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Week 15: Final Thoughts

It is crazy how much I have learned about the history and progression of design throughout this class. Objects that were created 100+ years ago have drastically changed to newer and more efficient functionality that fit into the modern world. Although it may seem that modern design is “good enough” and the world really does not need anymore new design inventions for everyday life, there are many that will be made and many that should be made. Design is more than just for aesthetic pleasing in home spaces, and often benefits the environment as well as people in the world. Since the beginning of motor vehicles, the designs have already progressed a lot in order to improve safety as well as convenience and functionality. Right now all modern day vehicles have radios, aux cord plug ins, and some more higher tech ones have Bluetooth as well as built in navigation.  Even 30 years ago, people likely did not think cars would have functions that would allow you to play music off your phones on the car speakers, or ones that would allow you to not use a map to drive, and these inventions are only getting more popular. Teslas have self driving features and I feel like these features will become more popular in the future. Another thing I see in the future of design is the advancement in environment inventions that help prevent the increase in climate pollution. Electric cars are becoming more popular and are great for the environment and I hope that these become the norm in years to come in order to prevent the pollution of the billions of vehicles on the road each day. The use of reusable products such as silicone food bags and reusable grocery bags have been in demand in recent years as well as stores eliminating plastic bags use. The popularity of sustainable and reusable products seems will only become more popular as the years go on. 

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Week 14: Your Choice

Coming into this class, I honestly had little knowledge of the design world, especially the world of typography. The typography lessons were by far the most challenging for me and I am still struggling to define the numerous characteristics and significance of each. This being said, I was surprised on the things I did already know. I knew a lot about design vs art already as well as the years graphic design gained popularity, but it ends at that. I learned a lot about the progression of graphic design production and the rise of digital material. 

My favorite material covered in this class was the industrial design lessons as well as the history of design. These two specifically stand out to me as they were very interactive and we were required to look around for objects in our everyday lives that are examples of industrial design. This made me realize how many things in the world around us are made by designers. I have never previously thought about how designers sat down and thought about the best way to toast a piece of bread, or the most efficient way to blend a fruit for a smoothie. As I am typing this, I also remembered how fun the One Piece at a Time project was. I chose to write about the Ettore Sottsass, “Carlton” Bookcase/Room Divider, 1981, specifically because of its beauty as I am a huge fan of postmodern interior design. I am extremely inspired by these pieces and have many in my home that are inspired by this great era. Because of this class, I have found myself looking at objects and buildings and talking about their history and style, and it makes me feel kind of smart! I will continue to annoy my friends and family by identifying these things every day from now on. :)

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Week 13: New Media

The term “digital aesthetic” refers to the way digital content looks and how it makes the user feel while using the specific media. The first impression of someone looking at a media, is important to the creator as they want people to enjoy and want to use their work. The digital aesthetic of media such as apps, television guides, streaming services, and websites have all changed drastically throughout the years. For example, our textbook talks about how the digital aesthetic of the 1990′s was quickly adopted by commercial forces that sought to appear joyfully futuristic to consumers. Having a digital aesthetic fit a specific time is no different than any other trend from different eras throughout time. Instagram was the hot app for my generation with it coming out in 2010. Since we have all been on the app basically since it came out, we have seen how much it has changed throughout the years to fit the current digital aesthetic. App creators get feedback from users and make changes based on these feedbacks in order to meet the consumers needs and wants. For example, Instagram came out with a feature that let users post up to 10 photos and videos from the previous 1 in a clean and easy to use format. Other apps have done the same, such as Snapchat allowing users to save chats, have private stories, and use fun and cute filters. Twitter, Instagram, and Apple all have a choice to go in “dark mode” which is helpful for those who dislike bright white lights on phones or who just appeal to darker colors in general. With most app, if creators never changed their layouts or features, people would get bored of the apps as there is nothing ever new and exciting. I would say today’s digital aesthetic is clean and simple straight forward features. I know if the apps I use were still in the original state that they were in from several years back, they likely would not appeal to as many people as they do. Social media apps are also constantly competing against each other, so the changes are inevitable if they want to keep their audience engaged.  

