Comments

Art is a very personal thing and your creations will be a reflection of you and SHOULD differ greatly from others.. and by that virture alone.. makes one look IMPERFECT.. !!

Posted by /pd at February 21, 2005 11:44 AM

Tom. Never fear. While our ipods, computers, televisions, and yes, toothbrushes may be "perfect" it is their perfection that makes those moments of imperfection all the more wabi sabi.

I live in a 115 year old house with very simple, modern decoration. The perfect design of the modern furniture enhances the imperfections (and there are quite a few) in the old house. The slope in the floor. The horse hair used in the brick mortar. Thr roughness and texture of the ancient wood flooring. I wouldn't want to live in a new house.

Have you ever seen the movie Gattaca? In it humans are genetically manipulated at birth to weed out our imperfections. It's gorgeous cinematography shows how in a world of perfection there is still beauty and dreaming and much of that shows up through our imperfections.

Posted by Paul Davidson at February 21, 2005 11:46 AM

Perception is all we have - if I believe it is beautiful then it is - end of story.

I frankly don't care what anyone else thinks of my little Renault Clio - I like it!!

The one thing I know I don't like is clinical conformity in the name of image and efficiency.

Trevor

Posted by Trevor Gay at February 21, 2005 11:50 AM

Ah, Tom. Now you've hit upon one of my passions! Discussion, indeed. :-)

Years ago, my husband was involved in martial arts. The Japenese have a term, "mu-shin." It is "the mind of no mind." It means doing things reflexively. For the Star Wars fan, it was expressed by Yoda when he said, "Don't think. Just do."

Our perfectionist-obsessed society has twisted everything from a mother's sense of identity to a corporation's sense of purpose. We overanalyze, homogenize and sanitize. The PC culture has cowed many into becoming mindless robots, checking in with the current trend of the day before doing anything.

Obviously, I'm no fan. I love imperfection. In fact, I subscribe to the maxim, "If anything is worth doing, it's worth doing imperfectly." Hence, the "do."

Regarding art, the imperfections are what often make the piece interesting and resonates with something deeper. Years ago, there was a photography book that showed women after they just woke up. Morning hair. Unscrubbed faces. No make-up. Beautiful.

Another photography book by Joyce Tenneson, "Wise Women: A Celebration of Their Insights, Courage and Beauty" showed older women who just looked gorgeous. Their wrinkles and silver-heads were triumphs, not losses. In a youth-oriented culture, such photographs stand in stark contrast to the airbrushed glossy pages of most magazines.

I love wrinkly clothes, sweaters with a hole in them, worn leather shoes. The roses that my husband gave me for Valentine's Day are still in a vase. The rosebuds for some reason, didn't bloom despite my efforts. They stand tall, the petals slightly curled and beginning to fade. The edges are starting to become brittle, but still, I love to look at them. They represent that a flower that in all stages of life and death, is still beautiful.

Posted by M. R. Maguire at February 21, 2005 12:17 PM

I tried to lampoon that iPod perfection in this iPod breakup letter at http://www.secondhandmonkeys.com

Posted by Pat at February 21, 2005 12:26 PM

Pat - that's hysterical! By the way, I especially love the one with the American flag. Great designs! And btw, why a limited time? I think you're onto something big.

Posted by M. R. Maguire at February 21, 2005 12:34 PM

Tom, once again you've nailed it: Design matters! - today more than ever, but there is a real risk of it becoming "standardized." After all, companies have seen a style that sells (iPod-esque chic) that they can now emulate without risk or fear of being wrong. Too bad they miss the point that Apple (and Sony for that matter) has always been willing to risk being a design innovator and the rest are merely followers. Apple, god love 'em, has lost their fear of being wrong.

When I first went to college I planned on becoming an engineer, but once I started taking classes I hated it. Everything was in black and white with either right or wrong answers and no room for "creativity" or independent thought. Then, quite by accident, I discovered the art school and fell in love with it. The beauty of art and design is that there are no right and wrong answers, only ones that appeal to an individuals sense of style and taste. Ever since then I have found design principles to be wonderfully liberating in so many ways. There is no longer a number or formula or statistic telling me how something has to be.

