Defining Design
One of Victor Papaneck's books concentrates on the element of
'Design'; in this book he gives his opinion, definitions and some
facts based on design. Below I have taken and supported some of
Papaneck's views (given in the chapter 'what is design?'). In this
supporting essay, I have tried to back up Papaneck's views with
opinions from other people.
Papaneck's main definition of design that he gives in this chapter is
"Design is the conscious effort to impose meaningful order". Everyone
has a different definition of design however most of them are similar.
William R. Miller's (1996) definition of design supports Papaneck's
view, "Design is the thought process comprising the creation of an
entity. Design is a conscious activity, guided by aims and objectives.
It refers to planned and organized actions intended to bring about
some predetermined outcome, although there may also be accidental or
unexpected results."
"The rightness of any design solution will depend on the meaning with
which we invest the arrangement".
"The mode of action by which a design fulfils its purpose is its
function".
"All men are designers. All that we do, almost all the time, is
design, for design is basic to all human activity"
"Design as a problem solving activity can never, by definition, yield
the one right answer: it will always produce an infinite number of
answers, some 'righter' and some 'wronger' The 'rightness' of any
design solution will depend on the meaning with which we invest the
arrangement". This point Papaneck has made can be backed up by a
similar view from William R. Miller, "Design is sometimes referred to
as a problem-solving activity. This is a fundamental error, because
very rarely can a definitive answer to a design problem be provided.
Design problems do not lend themselves to being "solved". Design is a
process of compromise involving conflicting factors, and the best a
designer or design team can hope for is to "resolve" the conflict
using a certain mix of the conflicting factors".
The scene Alice's suicide from the movie The Last of the Mohicans is a vital and intricate scene of the movie that amplifies the artfulness and emotion of the story. In the scene, Alice, a British officer's daughter, jumps to her death off a cliff after her love, a Native American man named Uncas, is killed by Magua. Alice, in a treaty offered by the chief of Magua's tribe is promised in marriage to Magua in order to satisfy the death of Magua's children to re-establish his blood line. Alice's suicide scene from the last of the Mohicans offers a glimpse into how film production lighting, setting, costumes and hair and makeup work in cohesive unity to express the director's vision of the films mise-en-scene
All of us are created in God’s image, however we are all different in terms of our strengths, passions, and our life experiences. When God uses us with our design his kingdom is created and his will is done on earth. In this paper I will try to describe my unique design to you and how that relates to my life calling.
In this paper I will present two differing views on the topic of the design argument. In particular, I will explain William Paley's view supporting the design argument and Bertrand Russell's view against the design argument. After a presentation of the differing views, I will then evaluate the arguments to show that William Paley has a stronger argument.
The definition of universal design was coined in 1985 by Ron Mace, an architect and founder of the Center for Universal Design. Universal design is “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design” (Steinfeld, 1988). There are seven principles that are followed when creating with universal design in mind: equitable use, flexibility in use, simple and intuitive design, perceptible information, tolerance for error, low physical effort, and size and space for approach and use (Duncan).
Born in Russia, Alexey Brodovitch (1898-1971) is known foremost for his work as a graphic designer. His career started in Paris, then he decided to immigrate to the US in 1930, where he began to leave a significant influence on America graphic design and photography at the peak of his career as an art director of Harper’s Bazaar. The use of white space, asymmetrical layouts and dynamic imagery have made Brodovitch himself distinctive from other designers at the time, thus shifted the nature of magazine design into the next level. With the first poster “Bal Banal” in a competition, Brodovitch career as a graphic designer brought him many opportunities of various designers and agencies, as speaking of Harper’s Bazaar and Portfolio. Carmel Snow, an editor-in-chief of the Harper’s Bazaar once said when she offered him a job.
