OBJECTIFIED

You can learn a lot about a person from the items they have in their home. But as seen in Gary Hustwit’s 2009 documentary of Objectified, a lot can be learned about the people who make these items as well. For not only are the items in our everyday lives made for us. They are made to communicate with us with their content and form.

As stated in Lauer and Pentak’s Design Basics, content and form have a close relationship that is emphasized during the thinking stage of the design process.  Content is the message that is expressed to the viewers while form is how the content will take shape in order to be expressed. Both highly influence the other, and together they can be the key to an amazing piece of design. But just how much do these two concepts depend on one another?

Gary Hustwit addresses this question as he shows this interaction between form and content. Through the display of everyday items—as well as the work that goes into making them—Hustwit shows us that everything is made for a reason. And it is through these everyday items that designers are able to communicate a message that extends beyond the item’s daily usage.

Throughout Hustwit’s documentary, various creative processes are explored as designers demonstrate how they contribute to the ever growing world of manufacturing and consumerism. Not only do these designers work to create things that will impact our lives; they also work to constantly reinvent the things we already have lying around our home. Whether they are building the latest toothbrush to improve oral health or creating a better set of hedge clippers for arthritic consumers, form and content are always considered.

With so much invention and reinvention, form and content are constantly played with in order to satisfy both of these goals. As discussed in the documentary by Dieter Rams, consumers like items that are clear and understandable. Thus, “good design is innovative”. In order to achieve Rams’ idea of good design, the content of an item must be useful; it must possess an important purpose. Good design must also take form of something that is easy to grasp; it cannot be so elaborate that it appears to be thoughtless.

What are they trying to do? This question is answered through content as designers work to express their goal through the creation of a product. How is this goal presented? This is answered through form as designers find a medium to present their proposed content and product. Both content and form depend on one another. Without the other, designers are not able to interact with their consumers. Because it is with this interaction that messages are objectified through the usage of everyday items.