An Introduction to Design and Culture, 3rd Edition

2    The impact of technology

New production methods, new materials

Mass production is the focussing upon a manufacturing project of the principles of power, accuracy, economy, system, continuity, and speed.¹

In the first four decades of the twentieth century, one face of modern design was defined by its sociocultural role within the expanding picture of consumption and the newly defined marketplace – an area of modern life that could not be easily rationalized and systematized. Its other important defining context was the more rationally based world of mass manufacturing and technological innovation. In that context, large numbers of standardized goods were produced to meet expanding demand but, because of the high investment costs required, ...