Thursday, June 5, 2008

Design 3.0 in Globalization 3.0...part 2

It is interesting and refreshing to see Design in itself as an academic entity rather than just about fulfilling a certain degree of higher-order craving. In an age of consumerism and the age of constant change, of product trends and user-led experiences, it is interesting to note that perhaps Design 0.0 has its origins from the prehistoric times, when Man, battling nature and its very day-to-day existence, have managed to create tools and systems that is perhaps a modern technological marvel in its time. This is the advent of Science, Design and perhaps even Technology, in its most primitive and basic forms.

As Man forges ahead to build his dominance over the other species, it is with great trepidation that he moves inland in the greater land masses to seek a greater amount of wealth and resources that he can use, manipulate, consume and even own. Thus is the start of Design 1.0, which is marked by perhaps the greater need of not any single human entity, but more so by a society, whether big or small, to harness and reap what nature has to offer to them, in their greater desire to fulfill their needs, and perhaps even their greed. Simple machines and processes are the order of the day here, where one can see the emergence of role-substitution in day-to-day activities, especially in areas that are directly affecting the fulfillment of Man's basic needs. Simple machines that perhaps can do the work of a few are used, together with a more optimal use of the limited resources that they have. Simple experimentation and knowledge management, of the most basic kind, can be observed here as Man experimented with the various parameters that are available to them, perhaps Materials, Time, Weather, Water, Fire, Wind and other simpler basic chemical elements.

As the colonies where Man lives becomes even larger, the need to fulfill a greater amount of resource requirements are putting the limited resources that Man has discovered and been making use of, to an ever larger degree of strain. Design 2.0 marked this particular phase, perhaps circa the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution is starting to pick up steam, either metaphorically or literally! This is the age of the Steam engine, the Light Bulb, the Telephone, the Wright Brothers, and much much more. the age whereby Man has more or less effectively used the knowledge bank that Man has collated over the years to come out with various contraptions and systems in place that would allow for an even greater degree of efficiency in terms of its output, but yet is still bogged down by its energy-gobbling requirements. This is the age where Design is more of a technical domain, where technical prowess is the key to moving ahead, where technical elegance, though oxymoronic, somewhat sums up what Design 2.0 should be!

So what would Design 3.0 be? Let me tell you then in my next post!

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