course reflection 02

This week in class was a lot more historically oriented, and seemed to overlap quite frequently with the reading assigned for the week. Not necessarily a bad thing, in fact I feel like its very important to understand the history of design if I wish to pursue it. The lectures went into depth about a lot of subjects which I had zero knowledge about prior to, particularly the challenges designers faced when creating completely new products during the industrial revolution. I was probably most interested in the slides about the different chair designs which we went over at the end of class. For some reason I've always been interested in chairs. At the same time I feel like almost every possible design for a chair must have been done by now, seeing as virtually every designer/design student is required to create one. Still, it got me sketching up some potential designs and thinking of ways to build a sitting device which had yet to be discovered.

Reading Reflection

The first few chapters of Design: A Very Short Introduction opened my eyes to a lot of the historical aspects of the profession of design which I had never truly considered. The broadness with which the term "design" can actually be implied lends itself to a wealth of history, and including ancient tools, artisans, and craftsman in the category is only logical. I was perhaps most interested by the discussion of the globalization of design and the struggles which emerge as a result of cultural discrepancies concerning form versus need or desire in a certain area of the world. It led me to think more about the possibility of world-wide standardization of design, and if it is even possible, which products it could apply to. Food for thought. also, The example about the Japanese toothpick seems to be coming up in a lot of design books/films I've seen. Anyways, The first three chapters of the book were packed with a concise design history, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the text.

Danish State Prison Design

I read an article about the winning design for a new Danish State Prison. It's a plan which really challenges traditional ideas about not only the layout and architecture of prison facilities, but the entire concept of incarceration. The article (which can be found here) details the proposal, which is planned to be completed by 2016. While one would normally think of a prison facility as a bare bones, metal and concrete cage meant to contain and punish the deviants of society, the Danish government takes a much more liberal and innovative stance towards rehabilitation. They hope that their approach to socializing inmates in a much more human environment will lead to a lower rate of repeat offenders, which is a big problem across the globe. Although critics point out that criminals should not be "coddled" in luxurious facilities, studies have shown that the current systems in countries including the United States are not effective at rehabilitation of inmates. Overall, I find the debate rather interesting, and can agree on certain points with both sides. The article really gave me something to think about, and the architectural proposal was pretty sweet too!

Course Reflection 01

I'm taking this course as a potential industrial design major, fingers crossed. I'm interested in pretty much all areas of design, so I'm hoping to find the class engaging throughout. I heard about the class through my advisor and because its a requirement for my major as well. I'm excited to see what type of material we'll be studying, and am looking forward to reading Cradle to Cradle too.


Danny

Journal 01

Hi! I'm Danny Pizzo, a sophomore design student here at OSU. I'm originally from Buffalo, New York, but have lived in Cleveland almost all my life and love the city. I like to snowboard in the winter and play volleyball in the summer. I'm interested in almost anything related to art and design, and also love cooking, eating, drinking, playing cards, and exercise! If I were to major in anything other than design, it would probably be architecture. I watch too much TV, particularly Mad Men, Entourage, Dexter, Californication, and The Office. My new years resolutions are to smoke less, exercise more, gain weight, and not spend money compulsively. thats all for now!