Sometimes as product designers we get this sense of being isolated in our own little world—not being out where things really happen, not really knowing what is going on in the photography world This feeling is not uncommon. At one place I worked there was a picture of designers in jail in jump suits, with a caption, “Help designers escape the pen” (penitentiary).
Fernando E Motta shooting at the end of runway of Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten. Photo: Robert J Cijntje
There is this other nagging feeling that there is a complete disconnect between the creation of the product and how it is actually used in the real world after it is sold. In a designer’s dream world, we wish we could trade places with photographers. Kind of like a designer’s version of the movie Trading Places.
So one of the coolest things is when photographers send us photos using our products around the world. It’s like we are there in the 3rd person, kind of in spirit, since the photographers are using products into which we poured so much of ourselves. I hope I’m not getting to metaphysical here, but I’m trying to say something that is difficult to put into words: the ineffable realm for designers.
Take this photo from Robert Cijntje of Fernando Motta in St. Maarten. I love this photo because it’s absurd. Who would have thought such a composition was possible? A woman in a bikini? A guy with a bald head shooting pictures with a Think Tank modular system on? The beach? The plane landing? And some guy in the background next to a sign that says “danger”? And yet, I get a sense that I’m there because Fernando is using our belt system.
I’ve received other photos as well, from the Olympics, industrial work sites, Antarctica, photographers in the rain and snow, in hospital rooms…the list goes on and on. I’ve even gotten “in use” product photos with naked people in the photo.
As designers we basically have office jobs. So when we receive these photos we can vicariously experience the world through our customers’ eyes, understand what kinds of situations our products are used in, and feel a sense of accomplishment that our products are helping photographers take pictures.
Let me try to explain this another way. It seems that photojournalists and photographers in general experience the world in person, going to all sorts of events and participating in the storytelling process. Photographers are there, living that moment. For everyone else, reading it in the paper or on the Internet, it’s just not the same. So maybe we have “photographer’s envy.” But being there in the 3rd person is not too bad, in the scheme of things.
