Why do designers use nature as an inspiration for their work?

Holon Institute of Technology, M. Des. in Integrated Design Course: Research Methods, lecturer: Dr. Lustig Cornel. Students: Inbal Shomroni (id. 043140292) Yael Mintz (id.040909426)

Table of Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Keywords ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Why do designers use nature as an inspiration for their work? ...................................................... 7 Research Methods: ..................................................................................................................... 7 Results: ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Conclusion: ................................................................................................................................ 8 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 9 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................... 9 Appendix 1: The Questionnaire .................................................................................................... 10 Appendix 2: Graphic Analysis ...................................................................................................... 12

Abstract
Designers' work has always been inspired by the natural world. We can see it in different periods looking at design, art and architecture history books, or just looking around us when we travel around the world (image 1). In our research, we have tried to learn, through specially designed questionnaires, whether designers are aware of their choice to draw inspiration from nature, or if the choice was unintended, instinctive. We have started the research wanting to confirm our belief that it is actually a spontaneous choice, rather than a meditated one. In order to base our conclusions, we have asked questions aimed to understand what in nature was designers' favorite source of inspiration and what were their considerations when they chose their inspirations for their designs. Throughout the research we see various tendencies of the designers to imitate nature in their work. They all admit to use it as an inspiration for their work, and they all admit to be inspired by their everyday surroundings as well. Therefore, we believe to have partially verified our assumption by saying that it is typical for designers to be inspired by nature for their work, both in a conscious way and in a habitual way, since they are surrounded by it in their everyday life.

Image 1: Paris metro station

Keywords: nature, design inspiration, designer, intuitive, habitual, meditated, conscious.

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Introduction
It is only logical that nature is the most common inspiration source for all art forms. We are surrounded by it: we live in it, we eat it, we wear it, and even things that we dont consider to be natural have origins in nature. Everything we do is in some way connected to nature, therefore, it is natural for us to be inspired by it when we want to create something new. During the history of architecture and design, there have always been references to nature. Leonardo da Vinci has studied nature to its very details, trying to imitate it building implements that had forms and functions taken from nature. Filippo Brunelleschi that has build the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy, was also inspired by nature referring to the fish spine for the dome's structure (image 2).

Image 2: Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence

One of the most important movement regarding nature's inspiration on architecture, art and design, is Art Nouveau. In the Art Nouveau movement, forms of nature were the lines guiding the works of all important architects. Good examples are the works of Henry van de Velde, Louis Comfort Tiffany (image 3) and Hector Guimard. Their works show the sculptural forms that architects and designers took from nature and used in their own creations.
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Image 3: A lamp by Louis Comfort Tiffany

Today's design is changed, both for the ecological conscience that has been developed following the environmental problems, and for the conscience that the human specie has developed in the last few years. An important movement in contemporary design is hybrid design (image 4). The word hybrid means a thing made by combining two different elements; a mixture... [from the new oxford american dictionary] . This can mean the combination of natural aspects with artificial ones or bio-inspired design that brings nature to be a part of an object in a material sense, or in a scientific sense.

Image 4: installation by Zaha Hadid, 2008 5

In our research we have tried to understand the meaning of nature as an inspiration for designers. As we are well aware of nature being an important source of inspiration to designers nowadays, we wanted to look into it in order to find out whether it is a conscious choice or an intuitive one. We also wanted to see what is it in nature that inspires most designers, and whether there were other sources of inspiration as important as nature. We based our research on the assumption that being surrounded by it, we are inspired by nature in a more emotional and habitual way than in a meditated and reasoned one.

Why do designers use nature as an inspiration for their work?

As mentioned before, we have based our research on the assumption that being surrounded by nature, we are inspired by it in an emotional and unconscious way.

Research Methods: For our research, we built a questionnaire that we have distributed between different designers who work in various fields of the design discipline. (Appendix 1). We have chosen the candidates randomly and didn't give preference to any type of designer. The questionnaire had the purpose to check designers' habits and preferences in the choice of a leading motive throughout the design process. It included 20 questions, mostly closed. In total, we have distributed a hundred, and got back 31 completed questionnaires on which we based the results of our research.

Results: (Based on graphic analysis - Appendix 2) The designers that have answered the questionnaire are divided into 27% graphic designers, 27% interior designers, 22% product designers, and the rest is divided between jewelry, web, and textile designers (graph 1). The majority of these designers works and lives in an urban environment (graph 2, 3). In the opinion of the people asked, their living environment influences their design thinking (graph 4). According to them, most designers are inspired by nature, however, to the question How much is nature an inspiration for you in your work, the numbers showed a less convinced majority (graph 5). Most designers also think that the development of technology has a role in nature's influence on design. (graph 6)

