Week 2 - 4 Fields of design by Tharp and Tharp 2006 (Reflection)

This summary presents my reflection on today's (27/04/2020) session. The topic is 4 fields of design by Tharp and Tharp 2006 by Bruce M. Tharp and Stephanie M. Tharp. These include: Commercial Design, Experimental Design, Responsible Design and Discursive Design.

Commercial Design

• As industrial/product

• Design work oriented toward, and driven by, the market

• In economic terms

• Is to create useful, useable and desirable products that customers can afford and that generate adequate profile.

Responsible Design

• Socially responsible design, driven by a more humanitarian notion of service.

• To provide useful, useable, and desirable product to those who are largely ignored by the market.

Experimental Design

• exploration, experimentation, and discovery

• more by its process

Discursive Design

• Is to communicate ideas - they encourage discourse

• Raise awareness

Many keywords can be found in the research which I discovered can be useful for my upcoming assignment. I like the way the author splits up the field into categories of intention. What I have been struggling with my diploma, is the divide in the field between designers who design how objects look like, and designers who design how objects get made. The idealistic view I gathered at college led me to believe that an industrial designer should be able to balance both look and methods of production. As I wade into the professional world I'm finding that many "designers" decide the features of the end product, then leave it to others to work backward in designing how the thing will be produced. In conclusion, this article reminded me how I need to focus on making a portfolio of creative work that revolves more around cosmetic and aesthetic design rather than functional "how-this-works" design.

TheTeddy Bear Blood Bag Radioby Dunne + Raby explores the implications of technological advances in microbial fuel cells that transform sugar and nutrients from biological material into electricity.

Krzysztof Wodiczko'sHomeless Vehicleprojectfrom the late 1980s. Vehicles were given to New York City homeless people for utilitarian purposes as well as to increase visibility of the problem. All vehicles were eventually removed by the police.

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References:

Jr, C. (2009). The 4 Fields of Industrial Design: (No, not furniture, trans, consumer electronics, & toys), by Bruce M. Tharp and Stephanie M. Tharp - Core77. Retrieved 29 April 2020, from https://www.core77.com/posts/12232/the-4-fields-of-industrial-design-no-not-furniture-trans-consumer-electronics-toys-by-bruce-m-tharp-and-stephanie-m-tharp-12232