It seems like society today teaches us that there is a right and a wrong side of everything. Unfortunately, in the business world the victims of this are frequently creativity and design since they have no real right or wrong and cannot be defined numerically or input on a spreadsheet. Good design appeals to too many intangibles and that makes a lot of bean counters (MBA types) uncomfortable. The result is a fall back to something more conventional with less perceived risk and not even a hint of WOW!

In the words of Joseph Chilton Pierce: "To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." I say AMEN to that!

Posted by Andrew Hayden at February 21, 2005 12:42 PM

Nice. Reminds me of what the Italians call bozzetto. The first vague notions and sketches that an artist has, holds truer to his/her heart than the final, overworked, over-thought piece. Far from perfect, these scratches catch the artist at epiphany and the need to express may then cathartically dissolve making all that follows a little less real, though maybe, more technically perfect. Leonardo da Vinci will be always remembered for his prolific, imperfect bozzetto more so than his flying machine.

Posted by Wayne Bartlett at February 21, 2005 12:44 PM

M.R.- The bigger project I am working on is the PEZ mp3 player. I did the Secondhand Monkeys players to get some experience and test out some marketing approaches. If they prove popular I might produce more but the PEZ project is starting to move quickly and I will probably focus more energy there.

Posted by Pat at February 21, 2005 12:48 PM

A great post, Tom. I think perfection is nothing but an ideal. It´s as saying that we can change things, that things can be done other way. But what is perfect for you perhaps it´s not for me.
And the reverse can also be true.

When we talk about images, the history of images is full of changes in the concept of perfection. When something becomes perfect it also becomes the orthodox way of doing things. It´s the perfection as a law for the future.

I like Wayne´s comment about the bozzetto. A giant of painting such as Velazquez used to paint some of the people who belonged to the court of the spanish King to "make hand". Their aim was just to try before painting the big pictures like "The meninas". But now these preparatory paintings are considered as masterpieces.

Posted by felix gerena at February 21, 2005 12:57 PM

Yes, designers (and the people that buy their stuff) are in general too hung up on perfection.

That's why I write in my blog about designing things to be "jolie-laide" (beautiful-ugly). Call it wabi-sabi or jolie-laide or whatever, a bit of tension is good.

Why be beautiful when you could be interesting?

Posted by Diego Rodriguez from Metacool at February 21, 2005 2:24 PM

Here is what I hear you saying...you want design with a soul. Your iPOD was loaded with "your" music. Susan's theme is livability, energy and love. The discarded running show was caked with mud [must have been a really good run somewhere!]. That leaf that fell months ago with a single rain drop on it, it must have some stories to tell. Soul...all of them. It's the design, but it's the stories and the character; it's the identity and the emotional freedom they allow us, the consumers of the design, to design for ourselves. Like little brands...they let us build our own feelings around them, they let us design our ideas and therefore we become engaged and loyal. Soul marketing.

Posted by Wendy at February 21, 2005 3:13 PM

it's not just about design...it's about new ideas. as Tom likely knows better than most, in many corporations, a new idea can hardly ever just be attempted...it has to be ROI'd, powerpointed, teamed and throughly homogenized before it even gets considered for possible implementation.

thus, we take the human element out of a very human environment - the workplace. throwing out a vast generalization here - the corporate world likely kills 99% of innovation because of the insistence for perfection before effort is allowed. this filtering may make for a "better" ROI, but more likely, it severely hampers what most corporations need...creativity and risk taking. thus, effectively reducing further returns and basically, limiting real value on the "approved" idea.

go read Kathy Sierra's great post on the "an "I" in PASSION". her post makes a much more eloquent statement than my ramblings...http://headrush.typepad.com/

Posted by jbr at February 21, 2005 3:14 PM

OK...I've written and erased 3 different responses to this in the last half an hour (does this mean I'm innovative or confused?).

Design is what the Ipod did to the walkman. It's what satellite radio is going to do to all of broadcast radio. It's what the next personal listening device is going do to the Ipod very VERY soon. It's what the speed of innovation is doing to the monolith of mediocity. It's hopefully what I'm going to do to my competitors before they do it to me. It's only standardized-sterilized until the next big thing shakes the world...and it will.

