Encountering Things
Design and Theories of Things
Published on 19. October 2017
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-85785-782-8 (ISBN)
Description
Encountering Things brings together leading design scholars to explore the relationship between thing theory and design, exploring production processes and offering an engaging, theoretical perspective about the social and cultural lives of objects.
Focusing on the themes of process and product, the contributors investigate the productive interplay between the activity of design and the objects that design uses and produces. Chapters span the design disciplines and essays examine the processes by which objects, things, and artifacts are made; the lives of design objects; and things in their cultural contexts. Theoretical discussion is encouraged by in-depth case studies of things themselves. Each chapter includes an informational sidebar per essay and a useful glossary of key terms.
Focusing on the themes of process and product, the contributors investigate the productive interplay between the activity of design and the objects that design uses and produces. Chapters span the design disciplines and essays examine the processes by which objects, things, and artifacts are made; the lives of design objects; and things in their cultural contexts. Theoretical discussion is encouraged by in-depth case studies of things themselves. Each chapter includes an informational sidebar per essay and a useful glossary of key terms.
Reviews / Votes
[The] in-depth discussion on the location of material culture (s) in human-thing relationships and thus in society makes the book extremely worth reading. * H-Soz-Kult (Bloomsbury Translation) * This collection of essays is the first major effort to connect the renewed interest in materiality with an earlier tradition of object studies in order to examine how these fields connect with design theory and practice. The essays in the collection are wide-ranging, multidisciplinary and mutually enlightening. This book will be of great interest to scholars in design studies, social theory and cultural criticism. * Arjun Appadurai, Paulette Goddard Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University, USA * The essays in this book make a cogent argument for stronger engagement between design studies and the theory of things. Design scholars and practitioners can profit greatly from them. * Victor Margolin, Professor Emeritus of Design History at the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
60 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 189 mm
Weight
734 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-85785-782-8 (9780857857828)
DOI
CBID182319
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Leslie Atzmon is Professor of Graphic Design and Design History at Eastern Michigan University, USA.
Prasad Boradkar is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Industrial Design Programme at Arizona State University, USA.
Prasad Boradkar is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Industrial Design Programme at Arizona State University, USA.
Content
Introduction
Leslie Atzmon and Prasad Boradkar
Chapter 1
Filled with Wonder: Enchanting Androids from Cams to Codes
Betti Marenko
Chapter 2
When Objects Fail: Unconcealing Things in Design Writing and Criticism
Peter Hall
Chapter 3
What design tells us about objects and things
G. De Michelis
Chapter 4
Visual Essay-The Boombox Project
Prasad Boradkar and Lyle Owerko
Chapter 5
Theorizing the Hari Kuyo
Christine Guth
Chapter 6
Making Things Things
Nina Rappaport
Chapter 7
Distributing Stresses: The Development and Use of the Eames Dining Chair Metal
Michael J. Golec
Chapter 8
The Practically Living Weight of Convenient Things
Cameron Tonkinwise
Chapter 9
The Modern American Telephone as a Contested Technological Thing, 1920-1939
Jan Hadlaw
Chapter 10
Visual Essay-Montreal Signage Project
Matt Soar
Chapter 11
Connecting Things: Broadening Design To Include Systems,
Platforms, And Product-Service Ecologies
Hugh Dubberly
Chapter 12
Things as "Poor" Substitutes
Carl Knappett
Chapter 13
The Graphic Thing: Ambiguity, Dysfunction, and Excess in Designed Objects
Phil Jones
Chapter 14
Nothingness in April Greiman's "Does It Make Sense?"
Elizabeth Guffey
Chapter 15
Visual Essay-Indian Copper Objects
Prasad Boradkar
Afterword
Bill Brown
Bibliography
Index
Leslie Atzmon and Prasad Boradkar
Chapter 1
Filled with Wonder: Enchanting Androids from Cams to Codes
Betti Marenko
Chapter 2
When Objects Fail: Unconcealing Things in Design Writing and Criticism
Peter Hall
Chapter 3
What design tells us about objects and things
G. De Michelis
Chapter 4
Visual Essay-The Boombox Project
Prasad Boradkar and Lyle Owerko
Chapter 5
Theorizing the Hari Kuyo
Christine Guth
Chapter 6
Making Things Things
Nina Rappaport
Chapter 7
Distributing Stresses: The Development and Use of the Eames Dining Chair Metal
Michael J. Golec
Chapter 8
The Practically Living Weight of Convenient Things
Cameron Tonkinwise
Chapter 9
The Modern American Telephone as a Contested Technological Thing, 1920-1939
Jan Hadlaw
Chapter 10
Visual Essay-Montreal Signage Project
Matt Soar
Chapter 11
Connecting Things: Broadening Design To Include Systems,
Platforms, And Product-Service Ecologies
Hugh Dubberly
Chapter 12
Things as "Poor" Substitutes
Carl Knappett
Chapter 13
The Graphic Thing: Ambiguity, Dysfunction, and Excess in Designed Objects
Phil Jones
Chapter 14
Nothingness in April Greiman's "Does It Make Sense?"
Elizabeth Guffey
Chapter 15
Visual Essay-Indian Copper Objects
Prasad Boradkar
Afterword
Bill Brown
Bibliography
Index