Museum of You By: Seth Bowden

Theme of Pictures The four pictures are of a pair of boots, Rough River Lake, a Deer, and the Team Realtree clothing brand. These artifacts show me as someone who loves to be outside fishing, hunting, and swimming. Being outside always puts me in a good mood and it is always a place I can go to relax. I also spend a lot of time doing these activities and wearing these clothes throughout the year.

Consumerism All four of these artifacts tie into the consumerism category. Hunting and fishing are not possible without the right equipment and clothing. Therefore if you want to fish and hunt you have to buy the equipment. Some equipment is expensive and some is cheap, but they are all geared towards the consumer and their needs.

Culture There is a culture behind these artifacts. A lot of people may refer to them as rednecks, lake dwellers, hillbillies, or country people. However you describe the people who enjoy these activities, they are a distinct culture that takes pride in their leisure activities.

Theme The three pictures in the previous slide are a cross, a Bible, and my church in Louisville, KY. These artifacts are a part of my everyday life. I wear a cross necklace, I read my Bible every day, and when I am home this is where I go to church. These artifacts show me as someone who loves God and tries to live a life that pleases him.

Consumerism Thousands of Bibles are purchased every year. Crosses are also bought my many people as necklaces, yard art, picture art, and even in tattoos. All of these objects are designed and are made in a fashion to attract consumers to buy them.

Culture and How Design is Influenced by It. When people think of Christianity, most people think of it as a culture or a way of life. The design of these objects including the church building itself are influenced by the cultures that uses these artifacts. The church building is also designed to hold the people who make up the culture. The building not only needs to be visually appealing, but it must also be able to contain large amounts of people at one time.

Theme The four artifacts here are a basketball, football, baseball, and golf clubs I am a very athletic and competitive person. I have played sports since I was first able to walk. I also enjoy watching these sports. These fours sports have been a big part of my life and have given me many great opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. One of these opportunities was playing a year of football here at UK.

Consumerism and Culture These four sports are a major product of consumerism and culture. People enjoy sports a lot which makes it possible for others to make a lot of money from it. Not only are gear and balls for these sports sold making millions of dollars a year, but they also create millions of dollars for colleges and professional associations.

Designed Purposes Each of these sports have items that are designed specifically for the sport. For example a football and basketball are designed in two different shapes because they have two different functions. However using the same example both basketballs and footballs have grip. These products are designed differently but have some of the same features at the same time.

Themes Design can be seen everywhere in nature and that is why I put horses, cattle, and dogs as part of my artifacts. Any one who knows me well knows I love animals and my goal is to be a Veterinarian. That is why I included the College of AG building here at UK and Auburns Vet School. Animals have always been something I loved and I want to spend my life taking care of them.

Design All animals are designed differently because they have different purposes. Horses are used for racing and work. Therefore they are strong and muscular with long legs for running. Cattle are used for meat production so they are bred to have a lot muscling on them. Dogs on the other hand have different purposes depending on the breed. The reason this fascinates me is because they have natural design, not man made design.

Design and Consumerism The agriculture building here at UK has a creative design that is visually appealing. It also has a lot of bushes and trees surrounding the building. Auburn just built a brand new Vet hospital that is full of the latest designed medical tools. All of these objects were designed for specific purposes. The way these tie into consumerism is these items have to be built and bought. Also it encourages students to pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend these schools.

Theme These four artifacts are the iphone, a laptop, twitter, and instagram. The reason these describe me is because I always have either my phone or laptop, and 95% of the time I’m on them I am looking at twitter or instagram. Whether it is good or bad twitter and instagram take up a large chunk of time of every day. It is a way to stay connected with friends and family.

Design as a Product of Culture These fours artifacts are a large part of culture throughout the world. In designing social media sites as well as the products that allow social media the main focus is a stylish product that is fast. Iphones and laptops are designed to be visually appealing, and so are these two social media sites. Twitter and Instagram are designed to be user friendly and visually appealing. Culture decides how these products are designed.

Consumerism All of these products are produced to entice consumers to buy the fastest, lightest, best looking device or visit the most user friendly social media site. If you think about it, almost everyone you encounter has an iPhone or some type of smart phone. And if these social media sites started charging money, people would pay to use them.

Conclusion Consumerism and culture have a lot to do with the artifacts that describe me. I guess that shows that the cultural activities I participate in require me to be a consumer of many different items. As we had talked about in class, consumerism is becoming a problem, and as seen in my autobiography it is mostly caused by culture.

References Pictures were taken from google images.