Matt and Emily came into a town that was not very welcoming to them. The school board had no intentions of helping them out, and they had to give up their salaries in order to even get Studio H off the ground. I think that the work that Matt and Emily did is a form of advocacy because their purpose was to make the students of Bertie, North Carolina interested in something that they did in school. They had kids who just wanted to go through the motions of school, finally interested in a subject. A lot of the kids mentioned that if it weren’t for studio H, they probably wouldn’t be in school. Studio H provided the kids with real life experience that was hands on, so that they picked up skills that they could use outside of school. They also gave back a lot to the community, they built chicken coups and gave them to the local farmers, and then created a farmer’s market that the residents of Bertie desperately wanted. It’s important to look at design as a way of advocacy, to benefit the people who you’re designing for. Even without the school’s support, studio H benefitted many people that the city couldn’t and wouldn’t please. What makes design advocacy successful is the want to create something that is bigger than yourselves.
Blog Post: Designers 11&12
Designer: Rebekah Radtke
Employer: University of Kentucky
Training/Early Efforts: She had wanted to be an artist, came to University of Kentucky and enrolled into interior design. She didn’t really have a passion when she came to UK, but once she began her studies in interior design she really enjoyed it. She thought about a few different design paths before going to grad school, and accidentally got enrolled into the architecture program at the art institute of Chicago. She really enjoyed it and stuck with it. And then after living in Chicago, she got offered to come back to the University of Kentucky for her current position. After her masters, she went to Brazil for a couple years, she was designing spaces for people who were displaced from their homes during the World Cup in Brazil.
Current Position: Professor at the University of Kentucky School of Interiors. She thinks that interior design is really about people. She considers herself as an advocate to people and she designs things to make their lives better and easier. She told us that interior design is extremely collaborative. When designing spaces, such as a neighborhood, and parts of a University, you need to work with many different types of majors, such as geography majors and architecture majors.
Future of Design: She believes that the future of design is the people in our class. She thinks that we need people who aren’t designers to help move design along in our own professions.
Designer: Anne Filson
Employer: University of Kentucky
Training/Early Efforts: When she was in her undergrad she was an Art History major. She went to grad school in New York and got her masters in Architecture. Her first job was with a Dutch architecture who is incredibly successful. She helped with some of his projects, one as the Seattle public library. One of her first projects was the Dutch embassy in Berlin. She was the project architect for the IIT campus center in Chicago. After working on a couple projects, she decided to go work with a design consulting agency.
Current Position: University of Kentucky- School of Architecture. A recent research project she’s been doing at UK is called AtFab. She uses a CNC machine to cut material that later becomes furniture. AtFab is a series of furniture designs, and they can be sent to anyone who has the CNC machine, and ultimately create a new manufacturing center.
Future of Design: She did not disclose this.
Blog Post: Design Autobiography
I chose to display my design autobiography by using four different Pinterest boards that correspond to the themes we’ve talked about throughout the semester: design as a Process, Consumerism, Culture and Media.
To begin I’m going to talk about Design through cultural elements. All of these pictures are representative of my culture and my background. To begin, from the left side moving to the right, the left most picture is a picture of Carillon Park. Carillon park is in my hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Throughout my life I often went to Carillon park, whether it was on field trips at school or going to play soccer, it’s a big staple in my childhood. The next picture is the speed limit sign from Daytona Beach. My parents moved from San Diego to Dayton, Ohio about 25 years ago. After spending 8 years in San Diego, they were not adjusted to the cold Ohio winters and proceeded to buy a condo in Daytona Beach, which we have gone on vacation to for the past 20 years. The next picture is of Italy. Both my parents are full-blooded Italian, and it is extremely prevalent in our traditions, cooking, and households. My family is extremely proud of our Italian heritage and we have made many visits back to the Homeland. The next picture is of Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma in San Diego, California. Like I said before, my parents spent 8 years living in San Diego and this was one of their favorite spots. I was able to visit San Diego this past winter, and got to visit all of the places that my parents loved. The last picture is of New Jersey. Both my parents were born in New Jersey, all of my family except my immediate family currently lives in New Jersey. We go back to visit between one to two times a year, and it is like a second home for me.
