Flipping through a yellowed journal detailing my ideas and drafts designs, I came across an excerpt from the book Designing For People. The quote articulates clearly my belief on the importance of functionality. Without function, form is "meaning less". While asethetic i important because it gives pleasure, it is less meaningful if beauty gives way to functionality. Dumb designs gives rise to constant frustration unlike dumb blonde jokes that gives cheer. The quote:
"I've bear in mind that the object being worked on is going to be ridden in, sat upon, looked at, talked into, activated, operated, or in some other way used by people individually or en masse.
When the point of contact between the product and the people become a point of frictionm then the industrial designer has failed.
On the other hand if people are made safer, more comfortable, more eager to purchase, more efficient - or just plain happier - by contact with the product, then the designer has succeeded."
~ Henry Dreyfuss, Designing For People If you desire only beauty in your designs and have little regard for functionality - would it be more apt to title yourself an artist and not a designer?
