Reading Response Chapter 1

From this week’s reading, I’d first like to respond to Principle 1.2 which defines artful design as addressing not just needs but the depth of human values. It is an effort to pursue, through design, some kind of everyday poetry. “Contain” and “hold” are verbs that come to mind when I think of a functional pencil bag. A mouth “contains” a tongue or food, and the anthropomorphized zipper-mouth then “containing” pencils is a playful twist of expectation. The verb “hold” makes me think it would be fun to make a zipper design which looks like a hand opening and closing, or perhaps a “clutch” bag that is gripped in the clutch of a zipper-hand.

I am inspired to think about verb correlations with this pencil bag because of a Richard Serra sculpture called “Sequence” which I encountered in my first few days on campus. After walking through this massive steel artwork, I was curious to read more on his motivations. Serra developed a “verb list” design approach. He would scribble down a series of verbs and then attempt to translate each one into a sculptural action. The first verb which held his fascination was, “to lift.” Serra lifted up a piece of paper from one point, and was amused to find that it made a convincing sculptural form. I realized that a 2D head-on version of this sculpture would actually be quite similar to the Chinese character rén. Which I found interesting because this symbol is mentioned as the guiding icon of the textbook.

In response to Definition 1.2 Technology in Search of the Sublime, I am reminded of an interactive design class which I took in undergrad. We were encouraged to find metaphors as an aesthetic blueprint. Teeth are a great visual metaphor for a zipper. I think another visual metaphor for the zipper could be the tracks on a roller coaster, turning the pull tab into a cart full of riders. Imagine this on one of these.

Principle 1.10 and the Alexander Calder balanced tree kinetic sculpture makes me think of how coders see the most “elegant” as the simplest path, and how that “efficiency” mindset can often extend into design/art. Although, this is not always the case (I tend to lean towards maximalism in my music making!)

Principle 1.7 speaks about how artful design is a merging of the pragmatic and aesthetics. This brings to mind a good friend who was a very practical, serious, lawyer-type, that loved to surround himself with ephemeral artist friends. I was constantly working on wild projects and he would ask why I was making them. Frequently, I would have to justify a “functionless” art endeavor with, “it brings me joy.” When a project was really the peak of artful design I wouldn’t get that question from him, because both the form and function were self-evident. These instances correlated with moments where I felt like I hit upon something in the realm of the “sublime.” I feel like a great design makes a “user” feel more like a “co-conspirator.”

This object is meant to function as an auxiliary percussion or güiro-like instrument, that makes a sound which is quite frog-like. I find it to be extremely aesthetically pleasing and quite magical for several reasons. First is simple: the object is designed to look like a frog- which mirrors the functional sound it makes! Moreover, the mallet is made to be held in the frog’s mouth, which creates a playful interplay between practical (holding) and aesthetics (whimsical use of the frog form). Finally, the player will scrape along the frog’s back with the mallet, such that they are kind of “petting” the frog while performing the instrument. Interacting with this object makes me feel giddy and childlike. Sometimes I even get a smile on my face from just seeing it sitting on the table. I think this design is quite sublime as it embodies playfulness, artfulness, and functionality into one great little instrument.

I found the landscaping design on this bush to be particularly aesthetically pleasing. The function of a plant is somewhat dependent on the perspective of the question-framer. For the plant, its function is to live. To a human, its function is to synthesize CO2 into oxogen. Extending beyond pure function, this bush has been crafted into a particularly beautiful design. I was moved to stop walking and stare at it for quite some time, eliciting feelings of awe, appreciation for life, and warmth towards planet earth. The design embodies values such as repetition, space, and layers. I see the repeated pattern as “large green tuft at the end of each branch” while the space is defined by the otherwise skeletal bareness of the branches. It’s layered appearance is created through tiered branch height, which evokes a different feeling from various angles. I love how the plant has been placed on the corner of the property, as it feels quite circular- having no clear front or back.

The function of the cup is to hold liquids for people to drink. In all the houses I’ve lived in with roommates throughout the years, I have been weirdly protective about adding this cup to the shared kitchenware. I love his sweet expressive face and how the handle looks like a little pony tail from the side-view. My unwillingness to share face-cup comes from an emotional reaction I have to the design, and my fear that he will be accidentally smashed. Notice how I say “he” instead of “it.” This object plays upon anthropomorphic design values, giving me an affectionate and oddly protective emotional reaction to the face– I become almost motherly in the ways which I care for the cup’s safety! I definitely have never felt like this with any other cup I’ve owned.