Issues Concerning “12 Twigs” (and projects in general)

When creating an object, whether it is a space or a place or an item, certain challenges and issues arise. As everyone in the group went around the room, discussing their project and others critiquing them, I found that three main issues came to light. The first point is that the designer needs a good reason for everything he does. Something cannot simply be done because he likes it or because it looks good. Rather, it needs to respond to a need, symbolic quality, or inherent quality of the object the item is being designed around. Secondly, an item needs a double-take factor. The designer cannot let a viewer simply walk by their design and never look at it or think about it again. There needs to be something that stands out or makes the viewer look closer, such as the braided hair woven in one project out of our group. Thirdly an item needs to tell one story. Multiple stories are confusing and sometimes conflicting, often overwhelming the viewer. Even in a piece meant to evoke uneasy emotions needs to tell a definite single story, even if the story differs between viewers. In addition to this, the story, in some sense, needs to be obvious without explanation. A piece should speak for itself—it should tell its own story. Though definitely not everything to be considered, these three issues when designing an item definitely help to make it better.