Opposite Aesthetic: Seamless Design

While the opposite of an exploded view aesthetic might sound complicated, it is simply a seamless design. Think of putting your exploded view back together, and everything fits perfectly with no cracks or seams. Not every item in the exploded view counts as being potentially seamless, it needs to be seamless before it is exploded. A good example of this is the unibody mac book:

the design of this computer is intentionally seamless, to ensure a sleek look. Tactics like beveled edges are used to enhance the smooth feel of the whole computer. Opposed to exploded view, no internal parts are showing. No parts like screws or fasteners are showing, the design is completely external.

Seamless design goes beyond just tech, seamless monolithic design is very popular in modern architecture and sculptures. Further applications included stitch free clothing, hidden door handles in aerodynamic cars.

Exploded view aesthetic is not very functional. To show exploded components while the object is still working is not very easy without added components that serve no function. True exploded view is not for function, unless that function is education on the internals of electronics. This is not the case for seamless design and usually the opposite. Seamless design can function as added durability, water resistance, and structural integrity.

A medium between these aesthetics in my opinion would be a skeleton watch. While not entirely exploded view, you can see all the components of a skeleton watch, achieving the same goal as exploded view. However, the watch exterior is seamless to ensure durability and water resistance. The neccisary medium to blend these aesthetics is glass or some sort of physical transparent material.

While transparent material is the medium, seamless design by itself utilizes materials to its advantage. Aluminum, composites and other smooth/sleek materials help seamless design attain its aesthetic. Material is not the only factor in this, CNC machining, injection molding, and 3D printing are manufacturing methods that ease the process.

With seamless design comes challenges. Problems such as making repairs harder and reducing modularity are the trade-offs for the aesthetic. This isn’t really a problem for exploded view, unless you want a modular design for education, but that might fall under a different category of aesthetics vs functionality.

Seamless design can also be seen in nature, something like an egg has no seams yet cannot be broken in the palm of a human hand being structurally strong in certain ways. Biomimicry is becoming more popular in design in general I would like to see more ways seamless design may mimic nature.

If I had to pivot to make my project this aesthetic, I would focus less on taking it all apart, and more on hiding existing seems in the parts. For example, I could take the graphics card and put black putty on the seams to hide them. Doing this would probably decrease, if not abolish the functionality of these meticulously engineered computer parts.

Seamless design has become popular due to its reflection on a desire for simplicity, integration, and futuristic minimalism. Unlike exploded view, it is an aesthetic that has more functional applications.