Design Museum

1. Architecture: I really enjoyed the image of the Void House in Brussels, Belgium:  it is open, appealing, and allows for a lot of color and light in through the main windows.  The staircases present outside and inside the house provide a sense of flow throughout the house, and allow for easy movement throughout; the design has a modern feel without taking away the sense of character.  The lack of a ground floor provides for easy access to the street and makes the house appear almost as if it were floating. 

 

Furniture: My favorite display of furniture in the gallery was the black iron chair, which contained a design solely composed of "thin black lines".  The caption talked about the black lines merely being an outline, and causes the piece to be a mixture of 2 and 3 dimensions.  I enjoy the simplistic color and style of the chair, and the fact that it is completely basic in it's function was what drew my attention the most. 

 

 

Transport: Following with the theme of simplicity, for transportation I most  enjoyed the VANMOOF no 5 bike.  It is a practical, lightweight bike designed for use in the city;  this bike would be convenient for travel as well as attracting the eye with its rust free aluminum frame.  It also contains a lock and headlights, which are hidden within the thick tubing of the bicycle.  This bike is ideal for someone who uses biking as their most prominent form of transportation.

 

Graphics:  For my graphics award, I definitely give that out to the designers of these advertisements for IKEA.  They were displayed on a TV screen, but were all patterned and parallel and created a very pleasing scene.  They were made from all foods and drinks, which was original and the colors worked together very well.

 

2.  I enjoyed the work of Wim Crouwel.  I think many of his works could be seen as minimal, but as a designer knowing when to be minimal and basic should been seen as a strength.  Many of his works were eye-catching and tasteful, and I enjoyed many of the architectural designs he did as well as some advertisements.  He uses type faces and colors to his advantage, and creates an overall pleasing design that incorporates some of the main aspects of the building, company, etc. into his work.  To describe Wim Crouwel's work I would say it is uncomplicated, indispensable, and innovative. 

 

I definitely wouldn't relate what how I viewed Wim Crouwel's work to Jackson Pollock's.  Crouwel's work is much more simplistic, basic, and organized.  The lines are parallel and complementary much more than Pollock's random abstractness.  I found his work to be much more similar to that of Mark Rothko.  Not only are the colors more similar to that of Crouwel's, but the basic design and flow of lines/creation of space throughout the works are much more similar.  The basic, engaging draw of Crouwel's work is mirrored in Rothko's.  The symmetry and simplicity of Donald Judd's designs I can also relate to Crouwel's.  Though no font or wording is used in either of these last two artist's works, the basic themes and principles of art are the same.  Crouwel just uses a new dimension in his artwork, and this dimesion is known as text.

 

When I looked into artists I thought to be similar to Crouwel, I realized matching styles of topography is a very difficult thing to do.  I finally reached a conclusion, however, when I spotted the work of Neville Brody.  He has a similarly simple style, yet appealing because of the type face and color usage.  He is a little more bold with his works than Crouwel but I enjoyed them all the same.