The Impact of Design: My First Encounter

Every year since I can remember, I have had the privilege of picking out a new ornament for the Christmas tree.  As a child, whichever had the prettiest color, the most sparkle, or cutest figurine would usually prevail, and my taste for the year would be forever documented.  

This tradition, as one can imagine, has created quite a large collection of ornaments for our Christmas tree, but one ornament will always stand out to me as my favorite.

This particular ornament is a snowman, round and white.  It has a light blue scarf that instantly attracted me seeing as this particular blue was my favorite color.  It is smooth and simple in texture yet sensorial and soft to the touch.  It has a face that made me laugh, which includes a big smile, rosy cheeks, and green eyes that match my own.  Its hook is silver and strong.  Its features are constructed from plastic and paint, but its body is made out of glass, and each year, its shiny venire reflects the glow of the twinkling tree lights at night creating a mesmerizing glow.  Every time I see it taking its place at the front of the Christmas tree, I smile because this is the object that opened my eyes to design’s powers.  

Image from 

http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/decorated-christmas-tree-with-presents-10705-pictures.htm

This particular ornament’s design, to this day, has the power to make me feel better, to change my mood, and to link me to the past by becoming a time capsule.  I can be in the worst mood and then enter the room illuminated by the Christmas tree lights, see my ornament’s glow, and be comforted by the air of peacefulness and beauty it adds.  Looking at it, almost every time I find myself being taken back to the Christmas season I picked it out, and even if only for a moment I am transported back to a simpler time in my life. It is truly amazing that a simple object can have that much influence on my life at any given moment, but it does. 

This ornament was the first thing that made me consider that if this simple design was all that it took to affect me so, design’s powers may truly be limitless on a larger scale.  More than anything, however, it gave me a peak into why design’s impact is so big and ever-expanding.