Design Aesthetic

While I blogged about design earlier in the year, I was recently reminded of its growing influence yet again through the pages of Fast Company, the latest edition of which is the annual design issue. The feature article, titled “Design Intervention,” is located at www.fastcompany.com and highlights the design aesthetic of one of the world’s premier design houses, Philips Design.

Philips is the autonomous design agency of the venerable consumer electronics firm that has brought us the light bulb, cassette tape and compact disc, among many other innovations. A couple of years ago, it launched a creative positioning campaign called “Sense and Simplicity,” which resonates with me and others like me seeking to simplify our techno-centric lifestyle.

According to the article, the chief designer at Philips, Stefano Marzano, “has been tapped to unify the company through what it calls ‘simplicity-led design.’ He wants to establish his design principles—the unity of form and function, ease of use, and, in Philips’s world, improving the consumer’s life—as an organizing framework for the entire company…right on up to the user interface on every electronic gizmo.” Now that is music to the ears!