Sustainable Innovation

On November 18th, Nathan Shedroff presented a lecture about sustainability in design at the University of California, Davis. His lecture primarily focused on the importance of merging the very different worlds of design, business, and sustainability.

According to Shedroff, sustainability is often a mix of ecological, social, and financial ideas that need to be incorporated into design. Shedroff stated that although “there is no such thing as sustainable design, there is such a thing as more sustainable design.” Throughout the lecture, viewers were graced with valuable information about creating and selling sustainable products. Design strategies for making efficient merchandise encouraged designers to create usable, accessible, and meaningful products. Shedroff also mentioned the benefits of using local resources, substituting wasteful materials like plastic with recyclable ones, and design for durability. By following these guidelines designers will never run into problems like Shedroff’s biggest pet peeve, “designing things today that will make tomorrow worse.”

At the end of his lecture, Shedroff presented six tips for sustainable innovation:
1. Provide more for less
2. Focus on efficiency and health
3. Use and promote local energy, resource, and labor
4. Don’t use (American) PVC
5. Design solutions to be savored
6. Don’t spend more declaring your results than the value they provide

Designers ultimately create the future, so it is incredibly important that they incorporate sustainability into their design process. Sustainable innovation is not only important for designers now, but designers in the future. Because consumerism has drastically increase and will most likely continue to do so, it is up to designers to create efficient products that will benefit the environment and society.

Objectified

In the film Objectified, director Gary Hustwit reveals the designer’s role in the relationship between humans and industrial mass production. Although the goal of industrial design is mass production, designers invest a lot of time in making sure a product is ideal for the consumer. Designers from companies all over the world discuss the thinking and process it takes for them to create a successful product.

Objectified specifically takes a look at the design process for items that are used in our everyday lives; objects one would never think were so thoughtfully designed. The film shows how a simple object such as a potato peeler is intensely researched and thought out to maximize the products utility. The designers discuss their inspiration (in this case a bike handle) as well as the steps taken in order to simply make a prototype. One designer states that “good design is as little design as possible,” the practical objects that we use regularly are designed for simplicity and efficiency, not for show.

Objectified portrays Apple as an ideal company who “takes design seriously.” Apple products are resourcefully made and are sustainable for mass production. Apple’s straightforward design is also economically practical because it efficiently uses almost all of its parts. Along with having incredible consumer friendly products, Apple is able to use its resources wisely.

When looking at design overall, Objectified evaluates the form, symbolism and context of a product. Objectified helps society understand how even the most minuscule of objects is carefully designed for a purpose.

“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have.” - Warhol

In the spring of 2009, deYoung Fine Arts Museum held the exhibit Warhol Live which featured the work of the infamous pop artist Andy Warhol. The exhibit beautifully blends Warhol’s pieces with the music which inspired his style of pop art. Warhol’s use of bold colors and focus on popular culture are defining characteristics of his work, which will forever be recognized in society.

The exhibit follows Warhol’s career and his journey in becoming a legend in the artistic world. The focus of the exhibit is Warhol’s work from the late 1950’s to the early 80’s; as one travels through the show, the music reflects the time period. Upon walking into the exhibit, Warhol’s early work from the 1950’s (a lot of advertisements) is on display while songs from Elvis Presley play softly in the background. As the exhibit advances, different rooms and music help portray the time period the art was created. Warhol’s eccentric and bright silkscreen works from the 60’s and 70’s correlate perfectly with the rock n’ roll music of the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson. It is during this time that Warhol’s most notable works of Marilyn Monroe and other famous musicians and celebrities are on display. One room is specifically dedicated to Warhol’s notorious four panel, multicolored silkscreens of various pop figures. This collection of paintings defined Warhol as a true pop artist.

While walking through the exhibit, one discovers a unique collection of Warhol’s art, as well as learns about the fascinating life of the artist himself. Personal stories about Warhol and his journey as an artist are revealed through commentary from the museum and Warhol himself. Quotes from Warhol and his ideas about art and life are presented in large text on the walls of the museum. Overall, this exhibit is breathtakingly beautiful, fun to look at and listen to, and gives one a look into the life of the infamous artist Andy Warhol.

Food & Design

With Thanksgiving on its way, it is difficult to concentrate on anything other than food. Although food and design seem to be a far fetch, they really do have a lot in common. After watching a good three hours of Food Network, the combination of food and design mirrors the pure perfection of peanut butter and jelly.

No one wants to eat something that is not visually appetizing, so designs role in food presentation is major. The physical appearance of food is equally important in restaurants and in home cooked meals. Alton Brown from Iron Chef America says that a plate of food is like a painting; chefs need to think like a designer in order to present their food in an appetizing manner. The plate is like the frame, and the food is the composition. Color, texture, and shape are just as important in a plate of food as they are in a painting.

On the show Food Network Challenge, different pastry chefs compete to create a birthday or wedding cake for a specific client. Each chef must transform into a designer when laying out the structure and idea for the cake. The shape of the cake must be determined, as well as the colors and motifs in order to decorate it. Chefs must take the clients preferences into consideration, as incorporate their own style and creativity into the design. Color is a key factor in making the cake look unique yet appropriate for the occasion. Similar to designers, pastry chefs must use the design process of thinking, looking, and doing in order to create a cohesive and yummy masterpiece of a cake.

