I tend to agree with most of what the designers in “Objectified” had to say about design. Most of them seem to agree that most everything is designed – intentionally or not and that the best designs have stories to tell, are long-lived, get better with age, and connect emotionally with the user. The best designs are those that people want to keep.
I disagree with the statement by Karim Rashid that there is no reason that anyone, in this day and age, should design an uncomfortable chair. I do believe that most chairs should be comfortable; however, there is a time and place for an uncomfortable chair. Uncomfortable chairs can be used to keep people from staying in one place for too long. Fast-food restaurants don’t want their customers to linger for overly-long periods of time, and their business thrives on the fast turn-around. Bus stop benches are purposefully made uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. One reason would be to dissuade the homeless from sleeping on them. Another would be, so people who are waiting for the bus don’t get too comfortable and miss the bus for lack of attention. I tend to read everywhere I go. If the story is interesting enough and I was sitting at a comfortable bus stop, I might get so absorbed in my book that I would miss the fact that my bus was at the stop. Being uncomfortable keeps the user focused on the next task that they need to complete so they can get out of the uncomfortable situation they are currently in.
I was familiar with the concepts being discussed in “Objectified.” Because of this, I did not have an epiphany moment while watching the video. I did find that I related to Bill Moggridge’s story about how, after using the laptop computer he designed, he forgot about the physical design of the product and realized he needed to learn how to design the software as well, so he could design the whole experience. This story made me think of when I first realized that I would like to learn how to build websites. My first experience with “coding” came from designing online products for the company I work for. I was creating templates for our users to create business card through our website and the templates had to match the print versions we had already done. I would get lost in the code, trying to figure out how to accomplish specific tasks. Hours would go by, but it didn’t feel like hours. I realized I was having fun.
I have always thought of design as a way to take the information given to me and make it easy to understand by organizing it in such a way that makes it clearly communicate ideas. The short answer is to “pretty it up.” My view of design started to change when I realized how much more is expected of a designer today than was expected twenty years ago. A designer of yesterday was able to survive by specializing in one area of design with some basic knowledge of other areas. Now, designers must be diverse in their specialties with more than just basic knowledge of other areas. Designers need to be able to think about all aspects of design, not just how the product will look, but how that product will impact the world – “Cradle to grave” design for physical products and thinking about the impact digital products might have on society. Since I have been back to school, my definition of design has changed a bit and will most likely continue to evolve with each new class that I take.