Posted by Greg at February 21, 2005 4:22 PM

In the Great Northwest Wabi Sabi seems to be the standard of excellence. The McMenamin Brothers have opened brew pubs and Bed and Breakfast all around the state and have mastered the design of the eclectic to the point of being a distinct brand. The beer is always good and yet never consistent from one place to the next. The customer service is always slow and yet always friendly. The Design is never the same from one place to the next yet there is no doubting that you are at a Mc Menamins. Art abounds and History of the place you are eating will often be depicted in the art. Pipes may be exposed, and on the turnbuckle you may find a face smiling at you. It is truly a business model that expresses the love of art and the love of the chaos that often underlies the beauty. While walking on the Edgfield property some years ago I noticed that the lawn was mowed and that there were big patches that went un- mowed. I walked to see what it was and noticed that the gardener had mowed around the Shasta Daisies. It’s the little things that make it all beautiful, I asked the gardener about it and he said couldn’t bear to cut them for the sake of a uniform lawn.

Posted by gary fox at February 21, 2005 6:29 PM

The artist has long appreciated imperfection. In art school, knowing that a machine could turn out perfect widgets, we appreciated that they could not produce art, as all art has imperfections. Yet, damn it, perfection is still something that most of us strive for in our pursuit of what's really important to us. Seems like we'd learn.

Posted by Bert at February 21, 2005 6:36 PM

Perfect practice though makes perfect - the art and science of the fabulous RED SOX AND PATRIOTS are prime examples.

However, to embrace imperfect is an essence of life - rebound/adapt to the norm of imperfect - keep getting up at 4:00 AM TO THRIVE in a new fabulous designer day of anything is possible.

Posted by John at February 21, 2005 7:31 PM

And I almost forgot to mention. That perfect ipod will be scratched up in no time. But oddly enough, the scratches detract from the ipod's perfection.

Which makes me question: Are there some things that SHOULD be perfect, while others SHOULD be imperfect?

For example, I have yet to see the perfect idea in it's initial stages. So for brainstorming encourage wabi sabi.

But a product or service needs to be as perfect as possible before it gets in the hands of it's customers. Like Wayne's comments on bozetto. Create small and imperfect in order to paint the masterpiece.

Or Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto
#11 Harvest ideas. Edit applications.
Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.

Posted by Paul Davidson at February 21, 2005 8:38 PM

But you wouldn't want your iPod assembled "creatively" would you? I know exactly what you mean about the sterile and design and art. I started off as a graphic designer in the grunge days--working hard to put the proper distortion and working even harder to avoid the sometimes beautiful mistakes that popped up along the way but weren't approved. Whatever.

I've done a lot (and I mean a lot) of thinking on this matter and welcome anyone who's interested in the subject over to www.ebencarlson.com to read about Quantum Culture (material control, spiritual/creative freedom) and lots of other fun subjects. It will be the artists who can employ our IS0 9000 production and delivery machine without getting tight who will triumph. They will rule the world of content (and where I argue all the growth $$ will be). It's mostly content from here on out. And not sterile, retro, recycled ironic content. Real content. Vulnerability--in real time with mistakes and foibles.

ps: I'm blogging my novel The Love Artist--exactly about all this stuff--right now so skip down or find the Quantum Culture link on the right. I wrote it as a prototype of a new perfectly imperfect culture. Pretty good story, too, if I do say so myself. Keep up the good play!

Posted by Eben Carlson at February 21, 2005 9:08 PM

We should construct a memorial in honor of Steve Jobs, the Apple-Pixar hero. Steve’s influence on the tech industry is phenomenal - he has taught the industry about elements of design, style and form, and if that is not enough, he has taught IT the truism any cult leader knows: you can fleece the faithful for as long as you want. Remember Guru “Rolls Royce” Rajneesh anyone? In fact, Bill Gates should pay for this memorial, after all had it not been for Jobs’ style and flair, he would still be peddling us DOS. generic viagra discount

Posted by John at February 21, 2005 10:21 PM

Yes, yes, and yes! The arabic word for this is "baraka"... roughly translated to English as "grace". My ratty bookbag, impregnated with the grime of India, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Nepal, etc. has baraka. My beat up running shoes have baraka.

Alan Watts described art (design) as the dance between the artist and the chaotic flow of Tao. In other words-- the best artists always allow for the intrusion of the accidental, the novel, the unexpected. It's that intrusion that conveys baraka.

