Design for Life is about the journey of 12 young British designers who are challenged, critique and eliminated by Phillipe Starck and his team, to vie for a 6-month placement at Philippe Starck's design firm. Compared to other video tasks, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Design for Life the most; the project briefs set by Starck are similar to the ones we receive in our IDES course, the objectives and aims were so broad it was hard to find a source of inspiration to begin from. I particularly enjoyed observing how each contestant derived their sources of inspiration; some were drawn from personal history, others were from museums, exhibitions, supermarkets and even watching how blind people interact on the train! Another important aspect was the focus on manufacturing, branding and advertising towards the end of the series; these are design issues, which allow for successful communication of the product to the world.
“Good design speaks about life and can be the force and power to change society, even with simple items” Quoted by Starck; I absolutely agree as every minute detail and decision involved in product design can evolve the way we currently live life. Similar to the philosophy behind the Objective Video, these simple items we use everyday impact our lives greatly (and positively). Starcks design philosophy is to create “useful, beautiful, sustainable and democratic objects used by everyone” and “to help the tribe, society & civilization to have a better life”. This reminds me of last week’s studio lecture, where if you design for a certain group of users who are of the extreme scale, like the disabled, then the design is democratic enough to be used by the overall population.
I have learnt a lot from watching this series (it has had a more profound impact on me than the other documentaries). To design is to immerse yourself in other peoples’ lives as you are designing for unmet needs, which haven’t been articulated yet. Part of being a designer is to have self-belief and confidence in your design in order to communicate the work and needs to be carried with passion, conviction and an articulate argument; “50% is to sell your idea by captivating and entertaining the client through perfomance”.
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