The Ta-Da Series: presentation of a technique and its use in generating a series of surprising designs

Surprise is an emotion that is used very explicitly in personal interactions and in narrative media, yet it is not used in the same way within design. This case study presents a technique devised and used to apply the results of theoretical research on surprise to the creation of a series of surprising objects.

The designs in this series are very different in the way they function, yet they are derived from the same technique, based on cultural expectations, gut reactions and pleasant surprise. To begin with, the design process involved studying what is expected of objects, and identifying what the main characteristics of a specific category of objects are. What do we expect when we approach a lamp? And in particular, are there any signs which we can use to reinforce these expectations?

The second step is to find the opposite of those characteristics and turn them into design concepts. In this case a lamp needs to make light in order to be a lamp, so its main connotation cannot be opposed. But there are other connotations that are not necessarily intrinsic in lamps but which we all tend to associate with lamps, and those are connotations and those are connotations about breakable materials and fragility. The design therefore plays with these expectations by creating a lamp that at first sight has some connotations of a typology of lamp that is both common and extremely breakable; in this way it reinforces the feeling of fragility. But the lamp itself is made of rubber, so if it fell it wouldn’t break but bounce.

In addition to this, the technique uses inbuilt gut reactions and fears to reinforce the surprising effect. The lamp only turns on when it is placed on the edge of the table; in this way the lamp will always be in a precarious position, not only reinforcing the feeling of instability, but playing with the user’s gut reactions: though the owner knows that the lamp will not break, it is hard to shed the ingrained reaction of wanting to move it to the middle of the table. By using these gut reactions, the lamp creates a playful sense of suspense, and pleasant surprise when one discovers, or remembers, that the lamp is made of rubber and it is meant to fall.

This same technique is applied to three designs, the On-Edge Lamp, the (Un-) Stable Stool and the Impolite Coffee Tables. These three designs will be presented and the differences and similarities between the designs will be outlined.

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