When I look around me, I see everyday, normal things: a room, furniture, a door, gardens, cars, and people. These things may seem normal, ordinary and nothing special, just typical things found throughout our environment. But if given a second look, design is the common denominator found in all of these items. Design is what gives our world shape.
I had given thought to the beginning of time, but I had never thought about the beginning of design. It’s so simple to think about, but at the same time it had never occurred to me. When man started using tools, he began the process of design. From that point on, man continually experimented with materials, shapes, and processes to improve the tools available to him to shape and improve his environment. This was design at its most basic. Design took man into the future and continues to do so today.
As design evolved throughout history, it came to be associated with creations unique in both form and function. Skilled artists, artisans, and craftsmen took great pride in these creations. Once mass production became possible, however, I believe that design was much less valued. Craftsmen would make the original design and then machines would makes thousands of copies of the original. Even though this allowed many people to have items that were similar to the original work of that craftsman, a certain of degradation of the original object was inevitable. I cannot help but wonder where we as a race would be without mass production. Obviously mass production advanced our society in many ways, but it did have a negative impact on the integrity associated with design that was once respected for its originality.
Along with the ability to mass-produce a physical object, the Internet and access to other technologies that allow virtual reproductions, have allowed us to degrade each other’s designs by copying them outright or reproducing very similar products. These copies and reproductions are obviously meant to mimic the original product while lowering the cost to the consumer. Hopefully in the future, respect for the art of design will be re-established. Design keeps the world moving forward. The desire to constantly improve what someone else has done has kept design in high demand, even if that means using an old design in a new way.
Design is the driving force of change for the world. It keeps us continually evolving by challenging us to come up with new ideas and new questions in the midst of everyday life. Design contains the future of technology, art, and us.