Archives for the month of: March, 2013
My name is George Motuliki and I am a student at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) studying a bachelor degree in product design. I chose to study product design because it is the area I want to start a career in in the near future. In my team of five are Kelly, Steph and Sujin, and the two boys being Josh and myself.
Is there such a thing as good and bad design, and if so what defines them?
It is my opinion that there are two main aspects of design, function and aesthetics, and that a good and bad design depends how well the design addresses these. The most important of the two aspects being its functioning, there is no point in a design looking good but failing to meet the function it is suppose to do. A good design will function well and meet the desired purpose that the object is designed for, and perhaps excel it e.g. a packaging design that holds a product securely displays it well but is also environmentally friendly. A bad design fails to meet the minimum standard that the design is aimed to address or do so but functioning poorly, e.g. a program bug affecting a cars smooth functioning. An example of a well designed product is the iPhone, it not only functions well as a computer but also it is designed to appeal and be fashionable.
Firstly, to attempt an answer at this we must form a premise for what is product design. If product design is the production of three dimensional objects with the aim of addressing a certain purpose, and if the purpose of a design is a function in a desired direction then good and bad design must lie in the extent of its ability to produce that desired function. Function is then vital in any design.
George@ProductDesign 