Last night I attended a showing of the documentary film about Industrial Design: Objectified by Gary Hustwit, the director of Helvetica (which I have not seen). Not only was it a joy and a luxury to focus on design with a group of similarly-focused, but differently skilled people (mostly architects & graphic designers from the group, Design Evanston), but as well I found the film thought-provoking. One concept that stuck with me, [illustrated by how the camera has retained its form, originally designed around rolls of film, despite the fact that cameras have gone digital and now no longer need film] is how the old dictum, "Form Follows Function," is no longer necessarily true.
Here is a clip featuring Apple's VP of Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive. Near the end of it, he talks about how, when good design works well, it "feels un-designed." I usually agree. Often in gardens, I feel spaces are way too over-designed and self-conscious to a degree that you cannot lose yourself in them and connect with nature in a liberating way.
Image of vacated chrysalises above was taken last summer during one of my garden tours. Loretta Downs gave us a demonstration of how she raises Monarchs to support positive experiences at the end of life. Both chrysalises and Loretta's work: good (as opposed to intelligent) design, so to speak...
I loved the film Helvetica, so thanks for writing about the director's new film. I'll be sure to put it in my Netflix queue.
ReplyDeleteI see Gary Hustwit is at work on the third in his trilogy: Urbanized, about the design of cities.
ReplyDeleteWasn't this a great film! And you will equally enjoy Helvetica.
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