文/弗吉尼婭·波斯特雷爾 譯/左嘉 審訂/沛軒

By Virginia Postrel

Those old sci-fi movies were wrong.The twenty-first century doesn’t look at all the way they said it would.We citizens of the future aren’t wearing conformist jumpsuits, living in utilitarianhigh-rises, or getting our food in the form of dreary-looking pills. On the contrary, we are demanding and creating a stimulating, diverse, and strikingly well-designed world. We like our vacuum cleaners and mobile phones to sparkle, our backpacks and laptops to express our personalities. We expect trees and careful landscaping in our parking lots, peaked roofs and decorative facades on our supermarkets, and auto dealerships as swoopyand stylish as the cars they sell.

以前那些科幻片中的描述都錯(cuò)了，21世紀(jì)根本就不是電影里所設(shè)想的那樣。我們這些未來(lái)公民不穿循規(guī)蹈矩的連衫褲，不住實(shí)用的高樓大廈，也不吃看上去乏味的片劑食物。恰恰相反，我們要求且正在創(chuàng)造一個(gè)具有啟發(fā)性的多元世界，設(shè)計(jì)之完善令人贊嘆。我們希望自己的吸塵器和手機(jī)樣式新穎奪目；背包和筆記本電腦彰顯個(gè)性；停車場(chǎng)里精心布置綠化美化景觀；超市屋頂尖尖，正面裝飾感強(qiáng)；而汽車經(jīng)銷店如他們所銷售的汽車一樣，流線型設(shè)計(jì)，新潮時(shí)尚。

2 戴維·布朗是一名設(shè)計(jì)顧問(wèn)，也是位于加州帕薩迪納的藝術(shù)中心設(shè)計(jì)學(xué)院前任院長(zhǎng)。他說(shuō)：“如今設(shè)計(jì)無(wú)處不在，無(wú)處未經(jīng)設(shè)計(jì)。”而這一切又發(fā)生得如此迅速。不久以前，蘋果公司將其生產(chǎn)的麥金托什牌個(gè)人電腦由原來(lái)重實(shí)用的淺灰色盒子形設(shè)計(jì)成帶曲線的，配以養(yǎng)眼的多彩色——藍(lán)莓藍(lán)，草莓紅，橘子黃，葡萄紫，檸檬綠。半透明的珠寶色廣泛用于訂書機(jī)、電涌保護(hù)器、微波爐，甚至是美國(guó)運(yùn)通卡。

2“Design is everywhere, and everywhere is now designed,” says David Brown, a design consultant and the former president of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. And it all happened so fast. It wasn’t that long ago that Apple’s iMac turned the personal computer from a utilitarian, putty-colored box into curvy eye candy—blueberry, strawberry, tangerine, grape,lime. Translucent jewel tones spread to staplers and surge protectors and microwaves—even American Express cards.

3 Since then everything around us has been getting a much needed facelift. Volkswagen reinvented the Beetle.Karim Rashid reinvented the ordinary trash can. Oxo reinvented the potato peeler (thus proving that people will happily pay an extra five bucks for a kitchen tool if it looks and feels better). Even toilet brushes have become design objects, with something for every personality. The handle on Philippe Starck’s sleek Excalibur brush looks ready for a duel, while Alessi’s Merdolino brush (designed by Stefano Giovannoni) sprouts like a bright green cartoon plant.

4 When Target introduced a line of housewares developed by architectdesigner Michael Graves, few customers had ever heard of Graves. But his playful toaster quickly became the chain’s most talked about, and most expensive model.Target increased the number of Graves offerings to more than five hundred and is still adding more Graves items—and more designers.

3 從此，我們身邊的一切事物都在改頭換面，這正是我們非常需要的。大眾汽車重新設(shè)計(jì)了甲殼蟲(chóng)，卡里姆·拉希德重新設(shè)計(jì)了普通的垃圾桶，奧秀重新設(shè)計(jì)了土豆削皮器(這表明如果某樣廚房用具看上去更舒服，用起來(lái)手感更好，人們就會(huì)樂(lè)意支付那額外的5美元)。連馬桶刷都成了設(shè)計(jì)作品，每款設(shè)計(jì)都各具特色。菲力浦·史達(dá)克設(shè)計(jì)的Excalibur系列馬桶刷造型優(yōu)美，其手柄看似一把隨時(shí)準(zhǔn)備決斗的王者之劍，而艾烈希旗下設(shè)計(jì)師斯特凡諾·焦萬(wàn)諾尼的Merdolino系列馬桶刷恰似一株卡通般的嫩綠新芽在破土生長(zhǎng)。

4 塔吉特公司推出一系列出自建筑設(shè)計(jì)師邁克爾·格雷夫斯之手的家庭用具時(shí)，很少有消費(fèi)者聽(tīng)過(guò)他的名字。但他設(shè)計(jì)的烤面包機(jī)很好玩，很快就成了該連鎖店最為人樂(lè)道、最為昂貴的一款。于是該公司推出了500多樣他的設(shè)計(jì)品，并仍在不斷推出更多新品，以及更多設(shè)計(jì)師的作品。

5 “We’re seeing design creep into everything,” says Chicago industrial designer Mark Dziersk. The 1990s were the decade of distribution. Wal-Mart set the standard for low-cost, hyperefficient retailing, while the Internet made everything available everywhere. You can live in a small town and still buy stylish goods.

