Objectified

(photo courtesy of http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/05/14/kartell-pol-sofa-by-ronan-erwan-bouroullec/)

"Remove everything unnecessary for maximum unity." -Erwan and Ronan Bourellec, Objectified

What the Bourellec brothers design are pieces that are very uniform and minimalistic. This couch they designed, for instance, doesn't contain any other aspect except the simple function of a large, cushioned tool for seating. Because this couch is stripped from all other decoration or additions, it is very simple and clean looking. People look at this couch and the only form of its details they can see are the black surfaces and white surfaces of the fronts and sides. The Bourellec brothers even simplified the color of this couch to easy hues and values. They created a unifying concept of a minimalistic couch which is that piece's sole purpose, using the form of color and shapes.

(photo courtesy of http://designconsciousnessconsciousdesign.blogspot.com/)

One of Brian Fies' points in his talk also resounds to what the Bourellec brothers quoted earlier. Fies says that his design process for this panel was to draw his mother wrathing around in her bedsheets. But he decided to revise it and thought "What if I made her nightgown black" that way the focus is just on her body. He thought even more and thought "What if I made the bedsheets black" and then this image came out. Fies stripped away all the extra elements of this image and focused it directly on the characters body. The form for this image was the simple black and white coloring and the drawing of the body parts of his mother. The content was showing only her body in pain and zooming in on that one simple idea.

In furniture or comic design, designers often over design and create. The revision of their production lets them answer what is the most important thing I want viewers to get out of what I made.. what do I want to say with this piece? This gives designers the exact purpose for their overall goal in their design.