Simple-Unselfconscious Design

Ying Zhang (Cameo)

What is Simple-Unselfconscious Design?

A lot of current designs have been focusing too much on its functionalities, rather than what it can actually bring to people’s lives. Myself, as a second year industrial design student, gradually understand the meaning of what ‘design for people’ means. I still remember when being asked what changes a self-ironing system could bring to people’s lives, and I could not answer anything but more free time. But what can free time bring to our lives? What can people do during the free times? All these questions can be summed up into one single query – is a self-ironing system really what people need? As a designer, no matter what we design, we have the same objective or intention, design to improve lives. Which then varies into improvements in physical activities and psychological pleasures. Whereas the design tactic I’m proposing here targets more on the user’s mental satisfactions – Simple-Unselfconscious Design.

Simple-Unselfconscious Design refers to designing from the users’ psychological comfort perspective, focuses on creating positive experiences for the users. It is aiming to bring up users’ simpleness and innocence from their busy lives, dip in the true freedom both physically and mentally. Self-consciousness in one way, is shaping a person in a positive way by reinforcing and encouraging people to become more productive and effective by constantly reminding us who we are; but on the other hand, it has become limits and boundaries for us individuals to live our lives freely and happily. We live in this world, not only as intelligent achievers, but also emotional human beings who need relaxations and freedoms.

Why Design for Simple-Unselfconsciousness?

In 1950, the American psychologist Harry Harlow conducted an experiment that separated infant monkeys from their mothers just a few hours after birth, and were isolated in separate cages with two fake mothers. One made with wire but provide milk for the monkey, while the other was covered in fur but without milk. The results showed that infant monkeys preferred the more realistic look mother, they would get milk from the wire mother and cling to the furry mother if they were placed together. Here the look stands more for the feelings and connections that the two mothers expressed to the infant monkeys. Despite the ethical concerns of this experiment, Harlow’s experiment strongly supported that the feeling created by something does strongly influence on our perceptions to it. Daniel Eckler’s post in 2016 about design for humanity further supported this idea with this illustration. Where he stated that “Function lies at the core of every manufactured object, …. We design objects to solve problems, to fulfill needs” (Eckler, 2016).

One important part of designing for Simple-Unselfconsciousness focuses on creating that feeling or connection, relating the designs with users’ personal experiences. While another important element is the unselfconsciousness, to express yourself freely. “Unselfconscious interaction offers a useful lens that leads interaction designers to emphasize design qualities that enable goodness of fit in interaction design artifacts rather than a sole focus on improving use situations” (Wakkary, Desjardins & Hauser, 2015). It is not purely design without selfconsciousness, but to encourage unselfconsciousness as a natural and free way of connecting designs, users, and even designers.

Concerns of Designing for Simple-Unselfconsciousness?

Christopher Alexander in 2004 analysed about culture unselfconscious design and culture selfconscious design. He stated that culture unselfconscious design is learnt informally through imitation and correction, whereas culture selfconscious design is learnt academically through explicit rules. Alexander expressed his concerns about unselfconscious design processes as limited and lack of creativity. He argued, “by the rejection of this unselfconscious process, the constant evaluation and re-evaluation of techniques, the application of academic and scientific measurement and technique that any designer can make sure they don’t become as much a historical footnote as the straw house builders of Polynesia”. Therefore, while designing for Simple-Unselfconsciousness, designers must keep in mind that not every unselfconscious ideas are constructive, it is more about forming that feeling and connection, which is applicable to users and the wider society.

How to Design for Simple-Unselfconsciousness? 

Simple is not being complicated or elaborate, mixed or compound, embellished or adorned, luxurious, and pretentious or guileful; it is being easy to understand, without additions or modifications, and humble or sincere (“Simple”, 2016). While unselfconscious means not suffering from exhibiting self-consciousness, not shy or embarrassed, natural and genuine. Therefore, Simple-Unselfconscious Design as a design tactic could be subdivided into the following approaches or strategies.

  • Design for innocence / simplicity / playfulness / happiness

Refers to design for fun and child-like experiences such as LEGO and Ghibli Museum, which are toys and animations that are popular among children and grown ups respectively.

