My Design Philosophy

As a junior industrial design student in the Rhode Island School of Design I have figured that design students tend to be very unique as much as we go to a unique school. I know this because I have transferred from a university with a broader field of studies and people than RISD being a more concentrated field of studies and people. The university is called the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and it is very different from the RISD. Although I was a design major there, all my friends were business, science, math, and engineering majors. Hanging out with them I could quickly know that they seem to study to get one answer and at the end all of them have the same answer to solve one main problem. However, here, in RISD, everyone seems to have different answers to solve one main problem. Therefore, many people will have different design philosophies that somehow will influence the world’s future. My design philosophy is broken up into three elements. The first element is that a design should be different; the second is that every function of a design should have a reason; lastly, a design should provide the user an emotional experience.

To start out with the first element of my design philosophy, every design should be different. In the world of design there are so many different designs that rapidly appear in the market. To be successful over all of those designs you have to come up with something even more different than those designs out in the market. Many design teachers often say think out of the box, and I agree with that phrase. To think out of the box, I tend to throw out extreme ideas during the early stage of my design process. Most of the time people tend to laugh and go when they see these ideas that I throw out, but sometimes these ideas get rewarded because someone comes up and says “that can work.” This happened during my internship over this summer.

During this summer, I worked with the OLED display department in Samsung back in Korea. They wanted me to develop ideas that they can apply to this newly developed technology: OLED. I started to throw out extreme idea as usual and presented the ideas to the department. At first they laughed, and then someone started to point out few designs and said it can be possible. This started out a whole new conversation in the meeting room with the subject of possible vs. impossible. At the end, the department decided that it was possible and they got a patent for the designs. For me, it was exciting because my design got a patent, for them, it was exciting because they got a design that was totally different from the others.

To go further with my design philosophy, the second element is that every function of a design should have a reason to it. A product is a product because it has its function and purpose to it otherwise it becomes a sculpture not a product. This function is there to help the user to fulfill their task. Also, to link in the first element of my design philosophy, this function should be something different from other existing products in the market. During the mid phase of my design process I tend to develop a new way for the product to fulfill its function. Once I have a concept then I go on and test out the different iterations of how the product can function.

A great example of a product having a function with reason and a function that is different is the iPod. People were amazed by the iPod not only because of its simple design but because of how it functioned. Unlike other MP3 players with many buttons, the iPod came up with two simple buttons. One was a ring and inside of the ring was a round button. The ring served as a tool to shuffle down pages, play, pause, stop, and back. The ring was designed to be a ring shape because they immediately told the user to “turn your finger on me.” The button in the middle served as a tool to simply select. This was totally new to the MP3 player market, and people started to buy iPods and now almost everyone has an iPod in their hand. The iPod is a successfully designed product because the function of it had a reason and was different from the others.

Lastly, the final element of my design philosophy is that a design should provide the user an emotional experience. The best way to give a user an emotional experience by design is with the “look” of the product. The “look” in designing a product can be form, materials, color, and two dimensional graphics. Again, to link this element with the other two elements of my design philosophy, the “look” should be something different and it should help fulfill the function of the product. When I was in University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, my professor gave us numerous amounts of form study assignments. One of the assignments was called the “Adjective Assignment.” In this assignment we were given two adjectives each. With these two adjectives we created forms that described the two adjectives given. By doing this assignment I learned that a product can have emotion to it and that emotion can influence the user’s emotion as well. At my last phase of my design process I try to apply this element to my design. Also by adding this element to my design the product is no longer just a product. It becomes a “living thing.”

Recently I have been observing vehicles a lot, because I am taking a studio that is highly involved with vehicles. During this observation I get the feeling that cars are emotionally driven products. For example, SUVs tell me that “I am strong,” sports cars tell me that “I am fast,” sedans tell me that “I am safe,” and luxury cars tell me that “I am expensive.” Having that basic idea set as a foundation, cars are designed to have their own personality. I think this is why many people are emotionally attached to the car that they own.

As a unique student in a unique school during my junior year, my design philosophy has three main elements and they are: (1) a design should be different; (2) every function of a design should have a reason; and (3) a design should provide the user an emotional experience. All of these elements integrate with each other in order to solve a design problem. These elements might change as I go in deeper in the field of design. However, at the moment this design philosophy is working well in guiding me through the design world as a student.

