What does an object mean to you?

Task 2: Objectified

Reflect on society’s complex relationship with manufactured objects and the people who design them. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves? 75-min documentary by Gary Hustwit.

Link to video here: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTI5NjM2NjA0.html

I entered into the world of industrial design because I love the whole process every single product or item takes from its journey throughout its life cycle. We are constantly surrounded by hundred of objects every day, from the minute we wake up to the time we walk out of the door, each and every product would have been designed and thought about by either a group of individual or maybe even ones self. The moment where a designer marks a surface and or comes up with an idea whether it be a simple idea or complex idea really excited me, the fact that an idea can grow into a concept and from there it’s potential is endless to what it can become. The whole process taken, the decisions made all contributes to the final end product on how its perceived by its users or observers.

The video by Gayr Hustwit taught me a few new things in the way different designers approach the design phase this really gave me and insight to how I could shape my own methodologies in design and what design means to be.

Some designers look for the functionality over the aesthetics, some look for the aesthetics over the functionality while some take all into consideration to be a good design. It was quoted in the documentary that ” A good design should make a product useful and take into account the Aesthetic, and be Understandable, Honest, Unobtrusive, Long lived, Consistent in every detail, Environmentally friendly, and incorporate as little design as possible.” By taking into consideration all that was mentions about a good design in all my projects will definitely see me work a bit differently to how I work currently. At times when I find myself stuck on problems for hours on end then I usually take a walk away from it and move onto another task to give it some thought, but after hearing this from the video I now have a little check-list and guide to which direction I should go.

Fiona Ruby also mentions how IKEA is such a successful company as she explains, “ you project yourself in the IKEA products and imagine it being in your home, You image yourself experiencing and enjoying that product.” So selling the experience is one of the main things consumers look but there is also a down side to this. As times change rapidly as Karim Rashid quotes Shelf life for electronic is under 11 months, all this leading to more waste waiting to be deposited into landfills.

I think the main target for designers now is to change the way consumers think about products and how we should make them last. David Kelly from Palto Alto IDEO says, “ if you design something that’s precious and you really love it you wont lose it.” I found that most of the designers in the documentary like Marc Newson were pushing for more products that would be more sustainable in the future as Marc objective was to create non disposable products . By Creating objects with different forms and meanings hopefully we can change the way consumers think about goods, making the objects last longer will be a long term goal we must acheive in the near future.