TASK 2D: ethical design issues -The genius of design

Ghosts in the Machine

The Ghost in Machine video is about how and designers working with clay and glass, handcrafted textile designs, and the Model T Ford's rise and fall are discussed. The part interested me in the video that is how the designers turn the product from studio to mass-productive industrial piece, and how they control the outcome of final product from beginning mockup stage to mass-production piece. As a young designer, we are sometimes not clear about materials, and how the concept can be made in real manufacturing process, this video tell us that as a designer we need to know how the final product will look like when we are still in concept stage, and how the product achieve satisfaction for both consumers and investors.

The video also generally talk about the how politics and social transition influence on design, how the certain period affect on consumer’s taste, the video shows us a good example of William Morris’s textile design, from the video we can see the variations of his designs which followed and changed by different time period and different consumer’s taste.

The video try to tell us that the design market have been shifted from mass-production to optional market, consumer have more choices for their products. Before product design focused on functionality and general aesthetics, however, today’s product design more focus on different looking of the products that is in order to satisfy different consumers’ need. As a designer, we all know that the world has already had enough goods for consumers; however what should we do about environmental issue, and how we can turn the used products to new product without damaging the environment. As my opinion, as a industrial designer we all should consider more about product life, not only focus on the manufacturing or aesthetics, not only focus on how to design a object to attract more consumer to purchase, it is all about to design something which functional, attractive and also it should be environmental friendly. I think as young designers we should consider the product life at beginning, not try to think a recycling solution at end of the design process.