IIDA Perspective - Summer 2019 - 19

COMMUNITIES:
Supporting All People

TRANSPORTATION: Defining a Commute

How do you make a space a place?
"It happens
through
community
and the people
within that
environment,"
Debbie Breunig
says Debbie
Breunig, the vice president of A&D
marketing at KI Furniture in Green
Bay, Wisconsin. But rather than
hoping that community will simply
sprout up naturally, product and
spatial design are essential tools to
nurture that goal, she says.
Ramsey Ford, the co-founder
of nonprofit social innovation firm
Design Impact in Cincinnati, says
designers should apply the same design
thinking they use to create products to
the changing needs of communities-
using tools learned in improving
organizational culture to redesign
spaces for seniors, for example. "When
you think about the individuals being
served by social systems, they often
haven't been thought of with the
same care as consumers of for-profit
products," he says. "The idea that you
can design systems within that social
space with the same intentionality is
really powerful."
It's a matter of flipping the focus
from those providing services to
those receiving them. "Co-creating
or co-designing-with people, not
for people-is where the power
of design really shines," Ford says.
"It provides a unique process
for collaboration, with profound
qualitative research pieces, that move
to action. You're not just studying
a community, you're engaged in
that community, understanding
the surrounding systems, and then
coming up with potential solutions
to problems together."

Japan's newest train isn't generating buzz because of its speed, its passenger capacity, or even its
emphasis on sustainability. Instead, what's garnering the most attention is the train's interior design.
Created by industrial designer Ken Okuyama, the Shiki-shima evokes the feel
of a tranquil forest with panoramic views and a blend of modern and traditional
Japanese materials. It is the epitome of luxury travel and keenly represents how
travel helps to shape our commute.
"Interior design is arguably the most important yet least valued aspect of a
passenger's journey," says Stanis Smith, an executive vice president of Stantec in
Stanis Smith
Vancouver, Canada. Whether you are crammed into a crowded subway train or
driving through rush hour traffic, "thoughtful design of the interior environment can go a long way to
reducing stress, both visually and acoustically."
Design's influence on our commute is only becoming more important thanks to the advent of
driverless cars. Because we will no longer need our hands on the wheel at all times, car companies
and designers are working together to redefine what the interior spaces of these vehicles will look
like. The possibilities are endless. Driverless cars can serve as an extension of a restaurant, picking
up a couple for a private dining experience while providing a tour around a city. Or, they can become
a meeting space filled with all the technology you'd see in an office. It's designers-armed with the
lessons learned from other commercial spaces-who will help shape this new frontier.

Making It More Approachable

TECHNOLOGY:

BRANDING: Manifesting
Memorable Encounters

Design does not just deliver technology to users; it can also
encourage them to feel more friendly
to it in return, says Benjamin Hubert,
an industrial designer and founder of
Layer Design, an experience-driven
design agency in London.
"Anything that's created should be
Benjamin Hubert emotive or evocative," he says.
"It should build a connection so that you remember it.
If it has an emotional resonance, you want to look at it
and use it."
The right design can be that bridge, making technology
"softer and warmer-almost making it disappear, in fact,"
Hubert says.
As technology infiltrates every corner of daily life-
from homes to workplaces to retail encounters-people
are increasingly relying on designers to make this
process seamless and inviting instead of alienating or
overwhelming. "I believe technology should improve
life, but visually it shouldn't be something that confronts
you on a daily basis," says Hubert. Understanding the
technology itself is the easy part-it's figuring out "how
people are living now or how they are going to be living
next, and therefore what types of product will make them
happier and healthier in future" that might be the greater
challenge, he says.

What taste is to a chef, design is
to branding:
symbiotic,
essential, and
influential.
"Branding and
design complete
Sana Maarrawi
each other,"
says Sana Maarrawi, a senior interior
designer at Brand Creative in Dubai.
"The brand is the big name, and the
branding is the identity and what
people recognize. You cannot separate
them because together they tell a story."
Where branding once meant
simply creating a flat visual emblem
for a product, name, or organization,
design now helps create an identity
that transcends the visual and brings
it physically to life. "When you enter
a space, the smell, the sounds, the
feeling of the surrounding material and
colors, all of these elements create an
experience that ties back to the brand
and the story of the brand itself,"
Maarrawi says.

-with people, not for people-
design really shines." -Ramsey Ford
summer 2019

perspective

IIDA Perspective - Summer 2019

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