Semantics with Filip Claes

For one week during our Material Matters module we got to take a break from our main project to work with Interior Architect Filip Claes, who travelled from Belgium to teach us about the value of semantics within design. This week-long work shop helped teach us that “Semantics is the language that objects speak" and this is as equally important in the design process as anything else. 

In a short talk given to us by Filip Claes he told us about how a products semantics can tell us certain things about how it should be used. The semantics can also tell us the affordance and operation without the use of arrows or words. One of the things that he said in this talk that stuck with me was, “If it needs a label to show you how it works it's poor design". This helped me come to terms with what semantics was and overall I feel will help me when looking at creating designs for projects in the future.

 In the week long workshop our task was to create an object from blue foam that, when picked up, the user would know exactly what movement to make without the use of words or arrows. Now this may sound quite simple but, to add to this we were asked to make as little cuts as possible to the foam. 

The movement I was given to create with the blue foam was "Shake". Below I have taken some photographs of the movement in action and how I used the blue foam to communicate this specific movement.