Hey Guys,
Last week I was having discussion in class together with all students and lecturer about a term "Form follows Function" or "Function follows Form". After done some research here's what I got to elaborate more those two terms.
Based on Wiki Form follows Function can be defined as a principle associated with modern architecture and industrial design in the 20th century. The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose.
Alright to be honest, I am still blur of that definition, so let me break down that sentence:
What is Form?
Based on my research I got the idea that Form is about the overall look and aesthetic sense of what you get from one design. Form can easily understand by looking at the idea of designer choose the color, font, size, images, and any other element design. All graphic element design can be categorized as form.
What is Function?
Function is the purpose of the piece whether it is to sell, to inform or educate, to impress, or to entertain.or can easily understand Function is the objective or the goal of each product or design.
Form follows Function or Function follows Form.
In a theory which has been applied since a long time ago, people will always follow the rule of "Form follows Function". This theory can be described as an oldschool theory that considering a lot about Functionally above everything. They will think about Functionally over Usability, Ergonomics, and Aesthetics.
Then how about designer creative thinking way? It's kind of ridiculous for designer to think less about the aesthetic. Let me give you an example, let's say I am a web-designer, in order to create the design looks pretty , has a good mood or "cute look" of my website I choose TW Cent MT as my font type for that design, But the questions are: Is that font (TW Cent MT) a standard font?” In other words, does everyone have installed that font? Then I will come back and re-think about my design that has limitation when I want to sell or show it to public, and yes again I will repeat and saying loudly the rule of "Form follow Function" :) :)
So I conclude in order to be creative which think out of the box, we still have to think the limitation or the goal of what we produce. we can not just use our ego to create what we want without considering of our goal and our target audiences!!
There some important considerations of what we should think when we want to create something. Based on the article by Jacci Howard Bear from About.com, he listed down those considerations:
Alright to be honest, I am still blur of that definition, so let me break down that sentence:
What is Form?
Based on my research I got the idea that Form is about the overall look and aesthetic sense of what you get from one design. Form can easily understand by looking at the idea of designer choose the color, font, size, images, and any other element design. All graphic element design can be categorized as form.
What is Function?
Function is the purpose of the piece whether it is to sell, to inform or educate, to impress, or to entertain.or can easily understand Function is the objective or the goal of each product or design.
Form follows Function or Function follows Form.
In a theory which has been applied since a long time ago, people will always follow the rule of "Form follows Function". This theory can be described as an oldschool theory that considering a lot about Functionally above everything. They will think about Functionally over Usability, Ergonomics, and Aesthetics.
Then how about designer creative thinking way? It's kind of ridiculous for designer to think less about the aesthetic. Let me give you an example, let's say I am a web-designer, in order to create the design looks pretty , has a good mood or "cute look" of my website I choose TW Cent MT as my font type for that design, But the questions are: Is that font (TW Cent MT) a standard font?” In other words, does everyone have installed that font? Then I will come back and re-think about my design that has limitation when I want to sell or show it to public, and yes again I will repeat and saying loudly the rule of "Form follow Function" :) :)
So I conclude in order to be creative which think out of the box, we still have to think the limitation or the goal of what we produce. we can not just use our ego to create what we want without considering of our goal and our target audiences!!
There some important considerations of what we should think when we want to create something. Based on the article by Jacci Howard Bear from About.com, he listed down those considerations:
- Who is the target audience and what are their expectations?
- Is the design supposed to sell a tangible product or an idea?
- Is it to develop goodwill, create branding, or public awareness about a company, an event, an issue?
- What is the budget for this project? What quantity of this design is needed?
- How will this project be distributed - by mail, door-to-door, in person, as part of a magazine, newsletter, newspaper, or book?
- What action is the recipient likely to take with the piece - throw it away, stick on the wall, file for reference, pass it around, fax it around, put it on a shelf?
- What elements are required by the client - specific colors, specific fonts, specific images?
After we understand all the considerations as our parameters and limitations, then we can use our creative way to design a product with concerning aesthetic simultaneously with function. :)
Cheers!
