Evolution of design : Form and Function follows Experience
- On ‘Design USA:Contemporary Innovation’ exhibition at Cooper Hewitt
Dong Yoon Park | http://www.cre8ive.kr
The exhibition ‘Design USA: Contemporary Innovation’ commemorates the tenth anniversary of the National Design Awards and showcases the works of the winners. Since the award started in 2000, the works are modern and they contrast with the old building of the Cooper Hewitt.
My first impression of the displaying method was not good. By utilizing shelves, they tried to show the products of this industrialized era. I could understand their intention however, it was somewhat distracting structure. I think diverse types of the objects – products, pictures, clothes and computer screens – made this distraction more deeper.
On the other hand, they organized the sections in an intriguing way. They divided the sections based on five different topics – Craft, Experience, Technology, Materials and Method. In each section, I could see diverse and evolving achievements of passionate designers. Interactive installation and many screen based works were impressive. Especially interactive information design of the New York Times or dynamic information by the store Target, were the works that made me realize our digital, screen-based information world. Through the five sections, I could experience what kind of technology or materials brought innovation in the design and learning those background behind the products or architectures were great pleasure.
Above all, from these design innovations in various themes, we can see the big and fundamental shift of the focus of design. It is the user experience. Now a product that provides only a good functionality cannot get attention from the consumer. Beyond the functionality, there should be good experience. In this sense, the design works showcased in this exhibition are not only innovative in functionality but also we can find the effort of the designers to embed good experience. With this change of the design industry, the quote by Louis Sullivan ‘Form follows function’ also should be evolved to “Form and function follows experience”.
Tags: Cooper Hewitt, design