Designers and designing

Exam expectations

Issues associated with how we design and famous designers are regularly tested in the written paper.

Empirical designing

• Trial and error designing• Modelling most likely route

Dyson use modelling and testing as their preferred method of designing

Intuitive designing

• Sum of past knowledge• Often very specialised areas

Systematic designing

• Separate discreet stages• Sub-systems often dealt with by

others• Teamwork most common

Where do we get new ideas?

• Nature• Geometry/mathematics• The man-made world• Other designers• Other products

Rarely from looking at a piece of blank paper!

Nature

• Patterns and texture• Structure and form• Colour

Observational work of plants

Designers such as William Morris have used detailed drawings of plants to create new designs

Looking at anatomy

George Carwardine designed the first Anglepoise lamp in the 1930s based upon how the human arm works

Geometry & mathematics

Geometry and mathematics is all around us

Islamic design

• Mathematics is a strong influence • Based on grid patterns

Celtic design

• Still a popular influence today• Based on geometric grids

Fibonacci series

• A series of numbers to create well proportioned rectangles

• 1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89• Any adjacent numbers

Geometric form

• Particularly used in architecture and some domestic products

Grids

• Often the starting point for textile designs

Geodesic domes

• Very strong structures based on geometric shapes

Existing products

• Which came first?

Ideas are often developed from existing products

Retro design

• Modern products based on styling from the past

Design Icons

Classic design• Innovative• Often copied

Philippe Starck

• Often unusual• Always fun• Not always practical

James Dyson

• Best known for the innovative cleaners

• Strong use of colour and form

Jonathan Ive

• Senior VP at Apple • Innovative styling and micro

electronics

Robin Day

• World’s best selling chair• Developed polypropylene

moulding techniques

Mary Quant

• Led the sixties look• Short skirts• Geometric designs

Philip Treacy

• Unusual forms

Richard Sapper

• High Tech• Post Modernism

Giorgio Armani

• Softer suits• Lightweight fabrics• Well tailored

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

• Mix of geometry and stylised natural form

Vernon Panton

• Exciting plastic furniture

Henry Beck

• London Underground map• Format copied around the world

Arne Jacobsen

• Futuristic at the time• Laminated plywood

Design movements

• Arts & Crafts movement• Art Nouveau• Art Deco• Bauhaus• De Stijl• Modernism• Memphis• Post Modernism

Art Nouveau

• Nature a strong influence

Art Deco

• Geometry a strong influence• High glamour

Bauhaus

• First real attempt to train product designers• Form follows function

De Stijl

• Absolute abstraction• Simple slabs • Primary colours, black & white

Memphis

• Surface pattern• Strong colours• Rebellion

Market Pull

• The market place creates consumer demand

• Sometimes the demand is created by the manufacturers

Technology Push

• R&D labs are constantly developing new technologies

• Scientists often provide the driving force behind new products