As we all know, design is a comprehensive subject, which involves many factors such as society, culture, economy, market taste, science and technology, and its aesthetic standards also change with these factors.
Let's first look at the concept of design:
Design is innovation. If there is no invention, design will lose its value; If there is no creation, products will lose their lives. -Liu Dongli (Hong Kong)
Design is the pursuit of new possibilities. -Musashino (Japan)
Design is Economic Benefit —— Lin (Deputy Director, Design Department, Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Industrial design is an imaginative development activity to meet human material needs and psychological desires. Design is not a personal expression. The task of designers is not to maintain the status quo, but to try to change it. -Arthur Pross (former President of ICSID)
Design is a process of conveying a plan, scheme, idea and problem-solving method through visual language.
As you can see, the core of design is a kind of creative behavior, a problem-solving process, and one of the main characteristics different from the category of brother art is originality, so we can think that:
The first essence of design beauty is "newness".
Design needs innovation, innovation, change and difference, otherwise design is not called design. And this "new" has different levels, it can be improved or creative. But in any case, only the novel design will shine a distinctive light in the waves and take the first step of success.
The second essence of design beauty is "rationality".
A design is called "design" because it solves the problem. Design can not exist independently of society and market, and conforming to the law of value is the direct reason for the existence of design. If designers can't bring more surplus value to enterprises, I believe there will be no design industry in the world.
The third essence of the beauty of design is "humanity".
In the final analysis, design is designed for people, and serving people's life needs is the ultimate goal of design. Naturally, the beauty of design also follows the basic aesthetic taste of human beings. Symmetry, rhythm, balance, rhythm, shape, color, material, technology ... all the aesthetic principles we can think of seem to find corresponding applications in design.
These three laws make designers different from pure artists and pure engineers. They are destined to dance in chains.
Relying on the beauty of design
In my opinion, this unique aesthetic law of design is not groundless, but there are objective basis and needs behind it. It can be said that the beauty of design is based on the laws of the market, and the cruel market competition and the law of survival of the fittest have created this aesthetic interest.
Since the rise of the industrial age, the traditional handicraft aesthetics has been washed away overnight in the rumble of machines. What is needed in the industrial age is new products that are mass-produced, programmed and conform to the law of cost and profit.
For a time, functionalism seemed to be an eternal aesthetic law. Its concise and scientific design principles swept the whole civilized continent, creating a historical miracle in the pre-industrial era-the market was full of products with the same function, and the beauty of design in this period was mainly modernist style.
Why?
Market rules.
Under the production conditions at that time, functionalism can meet the requirements of mass production of machines to the maximum extent, and at the same time, it takes care of the basic aesthetic principles cunningly, and the public has also been greatly satisfied from the mass use of cheap products. Why not?
When the style becomes popular, it will inevitably produce aesthetic differences and form its own system. The most influential slogan of functionalism is "FormfollowsFunction". "People think that the beauty and value of an object or a building depends on its adaptability to its purpose."
This principle has derived its own aesthetic system-minimalism, minimalism ... has produced many excellent designs with perfect and unified functional forms, and introduced daily necessities into industrial mass production. ...
However, the market is ups and downs like the stock market.
When there are more and more machines and the production capacity is getting stronger and stronger, the broad masses of people are no longer satisfied with the simple requirement of "use".
It is undeniable that functionalism has progressive significance, considerable vitality and reasonable existence value. However, it is by no means an eternal golden rule. Once the productivity is further improved, consumers finally have the ability to buy luxury goods. People who are tired of the simple coordination and simple rhythm of functional language begin to favor new modeling morphemes, and the cold modeling vocabulary irrigated by modernism begins to encounter cold reception in the market.
Postmodernism, the opposite of modernism, began to plot changes in the market.
From 65438 to 0966, American architect robert venturi published the book Complexity and Contradiction of Architecture. Pointed out the belief that "less is more" of functionalism. Promote a kind of messy, complex, ambiguous and eclectic symbolism and historicism. Thus, the prelude of post-modernism design was opened.
It can be said that this is pure rebellion-a visual subversion and aggression.
Modernism is introverted, while postmodernism is ostentatious. It tore the inner fanaticism and passion to the fullest, and the market tolerated its exaggerated performance. This era has become colorful and bizarre.
But after careful analysis, post-modernism style (in fact, post-modernism has no style, but its style is to despise style and system) is nothing more than Darwinism in line with the market. Postmodernism, as a radical revolution, fully conforms to the laws of the market.
