+ 12.05.2014

DESIGN LANGUAGE

Introduction

   The object I chose to analyze is a bookcase named Twist me! (2013) from a Slovakian design company Mejd Studio (www.mejdstudio.com). This piece was achieved through cooperation with a Swiss furniture company Vitra (www.vitra.com) during a summer workshop named Lost & found. 

   The design studio Mejd consist of 2 designers, Štefan Nosko and Katarína Beličková. 

- Nosko was born in 1986, started his design studies already in the secondary school, continued by studies in Academy of Fine arts and Design in Bratislava with product design course, finishing bachelor's and master's degree, now following with doctorate, and going to participating in a few exchange programs during studies. He has also taken part of some design events mainly in Slovakia.

- Beličková was born in 1984 and also started her design studies in secondary school. She continued in Technical University of Zvolen, but changed to Academy of Fine arts and Design in Bratislava in a year, where she has bachelor's and master's degree. During the studies she has gone through internships in different areas. She has also participated in design related events mainly in Slovakia and Czech.

   The company situates in Bratislava and is mainly aimed at product design. They aim for creating objects which in addition to functional and aesthetic sites offer some kind of added value in terms of ideas, stories and links to other fields of social life and lives of people in general.

   The goal of the workshop Lost & Found was to create a hybrid object of 2 different objects. The participants were supposed to work with traditional folklore items, on the other hand use Vitra's new, but already discarded office furniture. The project in question combined bookbinding plough and metal sheet office rack. In the final piece, in it's side walls there are placed aluminium bearings joint with a wooden nut from the press. By turning the nut, the inner "walls" are brought into motion and this way they can be positioned against one another, creating space for any number of books. 

Analysis
- Level I - formal-aesthetic language. 
   The bookcase is not very big, only having one shelf for books. The main part of the bookcase is in the shape of a horizontal cuboid open to the side. The material for the sides, top and back area is metal, which s painted matte white. The bottom seems to be of wood, or MDF board, also white. The sides of the metal part are perforated with small circular pattern, which lets smooth light get into the bookcase from the sides. The bookcase has 4 legs, which are not on the corner of the case, and not vertical, but spread out from the center of the case. The legs appear wooden, coloured matte white aswell, and the shape is not tubular, but seems to be hexagonal.
   Of course, the most attention catching part is the wooden screw, contrasting with it's natural look, while the rest is covered in matte lightness. The screw element has two identical sides, mirroring from the imaginable central vertical line. The screw consist of the threaded rod, nut with elongated sides for easy handling, and the central plates against what the books will rest. The whole screw is wooden, with used look accentuated by small holes seeming to be caused by natural activity. The size of the screw is rather surprising compared to the rest of the bookcase, which is rather small.

- Level II - the sign/ indication functions. 
  When I first saw the piece of furniture, not knowing the background story, my first impression was that it's a huge nutcracker. For using the bookshelf, the user is expected to put the wanted amount of books in the center, between two wooden plates, and then turn the handles of the nuts on both sides to approximate the plates until they will hold up the books. This pressing action reminds of screwed nutcracker or even a torture bench. The bookcase does not have any door to hide what's in it, leaving and impression that when the object in the center gets squeezed, we cannot look away, cannot hide it, cannot ignore what's happening. The books in the center leave us with tension, because there seems to be forces fighting all the time and we want to know if the cracker will break, or the books will be squeezed empty of knowledge.
   The piece is certainly meant for indoors use, as bare wooden parts won't be resistant to weather conditions. I see that because of the shape of the legs, the bookcase stands on tips of hexagonal pencils. Another characteristic is that the screw will stick out more and more as books will be added, so the user may decide to just showcase the currently important writings. I can see the bookcase being used as a bedside table, due to it's size; the height of the top seems to be suitable for a nightlight and a few necessities.
   