Being part of the generation X, technology is something that I’ve experience for most of my life. In my childhood, it went from disposal cameras to being able to upload pictures to our computer. I’m going to begin with the Iphone. Like most people, I have an Iphone and am extremely addicted to it. The idea of how far in technology that we have advanced since the 1985 huge mobile phones, is incredible as it is inspiring. My phone keeps me connected 24/7 365 days a year. With the idea of being connected, we can look at apps like Twitter and Facebook (The second and last photo.) Facebook is how I keep connected with my family, since none of us live in the same state anymore, and my sorority. Twitter is my favorite of social media networks, because you have only 140 characters to give across a message. I love that I am able to see what my friends are thinking and doing every second of the day. The next picture I want to talk about is the macbook air. My laptop is something that I didn’t know I needed. Growing up, my family didn’t get laptops until we left for college, so we all shared one desktop. I am on my computer every single day, whether it’s for school where I’m studying or doing homework, or playing games on my computer. The last picture I want to talk about it the camera and the tripod. My grandpa was a photographer, and my dad learned the trade from him. Growing up my dad took pictures of every parts of our lives, and looking back on photo albums is something that my family gets quality time from doing.
For the idea of design as a process, I took parts of my life that involve processes that I have to perform in order for an end result. The first and third pictures kind of go together in that they are my make up and my make up bag. I do not normally use a lot of make up, but when I do, I have an extremely tedious process. My favorite make up line is Benefit ( which is the first picture) and my make up bag shows my love for animals. When I put on my make up, I begin with a moisturizer and a concealer, followed by a foundation, then I move to eyeshadow and eyeliner and mascara, then I go on to my contour followed by my lips. The process of me doing my make up is one that is extremely fun and rewarding for myself. The second picture is a backdrop that my mother and I made for my sister’s wedding. My sister was married in August, and it was a very important day for all of us. My mom and I spent three months cutting out the circles from the card stock, gluing them together and then attaching them to the fishing line. Although it was tedious, the end result was beautiful and it was something that my mother and I were able to bond over. The last picture is of my planner. I didn’t begin using planners until my freshman year of college, when I had missed a big assignment in one of my classes. My planner keeps me organized and I write my due dates for assignments, exams, as well as events that are personal or for my sorority. I think that when I write in my planner, and when I finish the task and am able to cross it out, that it works as a process in keeping me on track of my responsibilities.
The last aspect of design that I want to go over is consumerism. Consumerism is crucial to our society, and I picked my favorite things that I bought and will explain what they mean to me. The first picture on the left is a picture of my car, a 2008 blue Toyota corolla. I chose my car because traveling is something that I am extremely passionate about. My father lives in Dayton, my oldest sister in Columbus, my middle sister in Pittsburgh, my extended family in New Jersey and my boyfriends families in North Carolina and Virginia. My car has driven many miles, whether to DC for New Years or Alabama for spring break. The next picture is an orchid. Orchids were my mother’s favorite flower, and even after she’s passed I continue to keep orchids in my room all the time. They have a very personal and sentimental meaning to me. The next picture is of my slippers, or what I call my “piggys.” My pig slippers are probably my favorite footwear. When I’m tired after class, or just want to walk around the house, I always put my piggys on. The represent comfort and relaxation to me. My “D” initial necklace is my next picture, which my sister gave me on the day of her wedding as a thank you for being one of her bridesmaids. It is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry and I wear it all the time. The next picture is a recent shirt I bought from evolve fitwear. It says “Dogs Before Dudes’ and has quickly become one of my favorite shirts. My dog, Boomer, is like my child. I have a huge love for animals, and this company is a 100% “green” company and very environmentally responsible, which as a customer I really enjoy. The last picture is of my sunglasses, which I recently received as a birthday gift. I am extremely brand loyal to Rayban, and I have had many of their sunglasses in the past. My sunglasses represent my favorite time of the year. I whip them out as soon as it gets sunny and warm, and it reminds me of the beach.
Blog Post: Designers 9&10
Designer: Adriane Grumbein
Employer: University of Kentucky
Training/Early Efforts: She got her undergrad at University of Texas, and then went to University of Kansas for her masters and University of Florida for her PhD. In between her masters and undergrad she did some graphic design. She came into school as an art major, but then transferred to strategic communication with a minor in graphic design.
Current Position: She teaches in the ISC department here are UK teaching graphic design and media advertising. She thinks that design is selling. Her design team is currently working with Snapple. She likes to work with websites and is currently working on info graphics to help students maneuver through the school’s websites. She thinks that Art is evoking a feeling, but she design is more about problem solving. She’s currently working as free lance and especially for the Institute of Public Relations and is trying to redesign their logo and making pamphlets for their fundraisers.
