I’ve been reading recently on Modernism, Futurism, and similar things. I‘m a pretty big geek for good design, architecturally, product wise, anything really.
I‘ve thought about the whole minimalism/simplify your life movement going on too. The amount of well thought out design and unobtrusive complexity that’s tucked away particularly in my Apple products really inspired my thinking on this part. Hiding complexity is actually a very difficult task to accomplish!
So much so that I actively avoid buying anything that just seems unnecessarily complex. As there‘s enough stuff to think about in the rest of my life!
Haven’t really put that into practice yet for everything, but I notice after buying my new iPad and some other neat things I definitely feel more comfortable more of the time.
Maybe that’s dependent on the colour scheme too, if you believe some of the literature. I’ve tried to get the most minimal white coloured version of products that offer the choice, like a mug, thermos, etc.
I definitely believe good design and pleasing aesthetics can improve mental and physical wellbeing. Which also ties into this whole personal wellness trend and authenticity in everything that is getting more popular. These ideas mesh very well.
I don’t believe in minimalism/modernism all the way though, you know with the whole “ ornamentation is a crime” and stuff like that.
Practically most aspects of human life in a modern developed country consists of some amount of “fake” superfluous details that people generally just accept.
Examples:
- In normal home interiors with baseboards to hide uneven floors
- fake pillars and other non load bearing structures in the common styles of suburban homes
- fashion (fake pockets!)
- Automobiles (fake wood, non functional tailpipes, etc.)
So good design, which has a lot of positives, definitely come with some sacrifices for anyone who really wants to go all in on it. Personally, it still seems like a good idea, the less “fake” things and unnecessary complexity in our lives the better.
Edited from original post on facebook March of 2019
M. Y. Z. 