10 WAYS OF DECLUTTERING FOR DESIGNERS
DECLUTTE “to simplify of mess, d complicatio
ER y or get rid disorder, ons.�
L I K E
L I K E
CONTENT
DECLUTTERING FOR DESIGNERS LESS & MORE
Why Declutter Decluttering For Designers
10 Ways Of Decluttering Label Compile A List
01 - 02 03 - 04 05 - 06
Identify & Be Ruthless Start Small
07 - 08
Come Back Later Either That, Start Big
09 - 10
Be Honest Find Them A ‘Home’
11 - 12
Replace If Needed Mangaging Your Clothes
13 - 14
Declutter Less & More
15 - 16
Less & More : Ways Of Decluttering Good Design Is Innovative Makes A Product Useful
17 - 18 19 - 20
Good Design Is Aesthetic Makes A Product Understandable
21 - 22
Good Design Is Unobtrusive Is Honest
23 - 24
Good Design Is Long-Lasting Is Thorough Down To The Last Detail
25 - 26
Good Design Is Environmental Friendly Is As Little Design As Possible
27 - 28
FOREWORD Clutter wastes space, time and energy, as even the most beautiful furniture in the world would look shabby amidst the mess. Hence decluttering helps to get yourself and your stuffs to be clean and organized while creating the dream home.
“ One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach.One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.”
At the same time decluttering can free a tremendous weight off your shoulders and mind, not to mention your floorboards, simply by clearing out all of the unwanted stuff.
— Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Why Declutter? A clear mind is a problem free mind. Free space equals to free mind. Often a cluttered environment makes for a cluttered mind. Relaxation is much easier in a clean, neat, tidy, uncluttered space. Think about where you feel most relaxed and at ease, and often it is a clear, open and airy environment with minimal distractions; somewhere you can really unwind and chill. A calm mind allows fresh, vibrant and new thoughts and ideas, and usually it happens when you are in relaxation.
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Decluttering For Designers
On an interesting study that is made, it noted that a highly creative and energetic person, who is right-brain dominant and has high creativity, usually refering to designers and artists are very successful at what they do but also makes them very lousy at organizing their surroundings. This type of individual needs to partner with someone (left-brain dominant and has high analytical skill) who has the organizing skills that they lack. Thus said, every human being should actually acquired the skill or ability to declutter in order to take control of their environment they are working in. I firmly believed that this shouldn’t be just the case of a creative-minded person needs to be with someone who is organized and analytical, but instead I want to bring fore the idea that decluttering should be a skill everyone should know and understand and be able to apply to their daily life regularly. Even though decluttering might be one of the most appalling chore we need to do but its benefits greatly surpass the initial discomfort. Designing is like decluttering, you get really tired and frustrated when you are trying to make your design works and beautiful, but the satisfaction you gained after the effort you put in to come up with a beautiful design is simple awesome.
Afterall decluttering helps to reduce stress greatly, and a decluttered space makes a condusive environment to do design. Usually our home is considered a asylum and in this case, most designers consider their workspace as their asylum. The state of the asylum is in, can be considered reflection of designer’s mind. If the designer’s asylum is cluttered there is a good chance that he/she will feel overwhelmed, less inspired and maybe even depressed to do anything else. By introducing design principles that most designers know and understand, and relating the principles to the concept of decluttering, I hope these principles for good design, can help designers to understand better the concept and processes of decluttering and enable them to realise that principles of good design can actually be applied during decluttering. Thus in this project I wish to create the interest among designers to start cultivating the habit of decluttering on a regular basis while realising decluttering is something really everyone could do it, so at the end of everything they can have a neat and pleasant environment to work in and be inspired with.
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WAYS OF DECLUTTERING Before you start decluttering, ask yourself these questions: “What am I keeping this for?” Think about why and ask yourself “Can I live without it?” Do you really need six hammers and three lamps, fifteen scarves and twelve pairs of shoes; answered truthfully, and the answer you eventually will come up with will be – “Actually I dont’t need, I have enough to go around already.” Also have a vision to reduce clutter:
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Visualize what you want to do with your reclaimed space. Have the big picture in your mind: “What do you want to use this space for?”. This way, it might gives you the extra motivation to make the space as close as what you have imagined after you declutter.
