22/Feb/2011 Function-Follows-Form

I have a calender on my wall, I got it when I bought an issue of the Top Gear magazine. So in the calendar, every month has got a few pictures of a car. 


Yesterday, I turned the page to February, and before that it was January. It has been three weeks since February arrived, and very often I look at my calendar. How could I forgot to turn the page?

The reason is simple, on the page of January, it's got pictures of a Ferrari 458 Italia, it's a beauty. I always remembered that there are some pictures of a Ferrari 458 Italia in my room, but I have almost forgot that it actually is a calender. 


So that got me wondering, do people ignore the real function of a product if it is very beautiful? 


They do.


I was reading a book this afternoon, on one of the pages there was the Philippe Starck's lemon squeezer, the Juicy Salif. I have never used this product in real life, however on the book it says it's 'more of an iconographic style statement than a functional object', which means it's a bit useless for squeezing a lemon. Nevertheless this is one of Philippe Starck's most famous products and one of the best-selling Alessi products. Apparently people don't really buy it as a lemon squeezer because it's very easy to squeeze a lemon by hand. They buy it because it makes their homes look stylish. Look at it, it's like a component from a UFO!

Now I realise I am talking about function-follows-form products. 


Many other Philippe Starck's designs follow the same route, especially his watches. When I was in India, one of my mates bought a Philippe Starck watch, I liked that watch but it took me half a day to figure out how you read the time on it; and for two weeks, Leslie has been moaning about he can't read his new stylish Philippe Starck watch in class.

One thing they do very well in common, is to bring beauty and fun into our lives. The Juicy Salif works as a mini sculpture, and the watches are there to show ways of innovative thinking. If I had a Juicy Salif, I wake up in the morning and see it in my kitchen, I would be happy. Like I said, the function of function-follows-form designs, is to put smiles on people's faces.

I don't know what the conclusion of this article is. Function-follows-form designs are not as useless as it sounds? Or aesthetic is far more valuable than practicality?


One thing I know, is that my calender might stay in February a bit longer, because it's got the Koenigsegg Agera in February's page.