Progression, change and Balance

Functionalism - “the notion that objects made to be used should be simple, honest, and direct; well adapted to their purpose; bare of ornament; standardized; machine-made, and reasonably priced; and expressive of their structure and materials - has defined the course of progressive design for most of the century.” (George Marcus, Functionalism, 1995, p.9.)

Is functionalism a good thing? What are the short term and long term socio-economic, cultural and ecological ramifications of functionalism? What is reasonably priced? As an idea l it is a noble dream of a Utopian world with “good” design for all. But who decides what is good design? In practice it has lead designers to beautiful solutions and terrible ones as well. Un-necessary ornamentation does not necessarily mean bad design, design is in and of itself about ornamentation. Without industrial design everything would look like engineers “designed” it. What of those who like ornamentation? It falls to designers to set the tone but this in and of itself is subjective and as such subject to change at any moment.

On a macro level we all like ornamentation, if we didn’t “that looks like an engineer designed it” would not have a negative connotation and industrial designers would not exist. It is in nature to want things that we perceive to be pretty. Perceiving an object to be beautiful gives it value and even more if others perceive it to be valuable as well. On a micro level we individually decide on the amount of ornamentation we prefer. Functionalism can be a great perspective to design from but not the only perspective to design from. Much of the avant-garde come not from need but from desire and it is the avant-garde that pushes the envelope and shows us a glimpse of the future. The founders of functionalism were great designers but not because of functionalism but rather functionalism became popular because of the great designers. It was a reaction to what had come before and without excessive ornamentation, extreme contrast, functionalism would just be plain and boring. If everything was functionalist people would start to design using excessive ornamentation to find contrast and balance. Seeking change, contrast and balance are what life is about. Without it we would, maybe have, become complacent, jaded, indifferent and bored. We must find the comfortable balance through innovative thoughtful design not matter the amount of ornamentation.

We currently live in a time of uncertainty and crisis. The environment is in a precarious state, the world economy is headed down the drain, people are becoming more isolationist by the minute. How did you we get here? The concept of “democratic” design is partially responsible. The concept of universally accessible design has led us to deplete resource at an incredible rate, fill/create landfills at an incredible rate and consume beyond our means and need. Designing reasonably priced products in this day and age generally means making sacrifices in materials, construction and design. Also the accessibility of products has fostered gluttony. We acquire things for the sake of having things and discard things recently acquired to make room to acquire new things we don’t need. Having more “stuff” does not make it better. Part of the problem is we are not satiated by a so-so product, or at best only for a short period of time. It’s like eating fast food, you go through the motions of eating, you tastes vaguely of it real counterpart but does not contain the same amount of nourishment and thus your body tells you to eat more. At this point you have a choice eat more crap or take the time, spend the many and make the effort to cook something that will taste better and nourish you longer. You can eat far less if it contains the right ingredients. You avoid obesity and are healthier of body and spirit. This translates to design as well designed, well fabricated products will take you farther and keep you content for longer.

The tenets of functionalism, as stated by George Marcus, may not be the solution for the future, in fact if ones believes the tenets then it is at least partially responsible for the problem. This is not to say functionalism is bad it has lead to some incredible designs. The change we as designers need to affect is that there needs to be accountability. There needs to be a revolution in design where designers are held accountable for their designs. Some might argue that designers are not always to blame for a bad design, that it is often the engineers or “bean counters” that ruin a perfectly good design and it may be a valid point, but not the less it starts with the designer and we need to get away from our “pass the buck” culture. Along with this and/or as a result of it we need to be more considerate in our designs by designing products that will encourage a much needed paradigm shift. Shifting our habits and mind set towards conservation and quality. Recognizing the difference between that which we want and that which we need. By changing what peoples perception of “accessible” is from cheap, short term acquisition to quality long term investment. We think nothing of getting a loan for fifteen thousand dollars to buy a car in this country yet we balk at a chair that costs eight hundred, even though a quality chair will prove to be beautiful and useful asset long after most cars will be rusting in a landfill somewhere. It is a dangerous prospect that to endure as a race we, the designers, must run the risk of designing ourselves into extinction by designing better, more durable, more timeless products. Also by designing better products less will be needed this has the negative side effect of needing less labor which translates to less jobs. Perhaps, and hopefully, it will only mean more work to produce less volume and higher quality. Change is needed. We should start now.

