Blobjects don't have to be round or curvilinear, much like the iPod is more of a 'squircle' with it's rectangular curved edge shape that does not fit the blobby curvilinear definition. I believe the important part of the definition is not the appearance of the object itself, although it does factor into it I think it is more about the terms: minimalist, streamlining, smooth and sleek. These terms are synonymous in my mind with something that is modern and simplistic but yet advanced in its use.
Raven contends that the moment of the blobject has passed but I am not sure that is the case. As I look around my world I still see blobjects.
I took yesterday off from everything I needed to do and spent a much needed day with my family away from books and computers. We had a wonderful time. So much so that my four year old son woke up this morning and wanted to go back again. All I could think of this morning was the pile of reading that I needed to make my way through and the number of responses I needed to write. Against my better judgement I found myself out-ruled by the family siting in my car on the hour long trip back to camp. As we were rinding along I was thinking about the definition of a blobject. I realized I was being carried away in one.
My car, a Toyota Prius is very much a blobject. It is mass-produced, emotionally engaging, smooth, sleek and swoopy vehicle with curvilinear flowing lines. Much like the VW Beetle the Prius fits the blobject definition. My Prius is a 2006 but it's based on the design originally produced and released in 2005. One could argue that this design would have been going through the design stages during the age of the blobject as Raven suggests but I think blobject is something more than the objects themselves. I think that we as a society go through a period were we are looking for modernization in our lives. We are tired of the old boxy, boring designs that manufacturer after manufacturer give us. For our generation cars like the VW bug and the Prius exemplify it as does the iPod but years ago I think it might have been the refrigerator.
You must be wondering how I got from the iPod and cars like the Prius and VW Bug to a refrigerator. Our camp is a place that is lost in time because it has no power, running water or other luxuries that many are used to in our lives. While there today I looked at what was around me. The refrigerator caught my attention in this time forgotten world. It had a number of the defining principles that blobjects have but was created years ahead of when the term blobject was coined. This old propane refrigerator (pictured to the left) in it's time represented a modern age of simplicity and technological advancement that revolutionized the home. This made me wonder if the moment of the blobject actually comes and goes or maybe just lays dormant for a few years and waits for designers to revisit it when the old is no longer new and we as consumers are looking for something fresh and interesting.
Excellent pictures of blobjects. My question, obviously, is if a cell phone is a blobject, not just in terms of shape but in terms of comfort and identity. Of course, some things that are complicated can become minimalist for some people. They can see through the complexity. Design is the process of removing ambiguity. Perhaps writing is like design. Can good writing be seen as a blobject? Is that what we're doing in our classes--seeking out ways to chisel away the ambiguities in order to seen the sculpture. So, with the order of things, there's something about simplicity in functionality. Reading and writing on mobile devices requires simplicity in order for the blobject to be something easily adopted. And, mobile devices, because of the logistics, must work without support.
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