Design is ………..
I know this one of the most basic topic that any designer should talk about, what is design to them?
This is the question that i keep asking myself all the time too, yet today i would like to share with you two of my favourite designers and their view. My design is actually heavily influenced by them, not just in terms of style & ideas, but mostly how they see design.
The first one is Natao Fukasawa (深澤直人). He is so famous for designing the MUJI CD Player (my all time favourite):
Having the privilege to meet him in BODW 2009, his speech inspires me just with the topic – Design Is Inevitable!
Inevitable 不可避免的發生
深澤直人拿出一張圖，右邊是一堆拼圖中間有個缺口，左邊是剛好可以合進去那個缺口的小拼圖。左邊的拼圖能放進右邊的缺口是很自然的事情，他接著又拿出幾張圖說，但他認為現在設計常常是向左邊的小汽車一樣，看起來比較酷，卻放不進右邊那個被需要的缺口。
他進一步解釋說，右邊的缺口就像是人們共有的一種感覺。「如果有就好了！」設計師的工作在於要尋找出那個跟缺口一致的產品，而不是在自己心裡設計一個很炫的東西卻不切實際。並沒有被大家需要。
You can see this umbrella design from his presentation simply explain this idea:
Natao’s other designs:
You don’t really need me to tell you that this is a banana drink! You simply know.
In fact, what he said is very similar to my another favourite designer Danny Cheng. In his new book called “One to Ten”, he wrote about his stories and i really agreed with what he said:
I am very simple and straightforward. This can be seen in my work. I don’t twist and turn and change my mind halfway through the design. Things are very black and white with me.
It’s very true! To me, making a design decision is very natural.That doesn’t mean that i am just following my instinct, but it’s that after extensive & enough research plus your experience (and maybe a bit of talent), making a design decision is not difficult at all. I find it difficult now because i am not the only one making the decision, i need to cater what my boss think. But when it’s time for me to do my own decision, it’s gonna be simple and straightforward.
I know i love danny’s design so much not because of his style or executions of projects, but the way he design things and how he gets there.
I am looking forward to the day when i can fully follow my design philosophy.
There are quite some good articles about Natao Fukasawa’s design philosophy, you can find them here:
2. The Design Philosophies of Toshiyuki Kita and Naoto Fukasawa
