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I would like to depart for this week, and maybe
longer, to discuss some inspirations outside of the digital
realm. Actually, I just want to talk in particular this week
about someone who continues to be a great inspiration for me an
to many others in the field of design.
When I use the term "design" I mean exactly
that. I am not talking in a context specific way here, but
rather in reference to ideas surrounding anything thought of and
made. This includes graphic art, consumer products, software,
architecture etc... The principles behind all of these thing are
interchangable for the most part.
One of the greatest architects of the 20th
century, if not ever, is a man named Frank Lloyd Wright. Many of
you have probably heard of him. Wright was an architect, who was
very visible during the first half of the 20th century. He was
arrogant, brash, rude but he was also brilliant. Seems typical
of someone with a strong vision.
The reason I bring him up, is because I think
the parallels between what Frank Lloyd Wright did for
architecture can apply to web design as well. Wright's ideas
about architectural design were extremely new. Every detail of
his works was planned out to evoke emotion, comfort, art and of
course function. His radical approach was criticized by many.
But one of the things about being a genius, is the ability not
only to envision an entirely new paradigm of thought, but to
make it extremely functionally sound. When I say this, I mean
that the idea evokes a familiar sense of meaning, but it a whole
new light. This could be true for any medium of expression as
well. Anyone can come up with a new idea. But to come up with a
whole new paradigm, that can shift peoples understanding about
something fundamental is what genius truly is.
I want to take a couple of examples to show you
what I mean. When we picture a business office, or manufacturing
plant, most of us think of the same old square rooms with the
same old square windows etc... Wright thought differently. For
him, the function of a structure was not only to house what was
inside of it, but it was also meant to become part of its
surroundings. It was designed to bring out more than just
business inside of the building. It was designed to be more than
just a building. Everything down to the materials used, the
furniture, lighting, plates, knives, spoons, artwork on the
walls etc... was an important, integral piece of the whole.
Below is a photo of the SC Johnson building in
Wisconsin. This is a building made for business and commerce,
but it is far from the norm of design. Take a look at the pillar
design. Notice how it starts narrow at the bottom and tapers
outward as it goes up. This is a whole new design for pillars
that Wright had to design with completely new engineering
techinques. Many were skeptical of its ability to hold the roof,
but Wright's vision proved to hold under the weight of
skepticism (no pun intended).
Now let's take a look a home in Pennsylvania called Falling
Water. This house is very famous and many of you have
undoubtedly seen it before. The waterfalls and the scenic beauty
of the land is all an attempt by Wright to tie the structure in
with the surrounding areas. Truly an amazing exterior.
But the interior is even more amazing. Take a
look at the photo below. Notice the amount of furniture that is
actually fixed the the floor. Wright did this whenever possible,
partly because of arrogance (he would get extremely angry if a
resident would move furniture from Wright's original design) and
partly because his design was so integrated that it required
such detail. Shelves were fixed on the wall, and they were done
so that they were integrated with the wall itself withouth
brackets etc...
It may seem like a stretch to bring up an
architect in digital media, especially one who was gong long
before Photoshop was ever even concieved. I think the parallels,
especially with web design, are very strong. For me, the norm
has become "I want to look like Amazon.com" design. Very
unimaginative interface design and spacial architecture seems to
be the way people want to go. There is little concern for
artistic expression and functional experimentation. I am not
knocking Amazon's interface engineers, because it works and it
works extremely well! But we can take this function to another
level. Wright's ideas were all about function, but it was more
that just making a building efficient for what was going on
inside. It was also about making it aesthetically pleasing,
exploiting building materials for their inherent beauty (this
includes concrete!), and creating an environment that could
foster the functions inside.
Fortunately, it appears that the web is
becoming more aware of this. There are many people out there
that think like Wright did. Unfortunately, as is the case with
any revolution, it takes time, and it takes a lot of people to
learn to accept something new. Imaging buying your books online,
and not only going to the site to buy them, but also going there
to be inspired to read, learn and discover. Do you see the
difference? It's about creating an environment that enhances the
site's function through aesthetics and material (in this case
interactivity and individual attention to each user). I hope
that you are as inspired as I am by Frank Lloyd Wright to try
and achieve a new sense of design practice in the digital
medium. The web is not a fad, and it is not a world that doesn't
exist. It is here to stay, and it is a real world in bits and
bytes. We should treat it as such. |