Design in Our Lives

     In life, be it very simple or very detailed, everything has a design. In this essay, I’ll be discussing four pieces of art found at the Museum of Modern Art, and their ergonomics or level of usefulness/practicality by categorizing them as “high functionality” or “low functionality”. In my opinion, even if something only has one or very few uses, as long as it is able to be utilized numerous amounts of times it qualifies as having high functionality.
     The first piece I’ll be discussing is “Pac-Man” by Toru Iwatani. Although it may be a just a video game to some, to me its way more than that. It proves to be a high functionality seeing as how it became a major attraction. It was put in many arcades and brought in to many homes to be enjoyed by friends, families. It was not only a source of entertainment, but also a kind of a mental workout. On the MOMA website it says “ Iwatani wanted to develop a nonviolent game for the teenage couples and groups that were beginning to frequent arcades in addition to boys”. Right off the bat, Iwatani knew that his creation would without a doubt prove to be quite successful. 

     Secondly, I’ll focus on “Endless Flowing Rocking Chair”, by Dirk Vander Kooij. Here is the first piece I would consider as to be low functionality. The reason for this being that it’s merely a chair. Sure two good qualities about this are that it’s a rocking chair and that it’s made completely by recycled plastics, but for me that just doesn’t cut it. Other than that, I see it as a piece of furniture. 
     Third I’m going to write about, “Wall Relief for the Helsinki Pension Institute” created by Alvar Aalto. Here I see another inadequate inanimate object. It kind of resembles a coat rack. That’s pretty much the only reason I see it being used for. Its lack imagination leaves me to put it under the category of nothing above low functionality.
     As a final point, I shall write on Arthur Young’s, “Bell-47D1 Helicopter”. This I can easily say has high functionality. It can be used as an educational device by letting students in, projecting images on a screen in front of them, adding speakers with realistic helicopter sounds to give them the feeling that they’re in a working helicopter. Just the fact that you can use it as an interactive educational experience, makes it so worthwhile. 
     In conclusion, ergonomics or the level of functionality something has is a subject that is open to interpretation. One may look at something and say it’s completely worthless, another might turn around and find a million and one uses for that very same thing. In a situation like this, no one is right or wrong. 


Artist’s Name: Toru Iwatani
Title: “Pac-Man”
Medium: Video Game
Year Completed: 1980-1981

Artist’s Name: Dirk Vander Kooij
Title: Endless Flow Rocking Chair
Medium: Recycled Plastic
Year Completed: 2011

Artist’s Name: Alvar Aalto
Title: Wall Relief for the Helsinki Pension Institute
Medium: Bent laminated birch plywood and metal
Year Completed: 1953-57

Artist’s Name: Arthur Young
Title: Bell-47D1 Helicopter
Medium: Aluminum, steel, and acrylic plastic
Year Completed: 1945