Final Blog Reflection

Design thinking is the many ways in which individuals believe that design should be taught, used and implemented.  The modernism take of the precise using of technique and form has been the basis of our education and the design world for years but different views have rivaled this way of rigid thinking.

Bruce Mau's manifesto encourages the reader, (hopefully a designer) to think outside the box.  Take the modernism approach to design a step further and go deeper into design, pushing the boundaries and experiment with what was/is viewed as "good" design.  

Taking it a step further is Meredith Davis' keynote on mapping and effective design.  Designers with her outlook think that design is almost entirely going digital with the many websites and technologies becoming readily available to, essentially, consumers and customers.  The emphasis and importance of design is put in the IDEA itself in the way of mapping and brainstorming, where in can be implemented digitally or with technology.  Modernists would think that this kind of design takes away from the practice itself because there is less emphasis on the form, composition, and the actual physical result.

In the same way Andrew Blauvelt's take on design is how it has broadened to the idea and not just the physical piece itself.  The creation of systems has more intrinsic value than a single product, and the focus, in his opinion, should be on interactive design to be up to the times.

IDEO puts an emphasis on humanistic design as the most important factor to design.  Designing systems of development to better our community or the community of those without our resources in the United States.  This strays away from any kind of product to sell but, like Meredith, focuses on the idea, the brainstorming and it's effect on the systems of the world around us.

I personally think that each approach has it's pluses.  Modernistic design allows you to have an effective aesthetic implementing form, type, and composition, etc. that is marketable and useable in todays design fields.  It trains and hones your artistic eye.  However digital design is becoming more and more prominent and can't be ignored.  Mapping and human centered design is very important to society and communities and for students to learn but maybe in a much higher level of education, or even as an option as it can be a preference in this large design field.