Yves Behar: Designing Objects That Tell Stories

Yves Behar, an inspirational Industrial Designer has given advice to young designers, a quote by him which I found interesting, taking it into consideration as I study design. This being, “Develop you own direction: design is one of the very few fields where differences are celebrated, so find your own route.” He describes his style as the fusing of storytelling and fluidity, where the potential for technology, poetry, commerce and culture merge with the physical world; hence his successful products designed and selling well on the market.

Reflecting upon the video I watched on ‘Designing objects which tell stories’, I discovered that designing from the inside out, products will be more personal, customised and unique. Rather than applying a style or visual signature to everything we touch and rather than selling a specific idea of what beauty if or is not.

For some designers story telling is a strong influence in their work and I established through the video that Yves Behar’s childhood memories led him to design unusual products which helped in begin his career in the design industry. Through attending a Design School, he established a passion for design, leading his way to work as a design consultant. Through this he opened my thoughts about design by designing the “skin” of an object therefore working on important things such as the entire human experience. Were technology, functionality and matching humble human needs are identified in objects.

An example I found interesting was the digital watch which rotates from reading the time horizontally or even vertically without bending your elbow. The connection between these two gave me a further understanding about the importance of designing objects that tell stories and the human experience.

Another interesting object which I discovered was interesting is the ‘Bending Leaf Lamp’, this being a popular design well known by most designers. The lamp gave a “new experience” to the user, were the shade of light could alternate from a warm to a bright work light giving the mix of colouration a humanistic sense.

As a learning and developing designer, Yves Behar mentioned something very important which I found quite appealing. Being as designers we create a relationship between products we use everyday, adding and bringing value to objects functionality and beauty. Yves Behar believes that taking out the “nerdy” and technical features in a product brings out the beauty of an object, allowing the user to appreciate the product a lot more.

I found that designing from inside out as mentioned above, sketching and putting the product in full 3D view pushes the boundaries as a designer, at the same time being able to continue to attach the user in many ways with the product. Thinking out loud, as often as I do, also helped Yves Behar discover different objects which told stories, not only from his childhood but also growing as an adult and developing into a successful designer.

A connection between objects and humans which tells stories is the “Why” Water Bottle. He found it interesting and amusing how the most common object used in our everyday lives connected to the most common question most children ask, “why?” or “why not?”. The passion, communication, advertising and marketing drive as a designer leads designers to design unusual products and projects like the “Why” Water Bottle.

In conclusion, design creates a conversation, breaking the ice between reality, human experience and problem solving. It allows people to connect and communicate a breaking point of what they use everyday, conversing casually with others about products they find interesting as a design.