Download or read book Utility Reassessed written by Judy Attfield and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays both defines and reassesses the concept of utility. In considering the place of ethics in the recent history of art and design, the text offers a way into the issues which concern design decision-makers today.The text presents topics such as the investigation in to hitherto undiscovered designs for a utility vehicle, it gives a perspective on the philosophy behind the concept of utility as a design theory and offers a critique of the dangers of good design. The text approaches the subject as a continuing history that has attempted to improve the human condition, through a process of rational thought in the construction of the material world. Using the history of Utility as a design theory, the text suggests ways in which the past can teach us something of the present, and reveals why, on the cusp of the new millennium, Utility is important.
Download or read book Water infrastructure comprehensive asset management has potential to help utilities better identify needs and plan future investments report to the Ranking Minority Member Committee on Environment and Public Works U S Senate written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ecological by Design written by Kjetil Fallan and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-11-22 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How ecological design emerged in Scandinavia during the 1960s and 1970s, building on both Scandinavia’s design culture and its environmental movement. Scandinavia is famous for its design culture, and for its pioneering efforts toward a sustainable future. In Ecological by Design, Kjetil Fallan shows how these two forces came together in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Scandinavian designers began to question the endless cycle in which designed objects are produced, consumed, discarded, and replaced in quick succession. The emergence of ecological design in Scandinavia at the height of the popular environmental movement, Fallan suggests, illuminates a little-known reciprocity between environmentalism and design: not only did design play a role in the rise of modern environmentalism, but ecological thinking influenced the transformation in design culture in Scandinavia and beyond that began as the modernist faith in progress and prosperity waned. Fallan describes the efforts of Scandinavian designers to forge an environmental ethics in a commercial design culture sustained by consumption; shows, by recounting a quest for sustainability through Norwegian wood(s), that one of the main characteristics of ecological design is attention to both the local and the global; and explores the emergence of a respectful and sustainable paradigm for international development. Case studies trace key connections to continental Europe, Britain, the US, Central America, and East Africa. Today, ideas of sustainability permeate design discourse, but the historical emergence of ecological design remains largely undiscussed. With this trailblazing book, Fallan fills that gap.
Download or read book The Design Collective written by Laetitia Shand and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-21 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rise of social networking and open-source technology, the return of community-focussed activities (e.g. gardens, knitting groups, food cooperatives) and creative collectives across the fields of design and the visual arts have reawakened the discourse around human capital, flat structures and collectives as a means for ‘making’ the things of everyday life. As the essays presented in this collection illustrate, there is an emerging field of discourse about the potential of the collective as an organising and generative community structure that links creativity, social change and politics. Furthermore it is clear that in this developing context there are a number of issues central to design practice, such as authorship, agency and aesthetics that are in the process of re-evaluation and critique. Bringing together views of practitioners, historians and theorists, this volume examines the etymology, boundaries and practices that the idea of the collective affords. It is broadly organised into sections on architecture, digital technologies and counter-cultural practices and includes historical and contemporary accounts of design collectives from a range of disciplinary viewpoints.
Download or read book Wild Things written by Judy Attfield and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do things mean? What does the life of everyday objects reveal about people and their material worlds? Has the quest for 'the real thing' become so important because the high-tech world of total virtuality threatens to engulf us? This pioneering book bridges design theory and anthropology to offer a new and challenging way of understanding the changing meanings of contemporary human-object relations. The act of consumption is only the starting point of object's “lives”. Thereafter they are transformed and invested with new meanings and associations that reflect and assert who we are. Defining designed things as “things with attitude” differentiates the highly visible fashionable object from ordinary aretefacts that are too easily taken for granted. Through case studies ranging from reproduction furniture to fashion and textiles to 'clutter', the author traces the connection between objects and authenticity, ephemerality and self-identity. Beyond this, she shows the materiality of the everyday in terms of space, time and the body and suggests a transition with the passing of time from embodiment to disembodiment.
Download or read book The Making of Consumer Culture in Modern Britain written by Peter Gurney and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-05-18 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE AWARD WINNER 2018 It is commonly accepted that the consumer is now centre stage in modern Britain, rather than the worker or producer. Consumer choice is widely regarded as the major source of self-definition and identity rather than productive activity. Politicians vie with each other to fashion their appeal to 'citizen-consumers'. When and how did these profound changes occur? Which historical alternatives were pushed to the margins in the process? In what ways did the everyday consumer practices and forms of consumer organising adopted by both middle and working-class men and women shape the outcomes? This study of the making of consumer culture in Britain since 1800 explores these questions, introduces students to major debates and cuts a distinctive path through this vibrant field. It suggests that the consumer culture that emerged during this period was shaped as much by political relationships as it was by economic and social factors.
