Form follows the function
This blog is a review of the book Contemporary Approaches to product design by Tim Parsons.
The impact an object has on us can suggest an opinion on politics. Throughout history, design philosophies were influenced by societies and events, like the Baroque in Europe 17 century, which were adopted by socialists political and their rules. While a decorative item is considered as the domain of the wealthy because it has been crafted and needs time and money, mass production brought the possibility of quickly and cheaply copying using machine tools.
A product can shape our daily experience to inspire and spark ideas in our minds. I believe an artist as well as a designer has a responsibility toward the society is living in. to ask fundamental and important questions even no matter if they cannot find solutions to them! British designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau designed a mobile phone implanted in a tooth that can receive calls by translating vibrations through the jawbone to the inner ear. The notion that people be able to get information invisibly is very fascinating and also raises considerable ethical questions and dilemmas which is a very incredible role of a designer. But the thing that made me very interested in their work was the form. How form can be controversial in design. We can put it in this way: A phone in the form of a tooth!
form following the function was a concept first by a socialist that says the form should be loyal to the function so correct form object-fit to its purpose purely as possible to create an honest product. pay claims the purpose assigns to an object is varied from person to person so designers should choose which style suits their idea and function Joris Laarman designed a radiator in the Baroque style to cover more surfaces in comparison to a sober and geometric form.
In 1997 a group of Dutch designers named The Eternally Your Foundation gather to examine methods that help a product be used for a longer time. one of these methods is called Narrative. If a design has a story to tell the user can tell that story to others. It can make an emotional bond with the user.
World need more souvenirs for culture’s sake to strengthen the bond between the customer and the product. designer Constantin Boym used Baroque religious-themed artworks as a “New Material” to construct furniture. Souvenir is like family heritage. the memory of a place and time is added to the value of the object. Finding methods to include this kind of value in "serious" items could open the way for us to have much more engaging interactions with things.
We want things to weigh lighter, everything to be compacted in our mobile phones, and services relived us from the effort of maintenance while we still enjoy the feeling of possessing things as well as the chance to develop a relationship with a particular item and personalize or customize it to reflect our tastes and reveal our individuality.
Semiotic
Products communicate with us through form just like words and sentences.
Reinhardt Butter and Klaus Krippendorf applied semiotic ideas to product design in the 1980s.
The Italian radical design collective Memphis had already introduced postmodernism in product design with their unexpected exhibitions of furniture and Pierce suggested that "sign," "object," and "the interpreter" have a triangle-shaped relationship.
Our perception of signs depends on how we perceive them and how they are presented to us.
There are three ways of meaning communication through semiotics:
Connotation, denotation, and myth.
Denotation is the literal reading of the object and anything physical it reminds us of like a cartoon character.
Connotation This includes any metaphor meanings that its form, material, structure, color, and texture might have for us. This includes any suggested social and cultural associations. A straightforward example would be that a tall, wooden pepper grinder suggests that the owner is skilled in cuisine, especially Italian cookery. Finally, myth is concerned with the myths that surround the item. These might include tales relating to its creation, potential owners of it or objects similar to it, and its previous uses. Finally, myth is concerned with the myths and stories that surround the item.
archetype
An "archetype" is a typical illustration that comes to mind when a certain object is mentioned. We gain visual experience of objects. Designer Naoto Fukasawa says, "Showing originality in order to win the marketing race is a favorite refrain, but the fixation with keeping a close eye on other products lined up on the store shelves results in the same kind of things being generated." We cannot make fundamental changes in a product ruing the recognition tools for the customer. Robin Levien believes designers should make a balance between innovation and affordance. We depend on the customers to understand what we are designing. According to the archetype, plates are round we shouldn’t push the design too extraordinarily. We should keep it within the frame of the ordinary, He believes products should talk for themselves and answer the buyer’s expectations first. Shouldn’t break this recognition. It doesn’t mean copying a typical product. instead of from the following function, it followed the understanding from the collective memory of the archetype.
New Moon
Villeroy & Boch
improvisation
"necessity is the mother of invention" During World War II, rationing led to a variety of inventive solutions to the shortages that resulted. problem-solving in art, design, and architecture by using whatever is available and in the simplest way possible.
A methodology used by designers to redefine aesthetics. Many technological and scientific developments have become used and appeared in products in 20 century like skyscrapers; the vertical lines began to appear in products also discovering DNA. Biomimicry is the practice of using natural structures and processes to solve human issues;
. John D, Barrow theoretical physicist claims We have an instinctive understanding of organic style, A theory is when children paint, they like to make a picture of the landscape of the African savannah where is believed humans emerged. Our choices change with age and exposure to different environments: "Our aesthetic preferences are a blend of instinct and experience” ... some theoreticians believe the best forms are organic. The earth is round, the universe is round. Flowers, body organs… Why should I follow a group that wants to angulate everything?
Some designers consider meaning and the abstraction of the object rather than its technical, functional, and manufacturing roots. They look for a sense of genuineness. Grcic says, "I am never interested in demonstrating how proficient I am at nailing two pieces of wood together or at painting lovely lines. The conceptualization of a design project is crucial in my opinion. (11) "I have a steadfast interest in really important subjects. But this isn't just about how things appear to be...I'm mostly concerned with how something is used, and I think aesthetics will come easily from that. I won't try to lie.”
For a good designer anthropology is essential in designing durable products that have emotional and behavioral connections with us so the power of observing people in the world and their interactions, is very important and is the best method to design durable products.
Jasper Morrison, a British designer believes it is absurd that designers keep looking for new forms, he believes we better see what is already available and try to use them. He assembles recognizable objects. He uses statistics that we are familiar with, when there is a trend for unusual and peculiar things, he did the opposite. In a project with Naoto Fukasawa named Super Normal. the exhibition is dedicated to the crucial aspects of design that have been overlooked recently. " For me, it’s a reaction, a reaction to noticing how much better most normal things are than most design things,” he said design has the potential to do something great, but it runs the risk of becoming phony and out of touch with reality. He uses the expression “visual pollution and atmospheric interference”, a design done merely for grabbing attention. "Super Normal" serves as a reminder of honest reasons for creating things.
By studying artifacts from the past, he realized ordinary objects’ designs are produced still with no modification respecting the original product and giving it fresh life. A good example is Morrison's Socrates corkscrew for Alessi, he said there are so many poor corkscrews out there. it works very simply so should be reintroduced to the public. What companies should consider is the product life beyond the point of purchase and in daily life. its explanation is comparable to the early 20th century manufactured things as art by Marcel Duchamp
Duchamp believed art is what the artist has decided. Saying that even mass products can be displayed as art. Walter Benjamin, a German literary critic, and author, used the term "aura" to characterize an elusive but important characteristic in artworks that we might presume also exists in mass-produced products. Everything has a personality, a soul.
