The designer is often seen as the master of form giving. But is that it? Is an object only form?

How about if we rephrase the above sentence to: The designer is often seen as the master of (in)forming.

Through quite a simple play on words one can begin to look at objects, as well as their conception, in a totally different way: on one hand, beyond their form and see them as a melting pot of different factors, resulting in the inevitable form of the object that we use and perceive as such; and on the other hand, to look beyond their form and see them more as 3D physical (historical) documents of a certain type of social human behaviour. This is where we get to when we think of design as a vehicle that allows us to get more from an object.

Even if the play on words above is rather simple, the difference in meaning is quite big – the designer is not forming but informing: the created object will activate the subject’s curiosity and enrich the cognitive experience.

If a designer accepts form as something inevitable in what he does, then his mind and expertise can freely focus on what comes before form, and on what will come after form. This, I think, is professionally a very liberating and fulfilling challenge.

Designers do (in)form!

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