A Life of Luxury

The article was written by Hugh Aldersey-Williams is an author and journalist from the United Kingdom. Aldersey-Williams studied the natural sciences at the University of Cambridge. His several books discuss issues surrounding natural and man-made designs. He has curated exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as the Welcome Collection.
he wrote the article due to what we've been living in these days, everyone is using more than what they need and that what is considered to be luxurious, luxury has been over estimated now a days such as in hotels, brands, food, cars, houses, etc.
an example of what the article is talking about is here in Saudi Arabia, due to the good resources of money many people are having more than they need or use.


Visuals

Links
http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/25/brand-luxury-desirable-forbeslife-cx_nr_0325style.html

Definition of luxury

The Designer as Producer

The article was first published in ICSID News, February 2002, it was written by Victor Margolin a Professor Emeritus of Design History at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is a co-editor of the academic design journal, Design Issues, and is the author, editor, or co-editor of a number of books.
He wrote the article because of a conference he attended and there he presented a paper which proposed a concept called the "product milieu" he characterized the milieu as"the aggregate of objects, activities, services, and environments that fills the life world". his argument in the paper was that human beings depend on product in order to live their lives. and products in the market place are increasingly turning over because of the rapid advancement in technology that is happening, so its each and every one responsibility to be productive and work for the use of other and for himself, designers as a visual communicators have the ability to design a useful products and benefit from their talent, production design is the art of producing goods that others will depend on and use. specially that the global market is now expanding because of the easy way of communication that we have reached so its now easier to trade goods and to market your company to the consumers and build an image to gain their loyalty through it.
design schools should pay more attention to the condition of preparing designers to serve manufacturers rather than become entrepreneurs themselves, so they should create more programs for designers to understand technology, marketing, and management as well as deign it self.  the possibility for many universities are set to do such a progress but it just need a leadership vision to set the programs off the ground.


Visuals

Links

Karim Rashid- Production Designer

How to be a production Designer

http://slodive.com/web-development/product-design/

Even type design is a production design

http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/type_basics/design.htm

Note for the New Millennium

The article was originally published in ID: International Design, March/April 1990 When Design started taking a new path at that time where everything became about selling rather than it being useful. It was written bye Stuart Ewen, a Distinguished Professor at Hunter College, and in the Ph.D. at The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. He is considered one of the originators of the field of media studies, and his writings have continued to shape debate in the field.He is the author of influential books on the history of consumer society, visual culture, propaganda and modernity, including PR! His writings appear in French, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, Korean, and Japanese translation.
the article talked about how designers thought that style was more important than the design it self, and how now a-days with everything already happened consumers had become more and more aware of the designs because they have already seen many and about everything fascinated and now consumers look and care about the look more than the function of the product it self which affected the designers because they ned to work more with new creative designs to impress even more than before, the demanding of new things have been increasing specially here in Saudi Arabia where its a wealthy country and wealth means trend, where people here are known in following the trend and always asking for something new since money is not an issue for them.

Designers should confront the problems and introduce consciousness and ethics into their practice, in order for design to regain its true value and start to building the society rather than destroying it.

Visuals

Links

http://www.mindspring.com/~jimvb/year2000.htm

http://www.dalailamafoundation.org/dlf/en/documents/enm-study-guide-2007-09-07.pdf

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/cc1441.pdf

socially responsible advertising

This article was written by Judith S. Schwartz is Professor in the Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University directs the Sculpture in Craft Media area (Clay, Metal, and Glass) and teaches studio-based courses in ceramic sculpture. 

Although trained as a studio-based artist, social and political struggles, and popular and material culture at its worst - all within the context of what might be called art activism.
she wrote the article because she thinks that after her researches she came to a sum up where that she knew that companies are using socially responsible advertising only to brand themselves and to stand out between the crowded market.
socially conscious advertising has affected mainstream corporations as well as companies who are known for their"grassroots values".all corporations have the same goal at the end which is to raise their profit and in that they depend on advertising. companies draw plans to grab the costumer and to win their loyalty, these strategic plans called branding and some of the branding strategies are: niche marketers(where they concentrate on a well defined segment), passion branders(they connect the product to where people head's and heart's are), image builders(they either care for their company image, or they want to rebuild the image), cause marketing(a profits making initiative for profit company or brand to raise money, awareness or consumer engagement in a social or environmental issue). companies now a-days has raised their expectations and their only concern had become to raise money even if it was more than what they need.


