Filed under: Design Process, Design Theory, Social Design | Tags: communication, design, Design Theory, dissertation, municipality, over-design, random thoughts, service, thesis, urban furniture, urban living
Now that I have finished with the thesis, the presentation and I am almost done with the poster, I have some time to think, reflect on what just happened. What did I learn, what did I do, if it was worth it, if something meaningful came out of it etc. Am I talking out of my arse? Am I in danger of losing the substance by looking through a microscope into something meaningless? Did I even set the basis for this “very important” co-production that I promised I would do? While all things are happening in this world, am I caught in this useless field that has nothing to offer to anyone apart from its actors, the design-obsessed world? I really hope not…It is really helpful when I talk about it. Not just with other designers, although it is a lot better to get some feedback from people that have an idea on the practices of the field. I also like having conversations with people that have nothing to do with design, so that I can clearly see the importance of what I am researching. So far, I have gathered that urban furniture is a visual stimulation triggering movement in the city. No matter how much designers want to trivialise and place urban furniture along with all the other products and their design processes, I am convinced that urban furniture has an impact on our way of living in a city. Who would want to sit on a bench right next to a rubbish bin? Who would be so silly as to place a mail box next to a rubbish bin? Why are all the recycle bins for all sorts of recyclable materials placed in one spot? And all of these placements take up space; space that cannot be walked upon anymore. Lights tell us how far we can walk, when there is a dark area in a city, this either means “danger” or that there is nothing interesting there, that the city life is over.
I find this fascinating. How subtly and unconsciously the most trivial of objects have an impact on our psychology and our movement patterns. The fact that some of these objects came to be symbols of entire cities is also something overwhelming.
LEts say for a minute that I have a letter I need to post in my hand. I go out to the street look around for a mail box. The mail box can be 200m away and with my bad eyesight I will probably only be able to see it as ared spot far, far away. I immediately know that this is a mail box. No other box, container or urban object is red around here, in this city. I know that this is the mail box I will need to use to send a letter, the mailing service’s object to communicate a function to me.
What is this field I will have to study further? Is it semiotics? Cognitive science? Sociology? Communication? Design theory? All of the above?
And how can I use it to create something useful, not just a gadget, but to communicate with pictures the specific actions. Not emotions, to ameliorate the stimulation-interpretation-action sequence?
Fascinating…
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