Design has established itself as core elements in societies helping countless communities build infrastructure, invent new ways to better living conditions and create design desirable for consumption hence bettering the economy. Though this is a positive, most designers of the 21st century use their skills and their designs alike for those who can afford it; designing for what’s in fact the minority, 10% of the world’s population. The reason why developmental aid and design for development is essential to improving standards of living for those who live in developing countries, but to also bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Ilse Oosterlaken (2009, p.100) equates most designs for development that use a `participatory' process as having a limited, user-centred approach; and suggests instead a more universal design approach, which she calls ‘capability sensitive design’. This essay will illustrate designs that have contributed to developmental design through capability sensitive design approach, considering sustainable design that are not only better the environment, community health and social welfare but the country’s economic standing. Through evaluating each example’s potential for real, sufficient, diverse and lasting value for the targeted users we can determine each design’s efficiency.
Simon Unwin, the author of the book ‘Analysing Architecture’ says that the ‘the purpose of architecture is to design buildings’ is an unsatisfactory definition because the definition limits architecture to just the design of buildings. He feels that architecture involves more than just designing buildings. He also believes that the definition fails to explain the real purpose of architecture and transfers the problem of comprehending the word ‘architecture’ to the word ‘building’. This definition doesn’t go in-depth to analyze and understand the essence of architecture in our everyday lives. It fails to relate human life and needs to the buildings built.
Hegeman, J. (2008). The Thinking Behind Design. Master Thesis submitted to the school of design, Carngie Mellon University. Retrieved from: http://jamin.org/portfolio/thesis-paper/thinking-behind-design.pdf.
The elements of design were created by Arthur Wesley Dow to help people see, describe, and create visual qualities in a systematic way. It consists of 7 elements: line, shape, form, colour, value, texture and space.
Design has major impact with concerns to environmental qualities. This field is a direct study of the relationship between behaviouristic actions of its inhabitants. Designers constantly interact with people and communicate to solve the needs of their clients regardless of large or small scale projects. Analysis is key in combining creativity with managerial design solutions. These outside-of-the-box designers have the ability to create beautiful, safe and functional and aesthetically pleasing spaces using common factors, designing for communities as well as,
Considering student achievement based upon the classroom environment, research shows that teachers who use constructivism in their classrooms have students whose achievement is more significant than those who learn by using traditional methods. (Singh, Yager, Yutakom, Yager, & Ali, 2012) It has become vitally important in this age for students to construct knowledge and apply it to both social and scientific situations in the real world. Additionally, the job market has changed, and employers are looking for more in potential employees. There are numerous skills being sought after that center around independent problem solving, a skill that can be taught using a constructivist approach. (Lew, 2010)
‘You cannot hold a design in your hand. It is not a thing. It is a process. A system. A way of thinking.’ Bob Gill, Graphic Design as a Second Language.
In the art community there is a lot of controversy in distinguishing what the difference between an artist and a designer. Designers are told they are not artist and they need to stop thinking they are artist. When dealing with art and design specific demographics and viewers interpret the messages of each subject in different ways. Art is said to be elucidated and design is said to be understood. Artists usually develop a work of art with the intention of bringing an emotion viewpoint, instinctive feeling, and or state of mind. When you look at an artist work it cannot be limited to just exhibiting one individual thought or just one individual meaning. That is a big difference when it comes to graphic design. Graphic design usually has a very specific goal and point to make. When dealing with graphic design there should not be any room or space for any mixed messages or multiple meanings. The audience of the design should immediately understand the design that the designer created. Art connects to people differently in so many ways. The only reason it connects to people in different ways is only because it is interpreted differently.
1. In accomplishing needs analysis in response to given deficiency, what type of information you would include? Describe the process that you would use in developing necessary information?
According to Mouton, research designs are tailored to address different kinds of research questions. Thus, when attempts are made to classify different kinds of research studies to different design types, they are classified by the kind of research questions they are able to answer. Research designs can be mapped out to the types of research questions (research problem) using four dimensions: 1) empirical versus non-empirical dimension, 2) using primary versus using secondary data, 3) the nature of the data (numerical versus textual data) and 4) the degree of control (structured (laboratory) conditions versus natural field settings)