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Week 12: New Media

New Media is continuously changing and emerging throughout time and most technologies that are described as new media are digital and are often interactive, such as internet, website, computer games, and CDs. The definition of new media has changed throughout history, as a cellphone in the 80s could be considered a new media but today only certain phones, possibly with certain new apps, could be considered new media. Before new media came to be, people relied on broadcasting such as tv or radio, and newspapers to find information. Older technologies have been transformed into greater and more effective technologies. New media began as far back as the first computer in the mid to late 20th century, and was originally not interactive and focused more on webpages and hyperlinks. This first version was called Web 1.0, and later shifted to Web 2.0 which became more interactive and let people post their own things on the web and find news and endless information and content. Web became and still is the main source of marketing and advertising. This was a crazy change in the media world, as anyone and everyone could post things for everyone to see. There are many technologies that were created that made Web 2.0 possible, such as macromedia flash, which was responsible for engaging ads by using motion graphics. The idea of becoming internet famous and creating podcasts were a few other things that emerged with the creation of Web 2.0. This gave people, no matter who they were, the chance of being seen and heard by the world. Web 3.0 was the next faze of media that emerged shortly after Web 2.0 which introduced a whole set of new technologies, such as smart tv, digital assistance, and new portable ways to listen to music. The iPod radicalized the way we listened to music, by being able to store our own personal music, but was still not the most practical invention. It was not until the invention of the iPhone, people were able to listen to music, call, text, and take pictures all on one object. Looking back at the first inventions of the radio and tv, it is still visible that the newest versions, even though they are greatly modernized, have many similar aspects and features of the original models.

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Week 11: Graphic Design

This week’s reading talks about citizen designers, which are professionals who attempt to address societal issues either through or in addition to his or her commercial work. These people go beyond their normal work by collaborate with people from government, industry, and private life to benefit the society as a whole. One issue that is very prominent in citizen designers interest are to achieve sustainability. This can mean that designers are working individually to be better and more sustainable in order to make small changes, or are advocating on a larger scale to educate and encourage others to join them in making change. Some sustainable things these designers advocate for can be using recycled paper or post consumer paper for printing jobs, and even more so digital graphic design which diminishes the use of printing on paper all together. Bruce Mau is a designer who has worked hard for social change through many different platforms such as, museum exhibitions, books, and a website. He focuses on the future of design and how it can be more sustainable and reformative. Mau is known as an optimist who believes that anything can be achieved/made as long as people are collaborating and working together. There are many different types of citizen designers, but there is one thing they all have in common, the goal of a better future. 

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Week 10: Graphic Design

There are many different interpretations of what “postmoderism” means, but it simple terms it is anything “after modern” era. Postmodern graphic design’s stylistic conventions are said to be plural and unstable. Some examples of this are the characteristics of Dadaism showing up, by including a mixture of font sizes and weights, overprinting, using cluttered pages, and basically anything that reject the rules of modern International Style.

Many works of art, specifically in the 1960′s were derived from social contexts, where many young people focused around the music scene in San Francisco, as well as dramatic drug use, resulting in many psychedelic poster designs. These posters had amazing, bright colors that were extremely eye catching and new, even if they have some subject influence of previous art movements. A popular example of these types of posters, is the 1967′s Love Festival poster which showcased sexual and chaotic elements to lure fans in. It seems that music was the main focus of graphic designers during the mid to late 1900′s and to this day, I feel the influence graphic designs, specifically poster designers.  

In the 1960′s and 1970′s, there was an abundance of new typefaces that were designed as alternatives for the then popular, sans serif. The goal of these new typefaces was to be new and not have the same fonts that previous practitioners favored of the International Style. One of my favorite design eras that came up in this week’s reading is the “grunge” design that originated in the 1990′s in California. I listen to quite a few 90′s alternative artists, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which use grunge design elements on their albums and posters. These designs often feature bold typography and colors, chaotic and unexplainable imagery, as well as hard to read fonts. 

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Week 9: Industrial Design

Brooks Stevens was a highly influential industrial designer who shaped the way for many future designs. Cities in general are going to be big with industrial design, but Milwaukee specifically got big with industrial design because of Brook Stevens. Everyone, whether they know it or not, knows a Brooks Stevens design, showing how big and influential his products really are. To be honest, I did not know any of Brooks Stevens’ designs until I read about him, and I am astound by how many products I recognized. Everyone in the United States knows of Harley Davidson, the Oscar Mayer Weiner “Weinermobile”, and in the Midwest, Miller Lite beer logo. These products are still known for originating in Milwaukee and contributed to making Milwaukee known as a very industrial city to this day. There are a few reasons why Brooks Stevens chose to stay in Milwaukee to pursue his career. Arguably the most obvious one is that he grew up here and this is where he felt comfortable and established but also, industrial design was still a new concepts and by staying in Milwaukee, and not going to the popular New York City for design, he had the advantage of making products for local companies. By staying in Milwaukee, Brooks had nearly no competition, and therefore had a lot of business. 

