Design intermediate, anusiek27
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The future of design? Level 2 Intermediate 1 Pre-reading task: New ideas Use two or more of these words to make six new design inventions. The irst letter of each idea is given to help you. Then skim-read the article to check your answers. magnetic sticky solar-powered clock camera tidier robotic wastepaper transparent garden furniture web glowing mirrors cable bin vague memos bathroom a) v___________ ___________ b) s___________ – ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ c) t___________ ___________ ___________ d) r___________ ___________ ___________ e) m___________ ___________ ___________ f) w___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ 2 Key words: Synonyms Skim the article again to ind words that mean (almost) the same as: 1. boring / unexciting – _______________ (para 2) 2. rule / idea – _______________ (para 2) 3. original – _______________ (para 2) 4. factory-made in large numbers – _______________ (para 2) 5. changes – _______________ (para 2) 6. plan / project – _______________ (para 4) 7. to fail – _______________ (para 4) 8. payment – _______________ (para 4) 9. inexact / indeterminate – _______________ (para 5) 10. leads / wires – _______________ (para 5) 11. shows – _______________ (para 6) 12. normal / ordinary – _______________ (para 7) 13. no good / useless – _______________ (para 9) © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007 NEWS LESSONS / The future of design? / Intermediate The future of design? Level 2 Intermediate The future of design? Ian Sample, science correspondent November 24, 2007 A Japanese innovator wants to change the face of shopping and replace mass-produced goods with people-power ideas company has placed three designs on Nishiyama’s website: a clock that is vague about the time, a set of solar-powered, glowing garden furniture, and a wastepaper bin that tidies ugly cables around work desks. 6 David Tonge, founder of The Division, said: “We wanted a relaxed clock for the home, so the hour hand is on the outside, and like a sundial it’s fairly vague. But in the centre, it displays minutes in a digital form so you can use it if you’re doing something like cooking pasta for 13 minutes.” 1 If Kohei Nishiyama succeeds, he will be inancially independent by the age of 40, living as an inventor and being woken each morning by his robot dog. The 37-year-old Tokyo-based designer and founder of Elephant Design has a dream, one he hopes will change the face of British shopping. 7 The idea for the garden furniture came after Tonge was fed-up with the over-designed options he found in shops, while the cable tidier is a standard paper bin itted with a powerblock and cable storage compartments. 2 He wants to empty the shelves of dreary, mass- marketed and mass-produced objects and replace them with products that we - the people - have helped to develop. Nishiyama calls his idea ‘Design to Order’ and the principle is simple. Anyone with a unique idea, for anything from a robotic web camera to a magnetic bathroom mirror, posts an image and description on his website. There, people can log on to suggest alterations and improvements to the design. If enough people then vote for the product, he makes a deal with a manufacturer and the product is made. 8 Any item on the site that gets 1,000 votes is put forward for manufacture. As of yesterday, Tonge’s clock had received 39 votes, the cable tidier 22 votes and the garden furniture nine. The leading product on the site, with 235 votes, is a bathroom mirror that is also a whiteboard. The designers hope the buyers will be busy professionals, who can write appointments and thoughts on it, attach memos like fridge magnets, and see them as they brush their teeth in the morning. 3 “There are so many mass-produced products making it on to the shelves because that’s how large companies do things. Our idea is to give people what they want by involving anyone of any age or nationality who has a good idea, early on in the process,” says Nishiyama. 9 For now the test site is only free to designers, but Nishiyama says he will take ideas from other people, if there are at least ten people who support an idea. “Because it’s a new thing and it’s experimental, a lot of people are posting ideas and, it has to be said, some of them are rubbish,” says Tonge. “But it can be surprising. There are deinitely people out there, who are not designers, who have some good, interesting ideas, and some of those may end up in the shops.” 4 The scheme has been running in Japan for a few years, and has taken off among designers who use it to present their ideas instead of committing to something that may lop. The company has recently set up a test site with retailer Muji to help develop products for its stores. One idea, for transparent sticky memos, was suggested by a 21-year-old student and will be marketed next month. She will get royalties from every pack sold. © Guardian News & Media 2007 First published in The Guardian , 24/11/07 5 Ahead of the formal UK launch next year, Nishiyama has appointed London-based designers The Division as its irst British consultancy. The © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007 NEWS LESSONS / The future of design? / Intermediate The future of design? Level 2 Intermediate 3 Comprehension check Are these sentences true or false according to the article? Correct any sentences that are false. 1. Kohei Nishiyama comes from Japan but lives in London. true / false 2. Kohei Nishiyama is the founder of a new design company. true / false 3. He doesn’t like mass-marketed products. true / false 4. Elephant Design offers young designers the chance to present their ideas. true / false 5. Kohei Nishiyama wants to move the company base to the UK. true / false 6. A design needs 1000 votes before it can be produced. true / false 7. Currently the most popular product is the vague clock. true / false 8. There are no plans to market any new ideas yet. true / false 4 Vocabulary: Pronunciation 1. Pair these words from the article according to their stress-patterns. e.g. replace + unique both have the stress-pattern oO consultancy inancially experimental product imagination ambitious scheme designer alterations cable independent vague © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007 NEWS LESSONS / The future of design? / Intermediate The future of design? Level 2 Intermediate 5 A new invention: Group work Can you think of an item that would make your life easier – either at work or at home? What would it do, e.g. polish your shoes, put on your make up, clean the snow off your garden path? Make notes and present your ideas to the class. 7 Webquest Go to the website in the article www.cuusoo.jp/muji . Click on the pictures and see if you can guess what the designs are (the website is in Japanese). © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007 NEWS LESSONS / The future of design? / Intermediate The future of design? Level 2 Intermediate KEY 1 New ideas 3 Comprehension check a) vague clock b) solar-powered glowing garden furniture c) transparent sticky memos d) robotic web camera e) magnetic bathroom mirrors f) wastepaper bin cable tidier 1. false 2. true 3. true 4. true 5. false 6. true 7. false 8. false 2 Key words: Synonyms 4 Vocabulary: Pronunciation 1. dreary 2. principle 3. unique 4. mass-produced 5. alterations 6. scheme 7. lop 8. royalties 9. vague 10. cables 11. displays 12. standard 13. rubbish product – cable Oo vague – scheme O (1 syllable only) designer – ambitious oOo independent – alterations ooOo inancially – consultancy oOoo experimental – imagination oooOo © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007 NEWS LESSONS / The future of design? / Intermediate [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |