Title & Author:

Utility reassessed : the role of ethics in the practice of design / edited by Judy Attfield.

Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press : Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press, 1999.

Description:

xvi, 268 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Series:

Studies in design and material culture

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction : Utility reassessed / Judy Attfield -- Utility prefigured : Ruskin and St George's Mill / Linda Coleing -- 'Pro arte utili' : the utility principle in Finnish textile design education / Marjo Wiberg -- An episode in post-Utility design management : the Council of Industrial Design and the Co-operative Wholesale Society / Jonathan M. Woodham -- 'Beauty, everyday and for all' : the social vision of design in Stalinist Poland / David Crowley -- 'The beauty of stark utility' : rational consumption in America -- Consumer reports 1936-54 / Susie McKellar -- The design of Utility vehicles in wartime Britain / Jonathan Bell -- Utility furniture and the myth of Utility 1943-48 / Matthew Denney -- The Utility garment : its design and effect on the mass market 1942-45 / Helen Reynolds -- Fashion, femininity and 'frivolous' consumption in World-War-Two Britain / Pat Kirkham -- Utility forgot : shaping the future of the British pottery industry 1941-1945 / Graham McLaren -- Enid Marx : designing textiles for the Utility Furniture Design Advisory Panel / Cynthia R. Weaver -- Utility, design principles and the ethical tradition / Nigel Whiteley -- Freedom of design / Judy Attfield -- Utility and the politics of consumption / Patrick J. Maguire -- Fascinating fitness : the dangers of good design / Judy Attfield -- Design and the state : post-war horizons and pre-millennial aspirations / Jonathan M. Woodham.

Summary:

"Utility Reassessed brings fresh perspectives on the history and theory of Utility design based on new research into a broad sweep of areas ranging from an investigation into the hitherto undiscovered design for a post-war Utility vehicle, to a critique of the dangers of 'good design'. Rather than repeating the old argument about the inadequacies of modern functional design, it approaches Utility as part of the continuing history of the search to improve the human condition through the application of rational thought in the construction of the material world."--Jacket.

Resources:
Table of contents
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

0719052777 (hardback)
9780719052774 (hardback)
0719058449 (pbk.)
9780719058448 (pbk.)

Subject:

Design Great Britain History 20th century.
British Utility Design Scheme.
Functionalism in art.
Design Philosophy.
Design Grande-Bretagne Histoire 20e siècle.
Fonctionnalisme dans l'art.
Design Philosophie.
functionalism.
Design.
Industriedesign
Kongress
Vormgeving.
Ethiek.
Gebruiksvoorwerpen.
Design Grande-Bretagne 20e siècle.
Fonctionnalisme (philosophie) Dans l'art.
Great Britain.
Großbritannien

Form/genre:

History.

Added entries:

Attfield, Judy.
Studies in design and material culture.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 260619
Call No.: BIB 191532
Status: Available