Good Design & Technological Change
While society grows and vastly changes with new societal innovations, the relationship in which well-designed products attract users remains unchanged. First, defining what relationships exist to create a well-designed product, the relationships proven by established designers will show consistent with front of the line innovation, exemplified here in the Tesla Model S.
What is Good Design?
Before examining the relationship between historical good design and the new era of design effected by technological advancement and innovative fabrication, we must first establish what good design has been. Good design can be narrowed down to three main components. Good design should be familiar, intuitive, and designed for purpose.
When approaching a new object, designers must anticipate what the object might evoke in potential observers. Any object has the potential to be found unusual and jarring to the observer. This can be avoided by drawing inspiration from the established norms and designing in unity with user norms and expectations to create familiar connections with the new object. It is noted in Designer Maker User that early electronic devices such as gramophones and televisions were stylized to resemble furniture, making it easier for early adopters to welcome them into their homes (Newson, 2016). Molly Long reported on Studio System’s use of familiarity when exhibiting the work of Deiter Rams in a department store. Rams' work is intended to be minimal and blend in, seemingly out of place in a department store filled with eye-catching displays. The Studio System’s team in turn designed an exhibition space replicating a living room, screening room, and study, allowing observers to feel familiar with the environment and exemplify the connections and unity in the pieces to allow immersion in Rams’ aesthetic (Long, 2020). Creating a sense of familiarity helped designers communicate their vision with audiences.
In an interview with Fumiko Ito for his exhibit with Naoto Fukasawa, the Super Normal, Jasper Morrison discusses how being unconcerned with the visual characteristics of an object and anticipating how an object might be lived with and its impact on that atmosphere could increase the likeliness of creating a Super Normal object (Ito, 2017). This sentiment is parallel to that of Chuck Harrison and Dieter Rams,’ who in his paper Omit the Unimportant, communicates the need to design universally for all users and avoid novelty and individuality (Rams, 1984) while Harrison states "If it doesn't do what it's supposed to do or look like what it does, then I frown on it. I don't think a nutcracker needs to look like an elephant," (Gambino, 2009). These ideas lead to designing objects that are designed with functionality prioritized over aesthetics and leading to desirability by a greater number of users.
Avoiding redundant stylization is not the only factor in gaining widespread appeal, the functionality of a product is more desired when it is easily understood. Focusing on function over aesthetics does make this feat easier but designing a product to be intuitive and easy to use is a key element in gaining user support. If users are unable to simply understand how to interact with an object, they could easily become frustrated and disregard it. Objects such as pens, paper clips, and door handles are noted in Designer Maker User, as objects that we do not think about because their designs are so refined and effective (Newson, 2016). Although in the case of doorknobs, there are sometimes cases in which the wrong kind is used, and many are familiar with the frustration of trying to pull open a push door. Deiter Rams also writes about this in his Omit the Unimportant paper and emphasized its particular importance in innovative technology.
Adapting to Innovation.
Innovative technology has rapidly altered the world we live in, and while we work and interact with the world in new ways, the relationships with objects that make them valuable has remained the same. Although these new innovations are creating vastly new realities, we are still integrating and becoming familiar with them similarly to that of past innovations. New objects such as digital assistants have used similar tactics as old TVs. Specifically, the Google Home series uses a fabric cover to give the hard computational device a softer and more inviting appearance that resembles other house furniture textiles. Using familiarity is also being used in the opposite direction, bringing established objects or brands closer to innovation. A good example of this would be GM, who rebranded from a strong, firm logo representative of the toughness in oil and manufacturing to a softer and more refreshing logo to signify they are still the same brand but adapting to a cleaner image with sustainable electronic vehicles (Wong, 2021).
Maintaining familiarity with that which has already been established not only helps users connect with brands and objects, but also helps innovation be more intuitive. Hydrogen energy technology is not particularly new but did not catch on when it first became known. Our oil integrated society struggled to accept and adapt to the hydrogen fuel cells of the time, but now that the damages of fossil fuels are more recognized it is starting to come back. This time around countries such as Japan and Korea are first introducing hydrogen in powering their cities, public transit, and as longer lasting batteries for other forms of green energy. For the everyday person, they might become more aware of hydrogen but will live life the same as always, and with time infrastructure will be expanded and become more entrenched into everyday life (Willette, 2020).
More complex systems are also utilizing familiarity in their innovation. Computers and internet connected technology have become commonplace and are constantly further integrated into society. Various sensors and equipment have expanded into workplaces and manufacturing using code and software that the general public struggles to understand and work with. Various data represented with spreadsheets or button interfaces take learning and effort to understand and connect to the physical world, but tech firms such as PTC have found a way around that. Using innovative technology, augmented reality, and CAD modelling, PTC replicates the physical world in a digital environment, allowing users to simply understand the digital info as if it were represented in real life. Innovative technology might be creating profound changes to our lives, but it is consistently building off the existing norms of life and keeps the same relationships with design that has been long established.
The Model S.
The Tesla Model S is a key symbol of today's technological advancement and played an influential role in the widespread normalization of electric vehicles. While electric cars could be purchased before the release of the model S, Tesla was the first company to generate excitement around electric vehicles and helped push the car industry into making electric the future norm. Tesla built their cars completely from scratch and parallels many of the previous examples in this essay in the creation of the Model S.
As Tesla built the car from the ground up, they could have designed a completely new and futuristic form for a car aiming to change the game. They later did this with the Cybertruck, and while it did generate a lot of attention, it did not have the same widespread appeal of the Model S. This is because the goal of the Model S was not that of the Cybertruck, by maintaining a conservative and familiar form, they demonstrated that electric vehicles could be the new normal and made them desirable to combustion vehicle owners. They also maintained familiarity while trying to stand out and appear innovative. The Model S was also designed to drive autonomously, something humans have only ever imagined and designing that feature in a way that people would feel safe and comfortable in could be a challenging feat with the older generations.
With the increased functionality, Tesla wanted to avoid a crowded dashboard and inserted a tablet like display instead of an analog dashboard. This display enabled better integration of modern technology and allowed them to illustrate partially how the autopilot function works in a way that is intuitive to users to understand but also familiarized users with by utilizing the much commonplace touch screen interface. Tesla’s team designed a vehicle with a focused purpose that achieved its goals in affected the car industry.
Conclusion
In conclusion, once the basis of what good design is has been established, it was analyzed in the context of modern innovation and exemplified in the Tesla Model S. Through breaking down good design and applying it to the accomplishments of the modern world it is established that the relationships that make “good design” today remains the same as they were pre-technology boom.