Before travelling, my Jansport bag was just a well constructed "thing". Now it has soul. Even though it is disintegrating I won't get rid of it... my girlfriend can't fathom why I won't buy a new one.

So the question is, can baraka be designed from the outset? Or is it something that must grow from the process of living?

And how much of the accidental should intrude? As someone else noted, we still want the damn things to work! But too much control spoils it... sterilizes it (and what is sterility but the extinguishing of organic life).

Therein lies the art, I suppose.

Posted by AJ Hoge at February 22, 2005 2:20 AM

I guess our ache for perfection is a matter of trying to chase a non entity and hence gives us a nice chance for excuse. When you accept and (in Tom's words LOVE!) imperfection, you start seeing the beauty!. Perfection has got more to do with rationality and science and imperfection with art. Look around in each of those creations of nature - where is perfection? But there is beauty!Imperfections sets the quest for better imperfection!

Posted by R.Srinivasan at February 22, 2005 5:00 AM

Two summers ago I read "Re-imagine" for a books-on-CD product. During a break in the recording studio, I picked up a brochure aimed at the musical groups who were the ordinary denizens of the studio. I remember one of the pieces of advice. It was, in effect, "Play from the heart, do not pursue 'perfection.' It is the imperfect piece, dripping with emotion, not the technically flawlesss piece, that will be your signature."

Tonight, in a Vegas hotel room, rather than hit the tables I watched, back-to-back, "Finding Neverland" and "Kinsey." Both were sagas of people who changed the world--and both were sagas of human foibles and "insane" puruits that took the authors (Peter Pan, Kinsey Reports) to the ragged edge; sagas of earth-shaking change & imperfection! (Not to mention "Ray" which I blogged a couple of weeks ago.)

Posted by tom peters at February 22, 2005 6:46 AM

For a touch of imperfection for your iPod just use it without a case for a while. It will get an interesting and unique array of scratches that will make it yours alone.

Some people early adopters complained and they have their points but I like to have mine be mine and the scratches are part of making it mine. More unique then taking a permanent marker to it anyway.

Posted by Stephan Fassmann at February 22, 2005 1:03 PM

Screw Wabi-Sabi (pardon my French)

iPod rules as an insnely great, insanely elegant, wonderfully intuitive work of genius.

Posted by Erick Blackwelder at February 23, 2005 12:47 AM

Put stickers on your iPod! Personalize it! Don't be afraid to deface it. (Same goes for your laptop as well!)

Posted by Rusty Hodge at February 23, 2005 12:55 AM

HHHHaaaaaaa the pleasure of imperfection.

I am French Canadian. I do speak English and Spanish. I write in English and create products, coach in English. I am not perfect, I make mistakes in my writing (the least possible) and you know what? I don't care... It is my intensity and my integrity that matters. My ideas, my love and care makes my clients come back for more. And they like that "accent" it gives myself a "Je ne sais quoi"... If I would have to hire someone everytime to proff-read what I am doing, I would be broke or would not have a minute for myself to create. Can you see my mistakes in this post? I don't care, I shared my ideas with love and respect.

Posted by Serge at February 23, 2005 5:54 PM

Just came across this quote:

A work of art has an author and yet, when it is perfect, it has something which is anonymous about it.

--Simone Well, French philospher

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Posted by michael j at February 27, 2005 1:30 PM

Beyond Aesthetics.

Thanks very much for this fruitful discussion. Let me share with you, where it took me.

The iPod - and I guess we are mostly referring to the mini-iPod here (2nd generation – so to say) - is pretty close to perfection.
Is it therefore already too clean? Is it nothing but polished surface? Not wabi-sabi enough?

I do not think so.

What is wabi-sabi? It is this one little crack in a perfect surface. It is the contrast that is necessary. It is the irregularity without which you can not perceive the regularity. Working with contrasts – with irregularities – has been the method of artists in almost every period. And in works of true masters, you do not even see or hear the irregularity – you just feel it. It is this feeling that hooks you. It is the felt irregularity that creates a tension between the work and the perceiver. In a work of art it is the tension, not the mere colors or sounds or stories told, that have the power to hook you and never set you free again.