We know that consumers are the masters of the market, after all, they are living men and women with feelings. They need emotional catharsis, ideal sustenance and emotional living atmosphere. Modernist products that simply pursue function make life full of indifference. If it weren't for its ease of use, popularity and cheapness, people wouldn't take products like machine tools home.
At the moment when productivity and price allow people to choose, the enthusiasm of postmodernism began to shout in the streets. Commercial design stimulates consumers' impulse to buy with novelty and pattern, and its core is "planned abolition system" Sacrificing function is no longer a sin. At this time, visual satisfaction and psychological enrichment can be defined as functional requirements higher than touch and feel.
It can be seen that it is the market law that makes the design style have ups and downs.
The stories of modernism and postmodernism are just a flash in the pan.
Market rules sometimes maintain strict scientific design principles, and sometimes condone designers' simple personal performance. The progress of the times and some historical accidental factors have created unpredictable and interesting design styles, which are full of challenges and puzzles.
Style changes rapidly, and the only constant is the market and its laws.
So what should we do?
When we wake up from the long dream of history, we regret to find that we are still a small point in the long river of design.
We are not geniuses. We can't let the world do whatever it wants with a wave of our sleeves. Most of us can't create an epoch-making design revolution-look at the so-called design revolution now, nine times out of ten it is a farce. In the future, we will shoulder the heavy responsibility of the rise of the motherland's industry and the international market; If you are young, you need to support your family. At least one person is full, and the whole family is not hungry. Therefore, down-to-earth and facing life directly are the most important things we should do.
Grasping the pulse of the market and keeping up with the trend of the times is the minimum requirement for an ordinary designer. Our temporary goal is to design a product with 60 points.
This passing score is actually very difficult to achieve. At present, few large domestic enterprises can achieve 60 points in the international market.
These 60 points require designers to have keen insight and abstract ability, which is difficult for theory to cultivate. Only by doing more, doing more and failing more in the real market can we be honed.
Several graduates are joking-and when I win this third company, my ability will improve to a higher level.
Announce their experience in exchange for capitalist blood and tears:
Summarizing the popular modeling elements at present can get twice the result with half the effort.
Pay attention to details.
Familiar with the process, to ensure that any link will not go wrong.
You know, what you designed will be out of date next year.
Believe in your ability, at least verbally.
……
About form and function
I have also thought about form and function many times. Design, as the art of creation, must be integrated. Formal design without function is a cumbersome ornament, and functional design without form is a disgusting thing.
But I think there is no difference between the two.
Why should we prioritize? Even if we have priorities, what can we do with priorities?
If form and function are ultimately just a question of methods and means, a question of where to start, we can choose boldly and confidently.
Form doesn't have to follow function completely, and function doesn't have to give way to form completely. In different product designs, it is practical and realistic to treat specific problems.
So what exactly should we do?
I guess I just don't know how to really get close to the truth.
We don't need to know which is more important. Forcibly defining the importance of a certain aspect will only lead to pedantry, which is not conducive to the progress of design and the change of learning.
In the actual design case, we just need to know that both are important. Just as people have thousands of faces, they are all different; Products also have different attributes and emphases.
Machines, tools, etc. It can be regarded as a functional product, and the form can take a back seat;
Household appliances, furniture, etc. Both products are semi-functional and semi-morphological, and both aspects are very important;
Jewelry, exhibits, etc. It belongs to the category of form priority, and their functions are very simple, so don't think too much.
……
Among them, there are many classifications, and some products are closely combined in function and form, so it is difficult to separate them, such as industrial machinery; Some products have functions at the core, and the form can be relatively free, such as IT products ... In this way, the dispute between form and function is more complicated and unnecessary, and ultimately it is necessary to deal with the matter and step by step.
After all, design is about inspiration. When there is irreconcilable contradiction between form and function, we can make bold assumptions according to intuition and then verify them carefully. Everything is based on the principle of satisfaction and moderation.
This is my favorite "satisfaction principle".
all in all
I don't think the design style is progressive or backward. Functionalism is just a branch in the long history-now our streamline is not necessarily more convincing than the mysterious curve of Sanxingdui.
Looking at the Italian design 50 years ago, it is as shabby as it is now, but we should admire it-just as we admire the four-sheep square bottle and the Terracotta Warriors. It is the witness of an era and the essence of that era. I believe that in 10 years, our Apple computers will be worse than them.
In the embrace of the market, the design feels only turbulence and aversion to the old, and what we designers have to do is to be grateful for it and follow suit. The timeliness of design is the reason why our rice bowl exists.
Science can continuously accumulate progress, while design only recognizes genius. If I am lucky enough to know the founder of the pyramid or Sanxingdui, I will pay tribute to him with tears, ten times more than worshipping Luo Wei.