Visual designers, architects, home and fashion designers, and graphic artists are constantly challenged to create works that follow the mantra “Form follows function.” For many people outside these design fields, there seems to be a greater emphasis placed on the creativity and aesthetics that go into a design project, rather than the purpose of the art. Up until last fall, when I began taking on some basic design assignments at my workplace and up until I began taking 502 Visual Design through Quinnipiac University, I had this sort of mentality as well, that the overall look of a design has greater importance than its purpose. The basic premise of “form follows function” is that the art in question must have a well-defined function that meets the needs of whomever the art’s patron is. For example with the FedEx logo, we are already familiar with the iconic purple and orange letters that spell out the name of the company. But if you look closely at the “E” and “x,” there is a white arrow created by the closeness of both letters. The arrow, essentially a hidden figure, symbolizes the main function of the business - being a delivery service. The subtle placement of the white arrow is a clever and well-placed part of the design, but the logo’s designer did well to ensure that the name “FedEx” is the focal point. Rebecca Hagen and Kim Golombisky, authors of “White Space is Not Your Enemy” simplify the definition of the “form follows function” principle: “Good design results from a partnership between ‘form’ as art and ‘function’ as utility” (Golombisky and Hagen, 2017, p. 2). The rules of aesthetics will always change but the idea that art that is geared for architecture and business must have usefulness will be evergreen. However in his article “Form Follows Function - An unclear design principle,” Andreas Burghart challenges the idea that function is more important than form. While the form or the aesthetics of a design should not take precedence over its function, neither should function be considered greater than form. Burghart argues that the form and function of art should complement one another. As long as the aesthetics of a design don’t subtract value from the work, Burgart believes that the appearance of a design has the ability to convince viewers that the art is functional and influence certain emotions in viewers (this is especially useful in the marketing world). The author writes, “Aesthetic aspects like the look, feel, small, sound and taste of an object provide information about its function. Therefore, aesthetic features cannot only be leveraged to allow an object to look beautiful, but also to explain what it is and what you can do with it” (Burghart, 2012). Lastly, because design trends are changing all the time, it’s important to evaluate which ones adhere to “form follows function.” Tim Hopma’s 2016 Zazzle Media article “Web Design Trends for 2017” gives an overview of what trending design features (especially those geared towards websites) add to the value of a business or organization that adopts such trends. An example: web animations have become a popular way for business owners to show prospective customers how to use certain products, give a creative history of the company’s origins, and serve as a way to catch viewers’ eyes when they land on certain web pages. These animations have different purposes, Hopma writes, but what they have in common is functionality and the ability to give websites a bit of personality and storytelling appeal (Hopma, 2016). Bibliography: Burghart, A. (2012). Form Follows Function - an unclear design principle. Retrieved January 27, 2019, from https://www.centigrade.de/blog/en/article/form-follows-function-an-unclear-design-principle/ Hagen, R., & Golombisky, K. (2017). What is Design? Making Visuals & Type Play Nice in Space. White Space Is Not Your Enemy: A Beginner's Guide to Communicating Visually Through Graphic, Web & Multimedia Design (3rd ed., pp. 2). Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis. Hopma, T. (2016). Web Design Trends for 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2019, from https://www.zazzlemedia.co.uk/blog/digital-design-trends/#gref
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