The documentary film, Objectified, by Gary Hustwit deals with the everyday objects of our lives and how they are designed. The documentary mentions how people don't even notice the things they use everyday, that is, until those everyday things start to bother them.
One company that the film focuses on is Smart Design, which is a design, research, and consultancy firm located in New York and San Francisco. Much of their work deals with ergonomics, or listening to consumers problems with objects and re-designing the objects to improve them. One project that they worked on was a fruit and vegetable peeler, and how the handle is difficult to grip for people with arthritis. Eventually they came up with the idea of using a bike handle as a template for a new handle since a bike handle is larger and easier to keep a hold on.
As mentioned above, we take for granted the everyday things we use, and we often don't think about how they are designed and how that design affects us. Takahama Kyoshi, a Japanese designer, uses the phrase "design dissolving in behavior." When something is designed well, the use of it is simple and effortless. For instance, Apple products are cleanly and simply designed, and their interfaces are very user friendly, which makes their products very popular.
In design form dictates function; in other words, the form of the object shows how it is supposed to be used. Objectified highlighted the fact that with the more advanced technology we have nowadays, such as microchips and memory cards, we are able to create more complicated products and design them to take and shape or form we want. For instance, cameras were originally made in the classic rectangular shape because film rolls were also large and rectangular. However, modern digital cameras use tiny, square memory cards to keep data on pictures. One could design a camera to any shape and size they preferred. So why are digital cameras still rectangular?
Photo Credits:
New Raleigh
Geek Sugar
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