GE Artistry Series

“Good” design can be just as much about making your boss happy (increasing sales by producing what people want) as it is about making users happy (cheaper/ greener/ better/ bigger/ faster/ smaller etc.)

Personally I like the ideas of honesty and relevance and authenticity, but “Good” design is a spectrum- go too far down the truth-to-materials side and it starts to sound a bit po-faced and fascistic: “You can’t have any ornamentation!!!” . Conversely, too much symbolism and cultural references can make it a hot mess, more art-school trying-to-be-clever than something that works.

I get angry at some of the shit I see that sells, I also like some whimsy in what I buy and use. Sometimes I like being in an ivory tower complaining that people are morons, sometimes I’m the moron.

“Good” design can be just as much about making your boss happy (increasing sales by producing what people want)

That’s the reason I am constantly dodging the term “good design”. Stop putting that into my mouth already :wink: I have no fixed opinion on what “good design” is. I’m no modernist. I own things that would make Dieter Rams cry.

So is helping your boss getting rich “good design” for him personally? Probably. But does it make that RELEVANT or noteworthy in any way? Absolutely not.

Almost ANYTHING sells?

I can’t imagine a larger load of crap than that.

Objectively, more businesses fail than succeed. Large multi-national corporations with every available resource fail continuously. If it were so damn easy, I imagine everyone on these boards is typing from their villa on Lake Como after having cocktails with Clooney.

I don’t know about anyone else here, but for me, fulfilling the customer’s needs is honest design. I will even go as far as to say that it is good design. Great design is fulfilling the customer’s unknown needs.

So someone tell me, why exactly is nostalgia not a legitimate need? People base their future experience on their past experience. Branding is dependent on that simple fact.

As for “authentic” design. Great. But to think it is the only “relevant” design is incorrect.

Hey someone bought those Pontiac Aztek’s…

You are exactly right about good and great design, though.

Does the target age group really have nostalgia for this type of styling though?

Make it Mario Kart themed, you’ll sell 3 times as many.

good point mirk, that’s why I think the millennial thing is just marketing spin.
unless, simplicity and retro are the same thing? think Braun’s 60’s minimalism or Apples 70’s minimalism…

Nostalgia is the wrong term to try to connect with the millennials, if that is who they are going after. Nostalgia brings up memories of past experiences, millenials are too young by about 30 years to have such memories of this design language. However, I do think that they have an appreciation for such design language, to which I think they will understand the intent.

From my point of view, and has been said already, I think this appliance line offers a different/better option than is what is currently being put by the boatloads into new apartment complexes, and I think millenials will appreciate the difference.

I don’t know if nostalgia will work on millennials. GE is gambling it will. Time will tell. Welcome to the uncertainty of NPD.



btw, there’s this thing called the internet. On it, you can see images and read about things that happened prior to your lifetime. Before the internet, we had these things called books.

Aw snap, gettin’ sassy. Here, let me help you get that stick out of your ass.

Millenials can certainly have an appreciation for mid century design, having real nostalgia? I think not.

FYE: http://bit.ly/151ZYd3

Kewl.

Millennials are brain-dead sheeple who have no admiration of the past.

Awesome.

Here’s another clue, you don’t actually have to live in an era to be nostalgic for it.

Ooh we’re doing this now? Happy to play :smiley:

Baby boomers are all pot smoking, acid dropping, hippies with no sense of reality. Why the hell would you distort your guitars? Listen to real music dammit!

Addressing what seems to be the point here:
Historical admiration and nostalgia are different (see the lmgtfy), I would argue that nostalgia is much more visceral, and therefore more likely to sell products.
For example, Lmo posted a combustion engine RC helicopter over in transportation, I thought it was incredibly cool. This was largely based on my interest in engineering and the fact that I can see how that technology is a clear predecessor of what’s out today. Plus, tiny combustion engines are awesome! However, this type of appreciation takes a background that won’t apply to most of the population.

iab, I’m assuming because of your rich admiration of the past, and your vast amount of reading and internet research that you would love a Victorian era styled kitchen. In fact, you should be nostalgic for it, or else you’re a mindless sheeple.

