Sophistication

      What is a sopisticated design?   The dictionary defines it as "lacking natural simplicity ... complicated, elaborate."  Some people say sophistication means elegance.   The dictionary defines elegance as "tastful, refined and dignified in appearance or style".    Complication alone can't make sophistication, but it does make things interesting.  But if there is complexity and its a mess is that sophisticated?  The mess is cleaned up through refinment.  So refinement seems to be a key to sophistication too.  Something refined is clear about the different parts, the dominate elements or parts and the relationships of all the parts to one another.   So if something's complex and refined then maybe that means its sophisticated.  Complexity is pretty easy to understand, its refinement that is the issue.

    On its simplest level something refined has had all its parts analysed and addressed.   In order to do that the stylist would have to break a visual situation down into its simplest parts and enumerate all the aspects of each of those parts and their relationships to the other parts.  He'd then have to analyze those separate aspects and relationships and finally make judgements concerning adjustments to each separate issue.

Beauty

     Good or bad aesthetics is defined by the degree of beauty of an object or place.   Beauty is defined as  "a combination of qualities that give pleasure to the mind".  When addressing the aesthetics of something, what determines that degree of beauty?  At what point is it beautiful or not?  If its just personal preference then there is no common definition of beauty.  But if there is some universality to people's perception of beauty then personal preference becomes a cultural issue, not an aesthetic one.

      No matter the style, something beautiful must be interesting,and possess clarity and the perception of  wholeness or totality.   Things are interesting when there is change.   Or said the other way, if there is no change then there is only sameness and no interest.   It must be interesting in order to attract people's attention so they'll look at it.  Clarity allows the brain to decipher the constituents of a composition.   Unity comes from the relationships among the different constituents of an array.  If the parts have no relation to each other then they will not be seen as parts of a whole.  And if there is no clarity among the different parts then the mind will become frustrated  looking for that clarity.
      For there to be change there must be at least two discernible parts and because they're discernible those parts must be in some way different from each other.  The number of parts, their differences and their positions relative to each other determine the level of interest.  A few parts, closely resembling each other have less interest than a composition with many disparate parts.
      Clarity is the degree of difference among each of the parts in an array.  When the mind cannot decipher the different parts of an array it will tire of the search and move on to something it can understand.  When the elements of a composition are clear the mind will order their importance and decipher their relationships.
       

Difference Between Style and Aesthetics

      During all three of my classes this week (three-dimensional design, color theory and transportation design) we had discussions about the relationships between style and aesthetics.  Many of the students thought they were and meant the same thing.  We talked about them in relation to the visual world, but the conclusions would apply to stimulation to any of the senses.
      After some discussion we decided that they both affected the appearance of things or places.   Then we tried to figure out what made them different.  We talked about the concept of beauty and concluded that there were degrees of beauty all the way from ugly to beautiful and decided that the degree of beauty was what aesthetics was all about.       

     No matter that something is ugly or beautiful, it will almost always have some sort of recognizable style to an person; meaning that the observer will have some sort of intellectual (verbal) or experiential connection to  a visual situation.  Two objects of different styles can have the same aesthetic level of beauty.

     We concluded that the two concepts are different and refer to different visual qualities.  Aesthetics is a quality that everything has, be it good or bad (beautiful or ugly) and style is the cultural or personal association with the overall appearance of a thing or place.

Styling And Aesthetics

     Since this blog concerns itself with styling and aesthetics I'll begin by defining these important areas for design and for our everyday lives.  For many the word "design" is used interchangeably with styling and aesthetics.  But design means different things to people.  It can mean the strategy for the conceptualization, development and marketing of the new product.  It can mean the engineering of  the mechanics or electronics of the whole or part of a product and a lot of other things. 

     Styling is a more specific word and is clear to most; meaning the overall appearance or look of  part or all of a design:  Its about the perception of how a thing looks.  Aesthetics is a little more difficult.  Generally aesthetics concerns itself with the level of beauty or pleasure brought on by some kind of an occurrence.  There is a level of aesthetics, pleasure or beauty to all stimulus that affect any of the five senses of sight,  touch, taste, smell or hearing.  There is a level of beauty to the visual such as nature and  art, the intellectual like engineering, poetry and mathematics, auditory in the performing arts, the taste of food and drink or the feel of a material.   No matter the area of concern, aesthetics is about the mind's perception of the combination of interest, clarity and unity.

    The use of aesthetics in the discussions on this blog will concentrate on the visual and sometimes tactile aspects of products, places and vehicles.  References to effects on the other senses may be used as examples to clarify a point, but for the most part those other areas will not be of direct concern. 

More On Line

     The last post got me thinking about line and its importance to the design and aesthetics of all products, vehicles and places.  When looking at products or buildings one can see that line can have a strong effect on the way we perceive them.

     I include line in a group with color, texture, pattern, shape and gloss because they all are perceived as something different than the physical surfaces that define objects and spaces.   I call these six phenomena "external qualities."

     Line can have character, strength and direction.  The character of a line depends on the number and types of bends.  The strength is determined by the width, character and contrast.  The straightness and length influence the strength of the direction of lines.

Line

I've been looking at cars a lot lately and have noticed how the cut lines or seams between the different parts affect the overall look and aesthetics of the vehicles.  Some of the cut lines run right into the lights or other shapes on the surfaces in ways that take the eye away from the surfaces and move it around the light or other shape.  In many cases those lines interfere with the movement of the eye across the surfaces of the vehicle.

      When looking at the sides of most vehicles there is an obvious continuity from the very front to the very rear.  Lines for the doors, gas caps and other openings minimally detract from the unity of those surfaces.  Its when the cut lines are near the ends that there are aesthetic issues.
      When designing vehicles I have a hunch that the overall form is designed first.  In many cases the overall form of vehicles is well thought out.  Its the shapes of the lights, handles and openings along with the cut lines that have little sympathy to those physical surfaces and interfere with the overall unity of the designs that cause the most aesthetic problems.
       The surface above the wheel on this vehicle continues from the rear all the way to the front of the car. But the line running along the top of the headlight into the wheel opening cuts that surface right in its narrowest area.  The weight or importance of that line is strengthened by running right into the top of the head light.  It pulls the eye around the top of the light and around the front edge of the hood visually separating the front portion of the fender from the rest of the side of the vehicle.

      If car stylists put those cut lines into their designs earlier in the design process they would be able to better adjust them in support of the overall aesthetics of their designs.

Introduction

      This is my first time blogging. I've been teaching and doing research in the areas of styling and aesthetics for over 20 years.  I've many ideas and reactions about the aesthetics of design and will be posting them periodically on this site.  Those postings will discuss the theoretical and my reactions to the aesthetics and styling of new or existing product, transportation, interior and architectural 
designs.
      In order to understand a little more about the basis of my comments you can visit my web site at http://pratt.edu/~mskalski.  On that site you'll find information about me, the classes I teach, the theory behind the classes, corporate projects I've carried out at Pratt and designs that I've executed over the years.
      Once I get the operation of this blog site figured out I'll begin posting comprehensive statements with photographs and illustrations.
      I look forward to any comments or ideas readers of this blog have and will respond quickly and thoughtfully.