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Week 8: Industrial Design

below: drawing of a floor fan 

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Week 7: Architecture

Equitable Use-

Equitable Use is when a design is accessible, useful, and and marketable to people with diverse abilities. Designs that showcase equitable use make a product accessible to all people, no matter the circumstances. With an equitable use design, there is no discrimination amongst the users. There are many things that come to mind when I think of designs that would easily fall under equitable use. The first that comes to mind are the presentation/lectures provided each week in class. Two versions are provided, one without captions, and one that provides captions. Providing a video with captions can help those who are hard of hearing and/or need the captions in order to follow along and keep focus better. Another example that comes to mind are wheel chair ramps, elevators and automatic doors at stores and buildings. This design is one that many people most likely do not even notice at establishments since it has become so widely popular throughout the design world. 

Tolerance for Error-

Tolerance for Error is when a design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions. Their are many design features in life that showcase the element of tolerance for error, and the first one I thought of is the beeping that occurs at crosswalks to signalize that is it the right time for pedestrians to cross the road. I never really noticed these beeps until I moved to Milwaukee and started to hear the beeps at every crosswalk I encountered. This design element helps reduce error for visually impaired people since they are unable to see when a sign changes for pedestrians to walk or how long is left until the signs changes back to no crossing. This design is simple in reducing the events that could potentially happen to those who want to cross the street but are unable to see. Another tolerance for error example is the presence of a wall or fence on higher surfaces to help prevent or reduce people from falling off high surfaces. 

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Week 6: Architecture

While I was out and about in Milwaukee this weekend, I remembered the tumblr post assignment was due that night so I took the first opportunity I had to take a pic of some architecture around Milwaukee. This first one was taken while I was a stoplight (do not worry it was a extremely long light haha). It felt like a good time to take a picture since there was a few different types of architecture in my view at this stoplight. 

There is nothing more iconic than the outside architecture of the Milwaukee Art Museum so I knew I had to include this one for this week’s assignment. These large, wing-like  structures are extremely eye catching and such a unique type of architecture that is not seen in many places, especially not around Milwaukee.

This last picture is a quick little sketch I did of a building in the third ward. I wanted to include the street light since it is also such an iconic element in the third ward. 

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Week 5- History of Design

International Style.

This picture I took in New York City a few years back came to mind when I was reading about International Style in our textbook. Even though we live in a major city, and there is plenty of modern International Style around me, I wanted to use this picture since there is a vast amount of it photographed. According to our textbook, “Graphic Design A New History” (third edition), page 247, International style in architecture was based solely on aesthetic principles. It was a major architectural design that was developed in the 1920s and 30s that has arguably stayed popular and the go to design in modern architecture. The building have rectilinear form and lack unnecessary ornaments. 

Bauhaus Chair.

When reading the Bauhaus design section of our textbook, I knew I had to include this picture of my roommate’s chair. Bauhaus furniture is known for the lack of ornament, and the use of clean materials for functional use, smooth surfaces, geometric shape, along with simple color schemes. This chair shares many design similarities to the Bauhaus chair created by Marcel Breuer on page 217 of our textbook.

De Stijl Architecture.

The beautiful new home in my hometown of Cambridge, WI is a great example of De Stijl Architecture. On page 175 of the third edition of “Graphic Design A New History”, Schroder House is showcased and is said to “appear less like a series of solid volumes than as a conglomeration of individual planes that pass through one another.” De Stijl architecture has a sense of futurism in it as well as abstract form, which I feel like this house I pictured, showcases all around.

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Week 4- Found Object

For this week’s prompt, I was pleased to see that it was one where we had to go outside and explore design while we walk. Since I went home to my parents house for the weekend, I decided to go for a walk in my neighborhood to see what types of design pop out to me. I didn’t make it very far until I saw a bunch of mailboxes. One in specific stood out to me. The mailbox was embedded into a stone covered column, with a sill on top. It was not a mailbox you see often, and it was one that was more pleasing to the eye than most. I was surprised to see such a beautiful mailbox. A mailbox is not something that a lot of people think to glam up...why do more people not glam up their mailboxes? I feel it would be fun to see unique mailboxes around town, compared to the boring generic ones you can buy from home depot. The stone on this mailbox consisted of light and dark browns, with the column standing at about four feet from bottom to top, and about two feet width on each side. The actual mailbox, which was a solid matte black, was placed in the center of the front of the column. It stuck out a bit, which made it visible from three of the four sides of the column. While observing it, I saw that it had no plastic side flag that the majority of the other mailboxes around the neighborhood had. I figured that this is because there was simply not enough room. The mailbox also matched the aesthetic of the house perfectly, which made me like it even more. Mailboxes have pretty simple and unique designs and there are not many things that share their function, besides P.O. boxes! 

