Design in Our Lives

In the last field trip that I went to, we revisited the MoMa to visit exhibits that specialized in the arts of designs. This exhibits had all different types of designs. Designs you may see in everyday life and designs that leave you thinking how can person use such a thing. And that was my goal of viewing this exhibit. I was searching for four types of designs, two that had "high functionality" and two that had "low functionality" since no designs are ever perfect.

One design that I had saw that I thought was high functionality was "Blizzard Survival Bag" by Derek Ryden. I think this is a high functionality because it is something that is extremely useful to humans who go camping in the outdoors during extremely cold weather. It's something that can keep you harm instead of freezing to death it you ever get caught out in the cold. Imagine if this blizzard survival bag didn't exist and people caught in blizzard while they were on their journey. I wouldn't want to imagine that type of thing happening to me. So I would say that this is one design that was very well made and has a high functionality. 

One design that I saw that I thought that  was somewhat low functionality was "Rescue Board 709" by Hiroyuki Tazawa. His design was a rescue board that was made out of recycled paper. I thought of making a rescue board is a very smart design because it can help carry people who are injured who cannot move. But I don't understand why he would make a rescue board out of recycled paper knowing that the weight of a person will easily break it and most likely injure them more. Thinking about how this design probably won't ever be used to help a person made me think that it is a low functionality design.

Another high functionality design that I saw was Paul Haustein "Coffee Service." It was a coffee set that contained a coffee pot, sugar bowl and a creamer made from Pewler-sliver alloy in 1904. I thought this was a high functionality design because it is something people use everyday no matter what time it is. People wake up to make coffee in morning and sometimes people even drink coffee before they go to bed. So Haustein designed a coffee set that contained everything a person needs to have their cup of coffee throughout the day. I know I use mine morning, day, and night.

The last design that I ended up going was Anthony Dunn and Fiona Ruby's design called "Designs for an Overpopulated Planet." Not only did I think this design was a low functionality but I was also confused on what the actual meaning of the design is suppose to do. The designs were very odd, the designs consisted of a augment digestive system, tree processor/digestor, a grass processor and a algae digestor all made from fiberglass. There was also a video that went with the design and a brief description of it and all I understood from it was that the world was running out of food and some how this design is suppose to help. Maybe I was looking at the design all wrong and read the description wrong but I feel like in order for a design to be helpful for people someone shouldn't have to struggle to understand what the purpose of the design is. And I feel like since I didn't understand the artists work in this design for me it is a low functionality, only because I don't know what it is suppose to be of.

No two designs will ever be the same even if they consist of doing the same thing they will always be different. It can be made in a different color, different material and will simple just have a different design. Also not every design out there in the world will be understood or made for people to use maybe it was design and made only for a display so that other people can enjoy looking at it even if it is useless to the human eye. A design is a part of art that people will continue to see every single day. 

Derek Ryden

"Blizzard Survival Bag"

Reflex-cell, polypropylene, and rubber

1998

Hiroyuki Tazawa

"Rescue Board 709"

Recycled Paper

1998

Paul Haustein

"Coffee Service"

Pewler-silver alloy

1904

Anthony Dunn & Fiona Ruby

" Designs for an Overpopulated Planet: Foragers"

Augment Digestive System, Tree Processor/Digestor, Grass Processor

and Algae Digestor made from Fiber Glass

2009