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Reading Response #1 to Artful Design • Chapter 1: “Design Is ______” Anna Gruzas Due 10/01/2024 Music 256A / CS476a, Stanford University Reading Response: Function vs. Form From this week's reading, I'd like to respond to Artful Design Principle 1.6, which states: Principle 1.5: Design is an Interplay between Function and Form —where function is "what a thing does, and form is "how a thing is." The content of this entire chapter has been really interesting to me as someone who has never necessarily "designed" anything, at least in the sense of building or engineering something. It has helped me to understand the amount of consideration that should go into humanistic design in everyday tools and objects , and additionally the lack of this consideration that goes into many things that I encounter. I've never taken the time to think about how lackluster so many things in my life are and how I have taken the time to change the form of them myself. For example, putting stickers on my computer that would otherwise be plain gray, but serves a purpose regardless. The functionality of the computer remains the same, but the form becomes more pleasing for me. I've been able to grasp the ideas of this principle more clearly by thinking about something quite familiar to me, music. As a musician, thinking about the function and form of my craft, treating music as the design itself, has helped me to understand the value that I have for music more deeply, but also raised some questions for me about the practicality of the field. Diving into the aspects of "form" listed in this principle, when I consider “how it looks,” I think of composition or arrangement work that I’ve done, or how I appear when playing (posture, stage presence, etc.). In terms of “how it sounds,” I naturally think of the quality of my sound, my articulations, dynamics, how I blend in an ensemble, and intonation. When I consider “how it feels,” I think of how my playing affects the audience in a performance, and fellow performers. I think of the message that I am trying to send to people through my playing. Finally, under the lens of form, considering how I feel when playing, I realized that this is the area of my playing that I pay the least attention to. I often don’t think about if my intent to play in a joyful manner actually results in me feeling that, only worrying about what others are hearing. Now when considering the aspects of “function” in my music-making, again from the perspective of treating music itself as a design, I run into some more existential questions. Starting with how music works, I come to a pretty simple answer. We play music and people listen and (hopefully) feel something. Its interfaces are vast, ranging from a concert hall to Spotify. When I ask “what is it for?” about music, I immediately think about how music, and art as a whole, was developed to convey human emotion into a medium outside language. But really, music doesn’t necessarily have any practical implications. We could survive without music (but it would be a lot more boring). So, if I had to say what music is for, I think music’s function is to bring form to the function of life (whatever that is). Thinking about who music is for, I want to say it’s for everyone! But in my specific field of classical performance, there’s an upsetting reality that the field isn’t popular like it once was, with performing arts organizations losing money and support, and frequently completely folding. As a classical musician, it often feels that we play classical music for nobody other than ourselves because not many appreciate it anymore. Music more broadly as an art form is of course for everyone. But as an instrumentalist myself, it is hard to suppress the thought that I might be selfish in my endeavors in classical performance.
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Design Etude
Part 1: Taking Notice
Thing No.1: Scrub Mommy
The Scrub Mommy is a pinnacle of artful design. It provides a fun, and even more practical alternative to your everyday dish sponge. The Scrub Mommy amplifies the functionality of the everyday tool that is the sponge. It cleans dishes effectively, having both a fluffy soft side, and a coarse, temperature-sensitive side. When in cold water, the coarse side remains stiff and makes it easy to get tough messes off the dishes, and when hot it loosens to be safe for more scratch-sensitive dishes like pots and pans. The friendly face of Mrs. Scrub Mommy not only adds a humanistic design to the everyday object, but ALSO provides even more function, enabling you to quickly clean spoons with her mouth, and straws and other thin objects with her eyes. The scrub mommy makes me feel happy when I see it in my kitchen and her smiling face makes me almost eager to do my dishes, but I do feel horrible when it comes time to replace her. She provides excellent functionality while adding an element of fun and personification to a necessary household tool!
Thing No.2: My French Horn
The French Horn has been an everyday object for me since I was 12 years old, so I have never taken much time to truly appreciate the combination of functionality and form that it exemplifies. The function of the Horn relies on a complex system of tubes and rotors, crafted to produce the best sound and easiest playing that could be possible on such a complex instrument. The slides of the instrument, for example, are shaped with functionality in mind, for the intonation of each button combination, and for the ease of adjusting and removing them. My horn also has a detachable bell flare, which provides easier and more compact storage, and further customization of the sound if desired. Besides the functionality of the instrument as a musical tool, I also find it to be strikingly beautiful. The appearance of the instrument is what initially attracted my 12-year old brain to it. The beautiful lacquered brass makes it shine on stage, and its customized rotary caps add an element of personalization.
Thing No.3: Bing Concert Hall
Bing Concert Hall is a place that I frequent for orchestra rehearsals and concerts. When I first got to Stanford, I remember being awestruck by the beauty of the hall compared to other venues I have been in. In terms of function, the hall is crafted with the listener in mind. All seats in the hall are arranged within 75 feet of the conductor, allowing for a more intimate listening experience than other venues of similar capacity. The acoustics in the hall are far superior to any other venue I have performed in, which provides me a sense of comfort in my sound and in the ability of the audience to hear me. The aesthetics of the hall were not sacrificed in its construction. I find the external and internal architecture to be very pleasant, which makes me feel excited to perform in it. The architect could have taken preference to either the functionality or the aesthetics of the building during its development, but I truly appreciate that they did not sacrifice either.
Guerrilla Design:
This may seem like a trivial example of design, but I have found that it has added some serious functionality and aesthetics to a previously neglected area of my room. Prior to this assignment, I had been storing my bags (purses/shopping bags/totes) in a pile in my closet. I found the pile of miscellaneous bags to be a bit of an eyesore in my otherwise organized closet. I had some extra Command Hooks, and a patch of open wall near my door that was calling for some decoration. I decided to hang up my bags on this wall space, for a combination of convenience and aesthetics. The bags now hang right next to the exit of my bedroom, providing me with some ease in grabbing them on my way out, and additionally added some more color to an otherwise beige wall. While definitely unnecessary, this improvement has made me really happy to have the bags off my closet floor (function!) and to have some more decor on my wall (aesthetic!)!
My Chuck File:
Till