Functional Chairs:
Functionalism - "the notion that objects made to be used should be simple, honest, and direct; ell adapted to their purpose; bare of ornament; standardized; machine-made, and reasonably pcriced; and expressive of their structure and materials - has defined the course of progressive design for most of the century." (George Marcus, Functionalism, 1995, p.9)
Chairs are inherently functional. They are designed to rest in and as such have certain parameters built into their design, namely human geometry. Designers will constrain the function of the chair by limiting the geometry to a tight focus, the Valet chair is a prime example of this as it is designed for men and specific needs thereof. Alternately designers will expand it to encompass a broad spectrum, the Pantower designed for one or more people to sit in a variety of configurations or the Aeron chair designed to to conform perfectly to the needs of a specific individual. Designs can be further refined by adding a specific function or set of functions to the chair , the Valet’s ability to hold clothes, Barcelona being targeted at certain audiences, Thonet’s No.14 and its mass production success. Chairs, due to their functional nature, lean heavily towards functionalism and are better for it they are. Many beautiful designs have been driven by function and purity of material yet some stand apart from the rest because certain aesthetic choices were taken into consideration. When speaking of chairs function is paramount but there is room for ornamentation at times, though often the ornamentation stems from and innovative solution for a sought after function. Functionalism does not mean devoid of ornamentation it means devoid of ornamentation for ornamentation's sake. Take Shaker design for example, it does not have frivolous ornamentation but it has beautiful details incorporated into it. This is accomplished by carefully considering a necessary function and highlighting it within the design. A key to beautiful, meaningful design is recognizing which functions can and/or should be highlighted. This is much easier to preach than to practice, highlighting a handle instead of a hinge or joint can mean the difference between beautiful and terrible design.


1859
Chair Model no.14, Designed by Micheal Thonet for mass production constructed of bent solid wood with a wicker seat. This simple chair form remains one of the most successful and copied chair designs of all time. By 1930 50 million had been sold worldwide.


1929
Barcelona Chair by Ludwig Meis van der Rohe. The chair was inspired by the folding chairs of the Pharaohs and the X shaped footstools of the Romans. Designed for dignitaries and royals the Pavillion.


1953
Valet model no.PP250 by Hans J. Wegner. This chair (a.k.a. The Bachelor’s Chair) was designed to serve as a valet. The back formed to hold a jacket, the seat when lifted up holds a pair of pants and the tray revealed under the seat holds small personal affects.


1968-1969
Pantower by Verner Panton, The Pantower is an example of Verner Pantons desire to design comfortable, functional, playful seating that railed against preconceived notions of seating.


1992
Aeron Chair by Donald Chadwick & William Stumpf. Designed based on letting fuction dictate the form. The designers developed a convictions about how the chair should function. The chair should do whatever it can to aleviate the stress caused by sitting for too long, it should accomodate a wide variety of body types, it should adjust to support an individual in any postition the wish and should have minimal impact on resources.

Interactive Lighting:
Light is an essential part of human existence and wellbeing. It can heal, warm, illuminate, give security to name a few. It is a necessary constant in our lives and yet is constantly in flux. Interactive lighting engages us because it taps into an instinctual response to fluctuating light ,a response rooted in natural light. Often the interactive light source is one that is provided/used in an environment devoid natural light which satiates a fundamental need. Our natural fascination with light has led to innovative uses and abuses of it. Interactive light has been (and will be) used to communicate, educate, entertain, stimulate social interaction, help with mental stimulation/wellness and now applied to physical stimulation/wellness. Non television based interactive lighting design is on the rise,hopefully this trend will continue for a long time
to come and bring many more innovative concepts and applications of interactive light.


January 26th, 1925
John Logie Baird gives a demonstration of of the fisrt working television system tomembers of the Royal Institution Unlike later electronic systems with several hundred lines of resolution, Baird's vertically scanned image, using a scanning disk embedded with a double spiral of lenses, had only 30 lines, barely enough to reproduce a recognizable human face.


