My Favorite Things
When I was a design student, I heard a lecture from interior designer Christian Davies in which he urged us to identify specific examples of design as our favorites. I’ve always remembered this, but never captured it in words or images until now. Thinking critically on aesthetics, I realize now that it’s important to know when your intuitive design sense is appropriate to use and when it is not. To understand this, the first step is to identify my favorite pieces of design. In the coming weeks, I will analyze my choices and create an aesthetic profile that I can verbalize and explain to myself and others.
Industrial designers gravitate to some key products to express their personal style. These products are easy to understand because we use them everyday, so they become excellent vehicles for designer expression. Here is my favorite chair, light, phone, houseware, packaging, and car.
Konstantin Grcic’s Chair One. I respect how Grcic found a distinct representation of a chair, even after so many designers have already put their stamp on it. I first sat in a Chair One at the DeYoung in San Francisco, and I’ve liked it ever since.
Konstantin Grcic’s May Day Lamp. Designer lights are usually static objects made with luxurious materials, but Grcic elevates the useful utility lamp to an equally beautiful object.
Motorola FONE F3. I’ve always preferred to use my phone just for calls and texts, so the stripped down F3 is a good fit for me. More importantly, I love how the e-paper technology of the F3 provides real user benefits like increased battery life and a lower price point. Honorable mention for Naoto Fukasawa’s Infobar 2.
Marcel Wanders for Bombay Sapphire. Having entered the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition multiple times, I’ve always appreciated how Wanders was able to capture the essential, conical shape of the martini glass in such a clever way.
Vitamin Water. It has great visual hierarchy. In the right order, I can see it from across the room, find my favorite flavor, review the functional ingredients, and read an amusing story about the product inside.
Saab 9X. An extremely simple design that celebrates the Saab brand character. Unlike many car designs, the requisite signature elements feel natural rather than forced. Although it’s a bit different, I’m very excited for the new 9X BioHybrid.
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I LOVE the Saab you have here. Saab is a company that consistently delivers amazing concepts that are really true to their brand.. yet sadly they never seem to be able to move these into their product line. I am really excited for the 9X biohybrid. There is a huge gap in the market place for sporty efficient cars right now.
[...] posted a lot about the importance of understanding one’s personal design aesthetic. Selecting my favorite examples of design has been a good starting point. More importantly, I need to know why [...]
[...] 4. My Favorite Things [...]
I agree with all your choices.
I have a Motorola F3 and I was talking to someone today who also has one and loves it. He also said it’s a failure. It’s a failure because it has what he called an “airlifted care package” aesthetic. Again, I said that was why I liked it. He said that in the markets the phone was designed for, like just about anywhere else, most people want a phone that signals something about themselves, and people tend to want an aspirational phone, not a minimalist phone.
Ben – that’s really interesting and not too surprising actually. I like the phone for both the aesthetics and the choice of features and technology (surprising minimal for the CE category). I’ve done a few projects that have had a global presence, it’s interesting to see how shapes and colors can create totally different feelings across the world.