Download or read book Dressing for Austerity written by Geraldine Biddle-Perry and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-30 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new look for Austerity...The coldest winter on record, rationing, successive economic crises, bombed out towns and cities; with some justification 'Austerity Britain' in the late 1940s is coloured in the popular imagination in tones of drab. Dressing for Austerity shines a light on alternative visions of post-war optimism and aspiration. It traces how, set against the Labour government's philosophy of 'Austerity by design' in a climate of post-war idealism, the desire for affordable fashionable clothing, access to leisure, and the health, time and money to enjoy them became totemic symbols of post-war ambition that impelled new strategies of state control and consumer agency. The book examines the immediate post-war period - its politics, its fashions and its people - in new ways and on its own terms as a critical tipping point in the making of modern Britain.
Download or read book The Autobiography of a Nation written by Becky Conekin and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2003-06-28 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This exceptional book is the first full-length study on the 1951 Festival of Britain. As a consciously constructed cultural and educational event, or rather series of events, the Festival provides an opportunity to see a society and a government struggling to recast national identity after the experience of World War II. Primarily an examination of how Britain and Britishness were portrayed in the 1951 Festival’s exhibitions and events, Becky E. Conekin considers the Festival’s history and historiography, its purpose, its representations of the future and the past, the role of London and the "local", the British Empire and finally its legacy.
Download or read book Wartime Fashion written by Geraldine Howell and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive analysis of Second World War dress practice and appearance, this study places dress at the forefront of a complex series of cultural chain reactions. As lives were changed by the conditions of war, dress continued to reflect important visual narratives regarding class, gender and taste that would impact significantly on public consciousness of equality, fairness and morale. Using new archival and primary source evidence, Wartime Fashion clarifies how and why clothing was rationed, and repositions style and design during the war in relation to past expectations and ideas about clothes and fabrics. The book explores the impact of war on the dress and appearance of civilian women of all classes in the context of changing social and economic infrastructures created by the national emergency. The varied research elements combined in this book form a rounded and definitive account of the dress history of British women during the Second World War. This is essential reading for anyone with an active interest in the field, whether personal or professional.
Download or read book Design at Home written by Grace Lees Maffei and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-17 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Domestic advice literature is rich in information about design, ideals of domesticity, consumption and issues of identity, yet this literature remains a relatively neglected resource in comparison with magazines and film. Design at Home brings together etiquette, homemaking and home decoration advice as sources in the first systematic demonstration of the historical value of domestic advice literature as a genre of word and image, and a discourse of dominance. This book traces a transatlantic domestic dialogue between the UK and the US as the chapters explore issues of design, domesticity, consumption, social interaction and identity markers including class, gender and age. Areas covered include: • the use of domestic advice by historians • relationships between advice, housing and the middle class • links between advice and gender • advice and the teenage consumer Design at Home is essential reading for students and scholars of cultural and social history, design history, and cultural studies.
Download or read book An Affluent Society written by Lawrence Black and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During an election speech in 1957 the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, famously remarked that 'most of our people have never had it so good'. Although taken out of context, this phrase soon came to epitomize the sense of increased affluence and social progress that was prevalent in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s. Yet, despite the recognition that Britain had moved away from an era of rationing and scarcity, to a new age of choice and plenty, there was simultaneously a parallel feeling that the nation was in decline and being economically outstripped by its international competitors. Whilst the study of Britain's postwar history is a well-trodden path, and the paradox of absolute growth versus relative decline much debated, it is here approached in a fresh and rewarding way. Rather than highlighting economic and industrial 'decline', this volume emphasizes the tremendous impact of rising affluence and consumerism on British society. It explores various expressions of affluence: new consumer goods; shifting social and cultural values; changes in popular expectations of policy; shifting popular political behaviour; changing attitudes of politicians towards the electorate; and the representation of affluence in popular culture and advertising. By focusing on the widespread cultural consequences of increasing levels of consumerism, emphasizing growth over decline and recognizing the rising standards of living enjoyed by most Britons, a new and intriguing window is opened on the complexities of this 'golden age'. Contrasting growing consumer expectations and demands against the anxieties of politicians and economists, this book offers all students of the period a new perspective from which to view post-imperial Britain and to question many conventional historical assumptions.
Download or read book A Companion to Contemporary Design since 1945 written by Anne Massey and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-04-22 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical overview of contemporary design and its place within the broader context of art history A Companion to Contemporary Design since 1945 introduces readers to a collection of specially commissioned essays exploring the complex areas of design that emerged through the latter half of the twentieth century, design history, design methods, design studies and more recently, design thinking. The book delivers a thoughtful overview of all design disciplines and also strives to stimulate inter-disciplinary debate and examine unconsidered convergences among design applications in different fields. By offering a new perspective on design, the articles assembled here present a challenging account of the boundaries between design history and its cognate disciplines, especially art history. The volume comprises five sections—Time, Place, Space, Objects and Audiences—that discuss environments for design and how we interact with designed objects and spaces. Notable features include: 24 new essays reflecting the current state of design history and theory, and examining developments on a global basis Contributions by eminent scholars and practitioners from around the globe Enriched throughout with illustrations A Companion to Contemporary Design since 1945 provides a new and thought-provoking revision of our conception and understanding of contemporary design that will be essential reading for students at both undergraduate and graduate levels as well as researchers and teachers working in design history, theory and practice, and in related fields.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Human Computer Interaction written by Ghaoui, Claude and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2005-12-31 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Esta enciclopedia presenta numerosas experiencias y discernimientos de profesionales de todo el mundo sobre discusiones y perspectivas de la la interacción hombre-computadoras
Download or read book Everyday Aesthetics written by Yuriko Saito and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2008-01-03 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyday aesthetic experiences and concerns occupy a large part of our aesthetic life. However, because of their prevalence and mundane nature, we tend not to pay much attention to them, let alone examine their significance. Western aesthetic theories of the past few centuries also neglect everyday aesthetics because of their almost exclusive emphasis on art. In a ground-breaking new study, Yuriko Saito provides a detailed investigation into our everyday aesthetic experiences, and reveals how our everyday aesthetic tastes and judgments can exert a powerful influence on the state of the world and our quality of life. By analysing a wide range of examples from our aesthetic interactions with nature, the environment, everyday objects, and Japanese culture, Saito illustrates the complex nature of seemingly simple and innocuous aesthetic responses. She discusses the inadequacy of art-centered aesthetics, the aesthetic appreciation of the distinctive characters of objects or phenomena, responses to various manifestations of transience, and the aesthetic expression of moral values; and she examines the moral, political, existential, and environmental implications of these and other issues.
Download or read book London Couture and the Making of a Fashion Centre written by Michelle Jones and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How design collaboration, networks, and narratives contributed to the establishment of a recognized English couture industry in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1930s and 1940s, English fashion houses, spurred by economic and wartime crises, put London on the map as a major fashion city. In this book, Michelle Jones examines the creation of a London-based couture industry during these years, exploring how designer collaboration and the construction of specific networks and narratives supported and shaped the English fashion economy. Haute couture—the practice of creative made-to-measure womenswear—was widely regarded as inherently French. Jones shows how an English version emerged during a period of economic turbulence, when a group of designers banded together in a collective effort to shift power within the international fashion system. Jones considers the establishment of this form of English design practice, analyzing the commercial, social, and political factors that shaped the professional identity of the London couturiers. She focuses on collaborative activity that supported this form of elite, craft-based fashion production—from the prewar efforts of the Fashion Group of Great Britain to the wartime establishment of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, modeled loosely after French fashion’s governing body, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. It was these collective efforts by couturiers that established and sustained London’s place as an internationally recognized center for creative fashion.
Download or read book Designing Modern Norway written by Kjetil Fallan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-19 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designing Modern Norway: A History of Design Discourse is an intellectual history of design and its role in configuring the modern Norwegian nation state. Rather than a conventional national design history survey that focuses on designers and objects, this is an in-depth study of the ideologies, organizations, strategies and politics that combined might be said to have "designed" the modern nation's material and visual culture. The book analyses main tropes and threads in the design discourse generated around key institutions such as museums, organisations and magazines. Beginning with how British and continental design reform ideas were mediated in Norway and merged with a nationalist sentiment in the late nineteenth century, Designing Modern Norway traces the tireless and wide-ranging work undertaken by enthusiastic and highly committed design professionals throughout the twentieth century to simultaneously modernise the nation by design and to nationalise modern design. Bringing the discussion up towards the present, the book concludes with an examination of how Norway's new-found wealth has profoundly changed the production, mediation and consumption of design.
Download or read book Design and National Identity written by Javier Gimeno-Martínez and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-22 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important study introduces the key theories of national identity, and relates them to the broad fields of product, graphic and fashion design. Javier Gimeno-Martinez approaches the inter-relationship between national identity and cultural production from two perspectives: the distinctive characteristics of a nation's output, and the consumption of design products within a country as a means of generating a national design landscape. Using case studies ranging from stamps in nineteenth century Russian-occupied Finland, to Coca-Cola as an 'American' drink in modern Trinidad and Tobago, he addresses concepts of essentialism, constructivism, geography and multiculturality, and considers the works of key theorists, including Benedict Anderson, Eric Hobsbawm and Doreen Massey. This illuminating book offers the first comprehensive account of how national identity and cultural policy have shaped design, while suggesting that traditional formations of the 'national' are increasingly unsustainable in an age of globalisation, migration and cultural diversity. Javier Gimeno-Martinez is Lecturer in Design Cultures at the VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
