What do designers notice that other people miss?
When Industrial Designer Philippe Guichard walks into a room, he isn’t looking at the paintings on the wall. He’s looking at the lights, the switches, the chairs, the proportions…
In this excerpt from On Experience, we explore how years of experience reshape attention itself.
Because expertise isn’t just about knowing more, it’s about learning to notice differently.
Edited Transcript
Philippe: I will look at the different types of lights and what type of lights there is, where is the switch? Is the switch easily accessible? How’s the chair and the table?
It’s funny because there’s something that’s due to the training that was quite funny.
When I did my training in industrial design, at the end, we went to an art centre somewhere and, you see those beautiful paintings and everything, and I was not looking at the paintings.
I was looking at the type of light and why they would decide to put this shape here, and I couldn’t understand what. I spent like 10 minutes looking at the lights, and the people say, “Well, no, the art is here.” (pointing to the walls). And it’s like, “Well, it’s there for me.” (pointing to the ceiling).
Geoff: I had the same experience when I went to Europe, looking at the buildings. It was like, “Oh, what? You mean there are paintings on the wall?”
Philippe: Exactly. Is the Mona Lisa at the Louvre? I don’t know, but the pyramid is great.
Yesterday, I had to go in the city for a meeting. And before that, I had to take a call, so I went into the lobby of a building over there in the city on Elizabeth Street. Anyway, what I do in the building is I sit somewhere, and I will look at a chair, and I see how comfortable it is, if it’s a good proportion and a good height and everything, and I start to criticise it.
I’m like, “Oh, well, this is lacking. This is too deep,” and I’m quite a big man, so, you know, if it’s deep for me, for the average Joe, it’s probably uncomfortable. And the table is like this. And so I could see everything and try to say, “Okay, what could be improved here and what could be changed?”
And there was a light. I remember the light was, unfortunately, a copy of what they call a ‘designer’s lamp’, a floor lamp from years ago, and a poor one, so that was not a very positive experience.
This is how I look at a place. I look at the products in the place.
Geoff: I’m almost embarrassed to say it, but it’s like I find I’m very judgmental as a designer because I always walk in and go, “Ooh, I wouldn’t have done it like that.” Do you have the same experience? Please help me out here and tell me that I’m not the only one.
Philippe: All the time.
Geoff: Yay.
Philippe: Because my job is to have an eye on products. It’s what I’m trained for.
When I use a product, and I find it clunky, I will find why it’s clunky very quickly. In my mind, I would imagine what I should do so that I could avoid that and make a better version of it.
I try not to cling to those things, otherwise I would be mad at the end of the day and in despair that the world is very poorly designed. I think it is, by the way, but that’s a different story. But yeah, I tend to really have a critical view and a critical experience of most of the products I’m touching.
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