Pamela Hovland, who teaches design at Yale, emailed us about Objectified, a documentary by Gary Hustwit (who made Helvetica, a riveting film about a font). It’s about what REALLY goes into designing the things we take for granted around us, from toothbrushes to chairs to cars, and the ways design – both good and bad –  impacts our lives. Objectified moves fast, is totally entertaining and has great music; it will change the way you look at even the most ordinary pack of gum.

Pamela also included this great quote by Rob Walker, New York Times columnist, speaking in Objectified:

If I had a billion dollars to fund a marketing campaign, I would launch a campaign on behalf of things you already own. Why not enjoy them today? Because we all have so many things that are just around – they’re in the closet, they’re in the attic, whatever… that we don’t even think about anymore because there isn’t enough room left in our brains because we are so busy processing all the exciting new developments.

At the end of the day, when you’re looking around at the objects in your house and you’re deciding what here really has value to me… they’re going to be the things that have the most meaning in your life.

The hurricane is coming. You have 20 minutes to get your stuff and go. You’re not going to be saying, ‘Well, that got an amazing write-up in this design blog.’ You are going to pick the most meaningful objects to you. Because those are the true objects that truly reflect the true story of who you are and what your personal narrative is, and the story that you are telling yourself (and no one else) because that is the only audience that matters….”

You can rent Objectified on i-Tunes as a simple download. Or buy the DVD here.

Thanks again, Pamela!

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