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Alberta. At one point, the Medalta art department employed 30 men and women is making first-class goods are equal to any stoneware made in America.

Other firms featured on the CD-ROM include Ezee-On Manufacturing Ltd. of Vergeville, which built the Vammose all-terrain vehicle in 1970, foremost Industries Ltd. of Calgary, which manufactures heavy-duty, off-highway equipment; Calgary ski wear producer Sun Ice Manufacturing Inc.; and Nov Atel Communication Inc. of Calgary.

Interface design context

The background images chosen are fields and mountains, accompanied by music, to evoke a romantic impression of the Alberta experience. The shape of the menu bars across the top is a softly rounded rectilinear form floating over the field. The interface is fully interactive, gives you easy access to the data, and includes both pictures and videos.

Conclusion

Designs can have different values and styles. Stereotypes say that Italian Designs are artistic, German designs are functional, Danish designs are pure, and Finnish designs are sober. What about Alberta designs? My main conclusion is that Alberta designs are effective. They tend to be crafted to serve a particular function to fill a certain niche.

The PCMacintosh hybrid CD-ROM was primarily designed for students and industrial design professionals. It wills likely appeal to companies and anyone interested in the origins of industrial design in the province.

EXERCISES AFTER READING THE TEXT

8. Translate the following word combinations:

a. Products manufactured in Alberta; agricultural implements; to be closely related; technical feasibility; to make first-class goods; heavy-duty off-highway equipment; to give easy access to the data; functional quality; ski wear producer.

9. Pair work. Discuss the text using the following questions:

1.What did the author look for in the process of selecting products?

2.Where were all the products designed?

3.Which product areas is the CD-ROM divided into?

4.What does each entry describe?

5.Who is considered to be the first true industrial designer in Alberta?

6.What values and styles can different designs have?

7.What can you say about Danish and Finnish designs?

8.What is the main conclusion?

10. Translate the following sentences paying attention to passive constructions:

1.Industrial design gives an object a shape, which is imposed and defined by a logic of production.

2.The research phase was funded by the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation and was conducted between 1991 and 1993.

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3.In fact, the majority of products were designed in the 1980’s.

4.The format chosen for the entries is closely related to the role of industrial design in society.

5.All entries are listed in alphabetical order.

6.The firm’s art director, Tom Hulme, is considered to be the first true industrial designer of Alberta.

11.Translate from English into Russian paying attention to Participles:

1.All the products included in the CD-ROM were designed in Alberta.

2.Products manufactured in Alberta but designed elsewhere were not included.

3.One of the companies featured is a manufacturer of pottery, brick, tile, and sewer pipes from 1915 to 1958.

4.The background images chosen are fields and mountains, accompanied by music, to evoke a romantic impression of the Alberta experience.

5.It wills likely appeal to companies and anyone interested in the origins of industrial design in the province.

6.At one point, the Medalta art department employed 30 men and women, is making first-class goods equal to any stoneware made in America.

12.Tell your partner about the products designed in Alberta. Get ready to answer your partner’s questions.

Unit 5

Part I

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

1.Reflect on the following questions and get ready to discuss them:

1.What is industrial design?

2.When did the industrial design appear?

3.What are the stages of designing?

2. Read the following terms and phrases, mind their pronunciation:

Vocabulary Focus

3. Match the words and phrases to their translation and make sentences: a.

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4.Read the text and answer the following questions:

1.What is industrial design?

2.When did industrial design emerge?

3.How did the primitive man try to improve his life?

4.What does designing begin with?

5.What happens after improving the sketches?

6.What do the models check on?

7.When does large-scale production begin?

Industrial Design

Industrial design, the design of objects for machine production, is an integration of art, engineering, and merchandising. Its foundations go back to prehistoric times when the primitive man tried to better his life by shaping tools and equipment.

Industrial design was born in 1920’s. Its beginning was hesitant and superficial. People with good taste applied “art” to machine-mad e objects by “styling” external appearances. It often included not only selecting colour (выбор цвета) and simplifying the typewriter appearance, or giving furniture more pleasing proportions.

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By midcentury it had become a major factor in industrial economy. Only a few decades ago, a handful of objects were designed by these specialists. Today there is little on the market that wasn’t influenced by them. Industrial design is a serious business which works from basic human needs to products that satisfy those needs. Experts in many fields pool their skills in the design of everything from tableware to airplanes.

Designing

How do industrial designers approach and solve their problems? Designing begins with many preliminary sketches and models. This is a period of creative exploration when hundreds of drawings can be made. Then designers judge the sketches and select the three or four which are the most promising. Then models of these sketches are made and specialists discuss them. As a result, the designs are improved. Again models are made with account of the improvements. And designers consider the models once again.