  • Design for physical / psychological comfort

Designs that either relax the users’ bodies (Comfort Designs Bathware design accessories that help the users to relax more during bathing such as a seat installed in the shower room), or that are visually pleasant (such as the colourful pasta made by Linda Miller Nicholson), or both.

  • Design for humanity

Using design and technology to bring people together, interactive designs and systems; or emotional designs that care for each other, the environment, or other creatures.

  • Design for basic but ignored needs

Focusing on solving current obvious problems that are ignored for either bring considered as unimportant or being replaced by other behaviours as solutions, Chindogu is an example of designs for solving these questions.

  • Design outside the boundaries

Being creative, seeking new and different, sometimes ‘abornormal’ approaches in solving problems. Designers being unselfconscious in design themselves.

  • Design for freedom

Allows users to express themselves or their feelings freely, such as the Melbourne City underground railway construction lookout site encourages people to express their curiosity freely.

  • Design for confidence

Designs that helps people to build up their confidence, promoting equality between people from different background. Such as Aimee Mullins’ 12 pairs of legs (disability does not stop people from being beautiful) and Paraguay’s landfill orchestra (poverty does not stop people from chasing dreams).

  • Design for natural state

Encouraging individuality and trying to fulfil individual’s unique needs, which allows users to be themselves, examples include bespoke experiences.

 

What is Simple-Unselfconscious Design?

A lot of current designs have been focusing too much on its functionalities, rather than what it can actually bring to people’s lives. Myself, as a second year industrial design student, gradually understand the meaning of what ‘design for people’ means. I still remember when being asked what changes a self-ironing system could bring to people’s lives, and I could not answer anything but more free time. But what can free time bring to our lives? What can people do during the free times? All these questions can be summed up into one single query – is a self-ironing system really what people need? As a designer, no matter what we design, we have the same objective or intention, design to improve lives. Which then varies into improvements in physical activities and psychological pleasures. Whereas the design tactic I’m proposing here targets more on the user’s mental satisfactions – Simple-Unselfconscious Design.

Simple-Unselfconscious Design refers to designing from the users’ psychological comfort perspective, focuses on creating positive experiences for the users. It is aiming to bring up users’ simpleness and innocence from their busy lives, dip in the true freedom both physically and mentally. Self-consciousness in one way, is shaping a person in a positive way by reinforcing and encouraging people to become more productive and effective by constantly reminding us who we are; but on the other hand, it has become limits and boundaries for us individuals to live our lives freely and happily. We live in this world, not only as intelligent achievers, but also emotional human beings who need relaxations and freedoms.

Case Study 1 – Germany’s Uncharted Green Citadel

Germany’s Uncharted Green Citadel (Figure 3) is the last design of the late Austrian “alternative architect” Friedensreich Hundertwasser, he called his big pink project an “oasis for humanity and nature in a sea of rational houses.” Located in the central city of Magdeburg, the Green Citadel consists a combination of shops, cafes, a hotel and a preschool. It has a natural, green garden roof which has a great contrast with the bright pink building body. Each details has been designed differently, no two doors are the same, which is an expression of individual uniqueness. It looks like a big palace, just as those from a story book back in the childhood. This architecture is a call for freedom, nature, connection, and childhood simple happiness.

Case Study 2 – Japan’s Innocence Graphic

The Innocence Graphic is a design company in Japan, its products include websites, apps, logos, journals and books. Although it covers a wide range of publication formats, all of their designs share a really similar style – clear, simple and refreshing. The images they use in their designs are mainly from the nature, and the colours they use are mainly not vibrate but able to create a contrast and really make the subject stand out from the page. All the designs create a feeling of consistency and freedom, providing this really comfortable experience to the viewers or the users. The company believes that “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”, they keep their designs simple, but the results turns out really approaching.

Conclusion

Simple-Unselfconscious Design allows not only the users, but also the designers to express themselves freely. It focuses on building up positive attitudes and making active changes to how people view the world through building up connections between people, nature, also back to their personal experiences. Simple-Unselfconscious designs ought to be meaningful either personal or to wider society. It shifts the designers attention from functionality to the implications and connotations. Aims to design for delightful user experiences.