Introduction

In the beginning of our course with Alberto, we were asked to choose a book on design theory to read and eventually present. I selected “Designing Design” by Japanese designer Kenya Hara as I had previously read one of his other books entitled “Designing Japan: A Future Built on Aesthetics” which fascinated me and intensified my deep interest in Japanese culture and design.

I don’t want to bore you so I will keep it rather short and just focus on one topic I found particularly interesting. If you want more insights, you can read the essay at the end of this project or, even better, read the book yourself. It is definitely a must-read for every designer, regardless of how much they are interested in design theory.

About Kenya Hara

Kenya Hara (原研哉), born in 1958 in Okayama, Japan, is a designer, art director, and curator. He graduated from Musashino Art University and teaches there since 2003. In 2001, he became the art director and an advisory board member of MUJI, a retail company selling consumer and household goods (you can read more about MUJI in the essay). Hara is also a creative director and designer at Nippon Design Center.

Thoughts on Senseware

“Designing Design” is not a solely theoretical book. Essentially, Hara presents real projects he or other designers and architects – usually friends of his – participated in. He explains how these projects came to be, why they were done, the overall process, and what the output was. Hara cleverly uses these practical examples to connect the reader to the underlying theories and visions. He manages to make them tangible and clear even if they appear very abstract at first.

I would like to talk about the book’s third chapter entitled “Senseware. Medium That Intrigues Man”. Hara defines Senseware as anything “that stimulates our sensory perceptions” (Hara, 2021, 152). Although this definition sounds very obvious and applicable to almost any physical object at first, Hara follows up with two particularly intriguing examples: a stone axe from the Stone Age and paper. Whilst these two objects are rather mundane for us today, they are quite thought-provoking from a designer’s point of view. If we hold a stone axe in our hand, even though we have never used it, we intuitively know what it could be used for and why it was a useful tool for our distant ancestors. The shape, weight, and texture evoke our haptic senses  and create this response of “intuition” in our minds. And paper? The whiteness of paper is something only a couple of natural materials share, like bones, snow and ice, and a few minerals (Hara, 2021, 153). In combination with its pleasant texture, Hara argues, the people who invented paper would have seen it as something special and extraordinary, something to hold important information (Hara, 2021, 153). Clearly, paper is nothing extraordinary anymore. We have become familiar with this now abundant material, but it is still capable of stimulating our senses and eliciting an emotional response. At least that is what I feel when I take a book and flip through the pages.

Architecture of Information

The core principle behind Senseware is what Kenya Hara calls Architecture of Information (Hara, 2021, 156). Humans are equipped with a range of sensory organs and an “image-generating organ” with a “memory playback system” (Hara, 2021, 156), the brain. Through stimuli of our visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory senses, “images” emerge in our minds. These “images” not only consist of the input received by our sensory organs, but also of memories that are invoked by sensory stimuli. In this sense, a designer can create designs that people engage with on a much deeper level by paying attention to all aspects of the sensory experience. Therefore, Hara realised, a designer is someone who works in the field of sensory perceptions (Hara, 2021, 156).

Architecture of Information has also broadened my horizon in regards to my work as a designer. Considering the intangible aspects of design like memories and emotions, we designers can create much more impactful and engaging experiences for people. This is especially true for the world of today where digital media and services relentlessly compete for our attention through our mobile devices.

Designing for Senses

This way of thinking about design as working in the domains of our senses is also very relevant for the study model of our own department. Whilst we learn and experience the many facets of design through the integrated/intermedia model, we like to divide and categorise our work and projects into three dimensionalities: 2D, 3D, and 4D. Now, this differentiation may be valid for the outcomes of our work, but they don’t reflect what we should be really focusing on: humans. We (mainly) design things for humans, but humans don’t experience the world in dimensions. They experience the world through their senses, right? So why shouldn’t we shift the focus to designing for senses instead? It could enable much more interesting and engaging projects. There could be projects that focus on the visual and auditory senses, or some for the haptic, tactile, and olfactory senses. Every arbitrary combination is imaginable.

Think about it for a second. How would you design a poster that does not only involve the visual sense, but also the haptic senses? How would you approach designing furniture that is not only gentle to the touch, but also appealing to your ears? Wouldn’t that be a whole new challenge? I believe that designing like this could result in much more surprising and engaging products, services, and experiences.

Essay

Thank you for reading.
ありがとうございました。

References

Hara, K. (2021) Designing Design, 6th edition. Zurich: Lars Müller Publishers.

Picture Sources

Senseware

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (undated) Handaxe from India. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Available from https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/stone-tools/early-stone-age-tools/handaxe-india [accessed 4 February 2023].

G.F Smith (undated) Cranes Crest Fluorescent White. G.F Smith. Available from https://gfsmith.com/cranes-crest-fluorescent-white-watermarked [accessed 4 February 2023].

Architecture of Information

Hara, K. (2021) Designing Design, 6th edition. Zurich: Lars Müller Publishers.