Aesthetic ideals, part II
Functionalism & Usability
Provocation & Criticism
Playfulness, Intrigue & Challenge
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Aesthetic ideals
Coherency
Emotions & pleasure
Pragmatism, Somaesthetics and tangibility
Functionalism & Usability
Provocation & Criticism
Playfulness, Intrigue & Challenge
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
1
Functionalism & Usability
This last year you have been trained to design
functional, usable artifacts...
...but what is the story behind this?
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
19th century: Mechanisation
USA, 19th century
– A culture of mass production
– Increasing mechanisation
Trends
–
–
–
–
–
Transparent construction
Ease of use
Durable
Economic
Versatility
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
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The rise of functionalism
Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia 1876
The Great Exhibition London 1851
–
–
–
–
–
Showing designs
Sharing knowledge
Inspire
Spur competition
Start discussion
Crystal Palace, London
Æ
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
The rise of functionalism
Slow shift from ornament and hidden construction
towards versatiliy
Statue of Liberty 1886, Eiffel Tower 1887-89, Bergere chair early 19th century,
Thonets "Konsumstuhl Nr. 14" 1859
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Functionalism
“It is the pervading law of all things organic and
inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical,
of all things human and all things superhuman, of
all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of
the soul, that the life is recognizable in its
expression, that form ever follows function. This is
the law.”
– Louis H. Sullivan 1903 in “The tall office building
artistically considered”
You’ve already heard this in relation to another
ideal – which one?
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Modernism (peak 1910-1930)
International movement united by the ideas that
– Art needed a new place in society ...and hence artists too,
had a new place and task
– Design should be adapted to mass production
– Form expressing only function and construction
– Universal forms (vs selling forms); an idea that still is a
principle that never seems to work, hence year models and
new designs
– The abstract should be the ideal, absence of ornaments
– Light, cleanness, hygienic, new
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Modernism
Top left: Computer graphic of famous chair
designed by Marcel Breuer (16th July 2006,
Borowski)
Top right: T-Ford. Henry Ford first believed this
was the perfect car, that it did not need
improvement.
Bottom right: Painting by Piet Mondrian
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
The rise of functionalism
Der Deutsche Werkbund (1907-1934, 1950-)
– Work Federation containing artists, architects, designers,
manufacturing companies, industrialists and journalists
– "Vom Sofakissen zum Städtebau" (from sofa cushions to
city-building)
– Exhibitions, catalogues showing ”good” design
Aimed to ensure product quality
– Technically and artistically
– Increase competitiveness of German products
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Functionalism in Germany
Clash in Cologne!!! Where was design in Germany
going?
Hermann Muthesius
– Sachlichkeit (practical,
usable)
– Clean design, no mixture of
styles
– Typisierung; the creation
of archetype products and
prototypes for a
streamlined mass
production
Henry van de Velde,
Walther Gropius
– Archetypes cannot be
created form scratch, they
evolve
– Forms and products should
be the result of the
designer’s artistic vision
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Functionalism in Germany
Clash in Cologne: Both sides wanted quality and
ease of use, but disagreed on the means to get it
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Functionalism spreading...
The two most influential industrial design schools
were German...
Bauhaus (1919-1933)
– Uniting art & craft
– Students should learn a
craft and applied art
– Learning by doing
– Gesamtkunstwerk; Bau
und Bühne
Ulm (1953-1968)
– Uniting design and
science
– Design seens as a new
discipline = No art
teaching
– Cooperation with industry
– The Morality of Objects
Teachers, students & practice spread world wide...
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Functionalism & Usability...
Multifunctionality
...good or bad?
And what’s with the
non-definition of
aesthetics!?
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Functionlism in IxD = usability
Usability strong ideal in HCI / interaction design,
especially GUI design
–
–
–
–
–
Norman
Nielsen
Cooper
Preece
...the lot
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Functionalism in IxD
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Functionalism in IxD
Information Visualization
– Human perception steers function
– Tufte: ”Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not
attributes of information.”
– Spence
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Provocation & Criticism in art
Dadaism (1916-1922)
“What we need are strong straightforward, precise
works which will be forever misunderstood. Logic
is a complication. Logic is always false. […]
DADA; every object, all objects, feelings and
obscurities, every apparition and the precise shock
of parallel lines […] DADA; the absolute and
indisputable belief in every god that is an
immediate product of spontaneity…
– Tristan Tzara in “Dada manifesto”
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Provocation & Criticism in art
(dadaist poem of the 1st paragraph from the
course home page)
of what functionalism pragmatism is
artifacts is interaction? in follows
to ideals, like notion it
which in we “form “in”
interaction – aesthetic the is
this experience as behaviors explore
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Provocation & Criticism in art
Dadaist Marcel
Duchamp asking
– What is art?
– Who decides?
– Who is the artist?
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Provocation in Art
Andy Warhol
– Again: Who is the artist?
Used assistants
What's great about this country
is that America started the
tradition where the richest
consumers buy essentially the
same things as the poorest.
– Andy Warhol in “The
philosophy of Andy Warhol:
from A to B and back again.”
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
The-anti functionalist movement;
functionalism and trends made
design space narrow –
revolution
Inspiration from sub cultures;
youth cartoons, pop culture
Ingo Maurer, Bulb 1966
Criticism in ID
Desiging that which people
actually wanted, as opposed to
what one assumed they wanted
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Criticism in ID
Vitra, Verner Panton, 1959 -1999
Furniure design in the 1970ies, Playfulness,
organic shapes, mixing materials, freedom
and...plastic fantastic!
