Music 256a hw4
Reading response
Principle 4.7. Aesthetics is not a passive thing — but an active agent of design!
While reading Chapter 4 of Artful Design, I especially appreciated the idea that aesthetics shouldn’t just be tacked onto designs as afterthoughts; instead, they should intentionally shape designs as active contributors in the creative process. Oftentimes, I think aesthetics are treated as “nice-to-haves” rather than “need-to-haves” in design exercises but also more generally in just life — as if the primary goal is just to get something functional and anything more than that is “a cherry on top.” Perhaps it’s because aesthetic preference feels more “subjective” or harder to define, and thereby harder to justify spending time, resources, and money on. For example, not everyone may like the colors or layout around which I designed my bedroom, so in this way, maybe it’s more difficult to make a case for why I had invested so much extra money in buying functionally-unnecessary decorations or so much extra time in hanging everything up just to take it down again at the end of the year.
However, if there’s anything that moving out of my apartment last year and into my new one this year has taught me, it’s that aesthetics do matter from the start! At the beginning of last year, when I was moving into my on-campus apartment the week before fall quarter, I think I’d let myself fall into this “aesthetics are excessive” mindset. Week 1 was approaching in a rush, and I left hanging my decorations and arranging my photos off for when I was “less busy.” This meant that the posters that I’d saved actually just spent the entire year lying dusty and flat under my bad because it turned out that I never really felt “not busy.” Sure, this made the move-out process marginally easier in that I didn’t have to take anything down. But it wasn’t until this year when I moved into my new apartment and resolved to immediately decorate my room that I realized just how much of a difference it made.
Deciding to incorporate aesthetics into my room and actually think about where to hang my posters and photos actively changed the way that I arranged my furniture and allotted wall space. I found myself treating the room with much more intentionality, thinking about what wall would be seen on Zoom calls or what wall I’d stare at when I was looking up from my screen. Now four weeks in, I realize how much of a difference it’s made in my mentality, my comfort, and my sense of home here. Now, I actually look forward to going home and spending time in my room. It doesn’t just feel like a place where I sleep and store my things, but rather “my space” that reflects me.
Maybe this isn’t such a big surprise given the art interior design however I remember learning how aesthetics play such a large role when it comes to designing other tools like assistive technologies. In CS377Q: Designing for Accessibility, I remember reading research papers on the topic of aesthetics and disability, and how some Disabled people will deliberately forgo using certain assistive technologies like crutches or canes specifically due to the way they look, or the way they draw attention / social stigma. I remember this surprised me a lot, as it almost didn’t matter how functionally helpful or effective these technologies were if they weren’t aesthetically pleasing.
