Assignment 3

Jones’ theory focuses on utility being the main aim of construction, not decoration and although decoration helps maintain balance, it should never hinder the object’s purpose. I believe Jones’ ideas had validity, but also had flaws.

In the time Jones’ wrote his theory, there were problems with industrialization changing the economy and working classes, yet he puts forward a stable argument. Construction was the main aim. To spend excess time designing and creating inappropriate decoration was, as Henry Cole agreed, detraction from its use and counter-productive. Because of long-hours spent achieving counter-productive designs working classes started to revolt. They also began to lose their craftsmanship and skills. I agree it made no sense to decorate an object in a way that not only didn’t aid the design, but in a way that hindered it. The pitcher for instance, becomes more difficult to hold and the narrow top would cause problems when pouring it- its main aim. This is simply for decorations’ sake and seems pointless- especially since such decoration would take more hours to create a less practical design.
           

I believe that decoration in today’s society is something that benefits and balances in a less harmful way. Fewer processes are needed to create more decorative pieces and due to technology, decoration is added with little extra work for manufacturers. Decoration creates interest in our lives, especially as designers, who see the world through its appearance and how things work.
            Despite Jones presenting a reasonable argument, I believe it can be defined to his time and was also a didactic approach. It required a narrow-minded person to believe that everyone would conform to his approach to design. Although it was fair to say that adding decoration for the sake of decoration added work to the working class and often diminished craftsmanship, it isn’t necessarily the case today. I still agree we shouldn’t hinder the way an objects works, I believe that decoration stops our lives from becoming dull and that can’t be a bad thing.