Final Exam Flashcards
What method will we use when studying design history?
We will consider links between objects and their context of creation: the morals, values, political structures, belief paradigms, economic conditions and technical advances of specific times and places
What can today’s designers learn by studying the history of design?
- This study teaches students to make links between critical reflection, contextual sensitivity and creativity innovation in order to create a platform for thoughtful, future-oriented design work.
- This study prepares designers in the development of specific design skills, such as: interdisciplinary problem definition; creative, contextualized problem solving.
- Studying the history of design provides experience in gathering precedent studies from a variety of sources
In ancient China, during the reign of Qin Shi Huang (221-209 BCE), there are several pieces of evidence in material culture that point to the existence of an exemplary and forward thinking design method. One of these is the directive given to the Qin’s army to standardize their bows and arrows - rather than have each archer with his own design - to facilitate the ready supply of weapons usable by all. Which of the following example demonstrates the same attitude to standardization in Chinese design at this time?
Using standardized moulds, government labourers mass-produced thousands of clay legs torsos, arms, fingers, and head, to be fired and assembled and installed in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang as his army in the afterlife.
What impact did Egyptian cultural beliefs and funerary practices have on the production of material goods?
Ancient Egyptian belief in everlasting afterlife not only ensured the preservation of material culture, but also ensured the appreciation of high quality and long lasting craft techniques.
Ancient Egyptian furniture demonstrates which technical and material qualities?
- the application of wood veneer and symbolic decorative elements
- advanced carpentry techniques such as the use of mortise and tenon joints
- access to a diverse selection of woodworking tools, including the bow drill
By the Classical Period (c.480-400 BCE), ancient Greek artisans had developed the ceramics industry to a high level and a number of city-states were known for their pottery production. What was the function of these items?
Painted vases were made in specific shapes for specific daily uses and for special, often ritual occasions
Which part of the kiln firing process had the result of blackening specially-treated areas of ceramic pots?
The second stage, when an oxygen-poor and carbon-rich environment is created
What raw material used in the manufacture of ceramics might have had limited availability and thus could have
The large amounts of wood needed to fire the kilns, which may have led to local de-forestation
Renaissance Scholar coined the term “Middle Ages” because:
Renaissance scholars saw them as a long barbaric period separating them from the great civilizations of Rome and Greece
The Roman Banquet was not merely a meal. What other functions did it serve?
It was also a calculated spectacle of display that was intended to demonstrate the host’s wealth, status, and sophistication to his guests.
How did German-born cabinet-maker Michael Thonet exemplify manufacturing expansion and the use of new materials for furniture in the early 19th century?
Thonet used a process of steaming beech wood rods into curved shapes to be used for a variety of lightweight, bentwood furniture pieces.
Why was papier-mâché used for furniture in the first half of the 19th century?
Broad surfaces of papier-mâché made with wood pulp baked and hardened – would not warp or check in the same manner as wood, so it was a good substrate for fragile decorative surface treatments such as lacquer.
Similar to the expansion of manufacturing in the early to mid-19th century, visual communication systems via the printed page were rapidly expanding at this time. How did this affect the urban landscape?
Without civic controls, large-scale advertising posters quickly covered all surfaces in large cities, turning the city into a screen for print communication
In the early 1800s, the ‘American System’ of manufacturing was of great interest for British and European industrialist. Why?
It featured extensive use of interchangeable parts and extensive use of mechanization to produce those parts, and resulted in more efficient use of labour when compared to hand methods of manufacturing
Adam Smiths “rational approach to production was described by which example?
The pin factory
Who was A.W.N. (Augustus Welby Northmore) Pugin?
A British architect, designer and author, Pugin was one of the strongest advocates for standards or principles of design.
Pugin wrote convincingly about the need to reform design by clarifying aesthetic guidelines for the public good. What principle(s) did he promote?
• There should be no features about a building that which are not necessary for convenience, construction or property.
• All adornment should enrich the essential construction of the building.
• Observe the propriety of material; even the construction may vary with the
material employed
Despite the well-documented critical complaints about the quality of product design and decoration exhibited at The Great Exhibition in London, 1851, the masses of visitors to the event loved what they saw. What can we learn from this apparent contradiction?
This was a watershed event for design in that it emphatically confirmed the reality of heterogeneous middle-class consumer who associated designed commodities with ideas of progress, abundance, individual identity, and social transformation
With his 1856 richly illustrated chromolithography publication ‘ The Grammar of Ornament’, Owen Jones created an extensive resource for mass-produced decoration. What sources did he use for his illustrations?
Non-industrial sources from a broad selection of exotic cultures
John Ruskin was…?
A Social Critic who condemned capitalistic industrialism
