#matthew lim

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Tack: Smart Lighting for City Living - A multifunctional lamp designed for simplicity, adaptability and modernity. - http://kck.st/1SRL2YU

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Thoughts

Thought I should quickly record some thoughts from the evening, including a conversation I had with a friend about how the design of objects is headed.

#1 Central & Peripheral Devices

I think the general progression of devices for awhile now has been that of reduction and combination. The smartphone has taken over the functions of many devices that we use including: phone, alarm clock, newspaper, GPS, calculator etc.

I think people are fatiguing from that progression. I personally think soon we’ll observe a re-imagination of functionality as discrete objects. These may go hand in hand with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) which has become a catchall, goto phrase for any “smart” or connected object. 

More specifically though, I believe that the way in which this might function would be through a central-peripheral network of objects. The center would be the core devices, such as smartphones (and maybe computers).

One good example is the Apple iWatch or smart watches in general. They are standalone devices, but work better when paired with a smartphone. I think that we may see a reimagination of antiquated objects, such as home telephones and clocks repurposed for our time or more excitingly perhaps new archetypes that propose interesting programs.

#2 Convergence of Technology/Ideas

Recently IKEA posted 7 predictions about how they see furniture heading towards. What struck me is how a project that I did was inline with a lot of their ideas. Before I proceed, let me just clarify that I don’t think that I’m a fortune teller. I have opinions about how the future might proceed but no one really knows for sure.

What I’ve been fascinated by is the idea about the convergence of technology and ideas. Have you ever had an idea and realized that someone else is doing something almost exactly similar? I have. And this is an oft-seen phenomenon in history. Many inventions are not solely the work of one. The telephone for example is known to have been invented by Alexander Graham Bell, but his closest competitor Elisha Gray (who is forgotten by history) was also working on the same idea.

The progression of technology therefore is almost like a cone: what comes next is built on what came before and there is a directionality to it. No one truly knows how decisions of the future are made in detail, but there is a general agreement (or perhaps inevitability if we want to be more meta) about where it is headed, although that progression can be interpreted in multiple ways.

#3 Connectedness and Vulnerability

As our homes, devices and everyday lives becomes more connected, we are sharing our private lives to corporations and individuals at unprecedented rates. Increased access could mean greater control for the user but therefore also increase vulnerability.

With everything becoming connected and the fact (correct me if I’m wrong on this) that everything has inherent flaws and vulnerabilities, hackers now have a lot more material to work with. Whereas in the past only select types of information is transmitted or stored on the internet, the scope of that is expanding at an accelerating pace.

This connectedness could also mean that the way in which services are provided can change, which can be possible business opportunities. For example, a home buyer/renter may in the future expect a smart/connected home as part of the bundle of services paid to the real estate company.

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Drawbot by Matthew Lim

Drawbot is a wireless pen plotter robot that has no work area limitations. 

See it on behance.

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Sink Lounge Chair by Matthew Lim

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Design as an Academic Subject

Something that is fundamental to the study of design as an academic subject is the idea of aesthetic axiology. How sensory experiences inform the user about the meaning/value of a certain image, object, and process on a (for the most part) subconscious level. This contributes to existing aesthetic, non-verbal language in the same way spoken and written languages evolve over time. Designers have to be sensitive to the way things feel, how they make sense with regards to the larger context and why they matter.

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Does virtual data occupy physical space?

Here's an interesting question that is debated on this forum.

From how I understand it, data itself is a state of physical entities. (Experts, please correct me if I am wrong!) Data, at the most fundamental level is a series of binary digits, 0s and 1s. The two states of computer memory storage devices give rise to data. The smaller the physical entity (which can exist as either of binary states), the less physical space data "takes up". Therefore, virtual data does (kind of) take up physical space, because data depends on the physical states of physical matter. However, data itself does not take up a pre-defined amount of space (e.g. 1GB = 1cm³) as it depends on the type of physical process it is enabled by.

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Industrial Design: a definition

In our rapidly moving world, I believe the term “Industrial Design”, has persisted only by tradition and to maintain a sense of continuity. However, the term has changed so much since its inception that the words themselves do little to inform people about what it truly entails. 

By deconstructing the term into its constituents, “industry” and “design”, one can easily assume that the field serves to connect the two together. This very much echoes the work of pioneers like the Deutscher Werkbund and the Bauhaus, who tried to design for industrial manufacture. For the next few decades, designers would go on to accomplish that vision of combining design with industry through the fulfillment of requirements within set constraints. Such constraints can include, but are not limited to, the object’s function, material, cost, production, etc. Industrial Design, since its beginnings, has been a multifaceted field which required a synthetic, plural design approach. 

One important concept that is fundamental to Industrial Design is scale. In some ways Industrial Design can be thought of as design that is meant for large scale mass manufacturing. The scale at which production can occur grows with manufacturing technology, which has rocketed over the past decades, especially since the use of thermoplastics, which thrives in its replicability. Production at such mind-bending scales was necessary in the post-war era because it was the best solution to the needs of the masses; it allowed the cost per item to drop significantly and provided jobs to the average person. This in turn fed and flourished in a consumerist and capitalist culture, where spending is encouraged to drive the flailing economy. Thus, Industrial Design concerns itself with the needs of the masses, and finds holistic solutions to address those needs. 

That said, I would argue that the heart of Industrial Design lies in the user. Necessity is the opportunity and driving force of design, but without the user in the first place, no need exists. The designer creates tools that aid the user in her/his everyday life. It may seem as if I am using the word “tool” too loosely as they often refer specifically to utilitarian, functional objects. However, I believe that most things that we create as human beings have a purpose. Objects that do not have purpose will never bear any significance as creations because they do not relate to us in any meaningful way. For example, art has the function of causing reflection, of engendering emotions in people, among others. Anything that has a function is a tool, no matter how abstract or tangible it may be. Ultimately, every designed object or process is experienced physically and then mentally by the user. It is this process of experience that defines the design and what it means for the different user groups that would be part of the design’s life cycle. To fully understand the needs of users, the designer has to be empathic to the needs of the users. Often times the design process would require the designer to become a user to expose her/himself to the problems encountered by the users and to be fully immersed in their universe. 

Industrial Design to me therefore, is the design of comprehensive solutions that arise from caring about and understanding the needs of people, while being fully aware of the context and constraints of any given scenario.

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In design, imagination is as powerful a tool as evidence