Assignment 5, film review

  

Objectified

Film review by Jekaterina Hitruhhina, Merje Meisalu, Darja Djatsenko

Foundations of HCI, 2013

Introduction

This film was produced in 2009 by Gary Hustwit, gives a great overview over the backstage and philosophy of the design process, illustrating how the designers really shape the way we do certain things and perform certain acts. The designers from all over the world introduce their designing methods and provide the examples of their work. Moreover, the author of the film tries to discover in what direction the design process will evolve in the future.

Main part

Main idea of the video let the objects speak for themselves. Once a person sees an object, he or she immediately interprets how this object might be used, what is its functionality as well as how much it should cost, just basing on its appearance. This is why the design of any object is a very significant part of its production. However, the designers’ task is not only to make the object good-looking. It is of a great importance to make that object functional. This also means that any object could be re-designed further and further on, being continually  improved for people’s use.

It is never easy to predict how a certain object will be actually used. This will always greatly depend on cultural differences between people and their individual characteristics. Still, by observing how people behave, by discovering what they feel while using a product, designers can optimize the look of an object and make it usable for a larger amount of people.

The designer from Smart Design Company, located in New York, stated that in their company they are always trying to figure out the most “extreme use” of their products. He gave a good example of a lady with arthritis and potato chopper, saying that once this kitchen device can be designed for this lady to be safe and comfortable to use, the other people will be happy with it too: “middles take care of themselves”. This is why it is always important to understand what is the purpose of any designed object and who is going to use it.

Interestingly enough, even though all the designers introduced in the film were working in different countries all over the world, that particular conviction is what unites them and drives in their work: making the objects as easy as possible for people’s use, while the design itself should be as unnoticeable as possible. Yet, it looks that the big companies tended to underestimate the role of a good design in connection to a good business and only recently the things started to change.

Conclusion

           

            Different designers, different objects designed by them and different point of views about this “term”. They have different attitude to design and make to people selection of objects and all the time are in the process of improving something. The movie is a good example to pay attention to different parts of design industry and how the system of developing productions is working. Designers are in power to improve our life, because they day by day doing it!