Design in Our Lives

For our third field trip, we visited the 3rd floor of the MoMA to view the various exhibits of artists and designers. Our duty was to find four works of art that describe high and low functionality of art, keeping in mind the term Ergonomics. Ergonomics is the study of functionality in design and the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movement, and cognitive abilities. (Web). The difference between high and low functionality is high functionality is made to accommodate a human with position of their body. Low functionality isn’t necessarily made for positions but provides humans to survive in other ways. Below will discuss the works of art and design and how they are different and alike to a certain degree.

The first design that caught the eye was of high functionality. The American artist Eugene Walters designed a welding helmet made of fiberglass and plastic, manufactured by a metal company called Fibe. This, a thought, was the perfect example of ergonomics. The high functionality of the helmet was made for a human for the protection while welding material.
A second design that caught the eye of high functionality was by a Canadian artist named Kevin Laycraft. Kevin displayed a Speed skiing helmet made of fiberglass and plastic, same material as the first design. What was amazing about the design was to learn that skiers need protection for their head and face, against the cold and the snow while enjoying or competitive skiing.
Looking further onto the art floor for low functionality, I found a few designs that were very interesting. The designs helped further the knowledge of low functionality. First example was lacquered steel Medicine Cabinet made in 1959 by Swedish artist Thomas Erikson. The function is high in a way for a human to use the cabinet to survive, although it function was low because the cabinet didn’t particularly fit a human body for position.
The next low functioned design found was from Barret Lyon of the Opte project. Barret’s “mapping of the internet” was an art design shown to inform the viewer of how Internet is analyzed. The “yellow” was derived from live breathing routers and analyzed wasted IP, Internet protocol, space and distribution.
Other low function art and designs were pictures of "The death penalty mocks justice" made in 1995 by James Victore and "Baboon Bride" made in 2002 by Chris Finley. These drawings were informing and interesting to view.

High Functionality

Eugene Walters
"Welding Helmet"
Fiberglass and Plastic
1980

Kevan Laycraft
"Speed Skiing Helmet"
Fiberglass and Plastic
1981

Low Functionality

Thomas Erikson
"Medicine Cabinet"
Lacquered Steel
1959

James Victore
"The death penalty mocks justice"
Offset Lithograph
1995

Chris Finley
"Baboon Bride"
Charcoal and Colored pencil on colored paper
2002

Works Cited

"Ergonomics". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergonomics.Web.24 Apr.2012.