GROUP M BLOG

 

After viewing the interaction sites at museums, Came across various methods of Documentation for a Museum Purpose. Some are similar to what clare had posted. But i Particularly liked the one where we could document something inside a black area and highlight it using focus lights. Are we are talking about obsolescence,(meaning depletion in Future) we could show a Black area around it as opposed to a white one which gives a scope for improvement.

As interactions are the first thing that make a display interesting I was amazed to see at the Natural History Museum how everyone was only looking to interact with the displays, if they were not interesting enough they would just go to the next one. Hence we should also look at the same aspect.

The first picture is of a puzzle(at the V&A) to arrange the pattern of the mosaic correctly. seemed quite interesting way of putting together a group of objects and allowing the user to think which object would be obsolete first. Im sure each ones interpretation of the same would be different and we could document these interactions in a way. Just a thought though.

Yesterday While I was at the V&A, there was this interesting installation in the open grounds about the a Chinese documentation of life… It was a really interesting miniature world created by actually bringing the rocks from the country. It was an interesting documentation with lighting and sound effects.

 

It is an interesting method of creating a visual narrative to a depiction of a theme and it also engages the user to move around it in an orderly fashion

We looked at the idea of why things in the past were so decorative. I came to a conclusion that these decorations documented a culture, a way of living, A NARRATIVE.

 

When these narratives are documented in a particular way they give the future a way to look at the past ( We know about the past through these artifacts). Documentation of the past finds us a track for the present, ultimately leading it to the future.

 

(Took these images at the V&A and Natural History Museum)

 

While we are still uncertain about the future people make their assumptions about it. Here is Bill Gates with ” the road ahead”

But look now!!! The future of a PC is nearly obsolete in developed countries with high edge products apple has to offer. I was also looking at objects that may be obsolete in the future and have a few links to it

http://now.msn.com/objects-that-will-be-obsolete-in-ten-years

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/things-that-will-become-obsolete-in-the-next-10years.html

http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/style-trends/info-06-2012/world-without-toilet-paper.html

Also looking at things that have not changed for a while (here i mean in terms of function)

http://www.buzzfeed.com/motorola/20-things-that-have-changed-in-the-last-20-years

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-things-that-havent-changed-in-100-years.php

Also objects that changed the world.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/101-gadgets-that-changed-the-world#slide-7

If we track back to history, (In context with what Linda proposed in the last tutorial, i.e. looking at objects from the past), I was looking fro the one thing that is static till today. After research through the industrial revolution the most obvious answer is “The Wheel.” But the existence of the wheel stems back to way before the industrial revolution to pre historic times. Hence i feel the wheel should be a part of our project and we should also look at objects that have remained the same over the past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_machine

We need to look at how the past uses of the wheel have been, are been and will be used in the future. Almost all futuristic mechanisms will work on movement for which I think Movement and motion is necessary which again links it to the wheel.

 

Hi all,

From reading through all the posts, I see the potential we’ve got as a team.

Elaborating more on the theme of obsolescence , I visited the Barbican today, and viewed the “POP ART DESIGN”. This really got me thinking about the title of the exhibition. why is art and design together a part of the title??

After viewing the exhibition, I came across some useful insights in context to our theme.

Obsolescence and Planned obsolescence – The brief said that some objects are designed in a such a way that they are bound to be obsolete. otherwise how would a brand be able to offer new products? Though at that planning stage the vision of the future may still be uncertain but there is that vision for the future of something better.

http://nyupress.org/books/book-details.aspx?bookId=5008

http://www.economist.com/node/13354332

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/planned-obsolescence-460210#last-slide

Apart from this, during the pop art era, the artists thought of everyday objects to be a part of art and design and vice-verse. Hence Andy Warhol used everyday objects to fit into the art scene as it was more natural and connected to everyday life. Hence supporting our statements that design is integrated into anything and everything around us.

 

In my opinion, maybe we should think about past before we started to think about future. Look at the development of design: some designs are limited by technology, like computer and mobile phones (they are basically electronic products). Others are influenced by fashion, cultures and religions, like chairs, tables and beds.

I really like Clare’s idea about museum of future obsolescence is interesting. And that makes me think if we choose a development line of objects like paper-notebook-computer-mobile phone. Maybe we can choose several lines and string them together to show how objects evolved.

We can use illustration to show this process.

Raven

Future design makes me think:

Do future design easy to use?

Or will future design confuse people in today’s society?

What will designers’ mind change in the future?

Look at modern devices we now uses, they become more and more powerful and pretty like things in science fictions. There is an idea the people design things they wish. And there are possibilities for designer to change their mind in the future. And design some things hard to understand for contemporary people.

So I come up with the idea that what would happened if we design some staffs which seems like future products and video how people interact with them. That might be really interesting!

Should we connect our concept to our manifestos?

For example,

1. SIMPLE: we can mix two functional objects into one and take photos of them. 2. FUNCTION: we can design something without one function, like a teapot without its handle that Clare mentioned. (I think we should choose function carefully). And use some special material or pigment to record the interaction trails.

Raven