1975
Pong home videogame console, a simple digital representation of ping pong and yet the most complicated consumer product to date, hits the market . Christmas 1975 found people lined up outside Sears stores, the sole retailer, waiting to buy pong units at a price of $100 ($400 modern equivalent) giving a glimpse of what was to come (Christmas 2006 parents lined up to purchase a Sony Playstation 3 starting at about $450).


1978
The world is introduced to Simon. In 1977 Howard Morrison and Ralph Baer invented a microcomputer controlled game that was easy to learn and simple to play requirirng the player(s) to memorize a pattern and key it in when prompted.This revolutionary game won the hearts of millions. The red, yellow, green and blue flashing lights became forever synonymous with the game.


1991
The artwork by P.Struycken is controlled by a euroGenie computer. It uses the existing data network of the NAi building to control the switching of three types colored fluorescent tubes: red, green and blue. At night the colors change every ten minutes. “pattern recognition and endless variations seem to be in contradiction with each other, but in nature they are closely related. imagine a park with trees. even if the trees would not change, every new walk through the same park could be different. it is possible to make a sequence (logical array) of walks that virtualy never repeats. the view is always changing, but not random. this is characteristic for the work. these patterns have an irresistible effect on people. probably the unpredictable change generates a mental effect similar or comparable to that of the patterns experienced in nature.” (Mathijs van Mannen)


Now
Lightspace Play is an entertainment system that combines the latest lighting and interactive technologies to produce a recreational experience for children and adults of all ages. It includes an interactive floor surface comprised of 16”x16” programmable LED lit and pressure sensitive tiles constructed to fit a 10 foot square space. Each tile consists of sixteen 4” x 4” pixels that can display any color, pattern or image. The surface is able to detect location, movement and density of players to give a realistic gaming experience. Reactions to player movements are displayed on the surface and are accompanied by sound effects. The combination of physical movement and the compelling nature of video games have led many formerly sedentary people to spend several hours a week engaging in aerobic activity and enjoying it. (Lightspace)

Recording the Passed:
Throughout history we see a symbiotic relationship between time keeping and scientific advancement. Scientific advancement allows for more precise measurement of the passage of time which in turn allows for more precise scientific measurement. As ime keeping became more accurate so did human need for it to be so. Contemporary society is dependent on precise time. All modern technologies such as transportation, communication, financial transactions, manufacturing, electric power, to name a few, rely on precision time keeping and timing. Modern science and technology continue to drive innovation in time keeping which in turn will drive advances in science and technology and the cycle will continue on. More than a half billion watches are sold worldwide. The measurement of the passage of time not only allows us to look back clearly but forward as well.

1500bc
Egyptians create “Shadow Clock” also known as a sun dial. The dial was divided into ten parts with two twilight hours indicated. It required a 180 degree rotation at noon to measure the afternoon hours. The most accurate time measurement device to date, but limited to daytime measurement only do to its reliance on the sun.


325bc
Greeks begin using Clepsydras (Greek for water thieves). Clepsrydras are among the first devices not to be reliant on the movement of celestial bodies to calculate the passage of time. The earliest version of an alarm clock is found in a Greek Clepsydras. Greeks and Romans continue to refine/advance the device between 100 BC and 500 AD. Eventually the inability to accurately calculate/control the flow of water led to other approaches, yet water clocks were still in use in regions of Africa through the early 20th century.


1761
John Harrison, carpenter and self-taught clock maker, wins prize offered by by british government in 1914 to create a time keeping device accurate enough for ship navigation. Harrison’s pocket watch looses only five seconds on a voyage between England and Jamaica.


1949
The Nation Institute of Technology and Standards (NIST) creates the first atomic clock using Amonia. This is soon replaced by the more accurate Cesium atomic clock. In 1967 the Cesium atom’s frequency is internationally recognized as the new unit for time measurement. For the first time the second is not measured by the earth’s motions in space.


1975
Sinclaire releases “The Black Watch”, one of the first production digital watches. Using quartz crystal technology which became the dominant time keeping technology in 1927 due to its accuracy and cost. It remains the predominant mechanism used today. Though the “Black Watch” turned out to be a “lemon” it was a sign of things to come.