Finding good stuff online

Online resources I mentioned today:

- I love this one: West 86th, a journal of decorative arts, design history, and material culture, from the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture.

- The Fibreculture Journal: Digital media, networks and transdisciplinary critique

- I’ve mentioned it before but here it is again, the wonderful Design Observer

- The British museum and BBC teamed up to produce the History of the World in 100 Objects. It’s a bit fuddy duddy in that old BBC radio sort of way, and focuses more on ancient history and archaeological modes of inquiry, but it has some fascinating material (podcasts + small online articles). 

Want HELP with academic writing?

As you all know, the last assessment in this subject is an essay. I’ll do some work on this in our tutorials, so you all have a pretty clear idea of what is expected, but I should also make sure you know about UTS: HELPS (Higher Education Language and Presentation Support).

HELPS is the centre for academic language skills at UTS, and it is appropriate for ESL and non-ESL students alike. They run a whole bunch of free workshops, and you can do drop-in consultations with HELPS if you want to run your assignment past them, or ask them specific questions.

Check out their website here.

Some upcoming workshops that would help improve your essay writing are: 

- Paraphrasing and Summarising
9 October, 5-6pm and repeated on 12 October, 10-11am Full details here 

- Grammar Review
10 October, repeated 17 October 11-1pm Full details here

- Editing and Proofreading your writing
16 October, 5-6pm Full details here 

The origins of digital typography

At this website you can learn about Emigre, the first graphic design journal to use digital typography on the good old Macintosh computer, from 1984.

Emigre was pursuing some very interesting directions for graphic design and typography in the mid- to late 1980s, and understanding this history helps us interpret contemporary graphic design styles, strategies and conventions, and gives us insight into how digital typography became what it is today. It also gives us a visual history of what was seen as ‘cutting edge’ design in the 80s - a visual taster, if you like. You can see the Emigre magazine covers here, and a bunch of excellent essays here. 

Take a look at some real artefacts

Sometimes you don’t have to go far to find fascinating artefacts and objects, and very decent curatorial work with them too. At UTS, you have the advantage of only being a short walk down Harris Street from the Powerhouse Museum.

Notwithstanding the current museum renovations (and the fact that the Museum runs big shows oriented at kids), they DO have a really tremendous object collection, and a huge amount on display. This will only get better with their “revitalisation” program, so make sure you get into a habit of visiting the Powerhouse every now and then. 

Also, here’s the Powerhouse Museum’s Inside the Collection Blog, featuring a truly bizarre array of collection artefacts, photographs, curatorial research, and some truly bizarre objects (and the stories that go with them). Be curious, explore, be playful. 

Helpful radio grabs: Colin Bisset’s Design Files

Because I am 29 going on 79, I listen to ABC Radio National a lot, and recently I’ve become more aware of the fact that the By Design program (which normally annoys me) is doing a nice little segment by writer-in-residence Colin Bisset called Design Files.

This fits in really nicely with our second assessment for this subject, because Bisset generally chooses a single object, artefact or design concept, and gives us its potted history. He talks about how the meaning/s surrounding this object have changed over time, and explains how various associations and social conventions have become attached to it. Bisset doesn’t do as good a job as your group will do, I’m sure, but it’s still good quality listening on design matters. 

Here are some of his past “Design Files” - have a listen to the ones that interest you (they’re only short). The comments on these pages are also quite interesting. 

Swiss Army Knife

Safety Pin

Lego

Chop sticks

Sony Walkman

Anglepoise lamp

Bentwood chair

Venetian blind

Interested in vintage computers?

No? Well I am. So you’ll hear a fair bit about them this semester. Check out the Computer History Museum and you may be surprised at what you find.

Having background knowledge about the history of computer design can lead you to make some interesting conclusions about our current technological experience (and what the future might bring), and you’ll find you have more interesting things to say about your iPhone than, “I like it, it’s pretty.”

From Jacquard Looms to New Zealand water-fueled national economic calculators, to the clunky little 185K Macintosh we discussed in class, and beyond - find out what technological goodies we (you / me?) missed out on. The Computer History Museum used to have a crappy old website but they’ve really improved it recently and it is FULL of resources and online exhibitions. Great pics too. Bam. So easy. 

Reading for Week 6: The Lawn at War

This is a fantastic text by Beatriz Colomina from the book The American Lawn, and you’ll never think of Aussie backyards (or American front yards) in the same way again. Please print and read the excerpt PDF by Monday. Lawns are not “natural” - they are, as so many other things are, very specifically designed, and they cultivate a wide variety of meanings and associations. 

Recommended texts for assignment research

These are all recent publications, and generally quite readable. They’re all available at the UTS Library, some will be on reserve. 

Design Studies: A Reader, edited by Hazel Clark, David Brody 

Global Design History, edited by Glenn Adamson, Giorgio Riello, Sarah Teasley

The Fashion History Reader, edited by Giorgio Riello, Peter McNeil (of UTS)

Modern Times: The untold history of modernism in Australia, by Ann Stephen, Philip Goad, and Andrew McNamara

And here is a fairly eclectic list, including some Australian examples:

History & Material Culture: A Student’s Guide to Approaching Alternative Sources, edited by Karen Harvey

Design History Reader, edited by Grace Lees-Maffei, Rebecca Houze 

Designing the Modern Interior, by Penny Sparke, Anne Massey, Trevor Keeble, Brenda Martin 

Design History Australia, by Tony Fry

The Office: A Hardworking History, by Gideon Haigh

Cultural hypochondria in the age of industrial design, by Robert Nelson

Objects of desire : design and society, 1750-1980, by Adrian Forty

Design History & the History of Design, by John Walker

American Plastic, by Jeffrey Meikle

Design in the USA, by Jeffrey Meikle

Computer, by Paul Atkinson

Charles & Ray Eames, Designers of the 20th Century, by Pat Kirkham

The Gendered Object, edited by Pat Kirkham

Thinking with Type: A critical guide for designers, writers, editors & students, by Ellen Lupton

Design Discourse: History, Theory, Criticism, edited by Victor Margolin

The Social Shaping of Technology, edited by Donald McKenzie & Judy Wajcman

Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide, edited by Joanna Drucker

Reading for Week 5: Maya Deren

Make sure you download it here, print it out, and read it before Monday’s class. 

Nathan will be providing some questions about this reading (and also in relation to his lecture for next week). For now, I want you to make sure you’ve got a grasp of who Maya Deren was, when this was written, and what kind of publication you’re looking at: get to grips with the context of what you’re reading before you begin to engage with it. 

Desley Luscombe discusses her research

Felt overwhelmed by Professor Desley Luscombe’s lecture but interested in the content?

Well, this might help: Here’s an interview with Luscombe from November last year (on the Interior & Spatial Design IS Blog), which helps explain how she became interested in axonometric drawings of Rietveld and Eisenman, and it tells us a bit more about her work and her research process. She has some really interesting things to say about illustration and drawing, and ways of reading these sorts of images.