CR01

     Coming into Design 200, I was looking forward to getting an basic overview of the design field. So far, I have gotten what I expected, along with some surprises.

     The first lecture class was a brief history of the design field. We discussed issues surrounding design such as large scale and small scale. Particularly, how designers of the past were mainly concerned with large scale products such as trains, while designers of the present are mainly concerned with "black turtleneck sweaters and glasses" or rather, small scale. The video we watched focused on the large scale vs. small scale issue. It made me think: what are we doing in the present design field that is life-changing? What could we do to better people's lives? We appear to have all the modern conveniences, which is perhaps why design has scaled down. But there are many more large-scale tasks designers could undertake. One was mentioned in the last class regarding medical tools for obese patients. While small scale designs are important, designers can't forget the "big picture" of design.

     The next lecture class discussed "what do designers do?". After reading the title of the lecture, I must admit I was less than thrilled to listen to the lecture. I thought, "well duh, they design stuff". I was ignorant, however, with the sheer amount and variety of products they design. I never would have considered medical tools as the work of a designer, or so many of the common logos and advertisements I see on a daily basis. The video we watched showed a designer in action and describing his works. What particularly struck me about the video was that he had changes he wanted to make to his past designs, such as the UPS logo. I realized then that design is a constantly evolving field and that a design is never exactly "finished". There is always room for improvement and innovation. Design is a field of great creativity, more so than I imagined going into the class. I am interested to learn more about what designers do and particularly, how they do it.