Form Follows Function: Tips to Improve Your Product Designs

[@Design.Theory]

Make a killer portfolio and land your dream design job. Enroll in my online industrial design course, Form Fundamentals. bit.ly/335vsqO .

[@diptysingh589]

can you please also make a video about function follow form and how it is different than form follow function

[@ai_is_a_great_place]

I have no involvement with the industrial design industry, but I'm still 100% fascinated by all these videos!!!

[@vibhutijain8286]

I am a Montessori educator and our pedagogy emphasizes a lot on functional material that leads to purposeful activities. This video was insightful for me to understand the concept of form follows function further, thank you.

[@WorkingViews]

It's interesting watching these videos from a woodworker and fabricator perspective. Designing without intimate knowledge of the medium is pointless generally. If more people had access to the tools and design knowledge, the world would absolutely be a better place. Great videos! Very helpful.

[@Design.Theory]

Hey all, for anyone wondering, this is the full quote from Louis Sullivan: "Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling work-horse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law. Where function does not change, form does not change. The granite rocks, the ever-brooding hills, remain for ages; the lightning lives, comes into shape, and dies, in a twinkling. It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, 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."

[@johanedzen7181]

Or function was found in a form. As in nature, nothing gets made as a function but things take form and influence other forms, then we derive a function out of it. I believe form and function is a symbiotic process rather than one dictating the other. Finding function through exploration of form and expose it to other forms to further shape and take meaning. A natural process that allows for more creative ways of creating function and allows for objects to take on a lot more different shapes. I saw many Braun products in the video and I believe I've heard Rams express that he never designed products where the form follows function. Great channel, thank you:)

[@Design.Theory]

@@johanedzen7181 Frank Lloyd Wright said something along the lines of "Form IS function" (not the exact quote but I'm paraphrasing). As my design process has evolved, I tend to follow this mantra rather than form follows function. So yes, I agree with you. Thanks for watching!

[@_kieranlewis_]

Big fan of your videos mate, Im a 2nd year ID student and Im learning a lot from you. Would love to see some longer videos, I dont think you could go in to too much detail with the us designers watching haha. Keep it up and good luck!

[@Design.Theory]

Longer videos is definitely something I'll be exploring. This particular series I've been working on is centered around basic design principles. But I have some other ideas for longer videos. Is there a specific subject or topic you'd like me to focus on?

[@_kieranlewis_]

@@Design.Theory I have enjoyed your explanation of design principles. I really enjoyed your video on the Method soap bottles. I guess breaking down successful designs and explaining why they are successful or why they have been designed in a certain way is very interesting. Also your video on the iPhone camera and how it was kind of one of the few places they could add some visual interest was brilliant. Theres so many channels that do rendering and sketching but not many that do the "why?" of design. I come from one of your reddit posts too so Id say posting there is good too. Good luck again!

[@Design.Theory]

@@_kieranlewis_ Okay that's really helpful and good to know. I'll figure out how I can go more in-depth on that. Usually these videos start out being 3 times as long and then I edit it way down. I could easily make each of these videos an hour long, but then I probably wouldn't have time to do anything else :) . I might try and figure out a simpler format that allows me to get a higher volume of content and more information out while also not requiring as much editing time. Editing takes the longest.

[@BlackSnowCrew]

After each video I've learned something new! Thanks a lot!

[@Design.Theory]

Happy to hear that!

[@sonictimm]

I find that industrial design resources are usually more helpful than game design resources when trying to design a game. Usually the games I make with more constraints on the design often come out better. More constraints often leads to a simpler design, which makes games easier to learn. Since the core pieces of a simple game are easier to develop, it also gives the developers more time to iterate, test, add bells and whistles on top of a game that is already fun.

[@Samuel1Rodriguez]

You need more subs man this is amazing work. Been looking for a channel like this for a long long time.

[@Design.Theory]

I've gotten an extra 100 in the last 24 hours, so I'd say we're on our way :) Thanks for the kind words.

[@ThurstanHethorn]

Note: the ‘usb c’ example is actually a reversible form of micro usb type b, which I’m not sure why it wasn’t more common

[@oldcowbb]

what do you mean, many products i have use usb c

[@peterholzer4481]

@@volundrfrey896 No, Thurstan is right: If you look closely, you'll see that the plug in the animation has angular edges, not round edges like USB-C. So either it's a really bad render or something else. If you then search for "usb b reversible", you'll find examples on Amazon and elsewhere that look just like this. I never knew that a reversible USB B type existed, but apparently it did and still does.

[@D3nn1s]

​​@@peterholzer4481 well you learn every day. My guess would be because it looks even more fragile than regular micro b already is. Plus it could be that it only allows charging, not data transfere. Idk though.

[@MrsRemi]

Amazing content! I have only watched this and the design language video so far but I have subscribed and put your other videos on my watch later. Thank you for the helpful tips!!