“Three rules of work: out of clutter find simplicity; from discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” — Albert Einstein
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WAYS OF DECLUTTERING
1
LABEL RECYCLE DONATE KEEP UNSURE
ollect several large empty boxes, C and put some flatten boxes aside as well. Label your boxes in 3 or 4 main categories such as Donate/Recycle/ Sell, Keep, Unsure (depending on yourself), and Trash.
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2 COMPILE A LIST
Walk around your home and see, then compile a list of things in your bedroom, hall , kitchen, living room, bathroom or drawing room of visible items that you do not use or need anymore. Once you have made your list, look through it over and make a conscious decision. Then start with a specific area to declutter. If you try to declutter the entire house in a few days, you might become overwhelmed and quit.
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3
IDENTIFY & BE RUTHLESS aving identified the items you H can let go, the next question is what to do with it. If you find yourself saying “But I might use it one day”, then ask yourself why you haven’t used it already! Be ruthless in your decisions. You may be able to reuse some of your items, although be careful not to start making convenient excuses to keep things so make sure you really put them into use aftwards, but ultimately clearing out is still the better option.
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4
START SMALL
If you find motivation hard to come by, start small and work up, it will make a difference. When you can start telling yourself “Be ruthless�, you are really getting hang to decluttering. If you have not used something for the past one year, the question arised: Do you really need it?
Reduce it to six months if you can. Recycle items that others could use and remember worthy causes and charities could be crying out for that something you have not used in years and unlikely to be ever used again.
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5 COME BACK LATER You could swap, auction or sell, or donate, or leave them to a family member or friend. If you are undecided or struggling to let go of a particular item, leave it for now and move on to other things; you can always come back to it again once you have cleared out other stuff that you know you can let go of. It is important to do this or the ball could stop rolling.
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6
START
BIG tart with the big stuff. Removing S oversized clutter like old furniture, broken appliances, and empty cardboard boxes will make the biggest impact for your space, even if you never get around to the smaller stuff.
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BE HONEST ost of what we hoard are useless M or worthless items that clog our living room, shelves, cupboards and drawers. Shoes you have not worn in years, clothing, little bags of paperclips and elastic bands and other random things collecting dust or taking up space. Trophies for “Runner-up at so and so competition” ten years ago – you may enjoy reminiscing, yet is it really necessary to keep them all?
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VCDs and DVDs you have watched many times or would not watch again, records and tapes you cannot play anymore because you only have a DVD player now. Pans, pots, cups and plates that you won or received as a present years ago; Boxes with stuff in them, boxes without stuff in them, boxes with boxes in them, the list is endless.
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FIND THEM A ‘HOME’ Once your boxes are full, bag up the trash into a disposable bag and dispose immediately. Do not give anyone a chance to sift through your stuff and remove old items that you need to throw! Bag up the items you want to donate or recycle, put them at a corner where you can easily see so that you will remember to donate them the next time you go out. For those items that you are keeping and waiting to be ‘re-evaluate’, put the boxes aside and replace them with new empty boxes, and make sure that each item you keep has a home and that you put it in its home.
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REPLACE IF NEEDED When you are decluttering your home, you need to stop buying new items to your space. First, put your mind to sort through what is there, and then later replace it with something new IF needed. Getting rid of something, does not mean replacing it to add to the clutter. Buy only what you absolutely need, as opposed to something nice you see in a window display. Resolve to only buy what your home needs, like new lamps, new plates or cutleries, new area rugs to replace tattered ones and so on.
