origional work gives a feeling that no replica or image on the internet can give you, no matter how much that work was reproduced. 

The opposing also argue that every piece of work is authentic, even when reproduced, as nothing is ever exactly the same.  For example when printing a single photo 10 times, some might have a slightly different colour or tone because of the printer, one might come out a slightly smaller or larger size, over time a couple might age and others kept safe and new.  Therefore every piece of art or design is origional and has it's own qualities that distinguish it from others, whether it be something as small as a rip in the page.

When origional artworks are viewed by people, they will never give off that same aura as they would've in the 18th Century when computers, photos and reproduction didn't exist.  This is understandable as when things are reproduced and photos are posted over the internet, seeing amazing art and design becomes less exciting because it's so easy to come across it.  But I don't think an origional will ever completely lose its authenticity and aura, as this is the piece of work that the designer held and worked on themselves, which will always remain uncommon and amazing to see.

Benjamin, W. (1992). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (pp. 211-244 ) in Illuminations, trans. Harry Zohn. London: Fontana.