[@Design.Theory]

Thanks for checking out the channel, Mrs. Remi. I appreciate the kind words. More content is coming soon!

[@Myxgrassxisxgreenest]

The clip shown for illustrating USB-C at 3:33 actually shows a reversible USB Micro-B. You can identify it by the slots. If you look very closely you can also make out that the edges of the connector slopes to a point instead of being rounded. Not that it matters, but it is a fun little piece of trivia.

[@vinimooraess]

“You know that the pizza is round” *procceeds to draw square box*

[@Design.Theory]

:O

[@neelpadia2307]

As always Great video. Looking forward to see more of such videos.

[@Design.Theory]

Thanks Neel, I appreciate the encouragement. It helps motivate me.

[@soumyachandrakar8697]

Great work and really informative. You deserve far more subscribers!

[@Design.Theory]

Thank you for the kind words :) I'm working on the subscribers. Feel free to share with your designer friends :)

[@Adlip_Kun]

Thank you so much for sharing

[@superstarof96]

Your videos literally kickstart my design sessions!

[@Design.Theory]

That's great to hear, Megh!!! Keep designing!

[@jb3757]

Thank you very much.

[@shubhigautam9655]

Would love to see a video on your Design Research process!

[@Design.Theory]

My brother is a design researcher end I've been bugging him to share his methodologies. I'm going to do one soon!

[@sheikhmehedihasan8360]

Me too

[@milkbread5036]

very helpful thank you :)

[@smoll.miniatures]

I love how your idea of a round pizza box is square 😂

[@abutiart668]

Amazing 🙏🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥❤❤❤

[@Design.Theory]

Thanks for checking it out :)

[@Artickmonkey91]

Super cool video! Thanks a lot. Can’t find the books names in the description though, hope you’ll add them ;)

[@Design.Theory]

Oh wow. My mistake. Just added

[@crtzmo]

Wonderful video! I found your channel via the excellent AirPods Max analysis - I think i am on the third or fourth video already. Last Thursday I gave a lecture/presentation to undergraduate art school students on visual language development and problem-solving, and I did notice some parallels (although yours were concise and very well worded), but the thing that jumped out of this video for me was the shout-out for the design research book, which I will definitely check out and share with the students who attended the presentation. Well done, and see you on Instagram!

[@Design.Theory]

Thanks Curtis. I'm glad you found it helpful. The Design of Everyday Things is probably the most comprehensive study of this stuff. It's a great book.

[@tompoletti5676]

Loved this!

[@Design.Theory]

Thank you!

[@dezukaful]

Amazing channel!

[@Design.Theory]

Thanks for checking it out :)

[@treasuretroves5497]

sUPERB!! Thank u. Enjoyed the video.

[@Design.Theory]

Thanks for checking it out, Treasure Troves :)

[@staceyhart9746]

Could someone please design an easy-to-use smoke alarm? Obviously the sound has to be obnoxious in order to do its job, and the tech means that sometimes there will be false alarms. But, could they design it so that it’s easy to silence, without breaking the thing? Could they design it with easy-to-read instructions on the face of it, so the user doesn’t necessarily have to grab a stepladder and get closer to the ear splitting noise in order to know what to do? Because as it is, people are disabling their alarms instead of resetting them easily when they realize that it’s just a low-battery sound or a false alarm caused by high humidity.

[@AbdulrahmanMaher]

keep going 👍🏼

[@Design.Theory]

Thanks Abdelrahman, I appreciate that!

[@jenniferlusamba5837]

Pls no music plsss love the way you talk it’s more efficient

[@michaljanovsky8966]

really nice!

[@Design.Theory]

Thanks!

[@oldcowbb]

the most canonically example of convention over function is qwerty keyboard

[@SanjeevTiwari92]

I just hate the gas stove designs. Although there are four burners to cook but not enough space to put different utensils simultaneously to cook.

[@chadjones1266]

Thanks aha gun

[@rainfx8765]

i love it

[@Design.Theory]

Thank you for checking it out!

[@jenniferlusamba5837]

U should try to not put music pls so we can focus on what u are saying bc it’s really interesting but music ruins it and I need to go back and pause a lot too bad but other than that thank you for your service

[@sambhavjanmasiya5694]

I knew it's two year old video but music of this video are very distracting its affects attention of viewers.

[@Petro770]

My eyes are bleeding why do you use so many bright dias

[@sambutbetter114]

“Brown calculator” that’s blue and you know it (a very dark blue).

[@Design.Theory]

braun is the name of the company that manufactures it. not the color brown

[@sambutbetter114]

@@Design.Theory it sounded like “brown”, sorry for the comment. Now I’m embarrassed

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

​@@sambutbetter114 I think "Braun" might be literally pronounced the same as "Brown"