John Hodgman: Design, explained.

96,471 views ・ 2012-06-08

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Translator: Katheryn McGaffigan Reviewer: Jenny Zurawell
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Today I'm going to unpack for you
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three examples of iconic design,
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and it makes perfect sense
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that I should be the one to do it
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because I have a Bachelor's degree in Literature.
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(Laughter)
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But I'm also a famous
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minor television personality
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and an avid collector of
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Design Within Reach catalogs,
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so I pretty much know
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everything there is.
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Now, I'm sure you
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recognize this object;
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many of you probably saw it
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as you were landing your private zeppelins
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at Los Angeles International Airport
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over the past couple of days.
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This is known as the Theme Building;
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that is its name for reasons
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that are still very murky.
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And it is perhaps
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the best example we have in Los Angeles
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of ancient extraterrestrial architecture.
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It was first excavated in 1961
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as they were building LAX,
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although scientists believe that
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it dates back to the year 2000
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Before Common Era,
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when it was used as
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a busy transdimensional space port
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by the ancient astronauts
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who first colonized this planet
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and raised our species
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from savagery by giving us
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the gift of written language
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and technology and
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the gift of revolving restaurants.
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It is thought to have been
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a replacement for the older space ports
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located, of course, at Stonehenge
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and considered to be
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quite an improvement
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due to the uncluttered design,
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the lack of druids hanging around all the time
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and obviously, the much better
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access to parking.
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When it was uncovered,
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it ushered in a new era
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of streamlined, archaically futuristic design
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called Googie,
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which came to be synonymous with
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the Jet Age, a misnomer.
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After all, the ancient astronauts who used it
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did not travel by jet very often,
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preferring instead to travel by feathered serpent
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powered by crystal skulls.
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(Applause)
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(Music)
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Ah yes, a table.
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We use these every day.
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And on top of it,
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the juicy salif.
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This is a design by Philippe Starck,
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who I believe is in the audience at this very moment.
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And you can tell it is a Starck design
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by its precision, its playfulness,
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its innovation and
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its promise of imminent violence.
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(Laughter)
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It is a design that challenges your intuition --
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it is not what you think it is when you first see it.
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It is not a fork designed
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to grab three hors d'oeuvres at a time,
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which would be useful out in the lobby,
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I would say.
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And despite its obvious
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influence by the ancient astronauts
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and its space agey-ness and tripodism,
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it is not something
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designed to attach to your brain
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and suck out your thoughts.
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It is in fact a citrus juicer
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and when I say that,
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you never see it as anything else again.
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It is also not a monument to design,
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it is a monument to design's utility.
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You can take it home with you,
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unlike the Theme Building,
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which will stay where it is forever.
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This is affordable
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and can come home with you
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and, as such, it can sit
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on your kitchen counter --
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it can't go in your drawers;
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trust me, I found that out the hard way --
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and make your kitchen counter into
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a monument to design.
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One other thing about it,
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if you do have one at home,
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let me tell you one of the features you may not know:
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when you fall asleep,
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it comes alive
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and it walks around your house
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and goes through your mail
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and watches you as you sleep.
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(Applause)
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Okay, what is this object?
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I have no idea. I don't know what that thing is.
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It looks terrible. Is it a little hot plate?
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I don't get it.
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Does anyone know? Chi?
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It's an ... iPhone. iPhone.
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Oh yes, that's right, I remember those;
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I had my whole bathroom tiles
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redone with those back in the good old days.
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No, I have an iPhone. Of course I do.
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Here is my well-loved iPhone.
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I do so many things on this little device.
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I like to read books on it.
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More than that, I like to buy books on it
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that I never have to feel guilty about not reading
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because they go in here and I never look at them again
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and it's perfect.
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I use it every day to
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measure the weight of an ox,
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for example.
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Every now and then,
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I admit that I complete
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a phone call on it occasionally.
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And yet I forget about it all the time.
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This is a design
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that once you saw it,
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you forgot about it.
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It is easy to forget the gasp-inducement
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that occurred in 2007 when you first
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touched this thing because it became
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so quickly pervasive
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and because of how instantly
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we adopted these gestures
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and made it an extension of our life.
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Unlike the Theme Building,
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this is not alien technology.
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Or I should say,
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what it did was it took technology
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which, unlike people in this room,
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to many other people in the world,
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still feels very alien,
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and made it immediately and instantly feel
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familiar and intimate.
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And unlike the juicy salif,
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it does not threaten
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to attach itself to your brain,
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rather, it simply
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attaches itself to your brain.
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(Laughter)
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And you didn't even notice it happened.
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So there you go. My name is John Hodgman.
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I just explained design.
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Thank you very much.
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(Applause)
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