Objectified explores a plethora of mindsets and definitions of design. It features real people from the world of design. Each brings their own experiences and ideas to the table. This makes for a very interesting viewing.
Design is made up of a lot of things. Everybody has an answer for “what is design?” The truth is, no answer is wrong. A lot was said in Objectified. “Design is art.” “Design is simple.” “Design is the search for form.” All of these can be true, but a question that hovers around throughout the film is “what makes a design good?” Plenty of answers can be found. A couple of things that stood out to me early on were the Japanese toothpick and the shot of two plates containing the same food. The toothpick had multiple uses. These uses depend on the culture, there was a feature that was used very commonly in Japanese culture that would have no use in other cultures such as American. I believe the two food dishes were shown to showcase the different eating habits of the two people enjoying their meals. One was very neat and organized, the other absolutely destroyed his meal. These two examples show just how different people can be. This leads me to believe that a good design should be able to satisfy the needs of different people. It shouldn’t cater to a specific type of person. Now, it’s impossible to satisfy EVERY person, but your audience is going to shrink if you don’t expand your target. Another attempt at answering this question was when one designer brought up the fact that there are objects that were made decades ago that are still used today. Examples would be cars or furniture. It can be inferred that “good design” should stand the test of time.
The range of ideas that Objectified considers is interesting. It’s a lot to digest. Every designer had his/her own definition of design and what he/she though made for a good design. The most interesting part: I didn’t hear a single thing I disagreed with.