In the book By Design from pages one to ten, a short story is told of a small midwestern movie theatre. The manager of the theatre had gotten rid of a few rows of seats to compensate for the lack of a balcony for blacks. Some students had participated in silent protest against segregation in the theatre. To solve this problem the manager attempted to redistribute the audience in another way. His attempt to design the layout of seating had failed.
This is the very thing that is design, problem solving. Though you can't hope to change where people choose to sit in a theatre by separating some seats, you can make an apparent separation of sections using design. This is a great example of how Design may not save the world but will make it worth saving.
Toothpicks & Logos - John Heskett
What is design?
In the reading from Toothpicks & Logos Heskett attempts to define the complex and often misunderstood word 'design' and explain its underlying purpose in our lives. 'Design is to design a design to produce a design' (Heskett 5) is an example given of a grammatically correct sentence that uses the word in its various forms. Design is one of the basic characteristics of what is to be human, and an essential determinant of the quality of human life (Heskett 4). Design at its roots is the modification of natural forms by observing the environment.
Consider being at home, school, an office, etc. the odds are that nothing in that environment will be completely natural. (Heskett 7) There are many natural materials that can be shaped in exponential ways. The human factor is present in decisions taken at all levels of design practice. Heskett talks about design and the importance of responsible design which can be applied to the field of graphic design. Design is not only about initial decisions or concepts by designers, but also about how these are implemented and by what means we can evaluate their effect or benefit.
It is necessary for the human race to continue the development of design with regard the pattern of historical evolution within design.
Understanding Design - Kees Dorst
Reflections on being a designer
The book Understanding Design tries to strike a balance between stories about design practice and top-heavy design theory. The purposes of the essays in this book are to challenge designers to reflect upon many aspects of their field. Designers tend to think generating possible solutions and their gradual improvement is the only way forward when solving a problem. That is design.
When we want to control a design process, or to make our design project run more efficiently design methods rarely have anything useful to say. Designers typically hit a point in a project when they are satisfied. Pertaining to my future field of graphic design I don't believe a project to be complete enough to satisfy me but instead left fine and inevitably in need of improvement of design technique.
Nowadays, designers rarely work alone. It has become impossible for one designer to possess all the knowledge and skills to develop a complicated design. This made me recognize the importance of teamwork despite technological advantages we have to pull on for information pertaining to design and production. It is important for any self-respecting designer to raise the stakes by adding all kinds of personal goals to design brief.
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