Blog Assignment 9: Politics of Design: the Cold War, modernism + democrac

I will demonstrate that Lynx and the ideology that pulling women is of the utmost importance in today's society. With the lack of world wars and international strife the branding of today has shifted from the political to the ideological. Technology has given the everyday civilian more access to so much more information than in the days of WW1 and WW2 that consumerism has to take a different approach. Selling 'sex' is the most common form of this today and is used to sell almost everything. One great proof of this is Lynx deodorant saying through its branding that if you use it you will pull girls. As shown below this is demonstrated on the container with a mathematical formula suggesting that if science proves it this must be true. In fact one man believed this so fervently he sued lynx after 7 years of using the product and failing to get a girlfriend.*

 So while the method has shifted this is still driving forward the ultimate goal of consumerism, which drives capitalism.

*Ben Spencer (Oct. 31 2009). Man sues Lynx after failing to pull in seven years. Retrieved Oct 1 2011 from http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/weird-news/2009/10/31/man-sues-lynx-after-failing-to-pull-in-seven-years-86908-21786843/

Blog Assignment 8: Modernism: standardisation, rationalisation, and the search for the universal

I will altercate that design today is both an art and a science and that it is a result of function x economy. This equation states that design is driven from the technology available today and the products ability to be manufactured easily and cheaply. A great example of this is the skyscraper that we see on every corner of the modern world. As Raizman said in "The first machine age of Europe"*, "The equation of progress with standardized apartment blocks and minimal metal and glass furnishings designed for mechanized mass production might best be seen as a response to the needs of a monolithic public during times of economic hardship."

 As we can see above this simple and affordable design has been adopted everywhere and is the face of our cities. The manufacturing technology allowed the construction of these towering structures at a low cost and so drove this minimalistic design. However with technology bringing cheaper ways to do things it also brings the ability to create beauty in new and exciting forms.

As seen here the once straight lines of the classic skyscraper have been twisted into new beautiful forms by the hand of technology. Expressing that art is as much a part of design today as science and in many cases they are the same thing.

*Raizman, D. (2004). The First Machine Age in Europe, in History of Modern Design (pp. 166-191) New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.

Blog Assignment 7: Narratives of Progress

I will argue that social networks such as facebook is the creation of the most real symbolic universe to date. The social network creates this online world for people where everything is displayed for them; who is their friend, who's a friend of a friend, whether or not they or someone else is in a relationship, etc. As Khilstedt said in Utopia realized* "technology was capable of creating a perfect society" and in facebook we are seeing this come true. This exactly organizes the social world as comprehensible and connected and is a place where one feels comfortable and safe as they know this universe as it is all displayed for them. As more people use this network it becomes more real for them and start to have more effect on their real lives. The media uses this to place advertising and such to feed off of this and designers are heavily involved in the creation and change of these social networks as they understand what the public wants hence their success.

*Kihlstedt, F. (1986). Utopia Realized: The World’s Fairs of the 1930s in Imagining Tomorrow: History Technology, and the American Future (pp.97-118). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.