Thoughts to a Process

Objectified. To express an abstract idea into a concrete form. Throughout the entire documentary by Gary Hustwit they explore this idea of design--taking an idea, translating it into and putting it into a tangible construction, and then realizing that people interpret these elements of design in virtually every moment of their lives. And these elements/gadgets need to perform better than its predecessor without people really explicitly knowing it. The ideas are illustrated with continual visual representations of the products, the processes, and interviews with trained professionals in the field.

Design certainly does no longer follow the saying “Form follows function.” In the new modernist era, many elements are now not obviously observed and classified as what they are. Many new modernist furniture and electronics do not obviously state their function--much of them are more of a form of art instead of just pure straight, functionality.

Another idea brought up in the beginning of the movie, is that people are constantly observing elements of design and asking questions about them. I know this to be true because before th

e narrator made this statement, a white chair was being shown in production. Watching this process move towards the finished product I thought, “How is this made?”, “It looks like it is one piece but I can’t be sure...”, “Is the plastic smooth?”, “Would it be cold to the touch?”, “Is the chair ergonomically comfortable?”, etc..., etc...

Design is the search for form--the designers ask the questions and then search out a process to reach the end product. In this search for unity, a designers’ job is not about what has happened but what is going to happen.

Picture courtesy of: http://www.furniturestoreblog.com/2008/05/09/contemporary_chairs_from_bbb_emmebonacina_of_italy.html