design dispatch 001: design me a story
Last month, I attended the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. Curated by Paola Antonelli, the show displays projects that explore the relationships between a world increasingly mediated by technology and all of us who reside in it. The exhibition showcases a broad survey of design proposals based on “…designers' ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and history—changes that demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior—and translate them into objects that people can actually understand and use.” So in a sense, it’s about speculative physical and psychological interactions that can occur between humans, objects, nature, environments, and society. Although I have my praises and criticisms for Design and the Elastic Mind, this is not intended as a critical review. However, the exhibition does serve as a springboard for discussing opportunity in design.
Given the conceptual nature of the majority of projects like these, supporting background information is almost always a necessity. Effective communication of this information can make or break the audience’s experience. Two pieces from the show help illustrate the importance of this: Front Design’s Sketch Furniture is a successful realization of an abstract concept; and Susana Soares’ Genetic Trace part two: Sniffing Others is a compelling idea that lacks effective execution from concept to object.
The Sketch Furniture project features a collection of domestic objects that have been hand-sketched in midair and then translated into physicality. Released on the internet some months ago, the video that accompanied the pieces depicts members of Front Design creating furniture with motion capture and rapid prototyping technologies. The key to this proposal is the video. It clearly and succinctly communicates how the peculiar objects came to be. Front Design convincingly expresses a new method by which objects can be designed within particular environments. In addition to encouraging the audience to consider the potential benefits of sketching in a real space, Sketch Furniture also successfully begs the question: what would my sketched furniture look like?
Initially, I found Sniffing Others to be a provocative and socially subversive proposal that urges new forms of physical interaction and behavior between individuals. Using nasal prostheses outfitted with nanotechnology, a user can enhance their ability to detect another person’s genetic code through sense of smell. The premise however, is weakened by relying far too heavily on a speculative (and perhaps questionable) form of technology for support. Soares does not convincingly bridge the gap between this future scenario and the prosthetics on display. A disconnect between concept and execution results in objects that feel empty and arbitrary in form. Throughout the exhibition, it is clear that these objects are physically functionless props intended to embody ideas. Had Sniffing Others told a more persuasive story, its objects could have functioned on a psychological plane inside our imaginations, as part of a bigger idea.
On the most basic level, all design is a form of communication. This notion is nothing new. So it is not much of a stretch to think of design as a form of storytelling. Every design concept, from the most mundane to the most exciting, tells a story. However, if we approach design with the intent of telling a story first and creating an object second, I believe there is an opportunity for crafting richer, more compelling audience/user experiences. Using this strategy, we can think of the designer as author.
A fundamental goal of the good storyteller is to suspend your audience’s disbelief – especially important if the work in question is highly speculative. Sniffing Others fails to fulfill this objective. My disbelief was not adequately suspended because the project does not instill its objects with enough of the concept’s spirit to render them meaningful. In other words, there is little payoff. On the other hand, Sketch Furniture presents a story that an audience can grasp. Even if the technology and methods used to execute the project may not be entirely familiar, the resulting furniture typologies exist within our everyday frame of reference. Front Design successfully taps into what the audience already knows and then extends the realm of possibility. Renowned designer and design thinker, Andrea Branzi, describes the importance of capturing an audience’s mind in Learning From Milan: “…people move within many fictional territories, imagined and experienced, which are the only virgin lands of our society, the only spaces left for the evolution of identity and social reactions.”
A great story is able to cut through the noise that characterizes our everyday and has the potential to influence the landscapes of our ever-changing and personalized fictional territories. Consider how your favorite movie has affected you. Or try to imagine a world without Apple.