- Level III - symbolic level. 
   The name of the piece, Twist me!, is very strongly connected with the way it's supposed to be used - twisted. The exclamation mark is turning the invitation of trying it out almost into a command. Such reference can make us wonder how much we are influenced by the way we are addressed, and if some things we think we're doing willingly are actually our own will, or rather the need to please and fit into the situation (partly referring to Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures). 
   While analyzing the piece, I started to see as if the screw is squeezing books together, it's also squeezing knowledge together. And with that act, this bookcase reminds of a persons head, because in brain, also an amazing amount of knowledge is squeezed together in a small area. Specially if the person who has the bookcase exhibits writings he has read and finds important, the knowledge from the books are squeezed into that persons head. 
   Another thing about the bookcase would be the screw, the size of it, and the questionableness of need to use it overall. The fact that the screw is there is like a fantasy, a dream, leaving the user into an Alice in Wonderland-like position. Why to use it? Next to that, the most characteristic part of the piece is the screw. The rest is blended with matte white, turning it into timeless lightness. The  screw is obviously worn, and the small holes in the wood indicate the honorable age of the element. But after finding out that the project was a hybrid with a bookbinding plough, I believe the meaning of the product became a lot clearer and obvious.

Conclusion
   As I had not previously paid attention to the aim of the project for that the piece was made, I had developed my own idea about the reasons behind the piece. Nonetheless, the bookcase will continue to be in my interest list as a very peculiar piece to enjoy.

+ 27.03.2014

CHANGES IN DESIGN

What's new in design area?

Based on article from Nat Hunter

   During the last 10 years, design industry has changed hugely. The change happens in both the industry and the life of a designer. The author has changed from a graphic designer, to a interaction designer, to a design agency director, which have all broadened her field where she works on. At some point it felt like the design organization is getting in the way, as the designers were trying to correspond to the needs of the customers. It seemed that the designers' brains were very good at understanding complex problems and redesigning systems, and more and more designers are moving towards that.

   The steps the author sees are crucial for design are styling, form and function, problem solving and framing. The more complex the problem is, the more a latter stage comes important in the process. All four of the stages are essential for great projects. But styling is certainly crucial, as an ugly object doesn't give the impact needed.

   Another way the design has changed is from working alone, to working in a group inside one discipline, into cross-discipline teamwork. The need for that is based on increasingly complex problems, and have top level understanding of the needed disciplines, if possible.

   Yet another change happens in the design cycle. Traditionally, the project moved from one stage to other, from one discipline to other. Currently, the project is worked by all participating parts and disciplines simultaneously, tied by interaction. It is also appearing that in the newer design areas, for example service design, cross disciplinary and complexity is much higher than in more traditional kinds of design. Companies of social innovation spring up, being a perfect combination of business, technology and design. Design is coming to be embedded in areas that would never have been considered before, and have an opportunity to make real difference.

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Exercise:

Look for a sign (gesture, drawing, music, object, clothing, jewel, food or other) that changes in various contexts its semantic/symbolic meaning. Visualize, analyze.

Example in class:

The gun

Different contexts:

Scaramanga’s golden gun

Peter Gronquist – Fashion Revolution with Designer Weapons

Chanel, Gun Shoe – Platform sandal in satin on a 90 mm gun heel

Ted Noten, Lady-K-Bag – engraved and heavily gold-plated gun and bullet, textile, chrome steel.

Philippe Starck, Gun Lamp





Continuous examples:

As I'm fascinated about the theme of gun in design, I have gathered more examples of the motive's use which I would like to share:

Another example from Ted Noten - Chanel001 and Dior001 gun makeup kits. The black Chanel001 comes with an 18k gold toothpick, a perfume bottle with an 18k gold mechanism, a USB stick, an antique hairpin, a Viagra pill, and of course, Chanel lip gloss. Alternatively, Dior001 conceals Dior lip gloss, a USB stick harboring “secret information,” a 100-gram sterling silver bar, a hair pin, and a special compartment for loading a lady’s “pharmaceuticals.”

.357 Magnum Gun Hair Dryer from Jerdon - the idea of pointing a gun towards your head is just so 'sic'! Even if it's just for drying your hair.

Let's Talk It Over Teapot with a pistol handle by Dennis Shields- play of contrasts, as tea time should be a break, time for peace, and then rising tension with a black pot with gun handle. Is the tea poisoned? The offerer of the tea has power over the one who drinks it.

