Bastian Prieler
When it comes to the question of what importance design has in my life, I don't really have a direct answer, it is much more important that everything that surrounds us was designed by someone for some reason or problem. I understand everything that has not grown naturally as design ...
We perceive most things without asking ourselves exactly why things look the way they do.
Design is the purpose, the function, the feeling, the ergonomics and much more that gives an object meaning, to make it understandable and usable.
Just like language, design should be easy to understand by everyone. The less necessary it is to convey a topic optimally, the better.
Strictly speaking, it should be understood like a universal language
Don't get me wrong. I love details that are lovingly designed and I am enthusiastic about the craftsmanship that can often be found in older objects. Nevertheless, I very specifically ask myself the question of whether it is necessary or brings added value to the object in question. I have dealt a lot with the statements of Dieter Rams and other important designers who strongly shaped the principles of the reduced functionalist design language and I find that the philosophy impresses me and I like it ... but I still rate some things differently for myself.
I think that design should not be based on avoiding any formal fallibility as much as possible and try much more how the character of an object can be maintainable as a function.
People become interesting because of their mistakes because of their peculiarities ... If a person is too polished and good they seem boring to us ... If it were up to me I would say that an object, house, whatever works exactly like that!
A topic must offer the opportunity and the surface to be attacked in order to be hated! Only if this is the case will there be people who fall in love with it.
An average product only creates average stimuli and at best can meet a need! We will never fall in love with it and we will not hate it either and therefore it does not represent any emotional value for us.
In a world in which everything is in abundance and everyday life is slipping more and more into the digital world, it is the physical things that accompany us in the quiet moments.
When I think about my childhood, I remember much loved companions to whom I still have an emotional connection today.
Objects should be able to shape such memories for the future as possible.
When we talk about functionalism ... I would describe my perspective on it as follows.
What less can I do to make it better than anyone before.
For example, if someone has solved something with screws or glue, then I ask myself the question, how can I solve the same thing more easily without the respective connector.
The objects have all existed and there are usually hundreds of approaches! A chair remains a chair and a shelf remains a shelf. Innovation does not mean to do something completely new that has never existed before, but rather to make a lot more circumstances that we notice in life better, interpret them more logically, make them more economical, make them more usable or simply more emotional.
When I listen to the statements of many friends who are also active in the field of design, it is very often the same attitude. "I want to realize myself". I admit: Self-realization is a nice thought and I also have ambitions to drive such things forward.
Still, the series has nothing to do with the work of a designer! First and foremost, it is about giving a customer (industrial manufacturer) a tool with which he can earn money.
In the end, any philosophy is only as good as the majority ability. When I design something, I ask myself what the customer wanted by the customer might need and want. It is important to understand that you are not doing the work for yourself but for a desired target group. Self-realization is for artists and philosophers.
Art allows itself to develop questions ... Design should answer questions and, if possible, generate this without further questions.
The easiest way to solve the principle of logic is to reduce it ... but here, too, an object must not be deprived of its character.
I see another important point in the technology feasibility and pricing policy. The success of a product definitely doesn't just depend on its appearance and usage.
The topic must be representable and be able to flow into existing production structures. That depends very much on the manufacturer and in this sense should also be assessed objectively. It cannot be generalized because the facts are too different.
Here you need skills and experience that you cannot learn in a design course! I myself draw on my wealth of knowledge as well as on experiences that I acquired as a master carpenter before I studied design.
Through my practical training and the many projects I understand very exactly what is feasible and how far you can go to the boundaries of what is necessary without exceeding them. I usually do this very well. I trust in an understanding of materiality, statics and resilience that I have learned in practice.
Experience is both the greatest enemy and the greatest friend of innovation.
Good design is a composition of construction, function with a strong character and should be proportionate and ergonomic with equal proportions.
The reduction to the essentials never only means a constructive reduction but should also deal with the emotionally essential! A good picture does not have the value of manual painting skills but must make an emotional statement in the spirit of the times and thematize in order to prove sustainable.
For me, design, construction, music, architecture and art as well as much more work according to the same recipe: craftsmanship, understanding of time and a balanced structure in proportion and tension.
Handicraft is the basis for material-appropriate functional thinking and brings together future and tradition.
Change of perspective and emotional distance!
Sustainability lives alongside trends, but products are always assigned to a period!
Only those who hate can love.
Opposites are important in materiality and proportionally shaped composition.
Good paintings work with image division and contrasts such as (cold warm) and bring scenes into balance through contrasts and focal points.
The motivation for new things is always dissatisfaction and is important for the thought process
The motivation for change lies in one's own mistakes and is part of the way.
Everyone is visually and emotionally influenced by their past on certain things. Your own opinion can only be grasped and avoided to a limited extent.
We subconsciously notice very quickly whether we like something.
In general, we cannot determine why we find something sympathetic or consistent or exactly the reason for which aspects it is in detail.
Our perception evaluates within the first second what we or whom we like or what we like. The interplay of the various details results in an overall picture or composition of tension, symmetry and opposition.
When products are too "perfect" and polished, they often lose their character and personality. For example, we find a perfectly symmetrical face to be unnatural and unsympathetic / boring.
It is the tension that we are looking for and need.
Our formal imprint has been shaped by our visual environment since childhood, which ultimately also leads to different types of customers and groups. Nature in itself is considered the perfect architect because it shapes us the longest and most consistently ...
Any attempt to create something is nothing but an attempt to fail better than before.
Perfection is the most desirable goal and at the same time the greatest enemy for productive progress.
Perfection is something that cannot be achieved, but it is worth every effort to get as close as possible.
Formal understanding grows through experience
Emotional understanding grows in the heart
