Last month I was in Luoyang (a place of great historic significance about Buddhism in China. See more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longmen_Grottoes .
As I was walking by the rock cut caves, these two pieces of design captured my attention. Look at the lamp post. At the face of it – we see a perfectly old design. It has been carefully chosen to blend with the context – the historical site. But inside it is a contemporary high watt light bulb. But look at how both live in perfect harmony. Needless to mention, it looks look good too.
Second and even more amazing is this ‘sound rock’ (as I call it). As I walked around the caves I wondered where the music was coming from for I could not see any speakers. Finally I discovered the speakers hiding inside the dead looking rocks. 
What you see under the bench is a speaker hiding inside a rock-shaped shell. It is nice to see how Simple & beautiful, merges with the surroundings, rather than standing out & shouting for attention. If great design disappears is that which in behaviour, then these two are good examples. I look at them as examples of simple smart design that is context sensitive. So the next time you see a gadget or an appliance that stands out from the context, just be reminded that it is not outstanding design. Because great design is that which is felt much more than seen!
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Invisible Design
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2 comments:
Great designs are also the ones that emerge out of simple things, not thought of before, by someone else and that which claims its right to being adopted much easily.
Yes you are right, simplicity is at the heart of good design.
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