“Getting rid of something, does not mean replacing it to add to the clutter; buy only what you absolutely need.” — Anonymous
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MANAGING YOUR CLOTHES If your cupboard is creaking at the hinges due to overloading of clothes, remove it all and start the sorting process. You can begin with putting away outfits you do not wear oftenly. Winter clothes, if any, can go into suitcases or boxes in the closet, and raincoats and jackets you do not wear anymore, either put them away or donate. Dresses, suits and formal wear, to be placed in neat rows on hangers. Folding neatly, separate your home wear from outdoor wear, in separate and neat piles of tees and pants. That way you know where and what your clothes is, without having to look through all piles at once to find something in particular. Put your socks, undergarments and ties drawers or any side/small cabinets, to avoid extra mess in your cupboard. TRY not to buy any new clothes unless you have sorted out the current ones you already have. If you haven’t worn something over a year or so, give it away. Once you have seperated your clothes into where they belongs, and what has to go, you will see a neat and clutter free bedroom cupboard.
Declutter
by panna chee
Less & More
by dieter rams
GOOD DESIGN IS …
LESS & MORE WAYS OF DECLUTTERING In this section, I will like to take short dip into how principles of design theory can be correlated with the processes of decluttering and perhaps improve the method along the way on how we go about decluttering.
“Less is more”, a phrase from the 1855 poem Andrea del Sarto (the faultless painter) by Robert Browning, has been adopted by designers and engineers as their ethos/motto and design theory in a way to describe their approach towards their respective fields.
Perhaps the most relevant ethos in relation to decluttering, will be famous German Industrial Designer, Dieter Rams’s design ethos, “Less and More” elucidates his design philosophy of “Less but better”. Coining the philosophy, Rams is known for his simple designs that take the superfluous out and leave only the necessary in. In his design ethos, “Less and More”, explains his design philosophy, “Less but better” with 10 principles to Good Design. Created more than twenty years ago, the principles are sometimes referred to as “the ten commandments,” and they are just as relevant today …
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GOOD DESIGN IS INNOVATIVE ams states that possibilities for R innovation in design are unlikely to be exhausted since technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. He also highlights that innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology and can never be an end in and of itself.
During decluttering, understanding the fundamental concept, which you seperate your stuff into 3 different categories of boxes during the initial stage of decluttering.
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You can be innovative, as you can actually have more than 3 or 4 boxes of different categories (instead of Trash, Keep & Donate or Recycle) to seperate out your stuffs if they ever make your life easier in sorting out and rearranging them thereafter.
GOOD DESIGN MAKES A PRODUCT USEFUL A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
During decluttering, but, instead of throwing, donating or recycling a certain item, if it is still in a good and usable condition, you can actually remake or reinvent it; by combining 2 or more totally different items together that
you thought you might not have any use for ever again, you can create a whole new different object while putting a function back into the object that you just created, thus giving it a new life and purpose to serve you again.
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GOOD DESIGN IS AESTHETIC
nly well-executed objects O can be beautiful. The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products used every day affect on people and their well-being.
Reflecting on the ideal environment after decluttering, what is in front of your eyes is free up space and a cleaner living environment. This can have an instant impact on your health, meaning less dust and more space to breath.
Being organized lessens unnecessary stress and allows you to feel calm rather than rushing around or getting flustered trying to locate something you have misplaced, moreover it enables you to be more productive.
When your house is tidy, you are to locate your things easily and know where they are when you need them.
Declutter helps to get yourself and your stuffs to be clean and organized while creating your dream home.
Everything you have now will just to look beautiful again and you are able to appreciate the essential items in your house more after decluttering.
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GOOD DESIGN MAKES A PRODUCT UNDERSTANDABLE It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
During decluttering, but in this scenario, is all about understanding yourself and the stuffs you have when you are decluttering: Having identified the items you can let go, the next question is what to do with it. If you find yourself saying “But I might use it one day”, then ask yourself why you haven’t used it already, thus know what you really need, what you MIGHT need and what you don’t need.
