Functional and beautiful
I was thinking about how in times past even ordinary things used to be decorated a lot more, and now things are much more utility, plain, and boring.
Maybe that’s the reason why we keep old things as art and history, while we throw away items nowadays after they’ve completed their functional, utility use.
For example, whereas a light pole used to be decorated, thus serving both a functional and aesthetic purpose, we now have rather boring-looking light poles. (Oddly enough, someone is always trying to “decorate” these boring light poles with stickers or markings, such as scratching in their name. Curious, isn’t it?)
The decorated light pole is likely going to be kept as a work of art and history long after it retires. The light pole designed nowadays…well, there’s not much it’s good for aesthetics-wise after it’s served its function, so it will probably end up in a landfill.
Have we forgotten that things should be functional and beautiful?
Yahweh our Heavenly Father created the world both beautiful and functional (and I’m glad he did :)). All throughout creation we see that the things that He made have beauty (in their own ways) and are functional. He also created us with a sense of need for beauty.
So, when designing something maybe we should ask how we can make it beautiful and functional.
Will what we create be looked at in the future as art and history, or as trash to throw away? Because we do have a choice whether to design something as utility only or as functional and beautiful.