The Relationship Between People and Design

In the film Objectified, the designers are often found thinking not only about the ideal design of an object for a particular purpose, but the extension of how that object will relate to its users. Students of design often are concentrated on thinking about the tools and techniques of design, and the theory behind it, or the "ideal" form that the design will take, rather than the aspect of how will people relate to my design as being a part of their own design. One type of design that relies on being very conscious of the user's perception and understanding is information design.

IDEO, a San Francisco based design firm, partnered with Tendril, an energy management technology provider, to create a unique and user-conscious way of displaying energy information. The Tendril Vision, pictured above, relates to the user through both tactic and optic understanding, having a multi-touch screen for displaying and managing energy use in an uncluttered and user-friendly way. It depicts historical and current household energy use, indoor and outdoor temperature, peaks and valleys of energy use both in the home and in the neighborhood, and even functionality for creating customized energy plans for automatically utilizing routine tasks such as dishwasher, washer and dryer, and adjusting the thermostat to take pressure off of peak hours of energy expenditure and distribute it throughout the day for the benefit of both the user and the company. An away function on the product also allows it to easily and quickly be set to customized energy standards to be used while you have left the house.

The Vision works well because it contrasts white and light imagery on an overall black screen and displays quantitative information about energy consumption and cycles in graphical relatable forms, such as the temperature clock depicted above. The use of blues for cools, reds for warms, and the display of weather as yellow sun and white cloud abstract representations all add to the successful combination of essential imagery without bombarding the user with too much, leaving him/her paralyzed. The clear and bold lines that make up the icons that display various information and options create a sense of stability, order, and control. The very careful use of colors on only specific functions, and the use of white on black otherwise, gives the user a sense that the energy management process is clean, organized and simple.

This creation from IDEO in conjunction with Tendril is an innovative step forward to user-conscious design and to bringing our relationship to the world closer to the sustainable and efficient ideal that modern people aspire to create.