In Objectified, a film by Gary Hustwit, everyday objects are analyzed on their form and content. Content is basically what the artist what’s to communicate to the viewer. While form is how the object looks through manipulation of elements and principles of design. Form and content go hand in hand because sometimes “form is determined by content” while other times “…form [can] work in unexpected ways to express content” (Lauer pg.10-11).
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What we saw in the film objectified was objects like a potato peeler being analyzed in terms of content and form. We normally would not think a potato peeler needs to be designed in any specific way other than what it is designed to do and we don’t think of whether or not that design is appropriate. Designers look at products and ask themselves how can I make this better? When doing so designers must look at extremes not necessarily the average person that buys the product. When the extreme sides of the spectrum are satisfied then the average will be too. A potato peeler must do its job but when these designers came up with the new design they also asked themselves is the form of the peeler comfortable to use. The answer was no. So the designer’s job was to come up with a solution to this problem. When they did, both form and content coexisted to satisfy the needs of everyone who uses a potato peeler. So you see, form and content are an essential part of the design process.
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