Has your home been swept clean by the “Tidying Up” crusade yet?
Unneeded items throughout my house have been thoroughly audited, thanked, folded and donated since we watched Marie Kondo’s Netflix series. What’s left is a mostly orderly, meaningful array of good things. That might sound too cynical: I am totally in favour of selective buying, reducing junk, keeping things you love and living in a thoughtfully organised home.
I’m a designer. Of course all that sparks joy!
The thing that strikes me about the KonMari Method is how much like a design process it is — and I’m all for how that gives people from all walks a view into the satisfaction that designers can feel from their work. The Method traces a design process in key ways:
Context
Most design starts with understanding the context of the project. Marie Kondo starts with meeting the home and seeing how it’s used.
Selection
So much of design is about bringing to light, assessing and disregarding or progressing options. Again pretty much the Kondo method.
Delivery
Design is made into finished reality through the delivery of considered sets, from website coding to printed items, three-dimensional objects and architectural space. Kondo finishes with organising into logical, attractive sets.
Rules
Just like other design professionals, Marie Kondo has many rules, tricks and principals giving her work nuance and structure.
Must...do...design...
For me, as an Art Director and Founder at Univers, there have been times when I was less involved in creating visual design. You know, sometimes it gets pretty busy just running the show. At those times, my design sense will not be suppressed. I find myself paying special attention to the layout of the kid’s breakfasts, or perfecting the arrangement of cutlery and glasses in the kitchen. Of course, my family are good about it, they know I need to design. And now I’m hoping to be even more appreciated when I apply design to home making, just like Marie Kondo.