Designers and designing

1. Designers and designing

2. Exam expectations Issues associated with how we design and famous designers are regularly tested in the written paper.

3. Empirical designing • Trial and error designing • Modelling most likely route Dyson use modelling and testing as their preferred method of designing

4. Intuitive designing • Sum of past knowledge • Often very specialised areas

5. Systematic designing • Separate discreet stages • Sub-systems often dealt with by others • Teamwork most common

6. Where do we get new ideas? • Nature • Geometry/mathematics • The man-made world • Other designers • Other products Rarely from looking at a piece of blank paper!

7. Nature • Patterns and texture • Structure and form • Colour

8. Observational work of plants Designers such as William Morris have used detailed drawings of plants to create new designs

9. Looking at anatomy George Carwardine designed the first Anglepoise lamp in the 1930s based upon how the human arm works

10. Geometry & mathematics Geometry and mathematics is all around us

11. Islamic design • Mathematics is a strong influence • Based on grid patterns

12. Celtic design • Still a popular influence today • Based on geometric grids

13. Fibonacci series • A series of numbers to create well proportioned rectangles • 1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89 • Any adjacent numbers

14. Geometric form • Particularly used in architecture and some domestic products

15. Grids • Often the starting point for textile designs

16. Geodesic domes • Very strong structures based on geometric shapes

17. Existing products • Which came first? Ideas are often developed from existing products

18. Retro design • Modern products based on styling from the past

19. Design Icons Classic design • Innovative • Often copied

20. Philippe Starck • Often unusual • Always fun • Not always practical

21. James Dyson • Best known for the innovative cleaners • Strong use of colour and form

22. Jonathan Ive • Senior VP at Apple • Innovative styling and micro electronics

23. Robin Day • World’s best selling chair • Developed polypropylene moulding techniques

24. Mary Quant • Led the sixties look • Short skirts • Geometric designs

25. Philip Treacy • Unusual forms

26. Richard Sapper • High Tech • Post Modernism

27. Giorgio Armani • Softer suits • Lightweight fabrics • Well tailored

28. Charles Rennie Mackintosh • Mix of geometry and stylised natural form

29. Vernon Panton • Exciting plastic furniture

30. Henry Beck • London Underground map • Format copied around the world

31. Arne Jacobsen • Futuristic at the time • Laminated plywood

32. Design movements • Arts & Crafts movement • Art Nouveau • Art Deco • Bauhaus • De Stijl • Modernism • Memphis • Post Modernism

33. Art Nouveau • Nature a strong influence

34. Art Deco • Geometry a strong influence • High glamour

35. Bauhaus • First real attempt to train product designers • Form follows function

36. De Stijl • Absolute abstraction • Simple slabs • Primary colours, black & white

37. Memphis • Surface pattern • Strong colours • Rebellion

38. Market Pull • The market place creates consumer demand • Sometimes the demand is created by the manufacturers

39. Technology Push • R&D labs are constantly developing new technologies • Scientists often provide the driving force behind new products