But let’s talk about design now.

When we Germans invented design about a hundred years ago, we did this for a very good reason.

At the end of the 19th century industrialisation had touched all aspects of life and markets were starting to fill up mercilessly with all kinds of mass-produced goods. These goods came with a huge advantage: they were affordable for a wide audience – and at the same time they came with a tremendous disadvantage: they had no soul.

Conveyor-belts kept flooding the young modern age with things that looked – and felt – like the by-products of industrial production processes.
In fact, that is exactly what they were.

“But isn’t it, that we as humans … want all things to have a distinct character?” the Sociologist Georg Simmel noted in his book “The Philosophy of Money” in 1900.

Describing the modern world Georg Simmel used two main categories “The Subjective” (which by his definition is connected to one human being, to a single creator, to a certain point of view – as found in art and craftsmanship for example) and “The Objective” (the truly rational which is incorporated in technology, mass-production and the logic of money). And he stated that driven by the unstoppable power of numbers we are moving from a “subjective” culture (where everything could be traced to its conscious creator) to an “objective” culture (where culture as a whole is essentially anonymous). This new world will come with many advantages but it also has to leave behind the one thing that we humans love so much: the reflection of ourselves: character.

Our searching eyes will scan the surface of society for a little sign of “character” and all that we will find are the traces of industrial production and the taste of management decisions.
Was Georg Simmel so wrong about our life when he wrote the “Philosophy of Money” in his small apartment in Berlin Friedrichstrasse at the end of the 19th century?

What he underestimated though was the incredible power of one small little aspect in the nature of mankind… (…and I am not thinking of greed now…)

“Isn’t it, that we as humans – maybe not with every right – want all things to have a distinct character?” This romantic relict, this soft-factor – a side-note only in Simmel’s heavy book that was to become one of the pillars of modern monetary theory – proved to be much more than just a sentimental tear shedded at the dawning of a new age.

Today Simmel’s opposing poles – the “Subjective (Character)” vs. the “Objective (Anonymity)” – seem to be extremely useful as a theoretical framework. They are useful also because reality turned out to be different from his scenario. Well, slightly different at least.

Under the slogan “Art and Technology a new Unity” the “Bauhaus” opened its doors in 1923 and changed the face of our culture forever.

To cut a long story short – the Bauhaus project was a historical success. Why? Because by studying and influencing the modern production processes, these Bauhaus-girls and guys were able to come up with products that were modern, looked modern and still had the handwriting of one conscious creator (character!). It turned out that they could solve Simmel’s dilemma. They could combine the “subjective” and the “objective”.

And if you want, you can read the whole history of design and marketing as an attempt to get rid of the awful stench of anonymity and actually give products, services and companies a holistic experience – so that people can relate to them.

Of all the so called “human factors” that design-research nowadays explores so keenly, there is one which is the most important: character.
And that – in Simmel’s definition means – creating experiences that can touch you rather than merely inform you about the efficiency, effectiveness or the dysfunctional aspects of a corporate organisation.

We as humans are in search of excellence (- please excuse -). An excellence that tells us: love me, I was created for you. I could be from your own hands. I could be you.

“Isn’t it, that we as humans – maybe not with every right – want all things to have a distinct character?”
We damn well do! With a very human right in fact!

I could go on for ages now, selling you the beauty of Simmel’s thoughts. Telling you, that through this lens one can also see the disappearing of communism and its anonymous culture in a new light… well…

Back to the iPod.
Too clean? Nothing but polished surface? No character?
I do not think so.

And I agree with Erick Blackwelder: "… iPod rules as an insanely great, insanely elegant, wonderfully intuitive work of genius."

And I can see this genius smile when he is looking at the face – dial-pad and screen – of his product: “Hmm, nothing but a circle and a square.”

Look at it.
See its sketch-like simplicity that goes beyond mere aesthetics and also serves its functions so perfectly.

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Isn’t it just like the first draft? Pure thought. The circle and the square.

More wabi-sabi than one could ever ask for.
Hail to good design. Success well deserved.

Posted by jens hilgenstock at March 16, 2005 9:19 AM

And hail to an insanely sane company.

Posted by jens hilgenstock at March 16, 2005 9:37 AM