Task: Find 5 examples of products that appeal to you from a design perspective and post images and descriptions of them. Discuss the elements that make them appealing to you. Be specific.
* You will notice that there seems to be an error with the numbering of these items. Don’t worry, despite what it says, I assure you that there are 5.
- Powers of Ten (Picture above) – In an attempt to pick an Eames product to showcase, I found difficulty in choosing from the amazing array of icon items that they have designed. One of my favorites, though, is this short film that they produced for IBM. Not only do I appreciate the aesthetic qualities of their films, but this film in particular has a very interesting underlining meaning. I interpret it as an attempt to define infinity, which we have a very difficult time understanding. Watch the video here.
- Apple Mac Pro – “Meet Mac Pro. It’s the fastest Mac ever with advanced 8-core performance, workstation graphics, and millions of possible configurations.” – Apple.com
In my eyes, this is the greatest 20th century computer. It is thoughtfully designed on the exterior and interior. In an age where most computers were made to become obsolete within a few years, this design has existed for 7 years and continues to be produced. The paradigm of computer is fast changing, but as a desktop computer created at the time that it was, this computer seems to be near perfect.
- 10,000 Year Clock – “The idea to build a monument scale, multi-millennial, all mechanical clock as an icon to long-term thinking came from computer scientist Danny Hillis and was published in the form of an email to friends. Later it was followed up with an essay published in the 01995 Wired magazine “Scenarios” issue. Danny reasoned that by actually building a remote monument, the discussions around long-term thinking would be far more focused and it would lend itself to good storytelling and myth — two key requirements of anything lasting a long time.” - Long Now Foundation
I really love the concept and the delivery of this idea. There are few things these days that promote longevity, and this does so in a very natural and poetic way. More information can be seen here: http://longnow.org/clock/
- Theo Jansen’s Kinetic Sculptures – “Since 1990 I have been occupied creating new forms of life. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic material of this new nature. I make skeletons that are able to walk on the wind, so they don’t have to eat. Over time, these skeletons have become increasingly better at surviving the elements such as storms and water and eventually I want to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.” – Theo Jansen
Along somewhat of the same lines as the previous item, these sculptures are also very beautiful and very poetic. They are very intricate, calculated, and mechanical, but the movement is so well engineered, that it is very fluid and organic. They are a great example of how are creations, despite their perceived complexity, are the most basic of objects in comparison to nature.
- Shure SM58 - “The Shure SM58 is a professional cardioid dynamic microphone, commonly used in live vocal applications. It has built an enviable reputation among musicians for its robust construction and technical performance, and is considered the industry standard for live performance microphones.Introduced in 1966, the SM58 remains one of the best selling microphones in the world today. The SM stands for Studio Microphone.” Wikipedia
Though this product is not often thought about as a beautifully designed item, it’s reputation is still quite impressive. As mentioned in Wikipedia, this microphone has been selling for close to 50 years. In that time there have been many technological advances, yet this microphone has continued to improve it’s presence as the industry standard.
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 10:53 pm and is filed under design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.