RR01

     Design: A Very Short Introduction by John Heskett has taught me not only what designers see and create but what users and consumers look for in products as well. Right off the bat I found it interesting how simplistic design was and how it first began to take shape. I honestly did not even realize you could consider some of the prehistoric creations that the so-called "cavemen" put together designs. The tools they created to better dig and carve the land were all based around the shape of the hand and the work that needed to be done. True, they were not technically designing these objects for appearance or style, but rather for function. Yet this is still considered design. Today there are similar products that I would have not previously considered being much of a design until reading this book. Such as a hair dryer or a toaster. Someone still had to design this very straightforward and uncomplicated product to make it easy to use and understand. I particularly liked the metaphor by German designer Dieter Rams, "products should provide quiet, efficient service when required and otherwise fade unobtrusively into the background" (43). I also liked how Heskett continued to reference inventions that involve contemporary design with the advancements in technology. For example the ATM machine. Again, I would never in my life consider this a design element, but contemporary designers had the challenge of keeping up with the changing times and the shift from bank tellers doing the job to a machine sitting in the wall of a building. The entire system of obtaining cash switched to an automatic and electronic system and designers had to make it functional, secure and essentially flawless. Lastly, the example of the Japanese toothpick struck me as insanely creative. Again, a simple, tiny little object that is thrown in the trash after use and not ever given extreme attention still must involve design; "It demonstrates how even the smallest utilitarian objects are capable of simultaneously embodying values" (28). Product design as a whole is a new concept to me and I like how the comfort, security and ease for the user is put into mind first and foremost before anything else.