Great execution in design comes from becoming a master of materials; analogue, digital or biological. For example, Jony Ive is the world’s most well-known industrial designer; his work at Apple has redefined much about what we think about computers, and how we use them.
To get there Jony and his team have become masters of materials and engineering production, pushing past the conventional, constantly asking ‘Why not?’ and ‘How can we?’ This is where, for many of us, engineering and production will say, ‘No’, ‘It can’t be done’, ‘You shall not pass’ — that type of thing.
Ive and his team ask: Why can’t we have glass, and glass this thin? Why not milled aluminium? Why can’t the back of an iPod or iPhone be hand-polished? Why not a unibody? Why can’t the insides be as beautiful as the outside? Why is that tolerance acceptable? If you can’t make it — who can? In asking those types of questions, refusing the pat answers, Apple has become one of the richest companies in the world, delighting the owners of its products on a daily basis. As Emerson observed, great beauty is foundational.
Design is based upon resolving how someone is going to use something. Great design is describing the very best experience for them, then moving to realising the full potential of that ideal. The Shakers and Doug Englebart are both great examples of material mastery.
Sometimes that does requires some spit, grunt and a refusal to accept ‘It can’t be done’ as the only answer.
Finding the right materials and being able to apply them in service to a vision is fundamental to creating beautiful things.
Think about a sheet of paper — in the hands of some it can fail even to become a simple paper aeroplane that can fly. In the hands of others, it is transformed into the most deliciously delicate shapes by a process called origami; we can only sit in wonder at its magical beauty.
Extract from Do Design. Why beauty is key to everything. Published by The Do Book co. May 2016. Pre order UK & US. Copyright Alan Moore 2016.
Jonathan MacDonald david hieatt ArcticStartup Navi Radjou Elizabeth Varley Tim Leberecht Herb Kim