Gun shaped door handles by Nikita Kovalev - door handles where you have to pull the trigger to open the door. 

T-shirt with printed gun by Atypyk 

Kill Time Coffe Mug by ChilliChilly - get a shot... of coffe! 

Povodokus, retractable dog snap leash by Art Lebedev Studio - the vision of a person pointing a gun to a restricted animal brings out strong emotions, of which we wouldn't think of without the strong symbol.

The gun comb by Lee Weilang from afteraindesign

BANG! lamp by bitplay INC. - the lamp activates and turns off by using the pistol-shaped remote. Moreover, when the lamp is "shot" to turned off, the cover seems to jump out of place, like it "got shot".

Water gun (any) - it's just a toy!?

+ 13.03.2014

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

What is sustainable design?

   Sustainable design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally conscious design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of social, economic, and ecological sustainability.

   The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design". Manifestations of sustainable design require no non-renewable resources, impact the environment minimally, and connect people with the natural environment.

Beyond the "elimination of negative environmental impact", sustainable design must create projects that are meaningful innovations that can shift behaviour. A dynamic balance between economy and society, intended to generate long-term relationships between user and object/service and finally to be respectful and mindful of the environmental and social differences.

   Waste

   Experience has shown that there is no completely safe method of waste disposal. All forms of disposal have negative impacts on the environment, public health, and local economies. Landfills have contaminated drinking water. Garbage burned in incinerators has poisoned air, soil, and water. The majority of water treatment systems change the local ecology. Attempts to control or manage wastes after they are produced fail to eliminate environmental impacts.

   The toxic components of household products pose serious health risks and aggravate the trash problem. When burned or buried, toxic materials also pose a serious threat to public health and the environment. The only way to avoid environmental harm from waste is to prevent its generation. Pollution prevention means changing the way activities are conducted and eliminating the source of the problem. It does not mean doing without, but doing differently. For example, preventing waste pollution from litter caused by disposable beverage containers does not mean doing without beverages; it just means using refillable bottles.

Sustainable design principles

Common principles that affect all disciplines are as follows:.

• Low-impact materials: non-toxic, sustainably produced or recycled materials which require little energy to process

• Energy efficiency: manufacturing processes and production which require less energy

• Emotionally durable design: reducing consumption and waste of resources by increasing the durability of relationships between people and products, through design

• Design for reuse and recycling: "Products, processes, and systems should be designed for performance in a commercial 'afterlife'."

• Design impact measures for total carbon footprint and life-cycle assessment for any resource used are increasingly required and available.

• Sustainable design standards and project design guides are also increasingly available and are vigorously being developed by a wide array of private organizations and individuals. There is also a large body of new methods emerging from the rapid development of what has become known as 'sustainability science' promoted by a wide variety of educational and governmental institutions.

• Biomimicry: imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. In sustainability - "redesigning industrial systems on biological lines, enabling the constant reuse of materials in continuous closed cycles".

• Service substitution: shifting the mode of consumption from personal ownership of products to provision of services which provide similar functions, e.g., from a private automobile to a carsharing service. Such a system promotes minimal resource use per unit of consumption.

• Renewability: materials should come from nearby, sustainably managed renewable sources that can be composted when their usefulness has been exhausted.

• Robust eco-design: robust design principles are applied to the design of a pollution sources.

Example:

Emotionally durable design

     According to Professor Jonathan Chapman of the University of Brighton, UK, emotionally durable design reduces the consumption and waste of natural resources by increasing the resilience of relationships established between consumers and products. In his book, "Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences & Empathy,, Professor Chapman describes how "the process of consumption is, and has always been, motivated by complex emotional drivers, and is about far more than just the mindless purchasing of newer and shinier things; it is a journey towards the ideal or desired self, that through cyclical loops of desire and disappointment, becomes a seemingly endless process of serial destruction".

   According to Professor Chapman, 'emotional durability' can be achieved through consideration of the following five elements:

• Narrative: How users share a unique personal history with the product.
• Consciousness: How the product is perceived as autonomous and in possession of its own free will.
• Attachment: Can a user be made to feel a strong emotional connection to a product?
• Fiction: The product inspires interactions and connections beyond just the physical relationship.
• Surface: How the product ages and develops character through time and use.

