Picture a designer.  Are you imagining an eccentric figure with a paintbrush in one hand and a tape measure in the other?  What about someone with knack for creating beautiful packaging or t-shirts?  Now how about a person who spends a majority of their day writing code on the computer or inventing a new technology?  The Museum of Modern Art Applied Design Exhibit is turning what most people think of as design on its head.

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1353

Massoud Hassani. Mine Kafon wind-powered deminer. 2011. Bamboo and biodegradable plastics, 87 x 87 x 87″ (221 x 221 x 221 cm). Gift of The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art. Photo by Rene van der Hulst

While we conventionally think of design as a way to make things visually appealing, design is about much more.  According to the MoMA website,

“One of design’s most fundamental tasks is to help people respond to change.”

The Applied Design exhibit makes you look at design in a different way, a way wherein the purpose of the design itself isn’t to look pretty but to function.  Within the exhibit are a mine-detonator by young Afghani designer Massoud Hassani, to a vessel made by transforming desert sand into glass using only the energy of the sun.

One of the most interesting additions to the exhibit are 14 video games including Pac-Man, The Sims, and Minecraft.  The games are the first additions to a new branch of MoMA’s collection, which means that this definition of design is not a trend, but could mark a new era in the way we view design.

Interested in going to the exhibit?  It’s running until January 20th, 2014.  For more information about this exhibit and MoMA visit their website at MoMA.org!

 Museum of Modern Art

11 W. 53rd Street

New York, NY 10019

(212) 627-5194

Now if you’re interested in good design, take one of our Seastreak ferries into the city.  Our boats are beautiful, have superior functionality, and continue to be the most relaxing way into the city.

Sea you soon,

The Seastreak Family


Filed Under: Museum of Modern Art Applied Design Exhibit