Ode to my Couch – Designing with Intent

in create, graphic design, musings by faryl on November 22nd, 20087 Comments

Just Creative Design Writing Project

Write something about design.

Design. It’s a pretty big topic.

To try to focus myself on a more specific aspect of the topic, I looked up the definition of “design”.

Here is part of what I found:

noun
-a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, orother object before it is built or made
- purpose, planning, or intention that exists or is thought to exist behind an action, fact, or material object
 verb
- decide upon the look and functioning of (a building, garment, or other object), typically by making a detailed drawing of it
- do or plan (something) with a specific purpose or intention in mind

What strikes me most about the definition is how closely integrated the concept of design seems to be with the concepts of intent, planning and purpose.

Some women who know a little something about design


Which makes me a bit uncomfortable.

It makes me uncomfortable not because I take issue with the definition itself, but because I’ve never been very good at combining those three elements together; certainly not if any sort of creative aspect is involved.

And I don’t really care for things I’m not good at. Yes, I’m a bit small that way. I’m working on it.

So, my initial reaction is that this type of design would stifle the creativity process. It feels dry. Bland.


Controlled and controlling.

In contrast, this definition is more appealing to me:

noun
-an arrangement of lines or shapes created to form a pattern or decoration

Nothing about planning. Nothing about intent. No purpose.

Here, design can be random and arbitrary. Here design can be accidental. An unforeseen outcome of happenstance.

It doesn’t rule out procrastination. There’s room for inspiration.

This makes me comfortable. This I can be good at. To me, this is what creativity is.

But then I think back the first part of the definition. And what the world would be like without that design.

A world with no design.

Now, I don’t mean this in a “design is everywhere”; “design touches everything” vein. Mind you, that was one direction I considered going with this. (Because it is. And it does.)

What I mean is, what happens when we take away the planning and intention element of design?

So I sit here on my couch and ponder (yes, ponder), could we take away that element of design?

My couch is pretty cool. It moves. It’s “L-shaped” and, at the push of a button, one part reclines to an almost horizontal position. I like that.

But what’s really cool about it is the way in which it was designed so that it can do this, while still being able to be placed with it’s back against the wall.

See, I have a feeling this is a result of that first definition. Someone likely gave a lot of thought into engineering a piece of furniture that looks spiffy, is comfortable, and is functionally able to fully recline without having to be placed six or more inches from a wall.

There are the current models of the iPods from...

Image via Wikipedia

The design of iPods, iPhones and everything Apple, too, are a result of the first definition. And those are neither dry nor bland (at least not to me).


As I sit here trying leave you with some semblance of a conclusion, my eyes wander towards my blog.

My blog.

It’s actually filled with purpose, planning and intention.

You know, I think I’m growing more comfortable with that part of the definition.

question mark

What does design mean to you?

Can good design focus on function, at the expense of form?

Conversely, can good design eschew function, with emphasis strictly on form?

Do we need both parts of the definition to achieve truly great design?

This week’s spotlight was on Jacob Cass and the Design Group Writing Project For Charity project at Just Creative Design.   One way to participate is to write something about design. (The other is to donate to the Blog Action Day Poverty Fund.)

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faryl

About the author

I love technology, pop culture, animals & ice cream. I'm firmly against mayonnaise, math & meat.

Responses to “Ode to my Couch – Designing with Intent”

  1. Guy Tessler November.11.2008 @ 7:55 am

    In the picture the couch indeed has a design but it is not yours so who cares.

    The real design here is the room where the couch is in and you will probably find all elements of the definitions of design in the process and actions that led to that final result of a beautiful room.

  2. faryl November.11.2008 @ 6:10 pm

    @Guy Tessler No, not my couch in the picture – still haven’t unpacked from moving and my couch was a bit too messy to snap a pic of! (will have to update that eventually!)

    I would love to be blogging in such a beautifully designed room though!!!

  3. AnneMac November.11.2008 @ 9:18 am

    We see this in art all the time: a design for the sake of art, vs. a design for the sake of function. There appears to be a continuum of design, ranging from the "pure art" idea of freedom from form or guile of any kind, a product of pure imagination with no boundaries, rules or impositions, to the functional concept, where the purpose and planning elements are there to make sure the products, art, services, or whatever is being designed can serve a specific purpose, and follow a set of rules. I think the MOST imaginative designs on the PURPOSE end of the continuum take their ultimate purpose into account in unique ways, while maximizing the goals of the intended customer: form, functionality, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, aesthetics, "peace of mind," etc…. the number of possible goals and their interaction seem infinite.

  4. faryl November.11.2008 @ 10:05 am

    Good points. I like the idea of acontinuum. (I also like the way continuum is spelled!) It brings to mind my dustbuster. It's a”Kone”, designed by Karim Rashid for Dirt Devil – perfect for before I had closets (um, thanks, btw!) as it went perfect with the rest of my living room “mod” furniture :-)

  5. AnneMac November.11.2008 @ 12:01 pm

    I love closets, too. My little house has tiny little closets in the bedroom. One of my future projects will be to rip out the boring shelf and pole in each one and do some kind of built-in solution that makes better use of the depth and height of them. I will need a very good functional design, that's for sure.

    I have an artist friend who is a purist. She categorically rejects my continuum concept, and says it's only art if it's completely unfettered of purpose. Everything else, to her, is a lower form because the creativity is being bound by the requirements of commerce. Oh, and she believes artists suffering in poverty is the only noble way to go, and that no "true" artist benefits commercially from his or her own work in his or her own lifetime. Of course, she hasn't been painting in over 2 decades, and her paintings sell for $8,000 each, so I guess she's afraid of the dirty money. All of which serves only to convince me further that there is no BLACK and WHITE answer to this question. Hence, the continuum. ;) (I like "vacuum" as well.)

  6. faryl December.12.2008 @ 9:38 am

    Interesting about your purist artist friend – I guess it's everyone's different perspectives that keeps life interesting ;-)

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