Boradkar, PrasadUnknown
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (London, 2017) (eng) English9781350036116Unknown1st ed.INDUSTRIAL DESIGN-SOCIAL ASPECTS; Includes bibliographical references and index; When and why did the turntable morph from playback device to musical instrument? Why have mobile phones evolved changeable skins? How many meanings can one attach to such mundane things as tennis balls? The answers to such questions illustrate this provocative book, which examines the cultural meanings of things and the role of designers in their design and production.
Designing Things provides the reader with a map of the rapidly changing field of design studies, a subject which now draws on a diverse range of theories and methodologies - from philosophy and visual culture, to anthropology and material culture, to media and cultural studies.
With clear explanations of key concepts - such as form language, planned obsolescence, object fetishism, product semantics, consumer value and user needs - overviews of theoretical foundations and case studies of historical and contemporary objects, Designing Things looks behind-the-scenes and beneath-the-surface at some of our most familiar and iconic objects.
Physical dimension
1 online resource (ix, 326 p.)Unknownill.
Summary / review / table of contents
Front matter
1. Theorizing Things: Disciplinary Diversity in Thinking About Objects 17–44
2. Valued Possessions: The Worth of Things 45–74
3. Making Things: Labor in Production 75–102
4. Producing Things: A History of Systems of Manufacture 103–126
5. Beautiful Things: The Aesthetics of Surfaces 127–158
6. The Greed Imperative: User Needs in Product Design 159–178
7. Planned Obsolescence: Unsustainable Consumption 179–210
8. Object as Sign:What do Things Mean? 211–248
9. The Obsession of Possession: Fetish Objects 249–262
Conclusion 263–272
Back matter