Future of Design: She believes that design is going the way of big data, info graphics and personalization. The designers become an interpreter between what the client needs and what the designer sees fit for the project. Social Media is driving big data, and its a means in how we collect data from people.
Designer: Mitzl Vernon
Employer: University of Kentucky
Training/Early Efforts: She finished her undergrad in housing and interiors in North Carolina, then went to Virginia Tech for a masters in architecture, and then went to Arizona State University where she taught interiors of design when she was 23 years old for five years. In Arizona she did a lot of interior design and furniture design.She was also teaching a lot of industrial design. She then moved to Los Angeles for two years in which she worked for an architecture firm in Venice beach and simultaneously teaching at University of Southern California. She then went to Stanford University for an engineering degree. She then went back to Virginia Tech to start an industrial design education and was there for twenty years. She wasn’t ready to retire yet, so she began looking and then got an offer from the University of Kentucky.
Current Position: She was offered the job as Dean of the School of Interiors at the University of Kentucky and she has been here for less than a year.
Future of Design: She thinks that the future of design is really revolved around design thinking. And that the future is design. From all kinda of layers of design, we’re moving forward to better improve our daily lives and to become a more creative people.
Blog Post: Designers 7&8
Designer: Melody Jackson
Employer: University of Kentucky College of Design, First Year Design
Training/Early Efforts: He career goals never included architecture, she first wanted to be an astronaut. She really focuses on the aspect of discovery in architecture. She was very much inspired by the drawings of Leonardo DeVinci, which caused her to transfer to the architecture program here at UK. When she graduated, she went to grad school at Cornell University. There she was inspired by collages and focuses a lot of her work on that. She then received a grant and was able to go to Scotland and study the Scottish castles. After grad school she began to paint, a lot that also had to do in collage form. She then became the Art Director for the World Equestrian Games in 2010. Through her times with the World Equestrian Games she began product designing with scarves.
Current Position: She’s currently working on a large park in Winchester and how to design that around the city. She also does trade shows and her most recent one was in Lexington. She’s also still in progress on designing her home, which is in the country side near Lexington which she deems as her own barn. She’s also currently redesigning the Bluegrass Stockyards that were burned down in the fire this past semester.
Future of Design: She likes to think that every field needs creativity. Whether its to make actual artwork or to think about our own careers and how we can problem solve in a more creative way. She thinks that the next thing for design is virtual reality. She believes that holograms and virtual reality is the next step that design will take, just as it evolved from pen and paper to computers.
Designer: Lindsay Fay
Employer: University of Kentucky
Training/Early Efforts: She has always had an interest in art and design. When she came to college she didn’t think that she would be in a major for design. Her interest started when she was in first grade, when she and some other students were chosen to work with an architect to help re-design a playground. She went to the University of Kentucky with her major in nutrition, then switched her major to architecture. Then she went to University of Cincinnati for her masters. She then moved to Northern California and was there for 8 years until coming back to UK to teach
Current Position: Professor at University of Kentucky in the School of Interiors. She recently worked on the new hospital at UK. They did different studies to help improve the hospitals for patients. She’s worked on co-housing , which is a community in which they have a common house and then have smaller houses surrounding it. She leads a healthcare studio here at UK where the students are tasked with designing a healthcare space. She believes in experience learning. She also leads an educational abroad experience to Thailand every other year for the design students.
Future of Design: She feels that our generation is extremely responsive to the movement of design. But she feels that our economic and environmental responsibility will be a more reoccurring part of design in the future
Blog Post: Designers 5&6
Designer: Sarah Daley
Place of Employment: City of Louisville Parks district
Training/Early Efforts: As an undergrad she majored in architecture and minored in anthropology at the University of Kentucky
Current Position:She is currently working as an interpretive designer for parks in Louisville. Some of what she does includes making signs in parks and thinks about how they will be displayed in order to best communicate to those walking through the parks. She also works with graphic designs as far as different colors and font. In the different parks, Sarah is interested in informing others about them through media. websites and school field trips.
Future of Design: She says that today, design is extremely important. A variety of different fields of study can benefit from design and that it is present in almost everything that we do. For the future, design is going to be more about technology and computer programs. Technological outlets are helping design progress rapidly.
