Design does not exist in a vacuum. Products and design in the broadest sense of the word, reflect values that emerge from society. As new technologies, behaviors, needs and desires arise, new opportunities for design emerge. This process is continuous and happens across disciplines and socio-cultural boundaries. It implies an important responsibility for designers to think about where they want society to go.
Analyzing where society is going and creating products that best fulfill the identified needs, is not enough and dismisses to a large extent our responsibility and influence. As we enter an age characterized by environmental concerns on one hand and immense technological opportunities for intelligent products on the other, I believe it to be imperative for design to move beyond traditional ideals.
Design needs to transcend traditional ideals of functionality, aesthetics of form and ease of use. Human life is about much, much more, and as technology is ever increasingly becoming an inseparable part our lives through which we experience the everyday, it is important to create products that exhibit profound meaning.
I am very interested in the semantics of form, but also fascinated by the opportunity for designs to acquire meaning by appealing to users on an intellectual level, in addition to the sensed. This interest grew as I progressed through the second year, where I was introduced to Aesthetic Interaction – A Pragmatist’s Aesthetics of Interactive Systems [Marianne Graves Petersen et al.]. This paper discusses ideas concerning quality as viewed by American Pragmatist philosophy to be introduced in the design of Interactive Systems.
These ideas allowed me to turn an interest into a more concrete foundation for my design vision. In his book “Art as Experience”, John Dewey addresses the
expanding gap between the worlds of art and daily life. Daily artifacts in ancient times were adorned with decorations, signifying a profound and meaningful connection towards
their users. A stark contrast with most modern artifacts, that often seem meaningless and disposable, disconnected from art which is commonly found in sterile musea.
Dewey argues the aesthetic experience, or quality, is not something that exists a priori in the world, but something that is released in dialogue with the world and objects around us. As an American Pragmatist, he approaches aesthetic experience as something that comes from both a bodily, or sensed, experience and an intellectual experience, where we relate something to our memories, knowledge, hopes, dreams, fears and desires. These two processes are interdependent and inseparable, meaning that our experience of the aesthetic cannot be disconnected from its socio-historical context. As such, the aesthetic becomes something that is personal, heartfelt and creates profound meaning and it offers the opportunity for design to celebrate diversity.
This concept has become a vehicle for me to find direction in my design projects, it means that beyond the traditional methods of creating beauty, i.e. in form, one can explore ways to create beauty in an intellectual sense as well. By looking at the essence of a problem or design goal, approaching design from an a holistic point of view and purposely looking how things can be done differently, a product can acquire true conceptual depth.
By exploring the meaning of an object or experience, by playing with perception and convention, design can transcend the archetypical. I believe it to be imperative for the design of intelligent products to call upon more than simple motor skills and cognitive abilities. Design needs to call upon man’s intellect that is able to understand ambiguity, complexity and irony, that is able to adapt, learn and choose. The authenticity that is missing in so many of the products around us: in art, in music, in literature, in poetry, in the lives people lead and the work they create. To create meaningful products, design needs to become just as diverse. We need products that by their form, their function, their symbolism or interaction offer profound meaning. Products that excite imagination, spark interest, are fun to use or make one think. This is the way to transcend the familiar, archetypical, thoughtless and mindless into the original, authentic and expressive. A difficult task, but I believe that this is the way for products to become the meaningful artifacts they deserve to be according to the place they take in our lives.