Do You Believe In Magic?

 

This past week I spoke to two classes of mechanical engineering seniors at Marquette University. I've been doing this each Fall for the past few years at the request of their professor Vikram Cariapa - introducing user centered Design Research techniques as they start in on their Engineering Capstone projects.

In introducing our company, Vikram referred to his childhood in India and his fascination with the streamline era of Industrial design - specifically with trains such as those designed by Brooks Stevens. This certainly was a romantic era for design, capturing the optimism and promise of the future (as envisioned at the time). It was about so much more than mere transport of goods and people.

Afterward I was chatting with Vikram and we got to the topic of hobbies. I find the topic captivating because it highlights the point where our appreciation for utility transforms into fascination and obsession. As a practicing designer, I want to design things to work better in a person's life - but the artist inside also wants the product to transcend that utilitarian aim somewhat... to create something they cherish. It reminds me of a quote from the preface of Oscar Wilde's A Picture of Dorian Gray:

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. 

All art is quite useless.” - Oscar Wilde

We may not be making pure art as designers serving industry, but I do feel that the drive to bring an element of design "magic" to these artifacts enhances the ownership experience in a meaningful way for the user. In designing for the casual user we search for ways to enhance that engagement, but when we tackle a product for a truly engaged user (the hobbyist or enthusiast) we confront a specialized language which we need to study and internalize.

But that topic will have to wait for another day, and another post...

Looking Back On Two Decades

A recent endeavor of mine was an installation at the Brooks Stevens Gallery of Industrial Design at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.  This exhibit celebrates the 20-year anniversary of the gallery and features historic work as well as a section devoted to the last 20 years of output from our company.  In addition to pulling together the exhibit I also participated in a panel discussion on the opening night.  Being that I started with Brooks Stevens just about 20 years ago this carried a little emotional weight for me.

The opening statement of our portion of the exhibit touched upon an issue I find very interesting from the view of a consultant design firm:

Industrial Design is often discussed using the language of visual aesthetics. The “function” of a product viewed as something to be captured within a stylish shell formed and polished to conform to the aesthetic vision of a lone designer. With success, that designer’s vision may extend to more and more products, imbuing them with a common “look”.  And so a designer’s brand language strengthens… 

The work of Brooks Stevens Inc. over the last 20 years doesn’t exhibit a common “look” nearly as much as it does a common “touch.” It is characterized by a focus upon bringing true value to the market and to the end user – crafting a balance between the factors of consumer desire, business viability, and functional feasibility. Aesthetic language is more impactful when it cooperates with functionality instead of fighting against it, and promotes the brand of the client rather than the brand of the designer. 

From products you touch everyday to products that touch your life in critical times… From nudging young dreamers to explore design to those careers started with BSI which have gone on to influence other firms and manufacturers…   

The touch of Brooks Stevens Inc. surrounds you – and it goes deeper than just the surface.

The BSG@20 exhibit also features work by Fiskars, Master Lock, Lunar Desgin, and GE Healthcare. The show will be ending its run on the 8th of February, 2014, and I encourage those of you who are in the area to visit this unique show before it closes.