Archt. Joana Marcelino corroborates these statements “It is with aesthetics that we refine all our senses and sensitivity, that we organize spaces and develop a taste for beauty, for art. The aesthetic design and the story telling behind it will always be a good tool and when associated with functional design the product becomes very desirable. One cannot be dissociated from the other, aesthetics and function are two unequivocal premises for the success of a product in the short and long term, which can make it an icon in the design panorama and from a commercial point of view”.
Jorge Pontes (Designer and Project Manager at Sonae MC) goes even further in his point of view and states that the discussion between useful and decorative functionality ends up being useless, as these two premises must work together. A purely utilitarian design does not captivate the consumer and a design focused solely on the aesthetic side does not fulfill a need and its function would only be ornamental, ending up being a piece of art. Massimo Vignelli says that art and design differentiate themselves through their intention. While the designer's work has to function, the artist's work simply exists.
However, aesthetic design may work better in terms of projecting brands and products. An excellent aesthetic design will certainly capture the buyer's attention, but if the buyer's objective is the usefulness of the piece, he will always look for its functionality in the product, so a creative piece, if it is not functional, will have less chance of resulting in sales success, as mentioned by Ana Serrador, CEO of Villa Lumi (lighting manufacturer). And she adds that nowadays there are three groups of consumers. Consumers who are purely looking for aesthetic design, viewing the piece as a work of art, as a creation. The most objective consumers are only looking for the essential, the functional. Then we have the other group that tries to combine these two aspects and this will be the most significant.
We have come to the conclusion that functional design must go hand in hand with aesthetic design, but how do we balance the designer's creativity and the manufacturer's limitations? Yes, because a designer's creativity can be infinite, but a factory with its machines, molds and human resources is not, since not everything can be produced.
Joana Marcelino suggests that a balance is possible “with a lot of research, creativity and prototyping. There must also be a close relationship with the type of industry that will execute the item so that basic production issues can be resolved immediately”.
From the manufacturer's point of view, Ana Serrador says that “with a lot of creativity, research and knowledge of both the consumer and the product's production area. A designer can never dissociate a functional design from an aesthetic design otherwise he runs the risk of developing an engineering product and not a design product”. And Joaquim Silva Macieira, CEO of Begolux
ARTIGO EM DESTAQUE / FEATURED ARTICLE
.NOV. | 35