{"id":1490629,"date":"2026-06-02T10:23:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T08:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/?post_type=videos&p=1490629"},"modified":"2026-06-02T10:23:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T08:23:56","slug":"what-is-good-design-how-culture-shapes-everyday-objects","status":"publish","type":"videos","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/videos\/what-is-good-design-how-culture-shapes-everyday-objects\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Good Design? How Culture Shapes Everyday Objects"},"featured_media":1490633,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":{"highlight_sharing":"default","image_sharing":"default","headline_sharing":"default"}},"schools":[],"areas":[545],"subjects":[414],"class_list":["post-1490629","videos","type-videos","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","areas-design","subjects-design-and-architecture"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-video-media":["https:\/\/youtu.be\/OSPt78xgL_g"],"wpcf-video-description":["What makes design \u201cgood\u201d? Is it function, beauty, or something deeper? Designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello and David Goodman explore how design is shaped by culture, context, and human behavior. From chairs and smartphones to craft and global production systems, they challenge the idea that design is neutral or universal.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights."],"wpcf-video-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-video-extract":["What makes design \u201cgood\u201d? Is it function, beauty, or something deeper? Designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello and David Goodman explore how design is shaped by culture, context, and human behavior."],"wpcf-insights-transcription":["

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nFunctionality is also cultural. You could design a chair, for example, that's a bit too high. Or you can design a chair that's a bit too low in the sense that in some parts of Nigeria, people like to sit lower to the ground for spiritual reasons, and then just because that's how they grew up. But in the West, for example, there's a 46cm ergonomic check-in when it comes to chairs and they feel like that's the world's standard.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nThanks for being here today.<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nThanks for having me.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nI'd like to talk to you about the world of objects that surrounds us. And your work revolves around meaning and storytelling. I wonder if you could talk to us a bit about the relationship of objects and narrative.<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nI think everything that exists has a narrative. There's a reason for things existing. There's no such thing as just designing an object. There is sculpture that you can just design to look at. But I think objects will always have narratives, and they should. Even industrial objects have narratives. There's a reason why, for example, Braun as a company and Dieter Rams doing simple, clean designs for a German consumer.<\/p>\r\n

There's a reason why your iPhone is clean with the touchscreen because of the technology that exists.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nWhen you're working on meaning, right? You may have a meaning, right, but meaning can be unstable. You bring these objects into the world with a certain agenda or a certain narrative, but then ultimately you can't really control the reception, right?<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nFor me to actually answer this question effectively, I would have to talk to you about how my practice is split up with the commercial side and then an artistic side. And with the commercial side, I designed one of my first products called the LM Stool, and this I designed for it to just be a stool where you would place objects on top of.<\/p>\r\n

I never actually designed it for people to sit on. People would sit on it, use it as book stands, and you can design an object with function in mind, but then people will eventually find another use that maybe you didn't expect. Another good example is even the design of a toothbrush. People use it to brush their teeth, right?<\/p>\r\n

But then people also use it to clean really, really tight corners in their cars. Now, when it comes to the artistic side of things, I create objects to kind of spark a dialogue. And then maybe I think of functionality later.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nSome people don't know how to classify your work as an artist or industrial designer. Well, here, you yourself have just explained that you divide the practice. Are there moments where one nourishes the other?<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nOf course. All the time. I think it's important that they nourish each other. They lean on each other. I use the artistic side as information for commercial work and also inspiration for commercial work.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nNow your work deals with craft.<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nYes.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nAnd craft and meaning. Can you talk to us about how these things overlap, intersect?<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nCraft is extremely important within my own practice and within everyday life because it has economic viability within it. It allows people to create objects that are culture, that have cultural meaning. And there's this word that's been thrown around craft in itself. It's called tradition. I feel like people don't want tradition to be updated, but I think it's important because it's contextual.<\/p>\r\n

So it's contextual to place, time, and people. So how a pot was made in the early 19th century shouldn't be the same way a pot is made today because there's new technology, new materials. So I think that craftspeople have to be as innovative as designers, which is why I also like to kind of bring both worlds together.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nNow, history informs the work, both, as I've learned through your writings, kind of telling the story of the making of the work. So in a sense, a kind of micro-history, right? Telling how things are done, record keeping. But then there are broader histories that I think your work explicitly or implicitly touches on. So talk to me a little bit about history in your work.<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nI think I'm always searching. I have a lot of questions, and one of the main questions I was posing was material and identity and the material in itself being metal. So looking at that from the context of Nigeria, specifically Lagos and Benin, looking at the past, present and future.<\/p>\r\n

