ASSIGNMENT 2

Nowadays, the higher technology applied in design, the more changes on very common “everyday used” things. In this assignment, I will research how effective the unstoppably increasing technology affects “the everyday” – lives and designs. I will look at the changes at the almost common things to say that how affective the technology is, rather than look at all the technology because it will never updated fast enough to say it will stop here for these “perfect” things. Things are always changing, bits by bits, days by days. About the technology, the fastest and easiest way to look for is on the news and podcasts, always up-to-dated and fast to read though.

In the a podcast audio on “http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk”, a woman named Marilyn Haynes-Smith recalled how sewing machines have shaped her family’s life for generations. “As soon as I could remember myself she taught me to sew. She had an old machine where you pressed the foot - you call it a presser-foot machine. It was manual, essentially, and she taught me to sew on that one.”  This came to an end when people think in more effective way on using these sewing machine.

 

“Many years later - because she sewed commercially - she had to sell that machine, because it wasn't fast enough. Singer started making new electric machines, at the press of a toe it just went very much faster.”  The Singer (her family) electrical sewing machine has been a significant part of the life of black people throughout the Caribbean that time.

Back in the years when World War II happening, in Australia, an overpopulation really “exploded” the whole country.  “Thousands of servicemen and women returned home after the war to resume their lives and start families. Following a rush of marriages and babies after 1945, Australia's birth rate increased rapidly.” Also through war, the Australian government rushed a plane to immigrate a large number of skilled workers “Many came from the United Kingdom and Ireland, but for the first time, thousands poured in from other European countries like Greece, Italy Hungary and Yugoslavia.” So the demanding on housing increased considerably through the overpopulation progress. “Many houses were built from new, cheaper materials like concrete, fibro and corrugated iron roofing and prefabricated homes were imported from overseas. 'Prefabrication' means that the components of a house are built in a factory, and then moved to another location to be assembled.”” The houses built in the decade or so after WWII were small compared to today's standards. The average house consisted of two or three bedrooms, one living area, kitchen and small bathroom and the toilet and laundry were sometimes located outside. The design was simple and economical”.

When things are needed badly, people always think about them and find a way to make them better and better. I would say people will find any things, any technology available at their time to improve “the everyday” – life and things.

Reference :

Source  1 :

Marilyn Haynes-Smith (2004)- Marilyn Haynes-Smith recalls how sewing machines have shaped her family's life for generations.

Link:

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/everyday_life/personal_accounts/PA.0004/

Image oldsewing machine : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7EwKoCtuSXN79VjuiPQmxJaHsFPTPMukVeOtRLqUUPny05x7PAdXz4zFfJpKG6eJEnWmj94cHaNEjZDngExtFQZ8Y2W3K-7iPFjJHRXwJiWRE-fKsSH_d_Pc3gfRlHhihjtWKetHgt8/s1600/SewingMachineSinger1.jpg

Image electrical sewing machine : Retrieve from the website : http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/everyday_life/personal_accounts/PA.0004/

Source 2 :

Australia's social and cultural history in the post-war period

http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-189_t-505_c-1864/housing/nsw/housing/australia-s-social-and-cultural-history-in-the-post-war-period/the-impact-of-changing-technology-on-everyday-life

ASSIGNMENT 1 : assessing and critiquing sources

I would like to discuss about the theme “the everyday” for the first assignment. I chose the book “The Design of Everyday Things” of Donald Norman for the source. This book contains a lot of examples good & bad design of everyday-used, common things; hence that showing up some resolutions for issues from those designs and trying to make those better. “Complex things may require explanation, but simple things should not. When simple things need pictures, labels, or instructions, the design has failed. A psychology of causality is also at work as we use everyday things.” (Paragraph 4, page 9, Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things)

For example, the door, yes it is a very common everyday-used thing. “Consider the door. There is not much you can do to a door: you can open it or shut it. A door poses only two essential questions: In which direction does it move? On which side should one work it? The answers should be given by the design, without any need for words or symbols, certainly with-out any need for trial and error.” (Paragraph 2, page 3, Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things). In this picture, the hardware on the door affords no operations except pushing or pulling (different design of the horizontal and vertical bars). Also the size and the position are being considered whether the grasp is used to push or pull.

It would be interesting when it comes to a pair of scissors. Have you ever think that how did I know to use a pair of scissors? “Consider a pair of scissors: even if you have never seen or used them before, you can see that the number of possible actions is limited. The holes are clearly there to put something into, and the only logical things that will fit are fingers. The holes are affordances: they allow the fingers to be inserted. The sizes of the holes provide constraints to limit the possible fingers: the big hole suggests several fingers, the small hole only one.” (Paragraph 4, page 12, Chapter  1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things) Even if you failed on putting the fingers in, the scissors still works.

For a bad design example, “consider the digital watch, one with two to four push buttons on the front or side. What are those push buttons for? How would you set the time? There is no way to tell—no evident relationship between the operating controls and the functions, no constraints, no apparent mappings.” (Paragraph 2, page 13, Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things)

There are lots of analyses on how good or bad designs on tons of common things we are using every day. Through all of analyses, the book also discusses about how could we improve those design to fit best on human purposes and utilities.

References:

Donald Norman (February 1, 1990). The Design of Everyday Things. Paperback.

Picture: retrieved from the book : The Design of Everyday Things, page 10, Chapter 1.

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