Designer: Ryan Hargrove
Place Of Employment: University of Kentucky- College of Agriculture and Food Science/ Department of Landscape Architecture
Training/Early Efforts: Ryan attended the University of Kentucky for his undergrad. Then went on to et his masters and Phd. When he was younger, his parents has a big influence on his interests. A quote that his mom said to him was “Make the strange familiar and the familiar strange” which to him meant to never stop asking questions and discovering new things. He attended a drawing class by accident in college and met a landscape architect where he then became interested in the filed of design and landscape architecture.
Current Position: Ryan is currently working in an underserved area of Louisville. On this project called R squared, he gets the community engaged to help implement design in vacant lots with one of the design elements of grow, shop, play, live and connect. At the county level, Ryan helps plan 50-100 years out by creating guidelines for things such as water management.
Future of Design: Ryan believes that designers from our generation are in a position to help solve the problems of our generations with unique design solutions. He also says that design is a full time job and a way of life. Ryan thinks that knowing how to see the world is the greatest skill to have and he wants to make sure that he instills this in his students.
Blog Post: Designer Profile 3&4
Designer: Scarlet Wesley
Place of Employment: University of Kentucky
Training/Early Efforts: She received her undergraduate degree in Fashion Merchandising and then her masters in Retailing and consumer sciences at the University of Tennessee. She then got her PhD where in her studies she did student teaching and thats where she really developed her love for teaching students about design.
Current Position: Works at the University of Kentucky for 10 years in the merchandising apparels and textiles. Teaches how to take a product from start to finish and how to get the consumers to be interested in it and thus purchase it. Focuses on the process of design and brand management. Branding is a huge focus of her teaching. Also teaches color theory, which is the science of color and how people interpret different colors, specifically on apparel. Director of Graduate Studies in her program. Education Abroad for the past four years, every spring semester they take students to Florence/Rome and Paris. Try to give students tours of the designers and designs with a focus on fashion over in Europe where it is most influential.
Future of Design: People are in the “buy it now” ideal. It’s always about people to know what they want before they can actually get their hands on the product. The way we shop has changed with “fast fashion” retailers. So now it takes less time from the point where the designer has an idea to it being for sale in a store.
Designer: Ebrahim Poustinchi
Place of Employment: University of Kentucky- School of Interiors
Training/Early Efforts: Background in architecture and graphic design/robotics. Bachelors at the University of Tehran. He was an Art Director for many festivals. Studied postgrad at UCLA in robotic design. Started teaching at UCLA and then moved to Washington State University and then came to UK.
Current Position: He currently works at the University of Kentucky in the School of Interiors. He has many projects in Design research, Graphic designs and Architecture design , his main project in design research is called Robobble. And is now working on 4D projects, which are more branding projects.
Future of Design: 4D images and sculpting from clay to help design large scale products.
Blog Post: Designer Profile 1&2
Name: Mark O’Bryan
Place of Employment: University of Kentucky School of Architecture
Training/Early Efforts: He initially went to school to study fine arts, but after an interaction at a fraternity party he decided to change his major and study architecture. His first job was in Louisville and he found himself spending a lot of time in the library. There he found his love for the labyrinth and it has since become his “symbol.” Mark does a lot of work with designing churches and he first church was St. Agnes in Louisville
Current Position: Today he works at the University where he teaches architecture. He constantly takes students abroad because he feels that a designer’s experience in incomplete unless he/she foes abroad to see how other cultures view design. On the side he continues to design churches and homes focusing on their historical preservations. In his free time, O’Bryan enjoys paining and taking photos. He uses these in his design boards for his architectural proposals.
Future of Design: O’Bryan sees 3D modeling playing a large role in the future of design. Additionally he thinks that with all of the options for materials people will have a hard time making moral and ethical choices in design. The way the products are designed will be for meaning and not just to complete the task.
Name: Jennifer Tate
Place of Employment: LG Electronics
Training/Early Efforts: Jennifer works for LG Electronics in New Jersey, but lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is an industrial designer, which she describes as anything that can be manufactured. She designs anything from mobile devices to refrigerators for LG. She also does free lance projects on the side such as web&graphic design
Current Position: Jennifer’s definition of design is creating something with intent. She also really likes social media, like instagram. She likes the simplicity of design of it and how you don’t have to weed through a lot.
Future of Design: Jennifer believes the design world is getting more integrated. She thinks that disappearables are the next up and coming thing. She thinks people are sick of looking at screens and having screens in their faces. This theory represents how you can keep current technology and even advance it, but without the screen.
