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Writer's pictureisabellerieken

The Power of Design

Tony Fidel brought up a point that I think is often overlooked: how poorly our world has been designed. With a closer look, it's easy to realized how many things in our everyday lives were poorly designed or simply overlooked because someone thought it wouldn't be important. Fortunately, that's what gives designers jobs today. They have to fix many of the problems in design that were thought of when our societies were formed. I think one of the most common examples may be door handles; you never know whether to push or pull.


Many people can still overlook many of these flaws throughout their lives. Some are more indifferent and others just choose to ignore them. The interview humorously noted that Fidel solves problems for people that they didn't even know bothered them. The architect, Mark Kushner, was my favorite. Not only because his thoughts align with mine, but I enjoyed his blunt attitude. I remember from the interior design episode of Abstract, we spend around 82% of our lives indoors and therefore surrounded by architecture. Kushner similarly notes that we spend almost as much time around architecture as we do around people and thus architecture becomes extremely influential in our lives. The space we live in will always evoke an emotion within us. Rooms with more windows have more sunlight and will most likely provide more happiness than a room with four walls and no windows. Kushner also noted how he defines architecture as a hatred for certain aspects of physical design, his own being the exposed balcony outside his bedroom. In my own life, I love to observe the homes in every neighborhood I pass through and religiously Zillow wherever I go. I feel a similar hatred when I pass a faux Italian inspired home covered in orange stucco. I think they are an eyesore.


In general, I think anyone can look at many of these design problems and realized they are wrong. However, designers become the only ones that care enough to evoke real change. Otherwise these bothersome designs just become a nuisance that everyone grows numb toward.

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