Function and Form / Prototyping and Discussion

Department of Strategic Design, Faculty of Design
Tomohiro Sakotsubo, Assistant Professor

“What is good design?” For designers, this is a difficult question to answer without hesitation.

Of course, we always have an answer. However, if asked whether yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s answers are the same, we cannot necessarily say that they are. This is because designers are people who continue to explore in search of better design. What designers can do is derive or help derive one design solution at a given point in time, taking into account the object, its users, the timing of its introduction, and other factors. In other words, designers are simply people who “drive design forward.”

One answer to the question, “What is good design?” is “design that has been loved and used by people for a long time.” This may be understood in the same way as the rationale behind the selection of the “Long Life Design Award”, which is part of the “Good Design Award”, organized by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion. For example, there are the familiar designs that surround us in our everyday lives. Although they may not stand out in any particular way, they can be considered excellent designs in which “function and form” are well balanced with the cost of their realization. Such examples are unlikely to have been achieved by a single designer or a single engineer. Rather, I believe that they are forms that have been repeatedly improved across multiple eras and, at times, refined. In other words, when considering good design, there is no shame in drawing on yesterday, the past.

Another answer to the question, “What is good design?” is “new design unlike anything that has come before.” This refers to the kind of challenging design needed both to reflect on the mistake of simply imitating past successes and infringing upon the rights of others, and to respond to changes in the environment in which we live. The general public rarely sees such challenging designs. This is because most are withdrawn before becoming widely adopted, and even more are rejected at the proposal stage. In other words, when considering good design, there is no shame in failure.

I have presented two answers to the question, “What is good design?” Some readers may point out that these two are, in fact, connected. They form a story of “Prototyping and Discussion”: challenging designs continue through repeated failures and, eventually, their “Function and Form” come into balance with the cost of their realization, becoming designs that are loved by people for a long time.

In such a story of design that spans different eras, how should an individual designer engage with it? For designers who find themselves uncertain, I would recommend acquiring the skill of “the minimum necessary prototyping appropriate to each stage.” Bringing a challenging design proposal into practical implementation requires dialogue with a wide range of people and the formation of consensus. However, it is not realistic to devote significant time and budget to creating every prototype to explain diverse design concepts in the early stages. By making effective use of “the minimum necessary prototyping appropriate to each stage” and building consensus through dialogue, I believe that a person who “drives design forward” is a designer who can make a significant contribution to the good designs described above.

Recent Projects
Below, I briefly introduce several projects that I have been working on in recent years.

References
Development of a Strap Based on Ergonomic Research
An On-demand bus Using AI in Fukuoka ISLAND-CITY

■Contact
Department of Strategic Design, Faculty of Design
Tomohiro Sakotsubo, Assistant Professor