Precisely. I never was saying nostalgia doesn’t have it place, it very much does, by definition it is not applicable here. Historical admiration on the other hand is applicable though.

Semantics…

Yes. Not in the sense of “every single product out there sells”. But more like “every single product has the potential to be sold if done right”. Go to the very next 99-cent store and take a look around. Most of this stuff was never ever touched by a professional designer. Yet they crank out millions of the same kind somewhere in China and ship it all around the world right to your neighborhood. Because it sells. It really does. People don’t ask themselves if they really need that awkwardly shaped toilet brush. They just buy it. And they also buy badly styled kitchen appliances if you sell it to them right. So “people buy it” is just no argument for a well made object.

I don’t know about anyone else here, but for me, fulfilling the customer’s needs is honest design. I will even go as far as to say that it is good design. Great design is fulfilling the customer’s unknown needs.

I agree.
Maybe even nostalgia is a need (I am not sure about that). But how is a superficially styled “retro shell” fulfilling that need exactely? Build a rock solid oven that lasts 40 years by using some old techniques and blueprints. I wouldn’t even mind. But the GE-Stuff is simply not fulfilling that “need for nostalgia” (if we assume that exists). It is just lying about that to the user until it falls apart. That’s the fundamental problem I have with this.

As for “authentic” design. Great. But to think it is the only “relevant” design is incorrect.

Ok, I challenge you: Show me a product that is still featured in one of those books about design and that is NOT authentic in it’s own way. Something truly fake, superficial and rehashed that is still considered a “gamechanger” or at least “important” in its time.

From my experience in the major appliance industry, I would say this series does a really nice job of offering a much nicer much cleaner aesthetic on the low end offering than is currently available and does so with very minimal investment as I am guessing virtually all the tooling and components are existing. These aren’t all the finish or detail directions I would have made as the designer or asked for as the consumer, but this direction really cleans up the design of where this price point typically ends up. I assure you the designer in this case was VERY limited in scope of what was in and out of play, and I think just the simple removal of all the graphics and noise that would normally be shouting for attention was a battle in its self.

All that being said, is this really the type of product you make this video for, and tout design … ?
If this is all GE has to talk about they’re in trouble.

Correct. And again, you do need to live in a particular era to be nostalgic for it. Or don’t you understand the definition of typically?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=rif

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=strawman

I get it now. The sez you argument. You win. My dick is obviously way too small.

btw, what was Clooney’s mood today? I hear he gets pissed when his espresso is too bitter.

I will say it again much like i have on many other threads…

I love when people confusion opinion with fact, many of the statements about the design, quality and a variity of other things in the arugment statements are no more then a designers opion. And when people provide a different opinion people become defensive and continue to argue their point…

I like the Astechic of the design, I think for the price point back in the day when i fist started out i would buy this. I do like some of the charateristics that tie in with my beer fridge (1957 westing house) An erea that i was not born in but am nostoligic for.

one of our professors in school taught us how to present designs and opinions, with those opinions being factutal beased not personal prefrence. And the facts supported with a varity of things non of them could be subjective. As design is very subjective as we have seen with this thread… Some say the design is a boil on society and a belmish to the term "good design"while other have some positive things to say, Many of the positive things come from established designers with a succesful track record whom i proffessional respect.

I also like to see the divergance of two views as it comes to design. The Holistic (ivory tower) view point vs the Pratical (nessecary reality)


My ramble for theday…

remember GE tried to sell off their appliances biz in '08, but re-invested instead. the fact theyre talking about anything is good, probably just getting up to speed with competition.

I’d like our philosophers to wiegh in on how “authentic the nostagia” is for SteamPunk?

Didn’t watch the video until tonight. He did a great job!

Analog functions - superior because you’re not pressing multiple buttons
Focus on key touch points
Versatile look fits in new homes and older homes–a very under-considered approach, I think.

I would totally get that fridge, and agree that many people will now that a cheap cool fridge is available.