As a strategic approach, "emotionally durable design provides a useful language to describe the contemporary relevance of designing responsible, well made, tactile products which the user can get to know and assign value to in the long-term." According to Hazel Clark and David Brody of Parsons The New School for Design in New York, “emotionally durable design is a call for professionals and students alike to prioritise the relationships between design and its users, as a way of developing more sustainable attitudes to, and in, design things.”

+ 20.02.2014

GOOD DESIGN

What is bad design? Is there bad design? An article from Sevra Davis (link) brings out that bad design takes many forms and in its worst, it can exacerbate a problem rather than solve it. She also questions if that can even be called design? Bad design can be found everywhere. Specially in amateur electronic design tools, which breeds quantity more than quality; it adds to the complexity and abundance of our world, rather than producing clarity.  The author is questioning if there are principles of bad design that we could learn from, to improve good design, and if bad design is a necessary part of the development of good design (in try and try again principle). Today's designer have the responsibility to promote good design. The professional designer needs to not only increase access to design tools, but also champion good design and raise the overall quality of design.

So what is good design?
Many design-related authors and organizations have been working to answer that question, and quite often made a list of principles good design has to have. Here are some main points that have turned up:

• Innovation
• Useful, functional, ease of use
• Aesthetically pleasing, beautiful
• Understandable, self-explanatory quality
• Discreet
• Honest, sincere
• Long-lasting, durable, enduring
• Thought through to the last detail
• Environmentally friendly, sustainable
• The least design possible
• Accessible
• Well made
• Emotionally resonant
• Positive emotions, narrative, symbols
• Socially beneficial
• Ergonomic
• Affordable
• Formal quality
• Symbolic and emotional content
• Product periphery
• Shape
• Colour
• Fun
• Convenient
• Enriching
• Brighter future for humanity
• Ethics
• Adequate in context
• Originality, surprising, impact
• etc.

For me, I believe, in a row of importance, the list would be following:
1) Functionality, useful, ease of use
I think the most important quality of a product is its usefulness. If a product can't perform what it's supposed to, it has no value. It's just a piece of material.

2) Innovative, degree of innovation
Even when a piece does what it's supposed to, good design would develop a way to improve the functionality. It might be to improve current way of use, or even work out even better way how to do something. Something new about the product is essential to make it good.

3) Aesthetically pleasing
The looks are essential. To have an object which does a good job and in a better way is good, but if I want to hide the object right after I have finished using that, it's not a good design.

4) Positive emotions, narrative, symbols
I believe after good looks, it's important that the product emits positive emotions, and makes the user enjoy and feel happy. Having a fun moment while doing everyday tasks lightens the day, which should be considered more while developing designs.

5) Long-lasting, durable, enduring, high-quality
In this world where so much products have a really short life-cycle, but the resources of Earth are decreasing, the designers have the responsibility to develop products that would serve the user for a long time, in good case for a lifetime or more.

6) Environmentally friendly, sustainable
On the other side, if the peculiarity of the product doesn't allow long life-cycle, the designers should be directed towards environmentally friendly materials and production methods.

7) Understandable, self-explanatory quality
The product has to be understandable. As Don Norman has said, it's OK to learn how to use the product once, maybe twice, but after that the use has to be understandable and logical.

+ 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

+ 6.02.2014

CRITICAL DESIGN

   Critical Design is using conceptual design proposals to challenge narrow assumptions and preconceptions about the role products play in everyday life. It's more of an attitude than anything else, a position rather than a method. A lot of people practice that without even knowing to call it Critical Design, and they certainly have their own way of describing what they do. Giving it a name simply draws more activity and attention to the debates related to it.

   Design as critique has many roots, for example Italian Radical Design in the 1970's, which was highly critical of prevailing social values and design ideologies. During the 1990's there was a general move towards conceptual design and noncommercial forms of design like critical design found it easier to exist, though the shift happened mainly in furniture world, and product design is still closely attached to mass market.

