Thursday, May 24, 2012

Simple Is As Simple Does


Today's designboom daily email highlighted a lamp that caused me some irritation. The lamp was said to focus on simplicity and honesty in design.  




I agree with the observation of honesty. Its construction is transparent. It is straightforward, direct.

Simply said, it did focus on simplicity. It consists of three elements: a clothes pin, a hanging bare bulb and a lamp shade. But I like my simplicity to be a little neater, a little cleaner, a little subtler, a little quieter. By using an object (the clothes pin) for an unintended purpose (as a base for a bulb AND to clip the shade), this lamp is speaking rather loudly and it is saying: "Look at me, aren't I clever? Bet you wouldn't have thought to do this." And so on. It is quite proud of itself. It is anything but simple.

Commenter Charles wrote: " I made the very same lamp 40 years ago as a student because i had no money to buy a proper lamp. Mine used a thin plastic sheet and a heavy spring clamp like you see in a woodworking shop. I also made a light table just as simply and never considered these to be good design, just acts of desperation in poverty."

He continued: "The lamp is in fact not great design."

Commenter J Jones wrote: "What constitutes great design, if not simplicity and novelty in the use of every-day materials? It doesn't depend on "it's been done before;" it depends on its current attractiveness and the appreciation it generates."


Charles is right. Simplicity and honestly in design is obviously a worthy goal but if we are going to praise something and hold it above other things, we need better standards than just those two criteria.

J Jones is wrong. If simplicity and novelty constitutes great design then my use of used chewing gum as a rest for chopsticks during dinner would be a good idea. And oh so clever.




Monday, May 21, 2012

Is Anybody Out There?


I see that my last post was in July of 2011. That was just before my deep descent into thesis land started. After all the flailing, near downing, and gasping for air, I have finally surfaced with my MFA in Design Criticism from the School of Visual Arts firmly clutched in my grubby little fingers. It doesn't mean I get to be snarky about ugly things and gush over cool things. It means I can analyze and evaluate design through a lens that is social, cultural, and historic. It means I can peel back layers and look at the implications of the things we make, from single objects to embedded cultural beliefs. I have learned to look harder. I have a new set of tools to use now. Of course, I will still go after ugly things but with better reason. Hee!