Recycled Houses

I found this.. some people are living in houses that are constructed completely from old/recycled materials. Here are some links:


http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/09/02/garden/20090903-recycled-slideshow_index.html

http://quazen.com/arts/architecture/seven-strange-houses-made-of-recycled-materials/

Re-design idea:

Don't throw away any holiday, birthday, congratulations, etc. greeting cards. Instead of buying new ones you can just rip off side someone else wrote on, and turn the card into a  post card/one piece card. This will save you money, you'll be able to keep the important message someone sent you (if you choose).  Also, it will cut the space you're using to store the card in half, because half the card will be gone!

Readings 10/27

But, is it Art? by Kees Dorst

• Artists determine their own goals, have no particular audience and no limitations.
• Artists become designers when they give themselves limitations.
• Designers have goals set by someone else essentially i.e employers, a job's purpose, specific criteria. 
• Designer's work, "must fulfill some practical purpose."
• Limitations can contribute to personal development for the designer.
• When a designer develops their own goals they become an artist.

 I never really thought that there was such a divide between artists and designers.  I thought it was interesting that Dorst says, "..good designers also cross over into art, although they tend to ignore that fact themselves." Why? Why can't a designer think like an artist and an artist think like a designer? I think having all the  knowledge possible and experimenting with  the ideas of different professions gives greater results. It is important to be able to develop your own ideas, goals, and concepts, and having to work within specific guidelines   is tougher, but to be able to do it successfully is admirable and  an art in itself.


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Art's Little Brother by Rick Poyner

• Designers have an, "inferiority complex when it comes to their relationship with artists and art."
• Design is currently playing a bigger role in our culture than art.
• Design is not looked at for serious discussion-books and exhibits are ignored.
• Artists are using design in their work because of their, "fascination by design's role in contemporary society and commerce."
• A designer works for other people- they work for practicality, function and purpose.
• Artists work for themselves- they work towards, "truth of his own vision."
• Art does not have a function, it is mysterious, says art critic Matthew Collins.
• Designart: the way artists deal with patterns and design elements incorporated into their painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. 
• Designer is a planner, problem solver, supervisor, provides instruction and  can be detached from their work. 
• Designers are superficial and about aesthetics.
• Artists use deeper meanings in their work, aesthetics are not as important.
• There is a split between function and vision.
• Many artists are using design and art together in their work recently. 
• To allow design and art to embrace each other's practices can  result in new ways of thinking and research.
• Design is everywhere whereas art is not.
• Everyone is affected by design, not everyone is affected by art.

     Poyner's argument,  "we need  a wider public understanding that design is a means of personal and cultural expression with the potential  to equal and even exceed art's reach," is a statement I agree with. I think  this article brings up several valid points that despite the differences that have historically separated design and art, design should be  given more credit, and there should be no shame in incorporating both mediums. The several references to artists and designers and  their comments on working with one way over the other really solidified the seriousness of the divide between art and design.  Such as Donald Judd's design work that he kept a secret so that his art wouldn't be, "demoted to the same level" as design.  I understand the purpose for doing so, through his explanation of furniture function vs. furniture as art, but this whole concept seems so bizarre to me. While there are obvious differences, I always assumed the two go hand in hand. 


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M/M Conversation

• Dialogue between artist and designer specialists is something they are interested in.;
• 'Relational- aesthetics'- art production should be a collaboration of specialists and the audience and the process and information exchanged, not just about the final product.
• Historically designers have not been given space to have exhibits and show their work on on the same scale that artists have.
• Concludes with: some  art is as bas as design and some design is as bad as art.

 I think the dialogue they is entertaining as well as informative to how the two connect design and art. Mathias Augustyniak's statement, "an ongoing problem for artists today is the question of how their work can be effective beyond the art world".  In the other articles the issue is how can design smoothly become part of the art world, but here he  claims that artists want to affect people the way designers do. I also thought it was interesting that he says artists have detached themselves from the economy and everyday life and that they have  stepped outside of the real world and into an, "exclusive space called art." That is relatively true, because since both have different goals for their work they have different considerations and visions. Blamey counters that which saying artists are actually detached from society in general.  Blamey also states that designers are very active in society and their work is, "omnipresent and fundamental in a way that art just is not," but still, art is in a higher realm than design because of their independent nature. 
    When Amzalag questions Blamey on if today Michaelangelo's work at Saint Peter's Cathedral would be considered design or art. Blamey says that in the fourteenth cent. artists were expected to do commercial work and would mix aspects of science,  art and design together. Today he says the qualities that separate artists and designer are blurring. Since artists and designers are trying to get more recognition I think it only makes sense to combine their work.

