基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 1999. Reveals a fresh perspective on the philosophy behind the concept of Utility as a design theory and offers a critique of the dangers of 'good design'.
Full Description
This collection of essays both defines and reassesses the concept of utility. In considering the place of ethics in the recent history of art and design, the text offers a way into the issues which concern design decision-makers today.The text presents topics such as the investigation in to hitherto undiscovered designs for a utility vehicle, it gives a perspective on the philosophy behind the concept of utility as a design theory and offers a critique of the dangers of "good design". The text approaches the subject as a continuing history that has attempted to improve the human condition, through a process of rational thought in the construction of the material world. Using the history of Utility as a design theory, the text suggests ways in which the past can teach us something of the present, and reveals why, on the cusp of the new millennium, Utility is important.
Contents
List of illustrations; Preface; Introductionone: Defining Utility design; 1. Utility prefigured: Ruskin and St. George's Mill; 2. 'Pro Arte Utili': The utility principle in Finnish textile design education; 3. An episode in post-utility design management; The Council of Industrial Design and the Co-operative Wholesale Society; 4. 'Beauty everyday and for all': The social vision of design in Stalinist Poland; 5. 'The beauty of stark utility': Rational consumption in America - Consumer Reports 1936-1954; Part Two: Reassessing the history of utility design; 6. The design of utility vehicles in wartime Britain; 7. Utility furniture and the myth of utility 1943-1948; 8. The utility garment: Its design and effect on the mass market 1942-1945; 9. Fashion, femininity and 'frivolous' consumption in World War Two Britain; 10. Utility forgot: Shaping the future of the British pottery industry 1941-1945; 11. Enid Marx: Designing textiles for the Utility Furniture Design Advisory Panel; Part Three: Theorising the ethics of utility design; 12. Utility, design principles and the ethical tradition; 13. Freedom of design; 14. Utility and the politics of consumption; 15. Fascinating fitness: The dangers of good design; 16. Design and the state: Postwar horizons and pre-millenial aspirations;
