The Function Of Form/The Form Of Function

Form and function are two sides of the same coin when it comes to design. Function can be derivative of form and form can arrive from function. The challenge is deciding which one takes precedent and creating harmony between the two. Many objects begin with an initial idea and the form and function are discovered on he fly.

One of the objects that comes to mind when I think of unified form and function are shoes (big surprise). To the untrained eye and uninformed consumer, many of the latest shoe innovations and technologies may seem nothing more than aesthetic evolution that is inevitable in any design. The newest technologies being offered by Nike are anything but. While they are aesthetically pleasing, their function is the underlying force behind their implementation.

These newest technologies come in the way of Flywire, next generation Flywire, and the new Hyperfuse construction method. Flywire is a high tensile strength fiber construction developed from technologies NASA uses to construct weather balloons. The new Hyperfuse is derived from the needs of basketball players in China and constructed without any stitching or environmentally harmful glues, giving the name to the shoe because it is fused together with heat.

Both of these technologies have become the pinnacle of lightweight modern basketball shoes and are appealing because of their innovative technologies, but these technologies are communicated with their form. The sleek styling of the Hyperdunk, which uses flywire, illustrates its cutting edge personality and lightweight performance without overpowering the consumer with its message.

The Hyperfuse exhibits a more utilitarian profile and conveys its intended use as a durable street/indoor basketball shoe that can withstand the heat, humidity, and conditions needed by Chinese basketball players. Both shoes found forms that are derivative of their functions. Both seamlessly (pun intended) blend form and function in a marriage of stable and sustainable design that appeals to informed and uninformed consumers alike. There is no over-embellishing of either and the two feed off each other the way any well-executed design should.

Stone Soup

Marcia Brown’s Stone Soup is a classic for all ages. While considered a children’s book it is still a fun exercise for adults, especially aspiring and professional designers. Dr. James Housefield, a professor of design at UC Davis and many other accreditations that would require a whole other blog, understands this importance and includes it in his curriculum. The emphasis of play coalesces into an activity of teamwork and creativity. Like the book, something is created from virtually nothing. Unlike the book, the design exercise focuses on the employment of recycled materials into a three-dimensional sculpture for lack of a better word. I was lucky enough to participate in this exercise in Dr. Housefield’s class twice, once last year as a student and again this year as a mentor to the students.

I found this year very enjoyable as I was able to watch my group confront design problems and solve them. They implemented the tools of ordinarily discarded “rubbish” into specific roles and worked towards a common goal. The aspect of play induced creativity that may be ordinarily hard to find with a group of people you barely know, but by the end they were working as a singular design team.

They constructed a humanoid figure complete with personality and style. Paper arms and legs attached to a box torso with ribbon hair became an identity of the group as all their personalities poured into the creation reflected back onto the audience. I am confident in their abilities in designers and found watching the design process as fulfilling as being apart of it. Stone Soup is a way of seeing the world and confronting obstacles that are to be overcome through unity and cooperation. This philosophy extends beyond just design and is a welcome refresher to the monotony of protocol.

Picture courtesy of Amanda Cheung

Creativity From Without

When I design I constantly look for inspiration or “creativity from without”. By that I mean the opposite of within. Design is a discipline that requires certain knowledge of self but I find the most out about myself when I leave my comfort zone and challenge myself to see things differently and work from a different perspective.

As a designer our vision is not necessarily what our audience is looking for and as a designer our audience are our clients and essentially our barometer of success. If we only concerned ourselves with what we saw fit in an attempt to express what’s within us we would be artists, not designers. Design is looking around us and finding ways to improve life and communication through color type and image. I adore companies that do this and take otherwise miniscule concepts and expand on them exponentially until it becomes its own individual creation that stands alone and can in turn inspire others. If you have read my blog you will know I am enamored by Jordan Brand. They have created timeless shoes inspired by, obviously Michael Jordan, but propelled by concepts such as a panther for the Jordan XIII, the X-15 fighter jet for the Jordan XV and more recently the art of fencing for the Jordan 2009. All of those inspirations are disparate departures from the sport of basketball but are appropriated and infused into the legacy of Jordan Brand and in turn the sport of basketball by the wearers of the shoes. It is inspiration and creativity like this that keeps design fresh. There is no need for these departures but by challenging yourself as a designer you expand your palette as well as your range. It is like an opera singer experimenting with hardcore rap. It develops an appreciation for all things because all things we come in contact with have been designed. Everything is inspiration and inspiration is everywhere. Creativity lies within all of us, but it is the creativity that surrounds us that propels us.

Design As A Conversation

Design is a conversation. It is a perpetual discourse between audience and designer, between consumer and brand, between reality and conception. The two inform each other in a never-ending dance of tug and pull, advancements and retreats until equilibrium is found…which it rarely ever is. The dynamic relationship of the designer and his/her audience is what makes this field so engaging. The conversation is not just confined to the designer and the audience either. It pervades the landscape of design before anything is ever produced. The conversation includes advertisers, marketing, engineers and accountants maintaining a budget. The conversation speaks in a universal language of haptic and optic and not necessarily words. The conversation speaks with numbers and colors and is a system of inputs based on outputs and vice versa.

Design must pursue the inquisition of what is needed or can be improved and not dictate what is appropriate. A good designer is never satisfied with the final product because satisfaction breeds complacency. A good designer is always listening, looking and feeling for a way to improve their craft. A good designer is a listener and does their talking with their ideas and contributions. This is why some of the best designs go unnoticed, because they fit so well and execute their function flawlessly so they need not be addressed. The conversation will never end because the world will always need improvement. The conversation will never die as long as life persists. The conversation is happening right now…have you spoken up yet?

Design Experienced

I was asked to remember my first positive memory of design. Not design as in the courses I am taking, but design as in a well-designed product or image. As I recollect on my past experiences with products I recall for their design I encounter a conundrum. Dieter Rams’ quote “good design is as little design as possible” from his ten principles of design comes to mind in that all the products I encounter that are well-designed I hardly notice due to their good design. Design I notice is obtrusive and counter-intuitive. Design I remember is frustrating and not good design at all. It was only until I was old enough to appreciate good design that I began to remember it.

I remember my parents VCR and how it ate tapes if the stop button was not pressed before doing anything. I thought “why is this not better? how come this was released with such an obvious flaw?” I remember one of my first raincoats as a child. The colors were sloppily chosen and their values did not harmonize at all. The coat also did not stop the rain due to inferior materials and bad ingenuity when it came to the construction of the garment. I remember awkwardly large and graphically cluttered advertising and packaging that was no more than a waste of color and materials. When thinking about all these bad designs I am able to draw something positive from it though. It left me asking “how can this be better?” and drove me to where I am today in pursuit of a degree in design and, more importantly, a career. My first positive experience of design is that I don’t have one because it was well-designed. I didn’t notice it because it became an extension of me and my needs, which is what all design should be; an extension of ourselves and our needs.