Ten Ways to Practice Sustainability for Design

1. Recycle printer cartridges, paper and all your materials.
2. Use water-based or vegetable-based inks for printing rather than toxic based inks.They produce less solvent emissions and chemicals.
3. Use recycled materials whenever possible.
4. Use materials form local producers, this will support their small business and have an overall positive social impact.
5. Decrease the font size of the design and overall volume of the characters and images.
6. Remove all the weak-links from a design, design it so that it will need none or little maintenance.
7. Utilize biomimicry in your design.
8. To reduce your carbon footprint, use as little or no toxic materials.
9. Print on both sides of the paper.
10. Do research before you purchase a product! Purchase the most sustainable product; printer, computer, television, even clothes,bags, etc. The less you buy the less waste you create.
11. Edit and review your design before printing so you'll only have to print once.

Readings for 10/6/10

PROFESSIONALISM, AMATEURISM AND THE BOUNDARIES OF DESIGN- Gerry Beegan & Paul Atkinson

  The article is basically a back and forth debate of how professional designers and amateur designers contributions throughout history.  I think both types of designers have their benefits- amateurs are not under the pressure of "the marketplace" (310)and are able to freely create whatever satisfies them, whereas the professional designer is under the pressure to have a job in their field, but is also educated and  equipped with the proper training to make efficient decisions.

In regards to Ellen Lutpon and Steven Heller's argument, I have trouble picking a side. If we're talking about someone using Lupton's book and getting a professional design job with no professional training, then I  agree with Heller.I agree with Heller's claim that by simplifying design does "devalue" the profession that people study in-depth for years, indeed lessening their credibility and "elite status"(307). However, Lupton's point is that design should be of, "universal relevance to everyday life" rather than "elite status" (307) is something I agree with, and based on the previous readings on sustainability, I think more professional designers are trying to go Lupton's route.

 Also, the mention of the dilettante's work  and their Russian Miriskusniki group- molded from an "educated upper-class dilettantes" culture is essentially a amateur/professional in one. 

• 'Professional' is to have received an education in a particular field/subject.
• Professionals define themselves and their work through scholarly periodicals, organizations and educational standards (Beegan & Atkinson 305).
• Until the Arts & Crafts movement, design was a professional's job. The Arts and Crafts movement encouraged amateur designing.
• The article states that because of shows, magazines and guide-books that urge/show people how to make and "do things" themselves the "amateur" is very present in today's society.
• 'Amateur'  today is associated with, "leisure or hobbies, activities that are part-time, occasional and unpaid"(Beegan & Atkinson 310).
• The 'Amateur" is not restricted by corporations' demands.
• Ellen Lupton's 2006 D.I.Y Design it Yourself, a book that provides, "basic design principles" for non-professional designers. 
• Lupton's book is important in regards to the professional vs. amateur because it gives non-professionals essential design tools that are, "at the core of established design education" (307).  
• There is a rise in the design profession in the nineteenth century because of, "modernity, rationality and scientific progress" (307).
• Professional designer are important because they have been intellectually trained, with knowledge of the "theoretical" and can oversee complex problems and is able to direct others, such as, "the artisan, the builder, the sign maker, the potter, the printer, and compositor" because of his education in the field. (307-308).
• Vernacular Design: architecture, furniture, decorative art; Termed in the 19th century in regards to domestic buildings inspired by local resources and traditions that are pure and authentic, produced by amateurs, not professional architects.
• Vernacular designs are not associated with high culture.
• Dilettante design: design by people who "dabble in a range of activities without dedicating or committing themselves to any one field" (Dilettante) (309).
• Dilettantes were successful in their work because they were extremely knowledgeable in more than one skill,having the ability to, "dabble, combine and cross disciplines without attachment to an institution or professional viewpoint, encouraged hybridity" (309). 
• Early graphic design was not developed by professionals, but rather anyone was savvy with computer programs, visual design skills and commercial web-design.
• Amateurs and professionals have both been the headliners in design at one point or another throughout history.
• The article notes that often the amateur is more connected with the result of their work because they are also the consumer.

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WE'RE HERE TO BE BAD 




   "Unfortunately, schools teach students to design by limiting what the professionals do rather then developing their own approaches." I don't think this statement is true, or it's outdated. In my design classes we do some really strange projects that I couldn't have thought up. I think designers become limited when they get into the working world of design and have to comply with corporations and are then, "limited" to typical professional ideals. I did enjoy the recklessness the article gives, luring designers to be "bad" and  abandon  any professional  means of design to  become a, "missionary of art." 

• Essentially, to be "bad" is to throw away any professional or formal means  to design.
• "DESIGNERS NEED TO FUNCTION AS OUTSIDERS"
• Designers should not think like their clients to produce.
• Designers need to  get in touch with "true vernacular" to make their work stand out.
• "Non-corporate, non-designed vernacular." 
• Vernacular design is "clear and simple"
• Appropriate design- conforms to a mass population, normal, stays the same.
• Make design "dangerous and unpredictable."
•