The Basics of Design

External and internal areas design

Lecturer’s Manual, National Institute of Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia
National Center for Vocational Education and Training Development, Yerevan | (Co-author: O. Margaryan) 2017

A FEW WORDS

This manual is intended for initial vocational education with “Painter-designer”, “Cloth modeling and designing”, “Decorative applied art and folk craft” (according to the qualifications), “Design” and for other vocational teachers and learners.

The manual is processed according to the requirements of the corresponding state qualification standards including the modules of “design basics’’, “external and internal areas design”.

This manual can be useful for both the teachers of initial (vocational) and secondary professional educational institutions and for the leaders of designing companies and other workers.

This manual includes the contemporary design information and the methodology. It includes the peculiarities of the contemporary design, ways to solve the presented problems and the informational materials.

We hope that this manual will serve to its purpose and will be useful not only for the staff of teacher and lecturer, but also for the students.

The electronic media is attached to the manual, which includes environmental design styles photos studied by us.

INTRODUCTION

Parallel with the different directions and types of art and culture, design, being one of the main standards of the public culture and that time, being a type of art, the direct result of person activity, as a new and previously never happened branch of science and art, was formed perceptibly in a short time.

Coming from the requirements of the contemporaneity and from the tendency to satisfy that requirements, numerous scientists-art critics, designers touched upon design and its manifestations and role in the newest art in a short time, numerous articles, monographs and studies were published in the scientific and amateur levels. And it was completely understanding as only during one-two generational period a new professional orientation was confirmed, which was necessary to comprehend in a way, and all the more, substantiated its right, requirement, reasons and necessity as a separate, new professional independent existence.

During the initial period the researchers mainly focused on the word of “design” (“design” in English, “designare” in Latin), which translated as drawing, project and scheme. Later, studying design from a new aspect, they started to touch upon the projecting process of designing subjective world, the things created by its result, its beauty and comfort, flexible peculiarities of the aesthetic and applied sides. Then designers were in the center of the studies. The art critic-researchers gradually had starting to show interest towards to the activity of designers, working way and styling the principles, designing specific solutions and to the question that how did these solutions differ from the engineering solutions.[1]

[1] Աղասյան Ա., Հայ կերպարվեստի զարգացման ուղիները XIX-XX դարերոմ, Երևան, Ոսկսն Երևանցի, 2009; Айрапетян А., Магаузян М. Информация о семинаре «Техническая эстетика, научная организация труда, качество продукции», Ереван, 3-4 октября 1974. Армянский филиал ВНИИТЭ, Правление общества «Знание»; Аронов В.Р. Традиции дизайнерского образования Братании//Труды ВНИИТЭ, выпуск 50. Москва, ВНИИТЭ, 1986, с.13-29; Гвишиани Д.М. Наука, дизайн, будушее// Техническая эстетика, Москва, 1970, № 1,с.1-3; Глазычев В.Л. О дизайне. Очерки по теории и практике дизайна на Западе. Москва, Искусство, 1970.

At the same time it should be mentioned that the knowledge about design was formed and developed in a non-coordinated way, which was typical for a new creative orientation formed in a short time. As a result of many studies in this field, found out, that it was not so easy the separate parts of the knowledge about design to combine in one scientific branch, the specific approaches were necessary for it.

Quite often under the notion of “design” the planner’s work was perceived in the production, more often the result of that activity (subject or the subject’s system), and sometimes the field of process organizing totally. In some cases design was commented by more extended meaning and perceptibly came from the material production specifically from the limits of planner’s activity in the field of solving industrial production problems. In this meaning design was imported thing in the Armenian reality and that was the reason, that to consider natural the conviction, that everything was said about western design and it only stayed to study the accumulated materials, information. In reality it found out to be more difficult than supposed the authors of the first articles about western design.

The mass consumed subjects produced by the industrial way, were appeared in 18th century. The subjective environment, created by a man, stopped being only the result of handmade, the machines also started to create it. The mechanical production exceled to a vocational in many times from the productive aspect, within it new issues were appeared, the quality of the production created by a handmade in the workshops totally could be reflected and found place in each production of machinery mass production. The imaginations about the beauty and attractiveness of machines and the technical structures were forming at the beginning in 19th century and the necessity of harmony and reorganization of the subjective world arose. These issues arose then comprehended and proceeded in the end of 19th century and in the beginning of 20th century. The result of that approaching was the fact that subdivisions of the artistic projecting were created and extended in the fields of folk economy. Design bases were formed, which were offered as the main directions of the artistic projecting corresponding with the production standards of that country during the first years of its being. That bases were the manifestations of person surrounding environment, subjects, things, him created production and their human meaning and concrete correlation, which already could be worth for the artistic assessment.

Still the time, the imaginations about subject, tool, work way, construction comfort, created by a person, arose in him parallel to the harmony and improvement of the creating subjective world, the tendency of these all and the artistic reorganization of the environment arose, that is to say the designing approaching. These opinions were created still during the earliest periods of the development of the human society. The separate references and pieces or information about design and its elements were in the works of philosophers of Ancient Greece like Aristotle, Plato, Polikletes, Herodotus, Ancient Rome like Pliny the Elder, Vitruvius and others works and Armenian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Near East and Middle East and European sources from ancient and middle centuries. Summarizing the development of the artistic practice and the theoretical mind, especially precious mind and references about design left Leonardo da Vinci (see the tracty of “About painting”). They found their future developments in the works of numerous scientists, state, public and religious workers of medieval Renaissance era.

