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UCLA DESMA 10 - Lecture 3

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Professor Erkki HuhtamoUCLA, Dept. of Design | Media ArtsDesma 10Design Culture - an IntroductionLecture Notebook 3This notebook does not contain complete slides from the lecture! It is only meant as anaid to your memory. To get the complete idea, you must attend the lectures!Illustrations will not be included – they are only shown in class!************Meeting 3 (Oct.13,2006)Design, Society, Work************Design – the etymology of the wordFrom disegno (Italian) = drawingDuring the Italian Renaissance disegno was used as a way of planning paintings. It servedas a set of instructions for the master painter’s helpers. The same idea can be foundfrom the panorama painting of 19th century. The large circular panoramas were toolarge for one person to realize – collaboration was needed. Becfore painting, thepanoramas had to be planned (‘designed’) very precisely.**********Pattern BooksDisseminated designs in the form of technical drawings. Models for production, eitherdirectly or in modified form. Served design education, passing the knowledge frommaster to student. Pattern books were the visual ”memory” of emerging design culture.They are still widely used.******“The intelligence, the thought or idea...”“Design is what all forms of production for use have in common. It provides theintelligence, the thought or idea that organizes all levels of production, whether ingraphic design, engineering and industrial design, architecture, or the largest integratedsystems found in urban planning.”Richard Buchanan*******The Beginnings of Modern Design CultureThe birth of industrial design in the late 18th century marks the transition from artisanalto industrial production.In artisanal production, no clear separation between design and manufacture exists.Designs are traditional, passed from master to disciple, or copied from pattern books.Designer and producer are often one and same person.The birth of the industrial designer’s profession is related with this transition. Thedesigner’s role gets separated from the manufacturing and marketing of designed items.Designer becomes a specialist with a distinct professional identity.********Designing AutomataAutomata were famous demonstration of mechanical skills and ingenuity. Many weremade over the centuries, but few have survived. They often looked like humans oranimals and mechanically simulated their behaviour.The ‘android children’ Charles, Marianne and Henry designed and created by the Jaquet-Droz family of clockmakers in the 1770s are the most famous surviving ones. They arekept today at Musée d’art et d’histoire, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and still performregularly. One of them writes, another one draws pictures and the third one playsmusic, ‘powered’ by complex clockwork mechanisms.Automata were unique showpieces (ways of getting fame and demonstrating skills) byclockmakers and mechanical engineers. In many ways they belong to the world of skilledcraftsmanship. Automata were also popular as ‘attractions’, shown by touring showmen.The firm of Jaquet-Droz still exists, now as part of the Swatch group. They make high-end watches.********Early ManufacturiesIn the 17th and 18th century state-financed manufacturies in Europe (gobelins, porcelainfigurines). Usually prestige production for the upper class. Designs from court artists orpattern books. This happened under the economic policy of mercantilism (resources,skills and products for the purposes and profits of the state, embodied in the ruler).********Jacques de Vaucanson (1709-1782)- Became famous as a master automata maker. In 1738 presented “The Flute Player” andin 1739 “The Tambourine Player” and “The Duck”, his most famous creation (could flapits wings,eat and digest grain)- In 1741 became inspector of the French silk manufacture. Achieved a far-reaching re-organization of the production and delivery.- Improved existing looms and invented the idea of punch-cards to automateproduction. Received hostile reaction from weavers. The technique was later perfectedby Jacquard, ‘the father of the modern loom’. Use of punch cards anticipated thecomputer.- Like the Jaquet-Droz androids, the Jacquard loom was a programmable device, butunlike the androids, it served a practical purpose. Punched cards controlled hooks andneedles, introducing the idea of machine following an algorithm.- The (useless) automata and the (useful) programmable devices like the Jacquard loomare some of the origins of today’s industrial automation.*******Crafsmen and Designers- A craftsman makes, and sometimes also designs; an industrial designer does not make,but designs, usually for industrial production.-With the introduction of industrial design, many craftsmen who had earlier worked athome as contractors at their own pace were forced to turn into factory workers. Thisled to protest movements like ludditism.*********LudditismThe shift from artisanal to industrial production led to social unrest. Ludditism was asocial movement in the early 19th century against the use of machines (like powerlooms) for mass production. Luddites were ‘machine breakers’ concerned with theirjobs and lifestyles. Named after their mythical leader ‘Ned Ludd’.In the 1990s, the concept “neo-ludditism” was discussed, referring to the negativepsychological, social and economic impact of the use of computers.*******Rationalization of production in EnglandIn England in the late 18th century efforts to systematize, rationalize and standardizeproduction, centered in factories, often powered by steam engines (a novelty!). Searchfor cheaper materials (Sheffield plate, etc.)Pioneering industrialists: Thomas Chippendale, Josiah Wedgwood, Matthew Boulton.Products: furniture, dishes, “toys” (buttons and other small everyday objects), textilesWedgwood wanted "to make such machines of the men that cannot Err". This anticipatedthe ideas of “full automation” and Taylorism.********The Birth of the Industrial DesignerJohn Flaxman (1755-1826), neoclassical sculptor, has been considered “the firstindustrial designer”.Provided neo-classical tableware designs for Wedgwood’s Etruria factory (Stoke-on-Trent, England)Worked from London, far from Wedgwood’s Etruria factory, becoming a “designer ata distance”.A contractor, could work for several clients at the same time. Like Flaxman, many earlydesigners were professional artists.Designs always focused on standardization, the


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