Food presentation is all about creativity and unity. Along with balancing flavors, chefs are also responsible for balancing color, texture, and proportion of a dish. Like design, simplicity is key in presentation, too much clutter on a plate is equally as disturbing as a messy room or a busy painting. Successful chefs must not only be great cooks, but great designers.

The Emotional Rollercoaster of Color

One would never expect that something as simple as color can evoke emotion. Although responses to color may vary, the fact that almost every human being can relate to color is truly amazing. From public buildings to home décor, color is a constant subject one encounters on a daily basis.
The ARC at the University of California, Davis is a perfect example of a communal facility in which color suggests a sensation. The ARC is a gym where students and residents of Davis go to exercise and escape the stresses of school or work. There ARC is in some way a sanctuary to many, so its design must reflect the idea of peace and serenity. The color scheme used in the ARC uses cool tones in order to achieve a calm environment. The locker rooms are painted with sky blue’s and mint greens, with off white tile and sleek stainless steel appliances. Color harmony is achieved by used an analogous color palate, so the overall design of the locker room looks cohesive while evoking a sense of tranquility. The exercise rooms also follow this cool color scheme, but use darker hues with greater value such as forest green and plum. This makes the atmosphere seem relaxing, but differs from the spa-like feel of the locker rooms. Overall, the ARC ambiance promotes a stress-free lifestyle and color helps to accomplish this attitude in its members.
Color choice in homes also plays in important role in emotion. Bedrooms are often cool tones to promote a relaxing atmosphere, where as living rooms and dens are often warm tones to create a cozy and welcoming environment. Rich reds and browns, and bright oranges and yellows are common in living room color schemes because they suggest an “intrinsic feeling of warmth and evoke warm, happy, cheerful reactions.” (Lauer, 283) The living room is the area of a house that guests most likely see, so it makes sense for one to use inviting colors.
Whether we notice it or not, color affects us all psychologically. Usually the subconscious mind notices color, and the conscious mind helps us experience it. Color is important to both the physical eye and the internal emotion.

¡Barcelona!

Barcelona, Spain is a city filled with impeccable design. The architecture of the city as well as its creative inhabitants makes for an aesthetically pleasing experience in a wonderful foreign city.

Sprinkled throughout the city are the stunning works of Antonio Gaudi. One of his most noted masterpieces is La Sagrada Familia, which he spent ten years designing and never actually completed. This giant cathedral sits in the center of the city and is a main attraction for tourists and the Catalan people. La Sagrada Familia is undeniably beautiful and extremely unique to the style of Gaudi. The church has been under construction for over one hundred years in attempt complete Gaudi’s design. Gaudi’s inimitable take on gothic design throughout Barcelona makes the city even more of a brilliant place to visit.

La Rambla, the center street of Barcelona, is filled with the design of Catalan inhabitants. Filled with restaurants, shops, and street performers, la Rambla is a multisensory experience. Street performers creatively find ways to make a buck or two by dressing in outrageous costumes. At first one might not consider these performers designers, but the thought and process that goes into their act are mirror images of design. For example, one performer on la Rambla designed a costume that looks like a golden statue with wings that reach almost nine feet tall. Every day, she assembles her costume and paints her body completely gold to portray this angel like figure. As a designer, she made her own choices about color, shape, and texture of her outfit, as well as the message she is trying to portray to her audience.

Barcelona is a city filled with art and culture (and extremely delicious food), which makes it so unique to any other place in the world. The Catalan society as a whole is very involved and proud of the Barcelona’s artistic nature. Many designers travel to Barcelona to look for inspiration and learn about culture and beautiful design.

Warm Thoughts

The Richard L. Nelson art gallery at UC Davis is currently holding an exhibit on African American quilts. The obvious purpose for a quilt is to keep one warm, but this exhibit portrays that quilting has another purpose: artistic expression. Sharecropper’s Masterpiece quilted by Mensie Pettway is an example of how a quilt not only kept a family warm but enabled a woman to express herself through the art of quilting.

Sharecropper’s Masterpiece is a made from scraps of cotton batting, cotton corduroy, and hand dyed muslin. Organized in a variation of a checkerboard grid, this quilt uses continuity in order to create unity with a busy pattern of assorted colors and textures. The rhythm of this pattern is based on a repetition of color with alternating direction of line in the different modules of the checkerboard. The viewer’s eye is carried easily though the quilt because of the uniform pattern of varied repetition, creating a smooth visual sensation.

Because this quilt is nonobjective, meaning the art is not representation of a figure or object, it is “capable of producing an undulating rhythm” (Design Basics, 114). The quilt has a staccato pattern which means that it makes sudden changes with vibrant contrast. The quilt changes from vertical lines to horizontal lines in every other module, but sticks with same color palette in order to keep unity. Sharecropper’s Masterpiece also has an alternating rhythm in which the design changes consistently in order to create a customary sequence. The pattern becomes predictable, but still keeps interest because of varying direction.

Sharecropper’s Masterpiece, like many other quilts in the world uses pattern and rhythm to create visual interest, as well as uses scraps of materials to produce a cohesive design. Quilts are not only for the function of heat, but for artistic expression and visual stimulation.