Design is intended for everyone, but it’s not for everyone!
Part one
It seems everything is invented, designed, drawn, crafted, sung. It seems that designers will slowly become redundant. Fortunately, it only seems that way!
First of all, non-designers should be kicked out of design. Not in terms of schooling, vocation, or documents they possess, but in terms of looking with the heart, contemplating the essence of the object and its perfection. There will always be a small gap between the designer and the user. Simply because designers approach with the heart, imagination, an artist’s passion and create a new form, while users simply seek a solution to their “situation”, “problem” or “need”.
Looking at the difficult tasks designers face, we cannot but mention some of them.
Designers should constantly ask “why” and “how” if they want to put their heart into it. Putting their heart into it, they provide their thoughts, excitement and joy shaped into a product. And they are always in danger of not being understood, of you not having an answer to their questions.
The example of the Gemma armchair is the best indicator – designer Vlatka Leskovar asked: “why not sit in an unusual armchair” and “how to make it a little vintage” – and thus Gemma was created. An armchair, a recliner or something else for someone is a real example of how a piece of furniture can be camouflaged, transformed and become inclusive, becoming a product offered to everyone.
Designers need to define their users – this is well visible in the next two products whose design is signed by the great Karim Rashid. The need of the users, their priority and way of life are determined. Throughout the years he spent creating Karim has become a real “detective” in discovering what users actually find important in the product. Here, for example, these are – “secret” compartments, drawers, containers. Packed in simple white colour, providing every interior with a stamp of elegance.