Objectified

Recently I watched Objectified, a documentary on design by Gary Hustwit. The film focused on effective designs and innovative designers. Objectified explored the creative vision behind successful designs of the Twenty-First Century. The documentary refered to renownd designers like Jonathan Ive, Rob Walker, and Davin Stowell to bring to light the factors that contribute to producing successful designs in addition to looking at the significance of design in contemporary society.

I particularly liked watching the interview with Jonathan Ive (Apple's senior vice president of industrial design). Perhaps this was due to the fact that I am surrounded by apple products, (like the computer I am using to write this post) and was therefore interested in understanding the views of a designer that has a large impact on my everyday life.

I thought it was interesting that Ive felt that the purpose of product design was to help a product/tool perform the function it was created to perform. In other words, he did not stress the concept of design as being a utilitarian version of art. Instead, Ive communicated that the function of design is determined by the function it is trying to fulfill. Designs that distract viewers, and by bringing attention to the design aspect of the products design as separate from its function, Ive's argues, are generally intrusive and ineffective. This of course caused me to think about the question stressed at the beginning of the semester: the difference between art and design.

I also liked that the actual film was well designed. For example, the films use of iconic design silhouettes to spell out "Objectified" in the films intro. I suppose that as it provides a commentary on effective design, the documentary itself has a responsibility to display a creative design scheme.