My Personal Aesthetic
My Personal Aesthetic I would describe ad functional with elements of comfort and softness. A good way to think about it is being between a cube (functional) and sphere (comfortable). I attached an image below representing this concept.
Figure. 1 Functional, My Aesthetic, Comfortable (Left to Right)
My core aesthetic is in the functional side with influences of comfort. I believe that the functional aspect of my aesthetic come from roots in engineering. I always focus on making something work before I make something look appealing. However, through out my time at CU I have recognized the importance of Aesthetics in Design which I why am taking this course.
I think a great example of this blended aesthetic is the brand Carhartt. Their roots are based in developing clothing for very physically demanding jobs. This forces their products to be of the highest quality. Their clothing is often double layered and made of thick canvas like material, which allows for a rugged feel and long product lifetime. Below is an image of one of my favorite Carhartt jackets:
Figure. 2 Carhartt Jacket
On the other side of my blended aesthetic is comfort which is also evident in Carhartt products. There is a reason why nobody walks around in chainmail anymore even though it is protective, that reason is comfort. Since Carhartt makes clothing, their product must be comfortable or else nobody would purchase them. I’m sure when designing these functional clothing products there is a balance of weight and comfort. Carhartt does a great job at making heavy, durable product while maintaining comfort. An example of this can be seen with the inside of the same Carhartt jacket shown above with a fake fur lining. An image of this is shown below:
Figure. 3 Carhartt Jacket Inside
I think the Carhartt brand is a great expression of my Personal Aesthetic, being a blend of functionality and comfort. When thinking about this more, it explains why I own so much Carhartt other brand like it.
Picture 1: Original Content
Picture 2: Original Content
Picture 3: Original Content
4 Comments. Leave new
Really great imagery to represent your aesthetic – the simple solidworks models really gives a clearcut definition of functional + comfortable. I agree with Ben that Carhartt is the perfect example of this. So many of their clothing items are surprisingly comfortable for how rugged they look, and always seem to exceed my expectations of functionality. I also agree with Ben that adding this aesthetic into your final project will be really cool to see a reflection of you in the art that you create. Can’t wait to see!
Hey, Chris thanks for the reply. I am glad you liked the SolidWorks model. I though it was very descriptive of the duality in my Aesthetic. As I responded to Ben, “My final project will have a blend of functionality and organics”. Hopefully this combination is effective in my final project.
I am all for the comfortable aesthetic. Obviously in Colorado, functionality and comfort are key for making it through the winter. Carhartt is definitely the leader in this aesthetic, they create incredibly durable and functional clothes that just look sleek and feel comfortable as can be. Not sure if you were planning on combining the comfortable + functional aesthetic into your final project but I think it is incredibly important. Large technological advances are happening all the time, but the ones that become mainstream are often the ones that manage to make it comfortable in terms of use for the user, not necessarily just because they did it first.
Hey Ben, thanks for the comment! I plan on having a similar duality in my final project, however not with functionality and comfort as I wrote about in this blog post. Instead, my final project will have a blend of functionality and organics.