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Criticism in ID
Banal design
(1970ies)
– Non-designed
everyday objects
– Banal forms could
give impulses to
design.
– Spokesman:
Alessandro
Mendini
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Provocation & Criticism in ID
Memphis group (1980-1988): Anti design
Senior architect Ettore Sotsass + young designers
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–
–
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Break all rules!
New materials, mixes, no discussion on form or color
”quoting from suburbia” kitsch, neon colors, gold
Very much anti ”nordic design”
Exploded at design exhibition in Milan 1981
– "you were in one sense repulsed by the objects, or I was,
but also immediately freed by the sort of total rulebreaking.“ (Jasper Morrison)
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Memphis
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Memphis
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Provocation in art
På Hollender: The Pål Hollender Foundation for
Ethically or Aesthetically Offended Consumers of
Culture
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Criticism/comment in art
Mikael Lundberg
– The twenty-three Æ
– Lifeline
(www.mikaellundberg.se)
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Criticism in IxD
STATIC! A design project about saving energy
“…use need not only be about utility and ease of
use, but also about critical reflection through
objects at hand.”
– Backlund, S. et al (2006) Static! The Aesthetics of Energy
in Everyday Things . In Proceedings of Design Research
Society International Conference 2006.
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Criticism in IxD
STATIC! Designs...
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Criticism in IxD
Dunne and Raby
–
–
–
–
–
Farady chair
Tuneable cities
The Pillow
Thief of Affections
...other work
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Criticism in IxD
Slow Technology; anti-efficiency, pro reflection.
Mental rest in the form of reflection.
“Slow technology is not about making technology
invisible, but about exposing technology in a way that
encourages people to reflect and think about it. This
design challenge is, among other things, a call for more
conscious aesthetics in technology…”
– Hallnäs, L., and Redström, J. (2001) Slow Technology –
Designing for Reflection , Personal and Ubiquitous
Computing January 2001, Volume 5 Issue 3.
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Criticism in IxD
Slow Technology projects
– Top left: Doorbells
– Bottom left & right. Information appliance; printed fabric
in combination with radio
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Playfulness, intrigue, challenge
We’ve been
playing games
forever!
First reference to
chess, India 625
Hnefatafl; the
Viking version of
chess Æ
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Playfulness in art
Guiseppe Arcimboldo, Summer and Spring (1573)
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Playfulness in art
Bartolomeo Ammanati: Allegory of Winter (16th century)
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Playfulness and intrigue in art
Op Art (optical art): making use of optical illusions
Left: A sculpture by Victor Vasarely, Left: Bridget Riley; Movement in Squares (1961)
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Playfulness & intrigue in art/lit
...my book
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Playfulness and intrigue in IxD
The Interactive Quilt; Slow Technology
.... But also intriguing!
– Ambiguity the key
“Thus ambiguity is a powerful tool for designers to
raise topics or ask questions while renouncing the
possibility of dictating their answers. By supporting
this balance, ambiguity not only represents a useful
resource, but a powerful sign of respect for users as
well.”
– Bill Gaver et al (2003) ”Ambiguity as a Resource for Design”
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Playfulness & intrigue in IxD
Countless examples, e.g. Bembo’s Zoo
www.bemboszoo.com
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Playfulness & intrigue in IxD
Intrigue BIG TIME!!!
http://www.ted.com/talks/golan_levin_ted2009.html
– 13:43 ”Snout” (Watch the entire talk for more stunning
examples!!!)
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Playfulness & challenge in IxD
Any computer game ever made...!
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Playfulness & Challenge in IxD
Tempting challenge!
“…without sufficient challenge an activity can be
perceived as boring, or soothing, or calming or “nice”
but hardly entertaining. Then again, “challenge” is to be
interpreted widely. Also the level of challenge must suit
the user and the situation; [what fits a child does not
necessarily amuse its parents]. The adult may be more
entertained by trying to solve a cross-word, however not
when being tired and nervous […]. In order to be
entertaining, the challenge has to be tempting to that
user at that moment.”
– Sus Lundgren in ”Facets of Fun: On the Design of
Computer Augmented Entertainment Artifacts (2006)
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Desiging playfulness?
Björk & Holopainen: Patterns in
Game Design
– Game(play) patterns; the building
blocks of games
Salen & Zimmerman: Rules of Play
– Theoretical framework; "game design
schemas“ e.g. Games as context for
social play, games as storytelling etc.
Fullerton: Game Design Workshop,
– Desiging a game from start to end
Kramer: What makes a game good
– http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/WhatMakesaGame.shtml
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Why aesthetic ideal?
A basis for design decisions
– May have several but they must be ranked! E.g. if
designing a computer game, gameplay can be about
playfulness whereas the GUI for it can be functional
– A way to reach coherency
May differ from project to project!
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Ideals... No clear partitions!
Å Playful or
emotion?
Criticism or
emotion? Æ
ÅFunctional or
intriguing?
Tangible or
pleasing? Æ
Sus Lundgren fall 2009
Concept map... again
Example
Coherency
Emotions & pleasure
Pragmatism, Somaesthetics and tangibility
Provocation & Criticism
Functionalism & Usability
Playfulness, Intrigue & Challenge
What are they? The basic ideas? Are some closer
related than others? Is there som kind of scale; if so
what’s the axis? Projects combining ideals?
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Concept map: the IxD-courses
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