Chapter 4

After struggling to deal with my anger at not being able to understand every second word in Chapter 4 of "The Culture of Design," I forced myself to calm down, get a grip and read the whole chapter. The chapter titled "The Consumption of Design" did highlight some very important points and theories. It is pointed out that consumers do not know anything about the production or labour that has gone it to create the products they decide to consume. The products history is forgotten about and all the buyer cares about is the products future and how it will benefit them. Julier claims that every product has a "biography," it's own story just like a human being. This makes everything around us instantly seem more important. Humans are entitled to be treated equally so why shouldn't products be of equal value. If people appreciated the history, and work gone in to a product then our "throw away culture" could hopefully diminish.
The Chapter also provides the perfect line to describe the role of designers; "to develop future desires."
So although Julier angered me with his language and used the word "thus" far to many times, the Chapter made me think a lot and gave me a new outlook on products and their consumption. I feel like I am going to learn a lot from the book as it will introduce new ideas to me to make me reconsider my views on the world around me.