   The term of Critical Design origins from Anthony Dunne's book Hertzian Tales (1999). The main practitioners are Dunne, Raby and their graduate students from Royal College of Arts, though there are also other designers who work the similar way.

   The aim of Critical Design is to make us think, but also to raise awareness, expose assumptions, provoke action, spark debate, even entertain in an intellectual way.

   The world where we live in today has become incredibly complex, our relations, desires, fantasies, hopes and fears are very different from those at the beginning of the 20th century, but many ground ideas of design come from the early 20th century. The world has changed, but design has not; Critical Design is one of many movements stemming from changes in design, for it to stay relevant to our complex lives.

   Critical Design also can be humorous, though it's often misused. The goal should be satire, but often parody or pastiche are achieved, which reduce the effectiveness of the message provided. The viewer should experience a dilemma - is this serious or not? Is it real or not? Making up your mind is one part of the process, which can engage the audience in a more constructive way by appealing to its imagination as well as engaging the intellect. Deadpan and black humour work best.

   The biggest misonceptions about Critical Design could be that it's negative and anti-everything; that it's only commentary and cannot change anything; that it's jokey; that it's not concerned with aesthetics; that it's against mass-production; that it's pessimistic; that it's not real; that it's art. To comment the last, Dunne has said that it borrows heavily from art in terms of methods and approaches, but it's not art. Critical design is too close to everyday to be shocking like art is expected to be. It has to be "a bit weird" - too weird and it's considered art, too normal and it will be effortlessly assimilated. If Critical Design is regarded as art, it will be easier to deal with it; as design, it's more disturbing.

   Critical Design is a bit dark, but that's not some goal to achieve. Dark, complex emotions are ignored in design, where people are viewed as obedient and predictable users and consumers. One area Critical Design is questioning is the limited range of emotional and psychological experiences offered through designed products. Design is assumed to make things nice, and that limits us from fully engaging with a designing for the complexities of human nature. The negative is used to draw attention to a scary possibility in the form of a cautionary tale.

+ 23.01.2014

GLOBAL AND LOCAL DESIGN

   Global Design is a creative thinking process enabling a company to embrace a more coherent and sideway concept in its way of communicating, to achieve the best representation and efficiency or the brand or the product. Global design enables you to work in parallel on the product, its design, its production location, its packaging, the graphic communication, and its sale points (interior design). This is a proven method providing the company with tools to grow, assessing each step along the way, in order to assess its innovation capabilities. It also challenges the company in its capacity to respond to new challenges, while remaining within the global coherence of the brand. Example: Nespresso  and Apple didn't become the charismatic brand we all know by chance.
   Behind these success stories, there are real stories to tell, coherence from beginning to end. The initial ambition, the vision, the ideas, the innovation, the creativity, the R&D, the strategy, the hard work, the production, the image, the values, the design, the quality, the commercial strategy, the economic model, the price, the distribution network, the customers, the packaging, the speech, the sale distribution network, the point of sales, the brand name…the customers’ lifestyle to which the brand contributes, social identity components, assurance, pleasure, satisfaction… 
   Brands need to convince over the long haul. Seduction is no longer enough.Companies need to create a strong relationship with their customers and today, more than ever, customers are volatile; they test, zap… Regardless of who the client is, customers nowadays (professionals or individuals) have specific expectations of brands. One of the most pragmatic of these is the question is it “worth the expense”, moreover brands have societal, environmental, and cultural roles beyond their economic and commercial ones. The positioning of the brand chosen by the brand, its discourse, the company policy, its values are becoming part of the brand, bringing it to a new dimension where the relationship with the customer’s satisfaction has become complex.What the product or service is providing is now considered as expected, normal or else… For us, it is no longer enough to communicate and make it look attractive. We build a strong and lasting relationship with our customers, gaining experience over time to better understand and help.The relevance and efficiency of our ideas and solutions comes from this relationship, it is not only a question of creativity, it is first of all our capacity to explore the environment of our customer, to understand all the related components and dimensions in depth, and then to apply our capacity to articulate the mechanisms and develop the appropriate upstream strategy. The meaning comes from its essence, not its appearance.