+ 13.02.2014

DESIGN NOIR

Design Noir is part of critical design. It came to life through the book named Design Noir, by Anthony Dunne. The products of Design Noir create existential dilemmas. It bases on psychological dimension and expanding experiences which we get through the use of electronic products. The products of Design Noir are conceptual, pushing complex narratives into everyday lives. The user of Design Noir is a co-producer of narrative experiences. A mental interface between the individual and the product is where the experience begins. 

Placebo project

It's an experiment in taking conceptual design beyond the gallery and into everyday life. The authors (Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby) made 8 furniture pieces with aim to investigate peoples' attitudes and experiences with electromagnetic fields in the home. The pieces were made of MDF and usually one other material.

Once the objects are placed in homes, they develop their own life. Usually we don't interfere with these, until something breaks or we need to replace. The project was not interested in if the stories people believe in are scientifically true or not, but rather in the narratives people develop to explain and relate to electronic technologies.

The potential adopters filled out application forms detailing any unusual experiences with electronic products; after the adoption time was over, they were interviewed and taken photographs of with the objects, accentuating the details revealed during the period.

Designers can't solve the problems of electromagnetic networks, but they can change the perception of people. The objects in the project don't really remove or counter the cause of concern, but provide psychological comfort.

Though the volunteers who accepted to participate in the adoption process were certainly exceptional, they were still real people, not part of fiction.

The products were never meant for production, but rather just rentable products for short period of time.

The products:

 - 1) Parasite light - a lamp that only works when it's placed near an electronic product. It doesn't really feed off EM fields, but is battery powered. Instead, this and the nipple chair uses an electric field sensor to relate to the strength of field and releasing corresponding amount of light.

 - 2) Compass table - the table has 25 compasses set into its surface, which would spin when electronic objects are places on it.

 - 3) Nipple chair - when the chair is put into electromagnetic field, the two nipples set into the back of the seat start to vibrate and the sitter is made aware of the waves penetrating his torso. As the wiring for electricity is also in the floors, the sitter can put his legs on footrests higher from the ground.

 - 4) Electro-draught excluder - wall with pyramidal spikes meant to be put between an electric object and a person. The wall does not really absorb radiation.

 - 5) Loft - a lead-clad box on top of a ladder to store precious magnetic mementoes like answerphone messages, audio cassettes or floppy discs away from dangerous EM fields. Accessing the loft might become part of a ritual.

 - 6) Electricity drain - Some people collect electric voltage into their bodies, and release it by wrapping wire around their finger and connecting it to earth line. The chair claimably does the same: you plug it in and sit naked on the stainless steel plate. Where would people keep this object?

 - 7) GPS table - works fine only when sees the satellites perfectly. The owner should have an observatory, or at least a garden where to take the chair sometimes. The designers like the idea that people might feel a little cruel to keep the chair indoors.

 - 8) Phone table - a way to domesticate the phone. When person comes home, he puts the phone in the table's drawer. When someone calls, the table will emit soft light. It's much easier not to answer the soft glow than persistant ringing.

   One interview published was about the electricity drain. The user didn't sit on it to de-static herself, but had the object plugged into wall all the time, imagining that it would drain the electricity from around the room. She also said that while making phonecalls, usually her fillings hurt, but if she put a hand on the object, she could have longer conversations. She kept the object in the living room.

   Even after she was told that the object is a placebo object, she kept telling that she believes the object works, though the influence is very small. She also used the object to place clothes after ironing to de-static them. She said the electricity drain is a psychologically good product.

Link to the pdf, where you can also see pictures of all the objects


The Book Review: Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects by Regine Debatty

The reviewer chose to read the book because she didn't know about Design Noir. After finishing it, she recommends others to read it, as well, because:
 - Design Noir won't be a book about technology that will be outdated fast
 - Design Noir narratives the challenge of conformity in our everyday life