Aesthetic ideals, part II

Transcription

1 Aesthetic ideals, part II Functionalism & Usability Provocation & Criticism Playfulness, Intrigue & Challenge Aesthetic ideals Coherency Emotions & pleasure Pragmatism, Somaesthetics and tangibility Functionalism & Usability Provocation & Criticism Playfulness, Intrigue & Challenge 1

2 Functionalism & Usability This last year you have been trained to design functional, usable artifacts......but what is the story behind this? 19th century: Mechanisation USA, 19th century A culture of mass production Increasing mechanisation Trends Transparent construction Ease of use Durable Economic Versatility 2

3 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 The rise of functionalism Slow shift from ornament and hidden construction towards versatiliy Statue of Liberty 1886, Eiffel Tower , Bergere chair early 19th century, Thonets "Konsumstuhl Nr. 14"

4 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? Modernism (peak ) 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 4

5 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 The rise of functionalism Der Deutsche Werkbund ( , 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 5

6 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 Functionalism in Germany Clash in Cologne: Both sides wanted quality and ease of use, but disagreed on the means to get it 6

7 Functionalism spreading... The two most influential industrial design schools were German... Bauhaus ( ) Uniting art & craft Students should learn a craft and applied art Learning by doing Gesamtkunstwerk; Bau und Bühne Ulm ( ) 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... Functionalism & Usability... Multifunctionality...good or bad? And what s with the non-definition of aesthetics!? 7

8 Functionlism in IxD = usability Usability strong ideal in HCI / interaction design, especially GUI design Norman Nielsen Cooper Preece...the lot Functionalism in IxD 8

9 Functionalism in IxD Information Visualization Human perception steers function Tufte: Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information. Spence Provocation & Criticism in art Dadaism ( ) 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 9

10 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 Provocation & Criticism in art Dadaist Marcel Duchamp asking What is art? Who decides? Who is the artist? 10

11 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. Criticism in ID The-anti functionalist movement; functionalism and trends made design space narrow revolution Inspiration from sub cultures; youth cartoons, pop culture Ingo Maurer, Bulb 1966 Desiging that which people actually wanted, as opposed to what one assumed they wanted 11

12 Criticism in ID Furniure design in the 1970ies, Playfulness, organic shapes, mixing materials, freedom and...plastic fantastic! Vitra, Verner Panton, Criticism in ID Banal design (1970ies) Non-designed everyday objects Banal forms could give impulses to design. Spokesman: Alessandro Mendini 12

13 Provocation & Criticism in ID Memphis group ( ): Anti design Senior architect Ettore Sotsass + young designers 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) Memphis 13

14 Memphis Provocation in art På Hollender: The Pål Hollender Foundation for Ethically or Aesthetically Offended Consumers of Culture 14

15 Criticism/comment in art Mikael Lundberg The twenty-three Lifeline ( 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

16 Criticism in IxD STATIC! Designs... Criticism in IxD Dunne and Raby Farady chair Tuneable cities The Pillow Thief of Affections...other work 16

17 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. Criticism in IxD Slow Technology projects Top left: Doorbells Bottom left & right. Information appliance; printed fabric in combination with radio 17

18 Playfulness, intrigue, challenge We ve been playing games forever! First reference to chess, India 625 Hnefatafl; the Viking version of chess Playfulness in art Guiseppe Arcimboldo, Summer and Spring (1573) 18

19 Playfulness in art Bartolomeo Ammanati: Allegory of Winter (16th century) 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) 19

20 Playfulness & intrigue in art/lit...my book 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 20

21 Playfulness & intrigue in IxD Countless examples, e.g. Bembo s Zoo Playfulness & intrigue in IxD Intrigue BIG TIME!!! 13:43 Snout (Watch the entire talk for more stunning examples!!!) 21

22 Playfulness & challenge in IxD Any computer game ever made...! 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) 22

23 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 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! 23

24 Ideals... No clear partitions! Playful or emotion? Criticism or emotion? Functional or intriguing? Tangible or pleasing? 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? 24

25 Concept map: the IxD-courses 25