DTR CA3 JOURNAL
Industrial Revolution
One of the local “Industrial Revolution” example is smartphones. In the past, there were no smartphones and the only way to communicate was either through face to face interaction, pager or home telephone. The above ways of communication were a little troublesome which was why handphones were invented. Nokia was one of the earlier version of handphones. However, when it first came out in the market, it was rather expensive which is why not many people were able to afford it. Smartphones such as flip phone, iPhone and Samsung (more recent) were then invented. Initially, people were not able to afford it as it was very costly and only those who are very rich will be able to afford it. Smartphones were then released into the market at a cheaper price and currently, everyone has a smartphone. Smartphones plays a huge part in our daily lives as it aids in communication between people and provides ample entertainment.
Personal Experience:
I have a smartphone as well. I got my very first phone when I was twelve years old. Ever since then, my phone has always been with me everywhere I go. I realise that I have a constant habit of looking at my phone to check for messages and if there were none, I would start to find a source of entertainment such as playing games and watching movies etc… I could barely remember those times when I did not have my cell phone with me. I even questioned myself as to how I have lived through all those times when I did not have a cell phone. Through “Industrial Revolution”, most of us owns a smartphone nowadays. However, with the demand of new and better technology, industries must come up with better smartphones to meet consumer’s needs. Despite having already own a smartphone, consumers will still rush to get the newest and more advanced smartphone due to their want and not their needs.
As designers, our role in an industry-sensitive culture is that we should keep with the news and updates. We should know what exactly is happening in this world right now so that we do not fall back and will be able to keep up with the latest trends. This ensures that we will be able to meet the needs of our client.
With mass production and mass consumerism, there will lesser amount of space left in our homes as shown within the picture.
With mass production, prices of products will be reduced, and this will lead to mass consumerism as consumer will buy as much product as they can due to the reduced prices. In the past, television used to bring people together. However, with the advancement in technology, people can now have easy access to movies, games and social media platform through their tablets and smartphone. This reduces social interaction among people as they would be pre-occupied with playing/looking at their smartphones.
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In the past, my family used to live in Kampung before moving into HDB flats. At that point of time, there was no fridge, but we have a television. The television was thicker in size as compared to modern days and all the movies were shown in black and white. HDB flats were introduced a few years later and my family moved into one. The HDB flats were larger in the past as compared to now. With mass production, household appliances became affordable and the house started having fridge, washing machine and fans etc…
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An example of mass production in Singapore will be well-known stores such as H&M, Nike and Uniqlo. As compared to regular stores/ self-designed t-shirts, the following stores listed above can afford to sell their products at a cheaper price as these companies are able to produce a lot of these products at a fast pace using machines. However, not all of them are made using machines, those branded handbags and clothes which are more expensive, tend to be hand sewn. They usually last longer as compared to those that u can find in the market at a cheaper price. An example will be Crocs. As those sandals are wear and tear resistant, they are usually able to last for quite some time. However, no profit will be made by the company if those sandals are sold at a cheap price, which is why the price of Crocs started to increase. Consumers will start to feel that the price of those Crocs are value for money as they don’t have change their sandals until they got worn-out.