171 Writing #1

An example of design I think is important is the ability to add on or improve something that has already been designed/made.I believe this is important because as time goes on, people eventually 'move on' from the original design/invention and look forward to the future for further improvements. Items such as cell-phones and computers have been drastically improved over the years, simply just to please people. Without design development, peoples creations would be heading nowhere, as people would get bored of them over time, and eventually will be looking for something different. Over time, peoples taste and preferences change, providing no glory to a creation that may have been popular for use in the past.

An example of design improvement is shown below. It is a picture of six mobile phones, however it is an indication of how cellphones have been developed over time. We can get a glimpse of the ideas of designers, and their use to help create the evolution of mobile phones. As you can see, the first mobile had a much larger body in comparison to the later ones, and had no colour screen, however this was when the mobile phone was a new idea of development itself, as it was an enhancement from the telephone for the use of texting, and portability. Todays phones are much different, as they now have the qualities of video clip making, photographing and access to the internet along with the touch screen monitor.

The cell-phone is a important piece of technology in everyday life nowadays, thanks to the enhancements made to these products over the years. The phone is a classic example of improvement for design, and brings out many reasons why this kind of improvement is necessary.

The Continuing Curve

An example of 'The Continuing Curve,' of today, is the iPod, created by the Apple inc company. This device started off as a basic, digital mp3 player with pushable buttons, however, back then, the shape and style of the iPod was new and advanced for its time. As time progressed, the iPod became slimmer, smaller, with colour graphics, which was more pleasing to the eye, and prevented the iPod from going out of style. I beleive 'The Continuing Curve' of the iPod is a result of sensuous impluse, which refers to the need to make something beautiful.
After looking at 'The Continuing Curve' reading by Penelope Hunter-Stiebel, I compared the evolution of the iPod with the fashioning of emplements. Despite the difference in time-frames, the same principles apply in terms of evolution. As the iPod style continues to progress today, we are aware of how much it has changed over the last decade

Week 4 Writing

After reading 'Ornament & Crime,' I would agree to Adolf Loos' statement about evolution being synonomous with taking away ornaments from objects. In a way, I would say it is obvious that efforts are wasted on objects that are likely to go out of style quickly, as Loos stated 'Those objects, without ornaments, which mankind created in earlier centurys, has carelessly been discarded and destroyed,' he is getting across to the point that when an object goes out of style, it loses its attraction and usefulness, which is when the object becomes discontinued.
As a result, ornaments have been useful for preventing objects from being discarded from mankind, and without these ornaments, the style tends to move on, which more objects being constantly produced during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. However, with the style rapidly moving on, ornaments lost their purpose, and were then regarded as wasted manpower and ideas due to the fact that a new object was completely focused on, leaving this previous object in the dust. So in regards to Adolf Loos' point of view, I would say he is well aware of the evolution of fashion and style, given the fact that this is still the case today.


Karl Nayeris' 1993 design of ornaments. Note these are rarely, if ever seen today