Yves behar: Creating objects that tell stories

This little TED talk starts out with an interesting idea. The speaker, Behar, has a desire to design objects that tell stories. What does this mean? I don't think he gives us a clear definition -- he's another one of those arty fellas who think it's cool to be cryptic, maybe? He gives some examples of a carpet and piece of furniture which had characters in various poses of action such as a hunter lancing a wild animal. I can understand that these objects tell little stories with heroes and beasts, but they do it like a picture book, with pictures. What about cars, toothbrushes, fridges and milk cartons, how do they tell stories?

Well, watch the thing right through and you notice a definite motif that pops up throughout. He talks about how products can communicate certain values to the user. For example, Alot of the new designs these days are biodegradable, come in recycled materials, are coloured green, and are more efficient. These qualities represent environmental values, which the user will respond to, subconsciously or not, agreeably or confrontationaly, or something in between. That Jaw Bone thing he talks about, I think, has some functionality to quieten ambient noise whilst using it. This implicitly reaffirms society's value of communication where ever we are.

So back to this 'products tell stories' statement. I think all he means is that objects can convey and reaffirm values for the user. Is that telling stories? I wouldn't say so, but it's still a cool fact to know. This is yet another way that design influences people. I bet Norman would see this as mostly happening at the reflective level, but I'm sure it permeates all three. This is an empowering tool. Society's values are changing all the time. Being reaffirmed, challenged, skewed, rejected, throughout the media, politics, art, research, technology, education and so on. Admittedly product design is not the most communicative of mediums but I can see how it does have a role.

Apart from those ideas, his video was a little bit of a confusing ramble. Also, I'm not sure I understand the need to give every dev. world child his/her own laptop. Surely most of them could get most of the same benefits from sharing desktop computers? Maybe then the saved money could go towards treating malaria, cleaning water and the like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGn8F4j6pH8