Chairs (Limited and Unlimited)

During the Egyptian Pharaoh ages chairs were signified as thrones for kings and queens or other high ranked officers. The lower society sat on backless chests and stools. Chairs were also designated for the church leaders such as the bishop of a cathedral. Since chairs were only reserved for high class and religious people, chairs were ornamented and designed heavily with expensive materials that symbolized wealth and honor. However, as time went by chairs became popular and were mass produced following after the Bauhaus movement, where all the ornamental aspects were eliminated and design was only focused on function. Everything had to be there for a reason, according to the people who led the Bauhaus movement. Today, as technology is rapidly developing, chairs can be a magnificent tool for bringing comfort to the human body as well as, esthetic beauty. Also at the same time the chair provides its pure function: sitting.

Egyptian Pharaoh chairs

These chairs are closer to a throne for high class people in the Egyptian society. It was often ornamented with gold and precious stones. Most Egyptian furniture has an illustration of a story a myth or a king or queen depicted on the back rest. The throne was a symbol of authority and prestige in Egyptian society.

Bishop’s Chair

Known as the “Cathedra” the Bishop’s Chair is a symbol of teaching authority in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. A famous example of a Cathedra can be the Triumph of the cathedra Petri. This was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1657.

Wassily Chair

This chair was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925 and was heavily influenced by the Bauhaus movement. At this time the chair was revolutionary because of the application of materials and the manufacturing methods.

Panton Chair

This chair was designed by Verner Panton in 1967. It was famous for its beautiful form and bold colors however, it was mostly known for its revolutionary production methods. It was revolutionary at this time, because it was the first chair made out of a single piece of plastic.

Ergonomic Office Chairs

As technology advanced, today, office chairs are ergonomically designed for people who spend hours sitting in the office environment. All parts are adjustable to the various shapes of human body. Instead of cushioned seats, meshed canvas is popular in the market because it prevents sweat occurring from sitting for a long time.

Different Applications Using Lights

After Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, people started apply the light bulb to their daily life. At first, it was known as a tool for illuminating dark spaces. However, people took the idea of a light and came up with different applications, such as giving signals to each other and also decorating spaces and things. People took this even further and created a device that helps people to set the mood or even psychiatrically soothe one’s mood.

Christmas Lights 1882

The first Christmas tree was lit by Edward Johnson (an inventor who worked under the direction of Edison) using electricity in 1882. Then they were mass produced around 1890. By 1900, department stores started using it for their Christmas displays.

Traffic lights 1912

The first red-green electric traffic light was invented by policeman Lester Wire in Salt Lake City, Utah. As the number of vehicles in America increased, the traffic light was a solution to manage the traffic flow in the streets. The traffic light signals a vehicle when to stop and go.

Turn Signals 1938

The turn signal was invented in 1907 and was introduced by Buick in 1938. This light informs the vehicle at your rear that you are turning left or right. By informing this to the vehicle on your rear, this prevents accidents from not keeping distance between vehicles.

Neon Signs 1923

The first neon lighting tube (applying electrical discharge to a sealed tube of neon gas to create a lamp) was invented by French engineer, chemist, and inventor Georges Claude in 1910. He patented the neon lighting tube on 1915. Then in 1923, Claude and his company introduced Neon Signs to the US. Neon lighting quickly became a popular fixture in outdoor advertising.

Mood Lights

These light are single LED lights that change color. By the light doing this, it helps the user to set different kinds of moods in their room and also creating different kinds of atmosphere to it. It is also scientifically proven that mood lights can help cure mental diseases.

Passed/Past (A Symbolic Application)

People constantly design and invent ways to remember the past. People often applied symbolic meanings through their designed objects. For example, enormously built tombs in remembrance of the dead king, icons or logos that symbolized a religion or tribe, tattoos that provided social status, monuments that symbolized an event occurred in the past, and tombstones that honored and helped people to remember the dead. Throughout history people had designed objects in remembrance of people or events.

The Egyptian Pyramid was the king’s tomb that was built in remembrance of the king after his death. It is also described as a “machine” to the afterlife.

The cross is the symbol of Christianity in remembrance of Jesus dying on the cross to redeem the world. However, before Jesus died on the cross the cross was a symbol of curse. It was a device for executing the worst criminals in the Roman Empire. The cross is also a tool for Christians to remember and thank Jesus for going through a tremendous amount of pain and redeeming Christians from their sin.

The Russian Mafia tattoos are a symbol that provides detailed information of the wearer. The Russian Mafias rank their members by different types of tattoo. When a member does something wrong they are forced to have a special type of tattoo so that the wearer can remember his faults and not repeat the same mistake.

The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty and freedom of America. This statue was deliberately built for the American people to look at the statue and remember what idea America was based upon, liberty.

The Memorial Hall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a symbolic wall that honors the members of the US Armed Force who died in the Vietnam War. The wall has the veterans’ names engraved on. Not only to honor the veterans, but this wall’s purpose was to remember them for eternity.