The greatest representative of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), the beauty, therefore, design also compared with the aesthetic perception of the nature and with the reproductive things created by the man. Already during 17- 18th centuries, remarkable aesthetic minds expressed Frenchmen Condillac, Dyubon, Didron, Englisman Hetcheson, Hom, Bjork, Germans Kant, Shelling, Hegel, Russians Belinski, Dobrolyubov and the others.

The Urartian inscriptions contained the aesthetic taste or that could be identified the different elements of design. In the matter of development of Armenian aesthetic mind, there were significant participation and important references and essays of that fields in the works of Agathangelos, Faustus of Byzantium, Mesrop Mashtots (exactly expressing the Armenian letters system, the designing and processing of beautiful and convenient new invention word forms, the creation of their final image), Movses Khorenatsi (specifically in the constructional descriptions of Tigranakert, Shamiramakert, Ervandashat, Ervandakert), David the Invincible, Eznik of Kolb, Anania Shirakatsi, Mkhitar Gosh, Stepanos Taronetsi, Aristakes Lastivertsi, Samuel Anetsi, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, Stepanos Orbelian, Thomas of Metsoph, Hovhannes Vorotnetsi, Hovhannes Sarkavag, Gregory of Tatev, Stepanos Lehaci and others works[2]. “The invention of the Armenian alphabet significantly promoted to the keeping and the rapid development of our culture’s independence in 406. One of the outstanding branches of that culture was the organizing Armenian classic architecture”[3]. In this meaning the descriptions, devoted to Akhtamar, of historiographer Thomas Artsruni of 9-10 centuries, were also precious.

[2] Очерк развития эстетической мысли в Армении (под обшей научной редакцией Я. И. Хачикяна), Москва, Искусство, 1976, с. 12-72:

[3] Աղաբաբյան Ռ., Հայ ճարտարապետության պատմությունը // Սովետական արվեստ, Երևան, 1965, հոկտեմբեր, թիվ 10, էջ 41:

Xenophon, Strabo, Plutarch and many others left so much information and programmes, precious designing descriptions and characteristics about the aesthetic sides of the Armenian settlements, castles, churches and other constructions.

In the most generalized way “design” notion could describe as high consumption features and industrial product having aesthetic qualities, the subjective environment surrounding the man, productive, household and social-cultural field formatting projecting, the artistic and technical activity, which nature and development level was linked with the different approaching of aesthetic perception of the subjective environment surrounding the man in that era and its development state and level. “… we must not forget that every stone, which is put today, tomorrow will sound and read by tomorrow’s eye. So let it put in a way that apart from satisfying the material-cultural demands of the next generations, be correspond to their taste, be one of the necessary aesthetic elements of the future life”[4].

[4] Միքայելյան Մ., Տիպարային նախագիծը և մեր քաղաքների կառուցապատման էսթետիկան // <<Սովետական արվեստ>>, Երևան, 1960, մարտ, թիվ 3, էջ 25:

Design resulted from the mass production and the consumption requirements, technical revolution conditions, especially from the development of automation in the industry, which brought standard necessity of the production. Design creates “the visible language” (Valter Gropius), the special tongue of form, which gives an eye examination expression to the ideas. The proportionalities, imaginations, visible (optics) illusion, color, the relations of light and shadow, emptiness and subjects volumes, color and harmony become the signs in the “visible language” of design. The penetration of the aesthetic pre- beginning in the industry gradually includes all spheres, including such spheres like the production of automobiles, radio sets and even production means like tools, machine-tools and conveyors production. The rapid and strong unification of the utilitarian and the aesthetic preference happens in the industry. The utilitarian searches of the form usefulness and the creating subjects are combined with its expressiveness and beauty creatures.

Today no branch of the industry can be managed without the artistic projecting (design). Design, in some meaning, is the pledge of the endless extended of the sphere of the applied art and its development on the industrial base, aesthetics penetration in the techniques, the result of painter-designer activity in the production.

Design makes the cultural and aesthetic mass communication, lifestyle of the contemporary industry, and left influence of the other spheres subjects to the large sections of the population. By the power of mass and the aesthetic influence it not only can be compared with the film and television, a number of mass events, but also in some meanings even excels to them.

Design is a one united event and makes a specific connection between the spiritual and material cultures. This is a link between them and the crossed focus. By this it secured the cultural totality of the contemporary civilization. It reflects the scientific and technical level of that society, the technological result of the production, mass, aesthetically perfect and practically proper way.

Design is the cooperation between the planner and painter, producer and consumer, by which result the production recreation, its utilitarian and aesthetic qualities, are appreciated. “Today the main problem of design is to serve subjective world to the man, with its diverse and complicated interrelations”[5]. In other way design is mass cultural communication inner of the society, which unites to the persons as by the stylistics of consumption joint productive-aesthetic subjects as by the imaginations towards to the lifestyle. It was called to collect also the spiritual and material, humanitarian and scientific and technical spheres and improvements of the national culture.

[5] Հայկական դիզայն, գործեր, հոգսեր // << Սովետական արվեստ>>, Երևան, 1977, թիվ 12, էջ 15, (Լրագրող Է. Դանեղյան և դիզայներ Ա. Մելիքյանի Երկխոսությունը, Մ.Լ.):

LILIT MELIKYAN

OVSANNA MARGARYAN

Literature

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