Today I watched Episode 1 (of 5) of a new BBC Series “The Genius of Design”. The BBC Website describes it is “A documentary series exploring the history of design”.
This first episode tells the story of industrial design, from its birth during the industrial revolution up to today. I was particularly interested in and impressed by the interviews with legendary designer Dieter Rams and J Mays, head of global design for Ford Motors. They both shared their views on what design is. In a nutshell, Dieter Rams believes that “design should be as discrete as an English butler” – he wants to make things quieter. J Mayes, on the other hand, believes that design is simply a communication tool with which a brand’s values are communicated to pull the customers in and generate a sale. He says that “design is not an analytical process, it is an emotional process.”
All in all a great episode – stay tuned for highlights from the other four!
If you’re interested in watching them yourself – check out this blog post by Core77, if you’re lucky, they are still online.
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