Ellen Lupton

What I took from Ellen Lupton’s talk is that we are continuously changing design, trying to make it ‘better’ with all these new features. However, like she said, we are simple messing up a good thing. We don’t need our toaster to poach eggs or be ovens, they were made for one thing and that’s making toast.

I think our generation is focused on inventing the new and the better technologies and we as consumers keep buying because we want the best gadget out there but what we really need is the original concept for which it was made. This is like with the toaster her husband bought her, it may have looked the best and been the best technology yet it didn’t even work.

Another point she made was that whenever we design something, it affects consumer’s behaviour. We know as students, when working on an assignment, we have an audience that we are designing for and we create a design that will appeal to them and make them feel a certain way. She showed this with the toilet roll dispenser. A simple object can create such emotion. With the spring dispenser, we are filled with rage because it is so much more difficult to use whereas a simpler design leaves us calmer as we can do it quicker.

She also made the point of designing for our own comfort. We design things so that consumers are more comfortable with the product and themselves. This was like with the luggage. Even though others may be uncomfortable with the amount of space it takes up, we aren’t because we can’t see it.

Overall, she shows how design affects all our lives, even those who are unaware, and continues to push the point that design in its simplest form is most effective.