Visual Examples from the article

Localized visual examples

Useful links

http://www.marketingtitan.com/what_is_niche_marketing

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197820

http://www.brandsandbranding.co.za/passion-branding/

Good Citizenship

The article was written by Katherine Mccoy, She studied industrial design at Michigan State University.Joined Unimark International (design firm) in 1967 which rejected the idea of designer as artist and embraced strict Swiss design.In 1971 she began her career in design education: became co-chair of the graduate design program at Cranbrook Academy of Art with her husband until 1995 where they reshaped the program. Throughout her career she received multiple design awards, AIGA national vice president, advisory board.

The article was written in 1993, which was after Mccoy left her career in advertising and design firms and was fully embraced in her work as an educator. She had a strong opinion on what a designer was, could do and should do at this stage in her life. She wrote the article to give a solution of what she sum up through her work, she believed that a designer have a voice on his own and he should use it for the causes he believes in.

Designers have their own right as citizens they have the right to say what they believe in and support any cause they would like to support. they need to know the power they have in their hands that can influence a lot of people and affect their decisions. designers solve problems in a smooth way that nobody can notice it, so they can choose what problems they are ready to solve and how. and as time is progressing designers are becoming more aware of the power they have and can use so its in their hands to decide weather the outcome is valuable enough for them to work on it or not.

here in KSA design have been progressing more than before it became an important element and people have been attracted to it more and more. and specially with what is happening in the arab world from revolutions (the arab spring) design played a big role in this movement from spreading awareness to supporting the movements to the extend of helping in the movement.  a designer should have his own stand and work for it.

Visuals:

Anti Vietnam war poster promoting speaking out in a time where most designers were working in advertising

agencies being ‘professional’ and apathetic towards social issues. This is when the hippy movement was revolutionized. 

At Unimark International where Katherine Mccoy worked, they followed a strict Swiss Design style. Geometric, typographic,

 clean, minimalistic which is beautiful as far as design goes but missing the ‘human’ element. 

Benetton is well known for its campaigns on racism. This is a great example promoting their cause. No matter 

what color you are, you wouldn’t be able to tell from the heart and it’s the heart/soul that matters. 

Digital detox week by Adbusters where they encourage people

to unplug themselves from the system and be human once again.

   Adbusters spoof on IPAD. Makes you think twice before spending such money. 

Edge of Arabia exhibition promoting Saudi artists and designers addressing

 social issues of various kind under the title ‘We need to talk’

 

A piece by Ahmad Mater: A doctor and artist who combines both skills to 

address a social/political issue. The war for oil/The Gulf war. 

A piece by Dar al Hekma graduate, Sara Alabdali addressing the issue of the fact Mecca, 

a holy city is turning into a metropolitan city where the Kaaba is a side ‘attraction’ – a loss of priorities? 

Related Links:

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1661885/are-humanitarian-designers-imperialists-project-h-responds

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Barbara-Kruger.html

http://www.boredpanda.com/80-beautiful-street-crimes-done-by-banksy/

http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns

Who Gets to Say What to Whom?

The article sent the message of how designers have a great influence and power in the field of communication and they should involve and think more of the content of the messages they send throughout their designs and how they need to express their own opinion in it.  In order to send a message to the public a designer should live out there, face the life of others, have a good knowledge of what he is talking about, and think clearly and carefully of the content more than the visuals.

the power of design criticism and how it should be used. design critics need to ask questions about economics, power, and democracy as well as questions about style.

Maud Lavin, she has a B.A. Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard; M.A. Art History at U of Pennsylvania; Ph.D. in Art History at City U of New York Graduate Center.  She worked as a professor in Visual and Critical Studies and Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a recent recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. She has experiences in teaching, writing and Critical Studies

The article was written in —200, She wrote the article because she sees her self as a populist and a believer in radical democracy, and she wanted from all the designers not to frighten in sending messages if they believe in it, since at that time discussion forums began to appear, some designers wanted to state their opinion, other designers preferred not to get involved in this matter, as —criticism was a new field and they only critique the appearance of a design not the concept. 

Visuals from the article

 

 (At the Start…At Long Last (1999), installation of mirrored mosaic and 207 tiles etched with quotes from local community members at the A train platform in the 207th St station, NYC subway.)

 Literature permanent installation for Flushing( i actully did not understand what is flushing)

Central panels of Biddy Mason: Time and Place wall for street in downtown Los Angeles. Designed by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, 1990

 Ellen exhibition which called "Mechanical brides; women and machines from home to office"  where she brought issues of product and graphic design with women's history. 

Localized Visual Examples

Some Links:

look at the slideshow in the middle

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/visual-thinking-synthesis.html

http://www.slideshare.net/rycoleman/visual-thinking-the-writing-process

http://www.geekpreneur.com/problem-solving-through-visual-thinking

http://designthinkingideas.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/thoughts-on-a-designers-responsibilities/