Undertake a critique of a
technological outcome’s design
Lesley Pearce
Technology National Coordinator
Team Solutions
The Auckland University
Level 8 Learning Objective
Knowledge of Design
• ‘Knowledge of design focuses on understanding
the way informed creative and critical
development of new ideas is achieved and how
these are realised into feasible outcomes.’
• It is about demonstrating an understanding of
complex concepts in design.
• Understand the importance and impact of design
Why and How
• Why would we consider this important to put
into our programmes?
• How will we develop rich learning for our
students?
Lets start with…
And what personal criteria do we use
What is good design?
• The answer of course depends on whom you
ask. If a design is “good” it depends largely on
its function. A stylish bottle for a drink may
look good, but if you need a special opener to
get at the thirst-quenching liquid inside, and
then one drop at a time, the design has failed.
If a design is good it thus depends first and
foremost on the interplay of appearance,
function and usability.
Okay we all know plastic bottles
are evil. They consume massive
amounts of energy to produce,
statistically only spend 30 minutes
in our hands before spending the
next thousand years in a landfill.
So what criteria do we use to
judge the quality of the design?
What is good design?
• “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like.
Design is how it works.” Steve Jobs
• “ Design is a funny word. Some people think design
means how it looks. But od course, if you dig deeper,
its really how it works.” Steve Jobs.
• “Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way
as best to accomplish a particular purpose.” Charles
Eames
• “ All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is
the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or
stimulates the person in that space.” Philip Johnson
Activity
• Find a quote about good design that resonates
with you.
• Find one technological product that illustrates
the quote.
• Justify to the group on the quality of design of
your chosen image
What do students think is good
design?
What criteria did they use?
• The design of the Mac wasn't what it looked
like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it
was how it worked. To design something really
well, you have to get it. You have to really grok
what it's all about. It takes a passionate
commitment to really thoroughly understand
something, chew it up, not just quickly
swallow it.
Steve Jobs
Understand the importance and impact of
design
Don Norman: The three ways that
good design makes you happy
In this talk from 2003,
design critic Don Norman
turns his incisive eye toward
beauty, fun, pleasure and
emotion, as he looks at
design that makes people
happy. He names the three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlQEoJaLQ
RA&feature=related
emotional cues that a welldesigned product must hit to
succeed.
3.10
Form v Function
• Different people will have different views on
what good design means to them.
• The old argument form v function is often
redundant in the 21st century criteria think –
sustainability,
• Cultures, personal preferences interest all play
apart
Asking questions
• What is the design philosophy behind the
technological object?
• Sustainability Does this make it a good design/
• Accessibility – does this make it a good design
• Functionality
• Quality of manufacture
• Emotional resonance
• Endurance
• etc
Drop Chandelier by Stuart Haygarth
Sustainability
Accessibility
Functionality
Quality of manufacture/well made
Emotional resonance
• What product reaches your, “I want one of
these”
Endurance
Social benefit – design that matters
Aesthetic quality
Ergonomic fit
Affordability
Industrial design Award 2010
• This year, not one, but three winners were
named Best in Show by the 2010 IDEA awards
jury. "We have three winners: a technologybased digital product, an ecological
responsible consumer product and a socially
responsible solution to a basic human
need. No result could have more accurately
reflected where industrial design finds itself
today.
Web design criteria
• Websites
• The Academy evaluates Web sites based on six
criteria: content, structure and navigation,
visual design, functionality, interactivity, and
overall experience.
Activity
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lots of tech outcomes
Rate 1 to 10 for good design
Discuss criteria used to judge good design
Assess again or use different tech outcomes
Criteria
Match up 10 design characteristics to
different images of products
design that is …….
•
•
•
•
Functional
beautiful
enduring
well made
—are offset by values like
•
•
•
•
•
•
affordability
accessibility
ergonomic strength
social benefit
necessity
emotional resonance
• The current issue of Metropolis makes a case for ten criteria for
evaluating design arguments today, in the troubled economic,
ecological, and political climate of the early 21st century. Arguably,
these criteria provide an ethical framework for evaluating design so
that the long-established yardsticks—design that is functional,
beautiful, enduring, well made—are offset by values like
affordability, accessibility, ergonomic strength, social benefit and
necessity, and emotional resonance. No argument could meet all
these criteria, but it might satisfy a few. More to the point, a loose
framework gets us beyond the problem of labeling design as good
or bad, or seeing problems as solvable. There are no solutions to
design problems. There are only responses in the form of
arguments.
• http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20090318/a-good-argument
•
• Dieter Rams Ten principles of good design
• http://www.vitsoe.com/en/gb/about/dieterrams/gooddesign/
Personal design exhibition
• What would you put in it?
• Consider the different aspects of good design
• Justify decisions
Ask a new question about an old
design classic
• Is it still a good design in the new climate
of…/Think of the use of steel/leather etc
Criteria other designers use
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5SFncmn3pTs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FRWatw_ZEQI
Architectural draftsman-turned famous rapper, Ice Cube, takes a tour of the LA he
loves and visits the house of design visionaries, Charles and Ray Eames. This clip’s
worth a watch.
Different criteria different design eras
Judgement criteria - Bauhaus
Simplicity
Symmetry
Angularity
Abstraction
Consistency
Unity
Subtlety
Continuity
Regularity
Sharpness
Monochromaticity
Organization
Economy
Bauhaus
Judgements on the quality of Art Deco
designs - what criteria was/is used ?
Assessment AS91617
“Undertake a critique of a technological
outcome’s design.” External 4 credits
Key words from standard
• critiquing (a detailed analysis/evaluation and assessment
of the quality of design of a technological outcome)
• technological outcome (fully realised products and
systems, created by people for an identified purpose
through Technological Practice)
• design (the look and functioning of a technological
outcome, building, garment, or product)
• aesthetic quality ( the nature of , beauty and taste it can be
both objective and subjective – the balance between
elements like colour, line, shape and how they interact with
one another to create a pleasing “whole”. Different
cultures, eras have different definitions of aesthetic
qualities hence this can be very subjective.)
• Explain, (Means to give a reason or reasons – an
explanation answers the question "why?" or "how does
that work?" If the text includes "because" or "so that",
it will be to explain something)
• Discuss (to discourse about in order to reach
conclusions or to convince, discuss implies a sifting of
possibilities especially by presenting considerations
pro’s and con’s, to examine something in detail so as to
reach a decision. This usually means that more than
one perspective is put forward and actively considered.
So as part of discussions we may get "compare and
contrast")
• Evaluate (to examine and judge carefully; appraise to
judge or assess the worth of; appraise
• Justify (for example, to explain in your report the
reason why this is a good design using contemporary
criteria)
Questions to ask students
• Take the criteria in explanatory note 2 and
rephrase them into questions
Achieved:
• What is good design as we see it today? Why has
the criteria used to judge good design changed
over time?
• Why is it that different individuals, groups or
collectives may have different perspectives on
what is good design?
• How does the design of a technological outcome
meet a set of criteria to make it good design?