Non-Digital Inspiration

I would like to depart for this week, and maybe longer, to discuss some inspirations outside of the digital realm. Actually, I just want to talk in particular this week about someone who continues to be a great inspiration for me an to many others in the field of design.

When I use the term "design" I mean exactly that. I am not talking in a context specific way here, but rather in reference to ideas surrounding anything thought of and made. This includes graphic art, consumer products, software, architecture etc... The principles behind all of these thing are interchangable for the most part.

One of the greatest architects of the 20th century, if not ever, is a man named Frank Lloyd Wright. Many of you have probably heard of him. Wright was an architect, who was very visible during the first half of the 20th century. He was arrogant, brash, rude but he was also brilliant. Seems typical of someone with a strong vision.

The reason I bring him up, is because I think the parallels between what Frank Lloyd Wright did for architecture can apply to web design as well. Wright's ideas about architectural design were extremely new. Every detail of his works was planned out to evoke emotion, comfort, art and of course function. His radical approach was criticized by many. But one of the things about being a genius, is the ability not only to envision an entirely new paradigm of thought, but to make it extremely functionally sound. When I say this, I mean that the idea evokes a familiar sense of meaning, but it a whole new light. This could be true for any medium of expression as well. Anyone can come up with a new idea. But to come up with a whole new paradigm, that can shift peoples understanding about something fundamental is what genius truly is.

I want to take a couple of examples to show you what I mean. When we picture a business office, or manufacturing plant, most of us think of the same old square rooms with the same old square windows etc... Wright thought differently. For him, the function of a structure was not only to house what was inside of it, but it was also meant to become part of its surroundings. It was designed to bring out more than just business inside of the building. It was designed to be more than just a building. Everything down to the materials used, the furniture, lighting, plates, knives, spoons, artwork on the walls etc... was an important, integral piece of the whole.

Below is a photo of the SC Johnson building in Wisconsin. This is a building made for business and commerce, but it is far from the norm of design. Take a look at the pillar design. Notice how it starts narrow at the bottom and tapers outward as it goes up. This is a whole new design for pillars that Wright had to design with completely new engineering techinques. Many were skeptical of its ability to hold the roof, but Wright's vision proved to hold under the weight of skepticism (no pun intended).

Now let's take a look a home in Pennsylvania called Falling Water. This house is very famous and many of you have undoubtedly seen it before. The waterfalls and the scenic beauty of the land is all an attempt by Wright to tie the structure in with the surrounding areas. Truly an amazing exterior.

But the interior is even more amazing. Take a look at the photo below. Notice the amount of furniture that is actually fixed the the floor. Wright did this whenever possible, partly because of arrogance (he would get extremely angry if a resident would move furniture from Wright's original design) and partly because his design was so integrated that it required such detail. Shelves were fixed on the wall, and they were done so that they were integrated with the wall itself withouth brackets etc...

It may seem like a stretch to bring up an architect in digital media, especially one who was gong long before Photoshop was ever even concieved. I think the parallels, especially with web design, are very strong. For me, the norm has become "I want to look like Amazon.com" design. Very unimaginative interface design and spacial architecture seems to be the way people want to go. There is little concern for artistic expression and functional experimentation. I am not knocking Amazon's interface engineers, because it works and it works extremely well! But we can take this function to another level. Wright's ideas were all about function, but it was more that just making a building efficient for what was going on inside. It was also about making it aesthetically pleasing, exploiting building materials for their inherent beauty (this includes concrete!), and creating an environment that could foster the functions inside.

Fortunately, it appears that the web is becoming more aware of this. There are many people out there that think like Wright did. Unfortunately, as is the case with any revolution, it takes time, and it takes a lot of people to learn to accept something new. Imaging buying your books online, and not only going to the site to buy them, but also going there to be inspired to read, learn and discover. Do you see the difference? It's about creating an environment that enhances the site's function through aesthetics and material (in this case interactivity and individual attention to each user). I hope that you are as inspired as I am by Frank Lloyd Wright to try and achieve a new sense of design practice in the digital medium. The web is not a fad, and it is not a world that doesn't exist. It is here to stay, and it is a real world in bits and bytes. We should treat it as such.