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
ORIGIN
Believed to be originally coined by American sculptor Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), popularized by Louis Sullivan (1856 – 1924), the Godfather of Modernism.
‘It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, Of all things physical and metaphysical, Of all things human and all things super-human, Of all true manifestations of the head, Of the heart, of the soul, That the life is recognizable in its expression, That form ever follows function. This is the law.’
FOR THE MASSES
In the late 1910s form follows function was adopted by the Bauhaus designers and applied to the production of everyday objects. The industrial designers of the 1930s and 40s like Raymond Loewy and Henry Dreyfuss juggled with the inherent contradictions of 'form follows function' as they redesigned machines for mass-market consumption. By honestly applying ‘form follows function’, industrial designers had the potential to make some objects too durable, which would actually prevent sales of replacements.
Later, Victor Papanek (1927 – 1999) argued for the socially and ecologically responsible production of products, tools, and community infrastructures. He disapproved of manufactured products that were ‘unsafe, showy, maladapted, or essentially useless’, feeling that when design is simply technical or merely style-oriented, it loses touch with what is truly needed by people.
06/10/2008 | Link |
