Conciseness in the hottest design discussion on th

Simplicity in design -- Talking about the trade-offs in product design

-- Zhang Xuchen, Chen Jianguo (Academy of fine arts, Tsinghua University)

I don't know when the practitioners of industrial design suddenly felt quite cordial for eggs. Because its complete ellipsoid, no matter how to change the observation angle, will feel a simple shape, but also has rich changes. The probe is 7993 series, which belongs to the positive voltage power supply mode

if the products placed around us are like eggs, complete, simple and concise, which makes people feel friendly, happy and clear at a glance, maybe this is the designer's ideal

I. simple products required by the times

ancient humans used grindstones as knives and cut wood into arrows. Grasp the essence of creation. Through application, feeling, and then make it handy, but never sculpt the form. "Abandon" boldly, "take" simplify. Even some decorations give profound content and serve the functional structure. With the development of industry, gropes, the founder of Bauhaus, broke the architectural mode of Rococo and Renaissance, which is suitable for the strict requirements of the modern world for functions and tried to save materials, costs, labor and time. He proposed that the contribution of the designer's mental labor is reflected in the neat and orderly plane layout and the volume with good proportion, rather than the redundant decoration

the times are advancing, human living standards are improving, the pace of life is accelerating, and production efficiency is advancing by leaps and bounds, but at the same time, we are facing many puzzles, such as the shortage of energy, the increasing amount of industrial waste and so on. All these require that the products accompanying human life and work should be concise, lively, novel and friendly, with a sense of modernity associated with the information age, including a spirit consistent with the modern life of turning waste into treasure

Second, the connotation of simplicity

product design, "taking" is more complex, "giving" is more simple, and "taking" is appropriate, it is concise and cordial

as a product, it has its own shape and design language for information transmission between designers and products, product processing materials, product process assembly, product packaging and transportation, as well as product functional structure. If we can highly simplify the shape of the product, simplify and summarize the design language, fully consider the environmental protection requirements in selecting materials, comprehensively simplify the process of product assembly, facilitate packaging, consider transportation, simplify the internal structure of the product, and complete the functional instructions of the product with interest. Then our design will be accepted by modern consumers

III. concise method

1 concise modeling

the appearance of the product is the embodiment of the internal functional structure of the product, which directly affects people's understanding and use of the product functional instructions, and is closely related to the product's processing and assembly. With the revolution of electronic industry, the bulky mechanical structure of many products is being replaced by the integrated circuit of tiny electronic computers. Since then, human beings no longer spend a lot of valuable materials to complete a functional structure, which greatly simplifies the process of assembly. On the other hand, because electronics, an invisible thing, liberates designers, it is easy for designers to lose "reason" and design the shape of products sensibly, without considering how to abandon some unnecessary decorations, facilitate the process and reduce costs. This has led to the introduction of many complex and decorative product forms

a product with real vitality and appeal should integrate a highly concise shape with a set of natural, rich and powerful design languages, so that the product can establish a relationship with its own technology and culture, so that the operator can understand everything at the moment of seeing and contacting the product. And mastering and operating products with the highest efficiency just conforms to the rhythm of modern people's life and work. All of this requires designers to have abstract and simple morphological features and grasp the discretion of trade-offs

Lisa krohn (1. Isa krohn), a female college student majoring in industry at Cranbrook College of art in the United States, won the first prize of up to 100000 dollars in the Finnish plastic arts competition. The machine she designed abandoned the featureless shape that traditional products often show, but borrowed from daily life to make it more concise and practical, which makes people feel more cordial. Taking an open book as the model, the machine strongly shows the continuity of information exchange in culture, that is, from yesterday's printing means to today's electronic media

from here, we realize that as a product, it is important to complete its functions, but what is more important is the designer's consideration of how the product completes its functions. This way is reflected in the appearance of the product

take the design of human scale as an example. In line with the purpose of seeking richness in simplicity and simplicity in richness. In the overall shape, according to the trapezoid and square, the size of the machine core is the smallest; The limit is to meet the size of 95% of people's feet. Taking this as a parameter, we can get a surface where two circles meet. Meet the pedal area and display area respectively. Making full use of the advantages of electronic display technology, it breaks the habit of erecting a height on the display board of the conventional body scale. Undoubtedly, raw materials are saved. The volume of the space is reduced, and the full and concise shape facilitates mold opening, easy packaging, and also brings a sense of intimacy

in dealing with the transition between the pedal area and the display area, the specific shape should be concise and subtle. Use environmental light source to enrich its hierarchy. This simplifies the semantics and completes the boundary between the pedal area and the display area

for the design of the texture of the pedal area, do not pursue whitewash, and strive to be holistic and friendly. Visual design to meet the feeling of stepping; Designed for feet to meet friction; Designed for cleaning and convenience

the transparent colored plastic with slightly convex eye shape is covered on the display area, the complex lines of the display board are naturally covered, and the red code is accepted by the eyes. The user was told: "do not step on the display area". Semantic conciseness and amiability. Users are also willing to follow. Raymons, the design authority of Braun electric company in Germany, explained a Braun coffee pot with many vertical lines on the surface: the vertical lines give it a look and feel that is not only a soft and clear greek column style; More importantly, these wires increase strength and can hide defects. The material can be made of low-cost plastic, and the cost can be reduced by nearly 70%

the design proposal for each detail of the product can not be abandoned only when it presents more than two advantages. Only in this way, the product will complete the functional instructions with few "design" and the product will be concise and not cumbersome

2 simple function

for the functional instructions shouldered by products, today's businessmen blindly require designers to superimpose functions, so the structure of products becomes increasingly complex, the quality decreases, the embodiment of main functions is affected, and the products become more and more "tired"

proper and natural function matching, because the two functions have a common area, as long as it is simple, it will also be easy to accept. However, the over rigid superposition function is cumbersome and vulgar

recently, saltlake city's stocktex company produced a new type of device that can not only lock bicycles, but also pump up bicycles. This design is as successful as the function matching design of the radio recorder. The two functions have a "Simultaneity" in human use needs, and there is an internal connection between them

but for household body scales, although height and weight should be said to be harmonious. However, because it is used at home, the change of body height (adults) is not as obvious as that of weight. Adding processes, measured from the perspective of value engineering, increases the cost. Considering from the packaging, it is not easy to carry, and finally discards the function of measuring body height

for the design of other products, there is also this problem, which requires designers to keep a clear mind, boldly reject and carefully extract. Such products will be concise and popular

IV. concise purpose and function

1 concise design is the guarantee for the vitality of products

products have two factors: service life and shape life. Industrial designers master the whole form life and part of the service life of products. Here we only discuss the form life of products

when a designer launches a product, it gives design life and determines the length of product form life

some product designs blindly whitewash the form, blindly superimpose functions, cater to the tastes of a small number of people, and can not stand the test of time, such as a flash in the pan. More products are enduring because of their simple form and perfect functions

it is worth mentioning the design of the scratching rake. Scratching rake is used to scratch the back that cannot be reached by hands. The length is just enough to reach any part of the back of the human body. The shape is that the front part is a curved finger shape, and the rear part is a hand-held handle. The simple and friendly design makes the product have strong vitality

the reason why concise design can give life to products is that it is refined and simplified. It is the representation of the set of main design factors and reflects the most essential factor for the product to complete its functions

2 simple design is for people to use more conveniently

product design is designed for people, 2 Accuracy level: 0.5. All factors unfavorable to human use and operation will be eliminated

we will be beneficial to people