Blog Post: Museum of You
Artifacts:
- Running shoes
- Kitchen-Aid Mixer
- The Bay Bridge
- Lululemon
- Littman Stethoscope
- DZ letter sweatshirt
- Karen Walker Sunglasses
- Orinda Peet’s
- Miramonte High School
- Ive Drive
Reflect
This group of artifacts represents an individual who loves home, the outdoors and adventure. some common themes among my artifacts are personal items, landmarks, and institutions. The sunglasses and running shoes suggest an adventurous spirit while still being functional. On the other hand, the Kitchen-Aid mixer represents a tie to home, but also has creative aspects in that it allows me to create various dishes and entertain people, which thus creates memories. Some values reflected by these artifacts are first off loyalty. My love my home, my high school and Orinda Peet’s show how much I love my hometown. I am loyal to my hometown because I have built so many memories there. It is where my life began, where I rode my bike for the first time, where I learned to swim, where I played soccer and ultimately where I called home for 18 years. Additionally, my stethoscope holds some fears I have. It represents a new career for me in the future as well as the uncertainty of what the next few years at school holds as well as what the post college life holds.
There are some common links among the artifacts. First, there is an athletic theme with the Lululemon and running shoes. This plays a key part in my life because I turn to running and working out as a way of reliving stress, while also doing something healthy for my body. It is a time of cleansing and self-reflection. Next my kitchen aid mixer and 64 Ivy Drive link together as part of what is home to me. My mom and I bond and make great memories in the kitchen making baked goods and sharing stories, which moves into my third link of Orinda: Peet’s and Miramonte High School. At both of these places I feel at home, everywhere there is a familiar face that I can turn to and chat with about anything. When I am home it is as if I had never left.
Design is more than just what an object looks like. It takes functionality, composition, uniqueness and media into consideration. This rings true about my ten selected artifacts. The running shoes, Lululemon clothing apparel, Delta Zeta sweatshirt and Karen Walker sunglasses all follow design as a product. Designers chose the specific colors, sizes, shapes and materials to appeal to the consumer. Next, the Bay Bridge has both architectural and functional design. It was not built to make money, but rather for functionality and minimizing traffic flow. Without the Bay Bridge many people would have to take longer routes to work. Additionally, the Bay Bridge is a design symbol, representing a gateway to a city full of opportunity. Many people make the journey everyday from near and far over the bridge because of their place of work and money supply. My house on Ivy Drive was designed as a place of shelter for a small family. Materials, furniture, architecture and engineering all went into the final product. at this point the homeowners dictate the design to what fits their needs and personality. This created memories and stories through design.
Blog Post: Movie Discussion Summary
The movie that I was assigned to discuss in class was Wall-E. In Wall-E, the main characters are Wall-E, Eve, Captain B. McCrea and the Ship Computer. The film begins with Wall-E being a robot that was left on earth to clean up the mess that humans have left. The only living thing that is his friend is a cockroach, until he finds a little living plant. Eve is sent to earth as well, to find living things, and she takes Wall-E’s plant. So Wall-E follows Eve back into space in which they discover the spaceship that the humans are living on. When the robots on the spaceship discover Wall-E’s plant, they take it from him. The overweight humans work with Wall-E and Eve to get back the plant and restore Earth.
The design of Wall-E and Eve is really important. It kind of represents the old and new technology. Wall-E is rusted, beat up, and can only travel by his wheels. Eve is a sleek, new technology robot that hovers.
The design reflects the everyday world of the characters because since Wall-E is an older design of a robot, he has to overcome some technological advances that he doesn’t have. Eve also sees this problem, when she goes into her shut down mode. So Wall-E and Eve, technology new and old, have to work together and use their unique aspects to restore Earth.
The major message of the movie is that if you want something/someone to care about you, you must care about it. In this case, it’s talking about how the humans got lazy and decided to trash the earth, and when it’s no longer useful to them because of how dirty it is, they move into space.
The three movies we watched are all connected through design, specifically through design of the landscapes and technology in the movies. The “landscape” in Helvetica would be the font. But it also has the aspect of technological advances. In Wall-E, the landscape is transitioned from a futuristic space to a run-down landscape on Earth. The technological impacts is the design of Wall-E and Eve. In Everything is Illuminated, the landscape is a wartime scene during WWII. The different landscapes portray different messages in each of the films and help to send a specific message to viewers
Dana Caruso 