Quotes from Objectified

by March 19, 2009

I had the pleasure of attending the second ever screening of director Gary Hustwit's new film, Objectified. Objectified is a documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis.

Here's a few choice quotes I jotted down from the film:

  • "Every object tells a story if you know how to read it" -Henry Ford
  • "What we need to do to design is to look at the extremes. The middle will take care of itself." -Dan Formosa
  • "People react positively when things are clear and understandable." -Dieter Rams
  • "A lot of what we are doing is getting design out of the way." -Jonathan Ive
  • "Often our hardest job is to remove remove remove." -Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec
  • "My job as a designer is to look into the future. Not to use any frame of reference that exists" -Marc Newson
  • "I always try to bring multiple layers to a product so it is a puzzle you uncover." -Hella Jongerius
  • "I like the concept of wearing in instead of wearing out." -Bill Moggridge
  • "Design needs to be plugged into human behavior. Design dissolves in behavior." -Naoto Fukasawa

Check out the film's trailer for more.