the design of things

Why design plays such an important role? Because all the objects that people deal with, from the act of sitting in a chair or typing an email, pass not only for the purpose for which they were created, but also by the experience of interaction it offers. Like this, it can be good or not, it all depends on how each thing was designed.

About this, Winnie Bastian, architect, design curator and journalist specializing in the subject, website and Instagram profile editor Design do Bom, opines that the command "form follows function", forged by American architect Louis Sullivan (one of the top names at the Chicago school and already called “the father of skyscrapers”) will continue to make sense.

For him, the emergence of UX Design, that is, attention to user experience, is an important milestone for the area. “No livro ‘The design of everyday things’, Don Norman makes this analogy. For example, when will i get a teapot, I have a usability in it, have a journey, a way to use that will give me a certain result. And this view makes so much sense in the physical environment, as not virtual ", comments. He also highlights the importance of another important personality in the field.: o designer Tim Brown president of IDEO, company that developed the first mouse. Author of the work ‘Design Thinking’, Brown advocates that design, actually, is always solving problems. "What's up, we have a very interesting turning point. Because the limits of design are lost. He becomes a kind of social agent articulating society. Today we talk so much about genomic design, how much of eyebrow design. Method, this is amazing, it's wonderful because it shows that design is a social word., everyone uses ", celebrates Douglas.

Efunctional and affective experience

But both the usability experience and problem solving go through a fundamental dimension for humans: the affection that permeates objects present in environments that inspire and surface feelings, like home.

Designer André Grippi says that as a child, I liked to go around every part of the furniture with my toys.. It grew curious about the shapes and layout of the furniture.”, account. Douglas points out that, no future, design will be increasingly linked to emotions. And in this aspect, ponders the idea of ​​form and function coined by the Bauhaus. "How do I produce sadness or joy? See Alexa, Amazon virtual assistant, that reminds us of an old clock radio that he had in his grandmother's house. Just the appearance makes you approach the use of Alexa. Which leads us to think about the Bauhaus judgment regarding form and function. Today we understand that appearance also plays a role., that it is as complex as engineering", states.

"So then, when we think about the user journey, appearance is as important as function. Because the step by step that takes you to use a certain product, brings out a behavior or feeling, which also goes through shapes and textures. Look how nice it is, we're saying that design produces behaviors, an extremely interesting dimension", says Douglas.

Sustainability is all about affection

André believes that design has a role not only to organize and make life easier. For him, in the future design will be able to harmonically balance technology, affection and emotional warmth. "The pandemic caused by Coronavirus made evident the impact of lack of affection, as important as hygiene-related issues. I think we will see in design a search for greater belonging to the nature, with less environmental impacts", it says.

In addition to the search for productions that generate less impact on nature and use raw materials conscientiously, the design industry has been thinking about the complete product cycle. "For example, a crib. if i take the sides, he turns a bed, extending the life of the mobile.”, remember Winnie. For her, the world is undergoing transformations where environmental awareness has gained increasing strength, where collective thinking tends to resurface, where people look for objects with stories and consumption tends to decrease.