Objectified was an interesting watch and it reinforced a lot of my ideas as a designer. I didn’t know a lot about what professionals in my desired field did and being able to see their processes makes me feel a lot better about my own work ethic. For example, when these designers are brainstorming ideas they do a mind web and write down absolutely every idea on post-it notes and arrange them by category. That’s the method I’ve used for every single project, paper, and speech I’ve worked on. These designers also stress the significance of every little design choice, which I knew was important but didn’t realize just how important it was.
It was interesting to see how all the designers agreed and disagreed on points they were making. One designer said that you needed to remove as much as you can to keep a design simple, whereas another designer wanted to add things to make it more aesthetically pleasing. It’s unclear which is the correct way to do it, as both designers are highly regarded. But it’s interesting to see how they approach it, and I believe I’d rather remove as much as I can to keep it simple, because adding buttons on a couch merely for aesthetic purposes may not please everyone. I need to empathize with my users.
One big thing that changed about my view of design was the purpose of redesigning. Throughout my life, I never really pick up on problems with objects, I just think “well that’s just how it is and it works so it doesn’t need to change.” But that couldn’t be further from the truth, as anything can be redesigned, and probably should be. One example used in the film was hedge shears. An elderly woman was having issues cutting her hedges because her shears were bothering her arthritis. So the designers were able to redesign how the handle was shaped and this gave her a better grip, therefore removing the issue. As dumb as it sounds, I usually just assume things just are the way they are, and it’s pointless to redesign something.
Another thing I never realized was designing around the longevity of a product. One designer made it very clear that because iPhones are updated so often, they should be designed with biodegradable material. iPhones aren’t meant to last forever, there’s a new one nearly every year, so why are they designed to last so long? One might argue that we need them designed this was so they don’t break, but most people buy cases to protect their phones so that argument is out. If we’re going to buy cases to protect our phones anyway, why aren’t designers making them to be environmentally friendly so they aren’t piling up in dumps?
I used to see design as a way for the designer to communicate with the user, and I think that comes from my graphic design background. I thought of 2D posters or digital ads that were meant to persuade or inform. Now I think of design as a way for the designer to empathize with the user/viewer and effectively give them the information or product that they want so well that they don’t even realize it. For example, hedge shears should be designed so well that anyone of any age could use them without an issue, they don’t even realize how well it was designed, they merely use the product. Information should be so readily available and easy to find that the user doesn’t have to think about it. And the designer really has to empathize with users of all ages and backgrounds to make something that good.