Week 12 ETHICS & SUSTAINABILITY p.6
Discussion on Lecture (Documentary video)
Objectified, by Gary Hustwit (2009)
Objectified, by Gary Hustwit (2009)
Objects 'speak'. This is because by just looking at an object, we already make many assumptions about it. Therefore its visual speaks.
Industrial design often has a main goal of producing for mass production. Everything evolving around a person's life has been designed, even like most common household items like Post-it notes. These items have been thought about at some point by designers. Likewise, these items also design a person's lifestyle.
"Every object tells a story, if you know how to read it."
- Henry Ford
Designers put a lot of consideration and thoughts into the design of an object no matter how insignificant it might seem. For example, the Japanese toothpick which has a breakable tail to let the toothpick rest on whilst it's not in use. Although a toothpick sounds simple, the idea that it has something to rest on to prevent contamination and enables it to become re-useable can have a powerful impact.
Designer consultants have to consider the usability and practicality of their products to make them useful for all types of people, including the exceptional cases such as people with illnesses and disability.
There are many factors that should be fulfilled for a design to be considered 'good design'. Dieter Rams believes good design is:
Innovative
Useful
Aesthetic
Honest
Makes a product understandable
Good for the environment
Unobtrusive
Long-lived
Consistent
Has the smallest amount of 'design' (minimal)
(The list probably goes on).
As time passes and technology evolved. Form do not always follow function. For example, the microchip. It is not easy to predict what it can do by just looking at it.
Designers go to the extreme of studying and considering the psychology of their target audience to consider how their consumers will use the products from beginning to end.
If a product is designed right, it evokes emotional response from its user. This is because if a product can help a person feel better, that person will form an emotional connection to it.
Naoto Fukasawa noticed that a lot of people use their products without thinking much about how it is designed.
Dieter Rams mentioned that designers need to work together with others and learn about the values and history of their collaborator.
Chosen Reading:
The unstable lives of bicycles: the 'unbecoming' of design objects
Consumer objects evoke users' emotions when they purchase them, use them often, and throw them out. Their life span is extended if they are recycled, given to others, or sold as second-hand items. They become materials when they break down and stop working. [1]
Using bicycles as an example, Larsen and Christensen said that a bicycle is made out of many different materials and components. Therefore it has an unstable property due to how each type of material will age overtime. The authors then said that mobilities create a large pollution and waste problem. (This is proven true from Week 3's blog regarding the shared bikes problem in China).[2]
One of the reasons why some consumer objects might not last long is on purpose to let the newer models be able to sell. The company would want consumers to buy their newest models so they might want consumers to see their old models as 'outdated'.[3]
However for some people, no matter how old their object is, will find it hard to get rid off due to emotional attachment.
Tutorial notes:
Designers put a lot of attention to small details with useful intentions that help to make the user experience comfortable and efficient.
We discussed the quote "Every object tells a story if you know how to read it":
A student bought an item from their trip to Cambodia and the object makes them reminisces of their trip. However that object was made from children on the streets who found work by making those items. Therefore this person was emotionally affected by the story behind this object.
A student bought a book, although they don't enjoy reading. However they bought it because they study design and appreciate the amount of work that's put into the design of the book. For example, the textile of the book, or how the cover looks. The story the book itself tells is the many hours of hard work its designer would have put in to design the cover, and the considerations going into its manufacturing process to optimise the practicality of the book to maximise a user's reading experience.
Also how a book is made is easily perceived as an object to be open in a specific way, therefore having a spine holds the book together, but also leaves the user only one correct way to open the book. Also interestingly, some cultures read from right to left so the spine would be on the opposite side.
Often we are pressured to look a particular way or use particular because of how society thinks we should look like. For example, a successful person would be expected to
Writer: Megatron
__________________________
[1] Jonas Larsen and Mathilde Dissing Christensen, "The unstable lives of bicycles: the 'unbecoming' of design objects," Environment and Planning A 47, no. 4 (2015), 923.