6 This trend doesn’t mean that a particular style has triumphed or that we’re necessarily living in a period of unprecedented creativity. It doesn’t mean everything is now beautiful, or that people agree on basic standards of taste. The holy grailof modern product designers is mass customization, not mass production. “Mass production offered millions of one thing to everybody,” writes Bruce Sterling, the science fiction author and design champion, in, “mass customization offers millions of different models to one guy.”

5 芝加哥工業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)師馬克·杰爾斯克說(shuō)：“我們正親眼目睹設(shè)計(jì)滲透到各種事物當(dāng)中?！?0世紀(jì)90年代是商品分銷的10年，沃爾瑪為低價(jià)高效的零售模式樹(shù)立了標(biāo)桿，因特網(wǎng)則讓我們?cè)谌魏蔚胤娇梢再I到任何東西。即便是住在一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)上，你也同樣可以買到時(shí)髦的東西。

6 當(dāng)然這種趨勢(shì)并不意味著某種特定的風(fēng)格已獨(dú)占鰲頭，或是我們必然生活在創(chuàng)造力空前的時(shí)期。也并不是說(shuō)如今每樣?xùn)|西都是美的，或是人們對(duì)于品位的基本標(biāo)準(zhǔn)已達(dá)成共識(shí)?，F(xiàn)代產(chǎn)品設(shè)計(jì)師們夢(mèng)寐以求的是批量定制，而不是批量生產(chǎn)?！芭可a(chǎn)是大量制作同一種商品提供給所有客戶，批量定制是大量制作不同款型提供給某一客戶。”科幻作家兼設(shè)計(jì)冠軍布魯斯·斯特林在《大都會(huì)》雜志上這樣寫道。

7 我們的時(shí)代是一個(gè)多元化時(shí)代，只要有人喜歡，不同的風(fēng)格便可以共存。你不再隨隨便便買條藍(lán)色牛仔褲，而是定做，挑選自己最喜歡的洗水風(fēng)格和款式。如果你不喜歡離得最近的一家星巴克咖啡店的格調(diào)，星巴克公司也會(huì)給你提供其他的選擇。該公司一位管理人員說(shuō)：“你可以走過(guò)三家店面，來(lái)到另一家星巴克，覺(jué)得‘我更喜歡這家，在這兒感覺(jué)比較舒服。’”進(jìn)店后，你不會(huì)隨隨便便點(diǎn)杯咖啡，而是瀏覽長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的定制咖啡菜單，選擇不同咖啡豆、做法和口味的組合。

7 Ours is a pluralist age in which different styles can coexist, as long as they please the individuals who choose them.You don’t just buy blue jeans anymore;you customize, picking the exact wash and cut you like best. If you don’t like the look of the nearest Starbucks, the company gives you choices. “You can go three stores down to a different Starbucks and say, —I like this better. I just feel better here,” explains a Starbucks executive. And once you’re there you don’t order just a cup of coffee. You navigate a long menu of customized combinations, including different beans,styles, and flavors.

8 All this choice required technological and business innovations, but the shift expresses deeper cultural changes,too. The extension of liberal individualism—the primacy of self-definition over hierarchy and inherited, groupdetermined status—has altered out aesthetic universe. The issue is no longer what style is used but rather that style is used, consciously and conscientiously,even in areas where function used to stand alone.

8 實(shí)現(xiàn)這一切選擇都需要技術(shù)與商業(yè)創(chuàng)新，而這種轉(zhuǎn)變也體現(xiàn)了更深層次的文化變革。自由的個(gè)性不斷張揚(yáng)——自我定義成為主導(dǎo)，等級(jí)以及與生俱來(lái)、由群體決定的地位退居其次——業(yè)已改變了大眾審美。問(wèn)題的關(guān)鍵不再是采用什么風(fēng)格，而是在哪怕過(guò)去只注重功能的領(lǐng)域也有意識(shí)地、用心地講究風(fēng)格。

9 但這并不是說(shuō)其他的價(jià)值觀就消失了。我們可能很想要一個(gè)形似雕塑作品的烤肉架，但仍希望它是實(shí)用的。Nalgene牌塑料水壺顏色鮮艷，惹人喜愛(ài)，但是我們也同樣欣賞這種瓶子的耐用性。我們依舊在乎產(chǎn)品的價(jià)格、舒適度與便利性，只是除此之外，審美比以前更重要了。

9 Not that other values have gone away. We may crave a barbecue grill that looks like a piece of sculpture, but we still want it to work well. We get pleasure from the bright colors of Nalgene’s plastic water bottles, but we also appreciate their indestructibility. We continue to care about cost, comfort,and convenience. It’s just that on the margin aesthetics matters more than before.

