Lightness, sustainability, design: framing product design

Date
2007-12-03
Authors
Boult, Martin
Supervisor
Yap, Leong
Jackson, Mark
Item type
Thesis
Degree name
Master of Arts in Art and Design
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Publisher
Auckland University of Technology
Abstract

To design anything with lightness in mind is perhaps a contradiction in itself. To impose upon the designer such a factor from the outset of a brief surely creates a burden or limitation in the consideration of materials and form. However, the focus of this research project is to examine and apply lightness in a range of contexts or conditions. The aim is to explore the singularity of each condition; then to discuss the paradox and contradictions that are often present in new products that continue to predominate with a duplicitous emphasis on aesthetics and form. For the purpose of exploration of lightness, a series of products will be created to expose the paradox that exists in deploying a strategy such as lightness in singularity, without considering broader implication of product design on the environment, economy and society. These 3D outputs comprise the practice based component of this research, the balance to be a written exegesis. The genuine crisis of sustainable design is the need to design to construct a point of view on design - a paradoxically futile position that is directly linked to the challenge of engaging in true sustainable product design practice. This paradox will be investigated through a range of Sustainable Product Design strategies, examining the irony that exists in producing more goods and services to solve the problems of a world already oversupplied with the 'stuff' of humankind.

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Keywords
Light , Environment , Paradox , Society , Sustainable , Design , Product
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