Rhetoric of Design

I was reading an article about design rhetoric and it made me think about all the objects we surround ourselves with. Interesting to think about the non verbal communication of functional units between both the designer and the owner/community, as well as what they reflect about the owner. Now, the latter should really be judged only in an ideal situation, which is to say that I just picked up this computer off of a table that just happened to be in my house and has good height and storage features. If I could have free reign to choose whatever objects I wanted, then there would be acceptable substance on which to be materially analyzed.

Anyway, the article treats design as a mediating device between craftsman and consumer. I was thinking about how we judge civilizations by the art they create, but that it is also valuable to evaluate the objects they utilize. After all, these are things that exist and for people to use, and therefore are weeded out by functionality. So if the only things that survive have inherent practicality, their secondary force is aesthetic. I always strive for a unification of the two, because I want to have elegance in everything.

Think about how we define an era, isn’t it that what is immediately identifiable are useful materials? A painting/sculpture/work of art can define a time and era (and it can do a lot more and say a lot more about society, as well as be unconcerned with usability), but they probably don't envelop us at all times. Art is defining in a macro level, whereas objects are micro level definitions-they live and evolve with us.

If you are interested in just the way things look, what we are surrounded with are functional objects, and that defines how things seem and feel. When you watch Mad Men, seeing all of the historical detail in the homes is fascinating-it completely gives the viewer the feeling of time and space, and its constant reinforcement gives us a sense of reality. It might tell us as much as any book or art that passes through. What we use, and how we use it, can be illuminating.

What if you were to browse through someone's things? Their lamps, utensils, storage, anything they have chosen and then use, what does it say? What does it add up to? Are they sensitive to it, do they care, would they notice if something were changed only in appearance?

We are surrounded with objects that speak, we define what they say.