RidiculousDesignRules.comLike it or love it, we all have rules that help us at work. "Leave it until the last minute." "Never use a PC." They make sense because they work for you, and you alone. When you try and make someone else follow them, they stop working and become a joke. The problem is that every rule related to, or governing, design is ultimately ridiculous.
We decided to give you a place where you could unload those pretentious sound bites about design you've heard from colleagues, clients or anyone else who thinks they know more than you. Designers don’t need anybody else to make us laugh, when we do it so well ourselves. Most Ridiculous Design Rules
Below you'll find a list of some of the most Ridiculous Design Rules we could find. This is only the beginning. Add your own RDRs to compile the ultimate list of inspirational/delusional design jargon for the world to judge.
Rate each rule on the Ridiculous Scale where 5 is ridiculously ridiculous and 1 if it almost sounds sensible. As if that will ever happen...
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 Form Follows Function Case Study
HACKING IKEA Let’s take a modern icon of mass production: IKEA. This mammoth outputer of cheap, functional (sometimes not so functional) furniture has infiltrated almost every home in the world. This week an exhibition starts at Platform21 in Amsterdam (www.platform21.nl) as part of FreeDesignDom. Apart from exhibitions this ‘public design laboratory’ organizes also lectures and other events. BILLY is hacked!, is their next motto, referring to the Platform21 = Hacking Ikea exhibition. Artists and designers were challenged to take discarded IKEA furniture and make it into something new. An existing example came from Joe Scanlan, author of the book DIY or how to kill yourself anywhere around the world for under $399. In this publication he describes how to make a coffin out of a BILLY closet, vases and other things. Both coffin and book are exposed. Anyway, ten people were put to the task and took the job very seriously. Durability and creativity were being translated into various remarkable objects. Some designers came up with more than one product. Artist Sander van Bussel for instance is the inventor of the GYNEA gynaecology chair and the SOLO sexbed.
Talking about solo and about sex: the IKEA LOVE TOY from Mark Hoekstra is made from three different IKEA products. Hoekstra, professional hacker and geek (http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/858/ikea-love-toy) says to be inspirated by the absolute absence of sexual stimulants in the IKEA stores. No sexual arousal whatsoever he could detect in any corner or cave of the building. Which led to the combination of products like PRODUKT milk-frother latte foamer, OMSORG schoehorn an ALKALISK batteries. Never thought ALKALISK could stand for love battery... It is just a matter of waiting till The IKEA LOVE TOY will be taken into production and will shine on the shelves at IKEA Family. Four for the price of one. But made in Sweden? That could only be made in Holland.
CONTEST For the sharp and fast hackers among us: this is your chance to attend the Hack-Your-IKEA contest, organised Platform21, Superuse and magazine Bright. Make a product your own with a small alteration or an out-and-out repurposing. To enter, hack your IKEA and send in pictures or a video of it with a brief statement to billy@bright.nl by Monday 15 September. The winning design will be exhibited at the 2009 Montreal Biennial and at the BRIGHT stand during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven.
28/09/2008 | Link |
