Comments on: Bridging The Language Gap: Who Cares about My Design? http://www.designsojourn.com/bridging-the-language-gap-who-cares-about-my-design/ The Business of Strategic Industrial Design Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:25:37 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Design Management with Ralf Beuker - A Design Droplets Conversation http://www.designsojourn.com/bridging-the-language-gap-who-cares-about-my-design/comment-page-1/#comment-64572 Design Management with Ralf Beuker - A Design Droplets Conversation Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:46:03 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1049#comment-64572 [...] with business and business people. A few recent examples were featured on Design Sojourn ( http://www.designsojourn.com/bridging-the-language-gap-who-cares-about-my-design/ & http://www.designsojourn.com/question-of-the-week-my-non-designer-boss-thinks-i-suck/ ). How [...] [...] with business and business people. A few recent examples were featured on Design Sojourn ( http://www.designsojourn.com/bridging-the-language-gap-who-cares-about-my-design/ & http://www.designsojourn.com/question-of-the-week-my-non-designer-boss-thinks-i-suck/ ). How [...]

]]> By: A tale about designer speak « Long tale marketing http://www.designsojourn.com/bridging-the-language-gap-who-cares-about-my-design/comment-page-1/#comment-63820 A tale about designer speak « Long tale marketing Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:45:37 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1049#comment-63820 [...] Key among the sermons are: Bridging the language gap: who cares about my design? Don [...] Key among the sermons are: Bridging the language gap: who cares about my design? Don

]]> By: Cheryl http://www.designsojourn.com/bridging-the-language-gap-who-cares-about-my-design/comment-page-1/#comment-63637 Cheryl Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:32:21 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1049#comment-63637 I cannot help but agree to this post. Very often, when I show my friends design websites that have products that are unconventional, aesthetically pleasing but less functional, or product designs that tell a story, they would often misinterpret the designer's intentions and take it at face value. Sometimes, they would remark that 'the design does not make sense'. Perhaps designers are too caught up in creating something different that they neglect what consumers are really looking for? Even though 'lifestyle' products are becoming more popular amongst consumer these days, the functional aspect still cannot be neglected. When creating a product too minimalistic, or too gimmicky, designers often get too caught up with the semantics and emotional value of the product that the pragmatic aspect is compromised. That being said, I do believe that it is still possible to design something different and let the product speak for itself to the consumers. Besides good visual communication and a product where form follows function, consumers need to be able to relate to the product with the most mundane things in their everyday life. This does not mean that our designs become literal because that just makes a product kitsch and gimmicky. There is probably no formula to bridging the language gap, but perhaps in some phase of our design process, we can take a step back and really seek the opinions or people who are not in the design field. Their opinions may or may not affect the final outcome of the design, but at least, it would help in bridging the language gap. I guess if we want people to care about our design, we got to care about their opinions. I cannot help but agree to this post. Very often, when I show my friends design websites that have products that are unconventional, aesthetically pleasing but less functional, or product designs that tell a story, they would often misinterpret the designer’s intentions and take it at face value.
Sometimes, they would remark that ‘the design does not make sense’. Perhaps designers are too caught up in creating something different that they neglect what consumers are really looking for? Even though ‘lifestyle’ products are becoming more popular amongst consumer these days, the functional aspect still cannot be neglected. When creating a product too minimalistic, or too gimmicky, designers often get too caught up with the semantics and emotional value of the product that the pragmatic aspect is compromised.

That being said, I do believe that it is still possible to design something different and let the product speak for itself to the consumers. Besides good visual communication and a product where form follows function, consumers need to be able to relate to the product with the most mundane things in their everyday life. This does not mean that our designs become literal because that just makes a product kitsch and gimmicky.

There is probably no formula to bridging the language gap, but perhaps in some phase of our design process, we can take a step back and really seek the opinions or people who are not in the design field. Their opinions may or may not affect the final outcome of the design, but at least, it would help in bridging the language gap.

I guess if we want people to care about our design, we got to care about their opinions.

]]> By: Is ‘Ikea Syndrome’ caused by ‘mental masturbation’? - Ferg’s Blog http://www.designsojourn.com/bridging-the-language-gap-who-cares-about-my-design/comment-page-1/#comment-63528 Is ‘Ikea Syndrome’ caused by ‘mental masturbation’? - Ferg’s Blog Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:03:37 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1049#comment-63528 [...] is this more significant when relating your work to non-designers indeed, it seems very few non-designers really care about the multiple layers of interpretation of [...] [...] is this more significant when relating your work to non-designers indeed, it seems very few non-designers really care about the multiple layers of interpretation of [...]

]]> By: Marc Rapp http://www.designsojourn.com/bridging-the-language-gap-who-cares-about-my-design/comment-page-1/#comment-63474 Marc Rapp Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:30:32 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1049#comment-63474 Client education is a full time job in itself. Interesting post. Client education is a full time job in itself.
Interesting post.

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