What is design?
Let’s check it from the perspective of a millennial.
To be very honest, learning a subject is much easier than defining a subject. Believe me, it’s more complex when the subject itself is subjective. Defining Design is like telling the story of six blind sojourners that came across different parts of an elephant in their life journeys. In turn, each blind man creates his own version of reality from that limited experience and perspective.
So let me take you through my journey and experiences which I encountered. Are you ready?
Summer of 99
It was the summer of 1999 when the nation was gripped over a campaign called “Britania khao World Cup jao”. I was promoted to 4th grade and was strictly instructed by the school that at the start of the session we need to bring a set of a fountain pens. At that time when the school was all about lunch boxes and under desk activities, who cares if I needed to write with a pencil, pen, crayon, or even a paintbrush.
Now I realized that it was my first encounter with what is called a good design. Traditional fountain pens with high-quality nibs allow children to hold the pen in the correct position. This ensures the least pressure on a child’s hand and brings about awareness of grip, leading to stability of writing in the long run. Wow, life surprises you.
Welcoming new Millenium
When the world was bracing for Y2K and everyone was cheering for the new Millenium my home was thundering with KY Thunder. Did you ever see a Tv mounted with a sub-woofer prior to the 2000s? According to many pundits, this was the perfect blend of the tv with a high-fi music system. Designed in such a way that we don’t need extra space for putting up woofers along the wall or the table. A win-win situation for the customers.
Board Examination
As I moved to higher grades all those luxuries subsided. My sports activities were terminated and all I was left with was STUDY STUDY and STUDY. Yes, you all guessed it right it’s the Board examination time.
If you are in India you need some special arsenals to hone the Board examination. From parents to relatives everyone keeps visiting and granting us the divine arsenal. One of those is Gel pen. Yes, I am from that AD Gel era. Believe me, this pen revolutionized the way students used to get marks. In fact, a good amount of credit goes to gel pens for upping the percentage system in India. This is not a claim though only my perspective. Prior to the mid-2000s securing 80% was God-like stuff added to that special treatment given by friends, free samosa, and colas.
Just look at the beauty. The makers of this pen definitely noticed the uncomfortable pains the students used to get when teachers used to dictate notes at a speed that could put even a cheetah to shame. Introducing a rubber grip was definitely a smart move. You won’t see a better-designed gel pen than this.
College Life
It’s the late 2000s and finally, I am at college now. Junior colleges in Mumbai have a different swag altogether. If you are from this part of the country you would know what I mean. Since I am in college now I would be needing a different kind of arsenals but this time it won’t be for scoring marks rather than scoring brownie points over friends and foes.
Yes, that’s the OG’s of all the music phones launched to date. Sony Ericsson W550i world’s first music walkman phone. To date, I have kept this with myself if someone reading this finds a spare battery do connect with me. Looking at its designing aspects you can’t ask for more. It had stereo speakers for amazing music, dedicated buttons on the top of the screen to play games like a Nintendo device. A perfect swivel motion making its keypad move in any direction you intend to.
When Maturity hits you
It’s 2008 now and I have matured a lot. As we grow up our vision towards life changes our thought process changes and we start looking at every aspect more critically. Also, we start noticing the real things rather than materialistic ones. My one of those encounter with real issues happened soon.
If you had ever traveled in Mumbai local trains this place holds a Holy grail status. Everybody wants to get there but very hard to achieve. The issue is if you notice the bar it does not have any grip it’s too slippery. Now imagine yourself in a jam-packed local with a foot hanging outside and a sudden brake is applied or the jerks which get generated by the fast-moving train, you are bound to fall off the train. That’s seriously a bad design that can endanger your life. Recently this was taken to notice and rectified by engraving rigged patterns on the bar.
Viewing life through lenses
As travelling became part of my daily routine I started noticing more and more things that I felt were completely outdated or at the wrong place leading to bad experiences.
Just imagine the plight of the commuters passing through the narrow foot over bridge. Any misplaced foot here and there and you are bound to fall. I had a feeling that maybe designers and engineers of that bridge were not that foresighted to design a bridge that can stand against the time. The moral of the story was anything that can stand for ages is a good design and which does not eventually turn into a bad design.
Engineering Life
Finally, I had a chance to meet and feel the real design experience for the first time in my life. Though the meeting lasted only for the first semester I gained enough knowledge to be called a rookie in design.
A perfectly designed instrument that can be used for multiple functions in the drawing. It contains two arms that are adjustable to the required angle and at the end of the lower arm, a scale set is attached. The mini drafter is used for drawing horizontal lines, vertical lines, inclined lines, angles, parallel lines, perpendicular lines, etc.
Life as a UPSC Aspirant
It's time for the UPSC preparation. By that time smartphones were quite prevalent and the app market was flooded with tons of apps. You must be thinking why I am talking about apps and mobiles rather I should be talking about Bipin Chandras and Lakhsmikanths. Well, there is a catch. For the GA section, we needed to prepare for current affairs which forced us to read news from multiple sources. What if I told you I had all those in a single app.
Very clean interface, just business and no-nonsense. It did what it was intended to do. It catered needs of millions of aspirants free of cost.
As an Aviation enthusiast
The Tragic Crash of Flight AF447 Shows the Unlikely but Catastrophic Consequences of Automation. It doesn’t mean automation is bad but there should be a line where automation needs to stop. You must be wondering all of a sudden why this story. Well, this is about HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION and how it comes into the big picture of the design.
The plane crashed because of the over-dependence of pilots on the automated system. This was certainly a bad design which led to the catastrophic loss of several lives.
Covid Era
Never in my most dreaded dreams had I thought that we would be facing such an adverse situation. But we humans are more like creepers who tend to grow even in the most adverse conditions. The bedroom became office pods, the hall became a travelling lawn and what not. As the situation changed demands changed and finally my room was flooded with different sets of products.
The above product is a touchless sanitizer. It perfectly does the intended work but there is a threshold level to it after that it stops working. As soon as the liquid level in the bottle reaches low the motor fails to pump out the remaining liquid. According to me this a bad design. What if the spray nozzle is placed at the bottom and liquid at the top. This would allow even the slightest of liquid to pass through the nozzle.
So this was my journey and experiences which I had just like six blind sojourners that came across different parts of an elephant in their life journeys. My idea behind this article was to convey how a person starts viewing design as he starts growing at various stages of life. I took one inspiration from that every stage and try to portray it through this article. YES, DESIGN IS SUBJECTIVE.