[2] Larsen and Christensen, "The unstable lives," 924.
[3] Ibid., 925.
Bibliography
Gary Hustwit, "Objectified." in LEARNING. Released 2014.
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/objectified/sustainability?u=58640609
Larsen, Jonas, and Mathilde Dissing Christensen. "The Unstable Lives of Bicycles: The ‘Unbecoming’ of Design Objects." Environment and Planning A 47, no. 4 (2015): 922-38.
Designer consultants have to consider the usability and practicality of their products to make them useful for all types of people, including the exceptional cases such as people with illnesses and disability.
There are many factors that should be fulfilled for a design to be considered 'good design'. Dieter Rams believes good design is:
Innovative
Useful
Aesthetic
Honest
Makes a product understandable
Good for the environment
Unobtrusive
Long-lived
Consistent
Has the smallest amount of 'design' (minimal)
(The list probably goes on).
As time passes and technology evolved. Form do not always follow function. For example, the microchip. It is not easy to predict what it can do by just looking at it.
Designers go to the extreme of studying and considering the psychology of their target audience to consider how their consumers will use the products from beginning to end.
If a product is designed right, it evokes emotional response from its user. This is because if a product can help a person feel better, that person will form an emotional connection to it.
Naoto Fukasawa noticed that a lot of people use their products without thinking much about how it is designed.
Dieter Rams mentioned that designers need to work together with others and learn about the values and history of their collaborator.
Chosen Reading:
The unstable lives of bicycles: the 'unbecoming' of design objects
Consumer objects evoke users' emotions when they purchase them, use them often, and throw them out. Their life span is extended if they are recycled, given to others, or sold as second-hand items. They become materials when they break down and stop working. [1]
Using bicycles as an example, Larsen and Christensen said that a bicycle is made out of many different materials and components. Therefore it has an unstable property due to how each type of material will age overtime. The authors then said that mobilities create a large pollution and waste problem. (This is proven true from Week 3's blog regarding the shared bikes problem in China).[2]
One of the reasons why some consumer objects might not last long is on purpose to let the newer models be able to sell. The company would want consumers to buy their newest models so they might want consumers to see their old models as 'outdated'.[3]
However for some people, no matter how old their object is, will find it hard to get rid off due to emotional attachment.
Tutorial notes:
Designers put a lot of attention to small details with useful intentions that help to make the user experience comfortable and efficient.
We discussed the quote "Every object tells a story if you know how to read it":
A student bought an item from their trip to Cambodia and the object makes them reminisces of their trip. However that object was made from children on the streets who found work by making those items. Therefore this person was emotionally affected by the story behind this object.
A student bought a book, although they don't enjoy reading. However they bought it because they study design and appreciate the amount of work that's put into the design of the book. For example, the textile of the book, or how the cover looks. The story the book itself tells is the many hours of hard work its designer would have put in to design the cover, and the considerations going into its manufacturing process to optimise the practicality of the book to maximise a user's reading experience.
Also how a book is made is easily perceived as an object to be open in a specific way, therefore having a spine holds the book together, but also leaves the user only one correct way to open the book. Also interestingly, some cultures read from right to left so the spine would be on the opposite side.
Often we are pressured to look a particular way or use particular because of how society thinks we should look like. For example, a successful person would be expected to
Writer: Megatron
__________________________
[1] Jonas Larsen and Mathilde Dissing Christensen, "The unstable lives of bicycles: the 'unbecoming' of design objects," Environment and Planning A 47, no. 4 (2015), 923.
[2] Larsen and Christensen, "The unstable lives," 924.
[3] Ibid., 925.
Bibliography
Gary Hustwit, "Objectified." in LEARNING. Released 2014.
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/objectified/sustainability?u=58640609
Larsen, Jonas, and Mathilde Dissing Christensen. "The Unstable Lives of Bicycles: The ‘Unbecoming’ of Design Objects." Environment and Planning A 47, no. 4 (2015): 922-38.
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