Objectified

This movie by Gary Hustwit, who also directed Helvetica, was a phenomenal, phenomenal piece of film.

At its essence Objectified is a film about the painstaking design decisions that go into everyday products that we use. And in many instances the design decisions that go totally unnoticed are the most thoughtful and beautiful aspects to these objects.

One subject covered in this movie, that really hits home to the brander in me, was the concept that every item that we look at evokes some sort of feeling out of us. We immediately determine how much it should cost, what it will feel like, what it is used for. Interestingly enough traditionally the form of many objects was directly correlated to that objects function. If an alien were to land on earth and see a chair, or a spoon, it might easily be able to deduce what that object is used for. But with the creation of the microchip, much of the form of objects has been left to the designers.



Sometimes it is the lack of many design elements that make things the most beautiful. The ability to strip objects of their design is at the same time one of the simplest and most complicated design decision to make. The film used this beautiful machine I am typing on as a prime example of this, Apple. Apple’s products have a sense of intuitive, and minimal design that are overlookable, and so desirable at the same time. When I close my laptop, a small light flashes on and off subtly like a heartbeat, to indicate that the machine is on. When I open it back up, that light is unnecessary, and fades out.

Apple’s sense of design gathers around one focus for its user. The iPhone for example, the focus is the screen, thus everything happens there. The keyboard is there, all the content is there, and the screen’s space on the product is maximized to drive the point home. Before this post, and movie come off as an Apple lovefest, let’s move on.

What I also gained from this movie was designs ability to be a way to solve a problem, and the sense of integrity and responsibility that comes with every design. IDEO, an agency in California, was filmed trying to design a product, by solving a problem. One of the executives, a week after the release of one of the agencies designs for a toothbrush, found one of their products washed ashore on a beautiful beach while on vacation. Now the designers responsibility was greater, sure it looked great, but did a toothbrush need to be a toothbrush to reach the end goal the consumer needed? Certainly we are all used to picking up a toothbrush, at least twice a day (I hope, or don’t come to my desk…ever), but who is to say that is the best solution for cleaning our teeth? If we change toothbrushes twice a year, and live to be 75, that’s 150 toothbrushes we throw out in our lifetime. If we run out of toothpaste every 2 months that’s 450 bottles of toothpaste we waste. And as a designer, there is an ability to change that.

I suggest everyone see this film, it will be coming to the Walker Museum in April. My main takeaway from this movie is that as a designer I am a genius, and if I do my job right, no one should ever realize that.