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I was interested to read Rob's comments, below, about increasing convergence and incrementalism in design. If one places credence in Kondratieff Waves as descriptors of technological change, we are now - according to some - on the down slope of the fifth Kondratieff - the information/communication wave. This phase is characterised by incremental innovation in an increasingly competitive market environment. At the same time, we are perhaps also witnessing the radical innovation of the emergent technologies that will drive the sixth Kondratieff which, I believe, will be characterised by the creation of a virtual world alongside the real world with access to this former world anytime, any place etc. These certainly include wifi technologies. Perhaps it is these emergent technologies which will provide the opportunity for radical design departures - new dominant designs - rather than the technologies of the mature Kondratieff? Kind regards, John Broadbent Rob Curedale wrote: I would agree that there isn't a lot of interesting product design coming out of anywhere at the moment. The West coast US companies seem to have developed a generic look which doesnt seem to have developed much in the last couple of decades. Some companies like Sony and NEC are using a Bauhauist minimalist with silver paint which look to me as if they no longer employ people to design their products.Each year of IDSA awards looks more like last years. Products coming out of Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong are increasingly hard to distinguish from West Coast US products. There haven't been any new designers I can think of who have appeared in the last decade with the origniality of Colani, the postmodernists, Stark or Newson. The New Modernists like Morrison seemed for a while to be offering something new but that movement seems not to be going anywhere surprisingly new now with many imitaters following. The return to nationalist iconic design like the Beetle, Mustang and Mini and 60s nostalgia in furniture may be the nostalgia of the end of a century as existed in design at the end of the previous century and it is difficult to see how these designs could develop into something surprisingly new. In my view the world is tired of bland international design, it is not touching people's souls. I do not think that it is what the Bauhaus designers intended with the exception of perhaps Meyer. I think that the best hope for Asian design is to exploit the rich iconic nature of their traditional designs and decoration blended with new materials and technology in interesting ways and to get off the international bandwagon. There is an Indian Designer based in the Netherlands, an Art Center Europe Graduate who is doing work along those lines. ______________________________ R o b C u r e d a l e Chair Product Design College for Creative Studies Detroit 201 East Kirby Detroit MI 48202-4034 Phone: 313 664 7625 Fax: 313 664 7620 email: [log in to unmask] http://www.ccscad.edu ____________________________ Rob Curedale wrote: >I would agree that there isn't a lot of interesting product design coming out of anywhere at the moment. The West coast US companies seem to have developed a generic look which doesnt seem to have developed much in the last couple of decades. Some companies like Sony and NEC are using a Bauhauist minimalist with silver paint which look to me as if they no longer employ people to design their products.Each year of IDSA awards looks more like last years. Products coming out of Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong are increasingly hard to distinguish from West Coast US products. There haven't been any new designers I can think of who have appeared in the last decade with the origniality of Colani, the postmodernists, Stark or Newson. The New Modernists like Morrison seemed for a while to be offering something new but that movement seems not to be going anywhere surprisingly new now with many imitaters following. The return to nationalist iconic design like the Beetle, Mustang and Mini and 60s nostalgia in furniture may be the nostalgia of the end of a century as existed in design at the end of the previous century and it is difficult to see how these designs could develop into something surprisingly new. > >In my view the world is tired of bland international design, it is not touching people's souls. I do not think that it is what the Bauhaus designers intended with the exception of perhaps Meyer. > >I think that the best hope for Asian design is to exploit the rich iconic nature of their traditional designs and decoration blended with new materials and technology in interesting ways and to get off the international bandwagon. There is an Indian Designer based in the Netherlands, an Art Center Europe Graduate who is doing work along those lines. > >______________________________ > >R o b C u r e d a l e >Chair Product Design >College for Creative Studies Detroit >201 East Kirby >Detroit MI 48202-4034 > >Phone: 313 664 7625 >Fax: 313 664 7620 >email: [log in to unmask] >http://www.ccscad.edu >______________________________ > > >>>>Karen <[log in to unmask]> 07/12/03 14:52 PM >>> >>>> >>>> >Hi all, > >Been reading the responses to the thread, and thanks for the comments. >I think there is one aspect that no one hasn't touch on and that is the >identity of Asian >Design. Perhaps it may be a touchy issue. But I really sincerely hope that >some feedback >could come out from this discussion. I think it will benefit everyone in >understanding what >design identity is about. I must admit, though I am an Asian myself, that a >lot >of designs are not original enough. That is why I have always been stressing >the point on originality >and identity. I feel there is a problem somewhere that we have to indentify >them positively. >The root problem lies where we focus too much on producing something quick >for the industry that most products lost their own cultural semantics. Few >people have >the time to reflect on what we need as far as culture is concerned. Then the >next eerie >thing happens when everyone starts to appear >to come out with similar looks everywhere. If its a thumbdrive with MP3 >capabilities, then >it has to have 'that' look and they usually churned out from South Korea. >Those designs that stood out >from the pen drive forms are few and they pay off by looking different by >addressing needs of different >people in different cultures. But even with those products, they rarely >break free to identify themselves >as "me" myself made in a different country. Only a few broke out from that >typical form. >As a result, your product looks similar to mine, and mine looks somewhat >the same as yours. At times, the uncanny twin product could appear >around the corner and give you one hell of a scare.---- they just look too >alike ! >Its a typical problem when it comes to electronics products. Though the >internal >architecture is very much the same, the exterior could be assembled >differently. But >it seems to be that daring to be boldly different isn't apparent enough in a >lot of product >catagories. > >There are some very good designs in architecture which reflects a strong >modern >Oriental semantics. (one example is the Chinese embassy in Singapore >designed by >a local American trained Architect Liu Tai Ker) Some are in the fashion >designs. >However, I've not really seen much of a breakthrough in Product design. >So far what I can see is a good identification of North East Asian designs >like those from South Korea and Japan. That is one point I am concerned. >Probably because the product design process is a whole shorter to bear >enough time >to think about the culture behind. All you are asked to do is to run after >time and >throw out the product to the market before someone takes that slice of >profit away. >But even if one were just concerned about profits, it would still make a >huge dollar sign >profit sense that similar product appearance throughout the range exisiting >in the market will not pay well in the long run. That is unless one could >'soul-fully' differentiate itself good enough to earn a long term profit. > >That doesn't seem to ring bells in some people who are over emphasized in >the >value of profit making. In the end, one would loose both one's sense and >sensibitility >in products. That would be one hell of a disaster after failing to be just a >humane humble >servant to the grand universe of humanity. > >Karen Fu > > > UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER ======================================================================== This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. 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