Sometimes you may be able to reuse some of the items, but be careful not to start making convenient excuses to keep things so make sure it is put into use, but ultimately thowing it away is still better option when you start having second or third about the item. Recycle, donate, sell items that others could use. Hence understand yourself and your needs and being ruthless in your decision are the key aspects in this principle.
GOOD DESIGN IS UNOBTRUSIVE Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools and are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
During decluttering, removing large clutter like old furniture and spoilt appliances will help to create much needed space immediately as large objects are usually the ones that are obtrusive. Once you have the trash bag filled up, dispose them immediately.
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At the same time do not leave bags of items that are intended to be donated or recycled lying around for too long, bring them out the next time you step out of your house. After which, what you are left with are items that serve a purpose, then make sure each item you keep has a ‘home’ that you can store at.
GOOD DESIGN IS HONEST
Honest design should not attempt to make a product seem more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It should not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
During decluttering and re-enforce the principal of understanding your product, which in this case understanding yourself first. The fact being that most of what we hoard are useless and worthless and clog our living spaces, for example clothes and shoes that you have not worn in years,
VCDs and DVDs that you have watched countless times, tapes that you cannot play anymore, items that have been collecting dust, boxes of stuff within boxes, the list is endless. Hence while you are decluttering, answer these questions to yourself honestly: “Do I really need them? Will I use them anymore?� Answer truthfully, do the right thing, throwing will be a better option if there is a moment of hesitation.
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GOOD DESIGN IS LONGLASTING
It should avoid being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even when the trend may be in favor for disposable products. It should be reminded one should cultivate the habit to declutter regularly and thus efficiently - using the minimal amount of time to declutter your space. Declutter is a lifetime
thing, it is a habit that should stick with you forever if not for a very long time, so that you can constantly have a clean and clear environment to live and work in.
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GOOD DESIGN IS THOROUGH, DOWN TO THE LAST DETAIL Dieter Rams states that nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance in the design of a product since care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer. During decluttering, think thoroughly what you want to achieve at the end of decluttering and what the main items that you need to throw and those you want to keep. At the same time
identify which area of your house will want to start with first, as if you chose a area that is way messy than the other, you might just lose all your motivation after cleaning that one area.
GOOD DESIGN IS ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY
Good design should make an important contribution to the preservation of the environment by conserving resources and minimizing physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product. 27
During decluttering, in which one should be conserving resources and minimizing pollution. Hence while decluttering, you should not buy any more items to add on to your pile of junks when you are not really sure what you really need or want while you are in the midst of decluttering.
RESIST to any temptation to buy any new clothes unless you have sorted out the current ones you already have. When you are decluttering, buying stuffs that you don’t really need and wear afterwards, will just add to the pile of rubbish you are ‘contributing’ to the environment later on.
GOOD DESIGN IS AS LITTLE DESIGN AS POSSIBLE Dieter Rams makes the distinction between the common “Less is more” and his strongly advised “Less but better”, highlighting the fact that this approach focuses on the essential aspects thus, the products are not burdened with non-essentials. The desirable result would then be purer and simpler. Thus say: “Back to purity, back to simplicity.” Summing up the whole concept of ‘ideal’ decluttering. After decluttering, what you are left with will be the essentials and free from being burdened by the non-essentials, which is what declutter is all about. A
decluttered home can be very inspirational and enables you to appreciate the essential items in your house more, at the same time you just feel lighter and might be inspired to decorate your home.
By decluttering, which is to take away the non-essentials items you possessed that are not making your life richer or enhance your life on a regular basis, you are able to feel a tremendous weight is being taken off your shoulders and mind, and at the same time simplifying your space to enjoy life more. Thus said, a clear mind is a problem free
mind. Free space equals to free mind. Relaxation is much easier in a clean, neat, tidy, uncluttered space. Ultimately, a uncluttered space gives a calm mind, a calm mind allows fresh, vibrant and new thoughts and ideas, and usually it happens when you are in relaxation, and surely not many of us will disagree with it… 28
Less & More 10 Principles To Good Design by dieter rams