David Pye

This reading is mainly about how money and the access to material should be irrelevant when designing. There is always a way for it to work. One must use the resources around them and alter them into what they need by using various techniques. If one were to say that there is only one way of doing something, they are wrong. The example used in the text is of a factory. If someone said there is only one best way to do an operation in a factory, they would be wrong. It may be true that there is one cheapest way. There are plenty of techniques out there to make designs work. Some of these techniques include wasting, forming, casting, and constructing. One can alter the properties of a material to make it work. One can cut any material and attach it to any material to make it work. The whole point of the reading is saying that in society today, economics is the largest influence of design. For example the shape of every design is not influenced by technique but by the cheapness of technique. The reading finishes by saying that our art is for the generation to come. The generation’s art before us was for us. The cycle continues with every generation as it influences society.