The next step is making and testing of working models. From accurate mechanical drawings, a few working models are produced by hand. These models are used and checked on ease of operation and maintenance, cleanability and noise. They are also abused to the extreme: they are dropped, banged, hit, and subjected to the extreme temperatures. If they stand up well, final drawings lead to the necessary changes in the plant and program. When the first units are manufactured, the designer checks everything again but again he pays special attention to such details as finish, colour, trademark and packaging. Then large-scale production begins.

5. Match the words from two columns to create a phrase and make sentences to use them in your own text entitled “My concept of desig ning”. Share your ideas with the partner.

6. Write a reflection on the topic “My concept of i ndustrial design”.

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Part II

The Trends of Industrial Design

1.Group work. Reflect on the following questions and share your ideas with the class.

1.What is industrial design, in your opinion?

2.What trends of industrial design can you name?

3.Can you characterize these trends?

2. Read the following terms and phrases, mind their pronunciation:

Vocabulary Focus

3. Match the words and phrases to their translation and make sentences: a.

Text 2

4. Read the text and answer the following questions:

1.How many trends of industrial design have there been?

2.What is a second trend of industrial design?

3.What is industrial design?

The Trends of Industrial Design

Industrial design has evolved no unified style, even for industries in which handwork is minimized. There have been, however, four significant style trends. The first of these is an emphasis on impersonality that Behrens was the first to establish. Design for industry shows a certain neutrality of expression. Impersonality has, on the one hand, been acclaimed as a natural aspect of mass production and marketing, on the other hand, it has been criticized as submission to the machine, contradictory to free, individual expression.

A second trend in industrial design is packaging, such that the designer provides a protective case for a product, leaving the inner workings to engineers. Complicated mechanical and electronic assemblies require protective shells for safety, cleanliness, and orderly appearance. In this instance industrial designers are sometimes accused of superficial embellishment of package design and fashion.

The third trend is streamlining, a design principle pioneered by Raymond Loewy and others in the 1930’s. Streamlining is characterized by contours designed to minimize resistance to motion through a fluid (as air). Originally associated with trains, automobiles, and other vehicles, the bullet shapes and sleek lines of streamlining were seized by industrial designers and applied to objects (e.g. toasters) unassociated with speed.

The fourth trend is artificially accelerated obsolescence. It means that design changes intentionally tempt owners to replace goods with new purchases more frequently than would be necessary. Beginning in the field of fashion, artificial obsolescence has become something of a custom itself in industrialized countries. It operates through public opinion, price changes, and through improvement and change in utility as well as through appearance change provided by designers. Its assessment must be established on wide social and economic considerations, not on design values alone. Especially in the design of automobiles and large home appliances, artificial obsolescence has aroused strong criticism; yet, because of its demonstrable economic effectiveness, it is used increasingly. It is an essential aspect of fashion and has met with wide approval in the form of disposability in health and hygiene products.

Industrial design is a growing force , influencing and influenced by world economy, private efficacy and enjoyment, the arts, engineering, and, not least, education. It has contributed more to economic activity than to aesthetic achievement, and many see the latter as its greatest challenge. The Museum of modern Art, New

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York City, among other institutions, has sought to recognize outstanding contributions to industrial design.

5.Pair work. Discuss the text using the following questions:

1.What industrial design trends do you know?

2.Who was the first trend established by?

3.What is the first trend?

4.How has impersonality been acclaimed?

5.What trend is it, when the designer provides a protective case for a product, leaving the inner workings to engineers?

6.When are industrial designers accused of superficial embellishment?

7.Who was streamlining pioneered by?

8.What is it characterized with?

9.What is the fourth trend?

10.What tempts owners to replace goods with new purchases more frequently than would be necessary?

11.What does artificial obsolescence operate through?

12.What is industrial design influencing and influenced by?

6.Read an article about the Contemporary trends of industrial design and abstract the article.

7.Prepare a report and a computer presentation of the article.

8.Present your report to the class. Get ready to discuss it answering questions and persisting in your opinion. Get ready to discuss the trends of industrial design.

Unit 6

Part I

Current Trends in Aircraft Design and Construction

1.Group work. Reflect on the following questions and share your ideas with the class.

1.What is aircraft design, in your opinion?

2.Is aircraft design developed in Russia?

3.Would you like to work in the sphere of aircraft design? Why?

2. Read the following terms and phrases, mind their pronunciation:

Vocabulary Focus

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