Category: Discussion (Page 1 of 15)

By: Bitya Andrade

Bitya Andrade

Week 2

COMD 3504

What is Design?

My idea for what design is hasn’t change much, rather it is still building its form. To put simply, I believe design is everyone’s options is design in their own category. It’s a foundation many types of designers build off. Design is a strategic process that fits each person’s style. Like how a painter paints, how an artist draw, how an architecture constructs, how a musician play. That’s why I do not disagree nor agree with your statement “theory” professor. It’s true that design is something that cannot be define by one definition (is what I took from it). Yet, that’s the best part because if design was one thing done one way. Almost everything humans have built and created in our would probably not exist. That what makes design amazing, every capable person can construct something in their own way – in infinite number of ways – with infinite number of ideas.

Here is the presentation for this week, offering brief summaries or reviews of all the reading options from last week. In addition to covering some new ideas related to contemporary design, you may find a new source or two for your final.

You’ll see that the presentation ends with a discussion question: “What is design, today?” You should remember virtually the same question from Week 2. How have your views toward design changed throughout the semester? Do you have a new or revised idea of what design should be today? How has it changed in recent years? And where is design going in the future?

Please comment on this post with some ideas. And, as always, feel free to chime in with any additional questions or thoughts that you’d like to share.

The trend word that I want to talk about is the “Metaverse”. I know the term is familiar to people in the Internet industry, but for the general public, it’s still underground. However, there is no doubt that it is the mainstream of the future society. I think a lot of people heard about the concept of the metaverse through the news that Facebook changed its name to Meta. The concept of a metaverse is pretty straightforward, an artificial space parallel to the real world, which is an extension of media. The word metaverse was coined in Neal Stephenson’s fiction novel “Snow Crash”, where humans, as programmable avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional virtual space that uses the metaphor of the real world.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that lasted from the beginning of 2020 to today, social virtualization has accelerated in just two years, and the number of incidents that people use the Internet every day has increased dramatically. People are used to using the Internet to communicate at work and for some entertainment purposes. In my opinion, from the use of software such as Internet games and online conferences to online shopping and takeout orders, all the interactive behaviors that bring convenience to people’s lives through media will be unified into one space by the metaverse. The more people rely on the convenience of the Internet, the sooner the age of the metaverse will come.

The fashion trend I want to talk about is Hanfu, the traditional Chinese Han clothing that has attracted the attention of young people in recent years. There are 56 ethnic groups in China, but not all ethnic costumes are still popular. Hanfu is the one that was buried. The Han nationality is the largest ethnic group in China. In fact, as early as around 2000, some people wore Han costumes and tried to revive them, but they were not paid attention to by too many people. When I was young, there was a group of children who liked to wear sheets and imitated the characters and costumes in TV series, including me. And now this group of kids has grown up, although there are many people who don’t know Hanfu who say we are opera singers (derogatory term), Korean or Japanese (similar costumes). But our generation is not afraid of difficulties, so we go forward bravely, and now many people recognize Hanfu. I hope Hanfu can be known and popularized by more people. When foreigners discuss Chinese clothing, it is no longer about cheongsam, Tang suits, and the like.

One underground fashion trend that we all remember from the late 2000s to the 2010s were skinny jeans. For some who may not know tight fitting pants have been around for hundreds of years which can date back to the 1700s in Europe and England. But what I wanted to talk about specifically was the past decade as we saw the skinny jeans trend take over. I myself have fell victim to this trend as I remember going into H and M in middle school to pick out the tightest pants possible. During this time many people wanted to showcase their slim figure and there was no better way to do so then wearing tight pants. Now a days because the world is progressing in a more body inclusive society skinny jeans aren’t as popular as they use to be. Being seen as pants that body shame those who don’t conform to the tight fitting.

The trend I want to describe is Yoga. Yoga has a history of more than 100 years in the United States. With people’s attention to health and fitness, yoga has gradually become a popular fitness project. Although yoga is popular with many fitness people in the United States, yoga is only a minority sport at the beginning. Yoga originated in ancient India thousands of years ago. Its purpose is to achieve the effect of cultivating the body and mind through various movements, so yoga is very popular among religious people in India.

Yoga Culture in the United States is much later. In the early 19th century, Indian culture was introduced into the United States and welcomed by Americans. With the deepening of exchanges between Americans and Indians, yoga was also introduced into the United States in the early 20th century. Later, yoga became popular due to a large number of Indian immigrants coming to the United States.

Yoga has become a popular fitness program for a reason, because it has been scientifically proved that yoga is of great help to people. It can not only make people lose weight, exercise muscles and increase flexibility, but also solve some psychological problems. And yoga doesn’t need too expensive equipment, just a Yoga mat.

I think yoga has become popular because with the development of society, many people are sitting in offices and the stress of work combined with keeping similar movements for a long time has caused them a lot of physical and mental problems, it just so happens that yoga can help them.

In the beginning, the originator of yoga may just want to better the Cultivation of body and mind and never thought that Yoga would have so much influence. However, in addition to helping people solve physical and psychological problems, yoga has also created a lot of economic value, so that many people can make a living by teaching yoga. I think this is positive, because it also indirectly lets more people know about the Yoga culture.

The fashion trend I’m referring to was popular in the 1990s. They were mostly an underground trend in the early 1990s but acquired popularity in the mid-1990s. Baggy jeans and baggy bondage trousers were extremely fashionable during the nu-metal era, which lasted from the late 1990s through the early-to-mid 2000s. This fashion style emerged throughout the 1990s and was associated with hip-hop culture. Hip hop performers typically wear a baggy top with baggy jeans in music videos and public appearances. It was a popular fad in the 1990s, and it grew popular among a wide range of individuals. It was popular for a brief period of time. I definitely don’t believe this should become popular again because the style was so distinct from what people were wearing at the time. People nowadays choose to dress in a slimmer, more fitted style. When the trend was widespread, a large number of people wore these sorts of apparel, so now I want to see it not be mainstream at all and another style become mainstream. It’s rather intriguing how fashion styles can peak and then drop at the same time.