As we checked the reasons for the choice of nature as a source of inspiration for design, it came up, according to the people asked, that nature inspired design doesn't necessarily have a commercial value, functional considerations or a connection to the lately aroused ecological awareness (graph 7). Moreover, they don't see a preference between their clients to nature inspired designs (graph 8). Most designers admit that they mostly draw inspiration from nature for its aesthetic and sentimental values (graph 9) When asked about specific inspirations from the natural world, the designers showed a light tendency towards preferring the plants and trees flora to the animal fauna (graph 10). The choice to represent nature is usually through textures, then forms. The functional aspect of nature is the less chosen aspect to use for the designs (graph 11). To the questions regarding the designer's habit to represent nature in a direct or indirect way, there's a definite tendency between the designers to use an indirect and abstract way of imitating nature in their work (graph 12). In our research we have also checked what were the other worlds that are not related to nature, from which designers draw inspiration to their work. We have found that technology is a source of inspiration for most designers (graph 13). However, when we have presented them with an open question about their sources of inspiration, we have found that the most common one is human living and everyday life (graph 14) along with other design fields that are not mastered by the designer.

Conclusion: According to our research, designers admit to draw inspiration from nature. However, looking at graph 5 we can see that they seem to notice more of nature's inspiration in other designers' work. This may mean that many designers tend to be inspired by nature, mostly in an instinctive way than in a conscious way. They also tend to be inspired by their surrounding environment the place they live or work in. We believe that this means it is instinctive for them to be inspired by what surround them and therefore, if they live in a natural or green environment, they would be instinctively inspired by that environment.
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To conclude, our assumption that being surrounded by it, we are inspired by nature in a more emotional and habitual way than in a meditated and reasoned one, has been partially verified. Through our research we have learnt that designers are inspired mostly by what surrounds them in their daily life (graph 14). As written in the introduction to this paper, we believe that nature surrounds us whether we are aware of it or not. Thus, though designers admit to consciously choose nature to be their source of inspiration, we believe they are inspired by it both when they choose to be and when they don't.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank to Dr. Cornel Lustig, the Holon Institute of Technology and its Masters degree program of Integrated Design. We would also like to thank everyone who has helped us by participating in our research.

Bibliography
Baal-Teshuva, J., Louis Comfort Tiffany, Taschen, Singapore, 2008 John Thackara, In the bubble: designing in a complex world , The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006 Langella, C., Hybrid Design: Progettare tra tecnologia e natura, Franco Angeli, Milan, 2007. Museum fur Gestaltung Zurich, Nature Design: From inspiration to innovation, Lars Muller publishers, Zurich, 2007 Sembach, K.J, Art Nouveau, Taschen, China, 2007

Appendix 1: The Questionnaire

Dear designer The following questionnaire is part of a study research for our M. Des studies. The research has as its main subject Nature as an Inspiration in Design. The questionnaire checks designer's habits and preferences in the choice of a leading motive throughout the design process. The questionnaire is anonymous; its results will be used for research purposes only. For any questions or doubts, please feel free to email us at eltush@gmail.com. Thank you for your cooperation. General instructions: the questionnaire is personal; there are no right answers. For each of the following statements, circle the number in the 6-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) that best describes how that statement applies to you. 1. My area of design is: 6. other _________ 2. I live in a: 1. city 2. country side 1. city 3. Collective community 2. country side 4. other _________ 3. Collective community 1. product 2.space 3. graphic 4. fashion 5. internet

3. My work place is situated in a: 4. other _________

4. In your opinion, how much is nature an inspiration for designers 5. How much is nature an inspiration for you in your work 6. Nature as inspiration for my work is a functional choice 7. Nature as inspiration for my work is an aesthetic choice 8. Nature as inspiration for my work is a sentimental choice 9. Nature as inspiration for my work is a commercial choice 10. Nature as inspiration for my work is connected to an
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ecological awareness 11. My living environment influences my design thinking 12. Technological development has a role in nature's influence on design 13. 1. I tend to be inspired by the animal world/fauna 2. I tend to be inspired by the plants and trees flora 14. In my work I am inspired by nature's 1. textures 2. forms 3. function 4. other ________ 15. In my work I tend to imitate nature 1. in a direct and clear way 2. in an indirect and abstract way 16. Within my clients I see a tendency to prefer nature inspired designs 17. In my work I am inspired by technological world 18. In my work I am inspired by design areas other than mine (for example: product designer inspired by fashion etc.) 19. In my work I am inspired by other disciplines

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20. Please specify designers and styles that inspire you in your work _________________________ ________________________________________________________________________
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Appendix 2: Graphic Analysis

graph 1: Participants' area of design

graph 2: Participants' living environment

graph 3: Participants' working environment

graph 4: my living environment influences my design thinking

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graph 5: Participants' opinion about nature inspired design

graph 6: Technological development has a role in nature's influence on design

graph 7: Participants' reasons for choosing nature as inspiration

graph 8: Within my clients I see a tendency to prefer nature inspired designs 13

graph 9: Participants' reasons for choosing nature as inspiration

graph 10: Division of participants' choices for inspiration between fauna or flora

graph 11: Division of participants' choices for inspiration between textures, forms and functions. 14

graph 12: Participants' ways of representing nature

graph 13: In my work I am inspired by technology

graph 14: In my work I am inspired by other design disciplines 15