10 Designers themselves are finally abandoning the modernist idea of the one best way and embracing the pleasures of personalization. “Good design is not about the perfect thing anymore but about helping a lot of different people build their own personal identities,”says David Kelley, the founder of the IDEO design firm (which designed the look and feel of your iPod).

11 This attitude marks a huge shift.Designers and other cultural opinion leaders used to believe that a single aesthetic standard was right—that style was a manifestation of truth, virtue,even sanity. What if someone didn’t like the way Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius has arranged the furniture in the new Harvard dorm he designed? “Then they are a neurotic,” Gropius replied.

12 Today’s modernists don’t talk like that. They emphasize pleasure and personality. “Modern design allows you to grapple with your own ideas about how you want to live,” says Lara Hedberg,publisher of, the architecture and interiors magazine for “nice modernists.” Just because you like austere hightech lighting and a chrome and glass coffee table doesn’t mean you can’t have a comfortable upholstered chair.

10 設(shè)計(jì)師們自己最終摒棄只有一種最佳方式的現(xiàn)代主義觀念，而欣然接受個(gè)性化的愉悅。戴維·凱利是IDEO設(shè)計(jì)公司的創(chuàng)始人，iPod的外觀和感覺(jué)設(shè)計(jì)便是出自該公司。他說(shuō)：“好的設(shè)計(jì)，不再只是設(shè)計(jì)完美的東西，而是要能幫助眾多截然不同的人去形成他們自己的個(gè)人特色?！?/p>

11 這種態(tài)度標(biāo)志著一種巨大的轉(zhuǎn)變。設(shè)計(jì)師和其他文化上的意見(jiàn)領(lǐng)袖都曾認(rèn)定只有一個(gè)正確的美學(xué)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)——昭示真理、美德乃至理智的東西才是風(fēng)尚。若有人不喜歡鮑豪斯建筑學(xué)派建筑師沃爾特·格羅皮烏斯在其設(shè)計(jì)的哈佛大學(xué)新宿舍里布置家具的方式，該怎么辦？他便回答說(shuō)：“那是他們有點(diǎn)神經(jīng)過(guò)敏?！?/p>

12 如今的現(xiàn)代主義者可不會(huì)再像那樣說(shuō)話了，他們強(qiáng)調(diào)快樂(lè)和個(gè)性?！艾F(xiàn)代設(shè)計(jì)允許你仔細(xì)思索自己想要的生活方式?！泵嫦颉皶r(shí)尚的現(xiàn)代主義者”的建筑及室內(nèi)設(shè)計(jì)雜志《居住》的出版商拉臘·赫德伯格這樣說(shuō)。如果你喜歡簡(jiǎn)樸的高科技燈具，喜歡用鉻合金和玻璃制成的咖啡桌，并不意味著就不能擁有一把舒適的鋪有軟墊的椅子。

13Sensory experience is as valid a part of our nature as our capacity to speak or to reason. The objects we desire don’t needany other justification forpleasing ourvisual,tactile, emotional nature, as long as they make life more enjoyable.

14Those prophets who forecast a sterile, uniform future got it wrong because they imagined a society shaped by impersonal laws of history and technology,divorced from individuality, pleasure,and imagination. But “form follows emotion” has supplanted “form follows function” as the defining mantraof the day, along with “I’d like a grand mint mocha Frappuccino.” ■

13 感官體驗(yàn)就像我們能說(shuō)話和推理一樣，是人類本性中合理的一部分。并不需要解釋為何我們想要的東西看上去、摸上去或是感覺(jué)上去很好，只要他們能讓我們的生活更有樂(lè)趣就可以了。

14 那些預(yù)言未來(lái)世界死氣沉沉、千篇一律的人錯(cuò)了，原因是他們想象未來(lái)社會(huì)是由不涉及個(gè)人情感因素的歷史和科技規(guī)則構(gòu)成的，沒(méi)有個(gè)性，沒(méi)有樂(lè)趣，毫無(wú)想象力。但是“形式跟著感覺(jué)走”已經(jīng)取代了“形式跟著功能走”，并且和“我想要一大杯薄荷味的摩卡星冰樂(lè)”之類的話一起，成為當(dāng)下時(shí)興的口頭禪。 □