CR01

I can not believe we are already into our third week of spring quarter. Time is flying! In only the four classes we have had in Design 200, I have already learned so much about the design world that I never knew before. During the first day of class when we were discussing the historical overview of design, I was amazed at how much work and creativity goes into the design of products that I never really thought much about. For example, the steam engine, the telephone, sewing machine and even the chair. I found it extremely interesting that designers tried to think up different ways to make these somewhat simple machines more appealing to the user's eye. Even with logos and corporate identity. The fact that AIG changed its logo continually over the years to evolve with the changing styles of the times is intriguing but also makes me wonder what effect this had on consumers. Did this appeal to them or were they turned off by the unrecognizable company logo? I guess when thinking about design I never once thought of the more "boring" objects in our daily life that need designed just so we pick them out to purchase at the store instead of the others. The video on Paul Rand added to this question of mine. He wanted to change his UPS logo from the original that made it famous. Yet the original logo was so well known that the company wanted to keep it untouched. So even though the times were changing and the style of the old logo was becoming more and more "old school", customers were comfortable with the symbol that saw representing UPS. What amazed me is how much comfort and trust consumers have with something like a logo. I now know that design (whether designing an actual product or simply a logo) has a huge impact on the market and users' decisions on what to buy, where to buy and who to trust.