Design Research Case Study

La moutarde me monte au nez, 1974

Starting research at a historic place and time provides context. Selecting a historic topic also provides more research materials, books and articles. The context may be your actual birth date and place or may expand to the year. Looking at your birth date and place is a site for inspiration for other topics and associations.

Example Birth Year: 1974

Politics: US Watergate, Turkey invades Cyprus, Portuguese Carnation Revolution restores democracy, Argentina first female leader Isabel Peron, United Nations acknowledges the Palestine Liberation Organization

Technology: Universal Product Code (UPC) scanned for the first time on Wrigley’s

Printed Media: Stephen King’s novel Carrie, Nelson Rockefeller Sep 2 cover of Time

Music: Grateful Dead stop touring, Ramones form, Blondie forms, Patti Smith debuts, Lou Reed live in Paris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc26EFI1_nw

Film: The Great Gatsby, Godfather Part II, Chinatown wins Best Director Roman Polanski

Chinatown, Best Set Design, 1974

Other: OPEC Oil Embargo/Energy Crisis, Ted Bundy, Patty Hearst kidnapping, French acrobat Philippe Petit walks tight rope between TwinTowers

Born 1974: Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham, Ryan Seacrest, Derek Jeter

Died 1974: Duke Ellington, Nick Drake, Oscar Schindler (Schlinder’s List), Konstantin Raudive Latvian parapsychologist

Kate Moss born 1974 by Mario Sorrenti for “Obsession,” 1993

Example Birth Place: Miami

Historic Art Deco area in South Beach

Historic Biltmore Hotel, national landmark (hotel design, pool design)

Art Basel Miami (history of event) or Design Miami event

1974, Miami Dolphins won the Super Bowl over Minnesota Vikings (sports logo design)

1974, Conelius Vanerdbilt heir dies in Miami (Vanderbilt influence on art and design)

1974, photographer Paul Baron receives NEA commission to document South Florida

1974, Explorer Dennis Standefer uncovers $10 million dollars in Spanish treasures off Miami (Spanish design influence in Florida)

1974, “Murph the Surf” indie film about Miami surfers who started beach pick pocketing and stole millions in gems from New York museums, including the Star of India (gem design)

Fountainbleau Hotel, Miami Beach

Consider the categories communication, fashion, object and environment design:

What did the world of design look like when you were born? Above a Canadian Broadcasting logo, Saks 5th Avenue Catalog, Light Fixture by Jordan Elms and the Sears Tower, all 1974

1974 Communication Design

London’s Royal society acknowledges Colin Forbes in Graphic Design, People magazine launched, Deutsche Bank logo designed by Anton Stankowski, Hello Kitty logo by Sanrio Company in Japan, countless record covers and advertisements

Trends: reductive graphics, sentence phrases in advertisements

The above 1974 Mercedes ads share a similar text heavy feel

Derrick Hass, Volkswagon Design Council Winner

Bob Byrne design winner for the London Times, 1974

Electric Light Orchestra album cover 1974

Vogue March cover with Bianca Jagger, 1974

1974 Fashion Design

Sample images located for Christian Dior, Rudi Gernreich, Halston

Trends: synthetic fabrics, leisure wear, shirt dresses, draping

YSL Spring

Diana Von Furstenberg launches her version of the shirt dress in 1974

Christian Dior & Guy Laroche

Jane Birkin's editorial in her own jeans for Vogue Paris revealed the denim trend of the moment

1974 Object Design

London’s Royal society acknowledges David Carter in Product/Industrial Design, new material called Cornaro, a textured solid by Knoll, transformation in telephones and televisions to portability

Trends: Functional late modernism, increased use of plastic

Verner Panton rocker, David Carter telephone, 1974

The mobile phone of the year by David Carter

Ernõ Rubik invents Rubik’s cube in Hungary, Hans Beck invents Playmobile in Germany

1974 Environment Design

Sears Tower in Chicago, Charles de Gaulle Airport in France, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden by Skidmore Owings Merrill, Palm Springs Art Museum by E. Stewart Williams, Grand Ole Opry in Nashville becomes a theme park, Aristotle Onassis Olympic Tower begins construction
Trends: circle and square forms, vinyl flooring for interiors, many golf courses

Design team Archigram creates the "House of 1990"

The Olympic Tower, built 1974-1975 comissioned by Aristotle Onassis for inhabitants Jackie Onassis, Adnan Khashoggi and Halston with interiors by Harry Benson, 1978

Look at major designers who were active at the time of your birth. What was the emphasis of their work or influence of their designs at that time through now? In 1974 YSL was at a peak, painted by Warhol and at home in his own personal interior design.

Warhol, Yves Saint Laurent, 1974 and

Yves Saint Laurent in his Paris bedroom, by Reginald Gray, 1974

Consider subcultures that are of interest to you. Something like "punk" is not necessarily on a mass radar for 1974 but was acknowledged as starting at this time. Think of music and style genres surrounding the period.

Vivienne Westwood, 1974

View movies from your birth year and place. They will give evidence of the slippage of design forward and backward. Not everything in a year is from that year. There are things left over from prior decades and so consider exploring a few years forward. Scarface for example was produced in 1983 but is one of the most useful films for researching the aesthetic of Miami in the 70's and early 80's.

Scarface, 1983