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Week 3- History of Design

Below are my 10 observations of Modern Design!

Above: Drawing and observations of a rolling supplies cart.

Above: Drawing and observations of a cat tree.

Above: Drawing and observations of a grabber reacher. 

Above: Drawing and observations of a level.

Above: Drawing and observations of a lighter.

Above: This design of a melon baller functions as a scooper for fruit, cookie dough, etc., that makes the pieces a perfect size. It also has a part that you squeeze that moves another part in the bowl that scraps/helps move the excess material out of the bowl (this is most useful with cookie dough). 

Above: A hammer is a simple looking objects that has such a crucial function. It has a long gripped handle which makes it easy to hold on to and the length also helps in the level of force in hammering in a nail. It also has a nail remover on the back which is so helpful if you make a mistake.

Above: This blind cleaner has a unique design and function that makes it easy to clean window blinds. The 3 prongs on it go in between the blinds for easy dusting on both sides of the blind. The opposite side could be used for harder parts to clean too. This design overall makes it super simple to clean window blinds fast. 

Above: Visual and functional descriptions of a trash can with a foot pedal and a cork screw. 

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Week 2: Design Thinking

After reading “Design Thinking” in the Harvard Business Review, I would define design as the process of making something in order for it to have an effective function for people. When thinking of a design for a product, it is crucial in thinking about how it will help others while also being practical. The most important thing is obviously about the functionality of a product, but it can be argued that the aesthetic of a product can be just as important since often times people are drawn to the “prettiest” designs, therefore making them most memorable. I know for me, if I was looking on buying a blanket, I would choose a pretty color one opposed to a plain white or black one, solely for the fact that it is appealing to the eye. Aesthetic and functionality plays an important role in the success of a company. In the “Design Thinking” article is talks about a new and innovative bike idea called, “coasting”, which was built for people who want to ride a bike more for the fun aspect rather than the sport aspect. It was easily accessible for the older population while also being visually pleasing, which made it a great success. A company can be the very first ones to invent a product and not have very much success, but then another company will see their idea, and make it better. Little things such as better, appealing advertising can make such a huge difference in the success of one’s product. I sucks to think about companies who are first to the game, but get outsold by someone who climbed off their ideas and are better remembered for the product, but this is the reality. It took me a second to think of products I use that have obvious signs of design thinking. One is my makeup that have “cruelty free”, “sulfate free” or “vegan” labeled very clearly on the front label. This was a very conscious choice by the company to appeal to the fast growing group of customers, mostly the young generations, that are specifically looking for these types of products. My shampoo brand, hairitage, has a literally list on the front bottle listing all the good things about their product, making it impossible to miss and appeal to the aimed consumers. 

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Week 1: About Me

Hello! My name is Shannon Robb and I am currently a sophomore majoring in design and visual communication, primarily focusing on Graphic Design. I love all things art which is one of the reasons why I chose Milwaukee for school since the city is so artsy and unique. The main reason I am taking this class is because it required for my major, but I also think I will thoroughly enjoy it since it focuses on everything I love and I am excited to learn new things in the art world. I do not have any professional relevant experiences, but I am known as the “artsy” one to all of my friends and family. That being said, I am the type of person who sees people online doing new and fun crafts/activities and being inspired and wanting to do it immediately. So I would have to say people I see online, as well as already successful artists, inspire me to be creative and put a twist on their ideas or to do something completely original. Because of this habit, it is hard for me to talk about my hobbies since I am constantly doing different things, but if I had to pick a few favorites, it would be drawing, painting, and diy-ing fun décor for my home. I love living in a space with unique objects and being able to look around and see things that I made or people close to me have made. In my house, I have beautiful green mcm couches that I received second hand (for free!), a cute orange foot stool, leafy greens, colorful wall art, and more that literally brighten my day just by looking at them. I find it so important to live in a space that you love and makes you happy. That may seem obvious but many people likely do not think about the effects of their environment around them. I will always be persuaded by the more “appealing” and “pretty” objects when it comes to buying something, small or big. Similar to the couch story, I recently had to buy a new can opener, and while I was in the store I was drawn to this light blue one that functioned just the same as the rest, but because of the appealing color, I had to take it home. So yes, I would say design is a huge factor for me when it comes to buying items, resulting in every little thing in my space being unique and fun!