Objectified

It was an interesting film that introduced different designer’s philosophy and opinions on design. Different designer’s thoughts have made me think a lot about what values I have in as a design student. This film gave me the opportunity to see design with new eyes. It made me see design as something much more than I thought.
Every object speaks to the person viewing the object and we make so many assumptions about an object after the first sight. “Every objects tell a story if you know how to read it” –Henry ford. We have to have the ability to read the product. We have to understand the design to be able to design well. It also makes sense the other way around. When designing something, we need to be able to make the person viewing the product to understand the design for it to be a good design. Design should be understandable.
When designing, we need to know the extremes (such as person with arthritis). We always have to design for people to improve their daily lives, for them to be able to enjoy using the product. To come up with a good design, designer must know what the person wants, even better than they do.
It is hard to keep up with what people want because people always ask for something new and something different. As soon as you design something, it now becomes the past and people soon seek for something new and innovative. Good design is designing so that it does not age as fast as other products. It is hard, but designing a product that people want to keep is what all designers are aiming for.
Design is the way that you look at the world. It is such an extraordinary thing that designers get to design whatever they have in mind and produce it to reveal what you had inside to the world. You never know how people will react with your design, whether they’ll accept it as a good design or just see it as ordinary product until it has been produced and brought out to the world. So to come up with a good design, a lot of knowledge is needed. When I saw Mark Newson’s collection of different materials, it made me realize that designers should continuously experiment and explore materials. I don’t have much knowledge in materials but from now on I will invest my time in learning about materials and its properties. When a good design idea is made from exploring with materials, designers must have a clear understanding of the material used and its impact to the environment. We have to be conscious that most of the products we design will end in the landfill sooner or later. We should consider the cradle to grave concept, not just designing with materials just because of its aesthetic aspects but study and be well aware of its effects on the environment after its life.
Interesting design is created when you start from one idea and continuously develop your mind through mindmaps which will lead you to where you never been able to think before.