So using bronze, for example, as the past, because bronze was something that we were very, very knowledgeable about and still are. There's a huge street in Benin where ninth-generation bronze casters are readily available for the royal family, creating objects and also creating objects for tourists. In that first part of it, working with bronze, I was actually mostly playing a designer\u2019s role, but eventually playing a craftsman's role with all the finishing and some parts of the work that I did.<\/p>\r\n

And then looking at the present was aluminum. So aluminum is very prominent within Lagos, my city, because of overconsumption in the Global North and the fact that these objects and second-hand goods are sent to Nigeria to be recycled or reused, broken down into parts, to be recycled and reused.<\/p>\r\n

And then copper, looking at the future and then talking about the lack of refinement on the continent. So it's a way of record keeping as well. So archiving the work and letting people know what was before and what is now.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nIn your work, for example, you have pieces that confuse or blend chair and lamp, for example. So function also can be unstable in your work, right? Talk to me a little bit about how you deal with function when it can be blurred or maybe misinterpreted.<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nThe way I've done some work in the past is one of me being extremely rebellious. And it's because I went to university in the north of England, and a lot of conversations were always around functionality and designing with the ten principles of design that Dieter Rams shoved into everyone's face, designing objects that were unobtrusive, etc. and it seemed like functionality was at the core of it.<\/p>\r\n

But functionality is also cultural. You could design a chair, for example, that's a bit too high, or you can design a chair that's a bit too low in the sense that in some parts of Nigeria, people like to sit lower to the ground for spiritual reasons, and then just because that's how they grew up. But in the West, for example, there's a 46cm ergonomic check-in when it comes to chairs and they feel like that's the world standard.<\/p>\r\n

I explore with my work by making sure that I'm considerate to the context in which I grew up in. And that's why a good example is why a lot of my objects are multifunctional. I grew up with objects being stools, chairs, lamps, sculptures.<\/p>\r\n

The cornerstone of good design, in my own opinion, is ethnography. Carrying out ethnographic research, understanding cultures, having conversations. So without that, I don't think I would even be able to practice. And that's the fun part for me.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nThe essence of design, you said, is ethnography?<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nYes.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nImagine I'm a great ethnographer and a terrible designer. Can I still make good design?<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nI think you could. I really think you could. I think design is a dialogue. If you pick up your phone and you're intuitive to how it's going to be used, it's because culturally someone has taken their time to understand what the global way of usage is from a technological standpoint.<\/p>\r\n

With Instagram, where we're all just scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, someone has done that research to understand that people get a kick from scrolling and looking through. So if you understand people, you'll be able to create good objects, in my own opinion. And good solutions at least.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nWhat about beauty?<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nGood segue.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nWe got there, but because it's a tricky question. It's a word that makes some people actually uncomfortable, which is strange, but it is a word that makes people nervous. And I wonder, do you care about beauty?<\/p>\r\n

Nifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nBeauty is as important as functionality because beauty plays a huge function. I think beauty draws people in and then allows you to be able to do what it is that you want to do with the objects. If the iPhone was terribly designed, no one would pick it up. We would leave it at home.<\/p>\r\n

David Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nIt's called a Newton, by the way.<\/p>\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nSo yeah. I think beauty is important and has functionality within objects for sure.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nI'm going to ask you to get specific: bad design, because you can learn from bad design. Go back to your student days.\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nYeah, okay.\r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nWe all have things we've done as students that we like more or less. What's the worst thing you did as a student?\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nSo the worst thing I designed as a student, and it was also the best thing I designed, was actually these flat-pack football shoes. And the concept was that each part\u2014it was like a kit of parts\u2014and each part could come off. The lacing system was just right at the bottom, and I'd seen that recently Nike had done something similar and I was like, it was a good idea, but it was terribly executed because in the last days before submission, I made the top out of my hoodie, out of a random American Apparel hoodie, and used the American Apparel thread as the shoelaces.\r\n\r\nIt was a terrible prototype. When I showed it to my professor as well, he was like, \u201cWho would wear this?\u201d But I was like, \u201cYo, this is supposed to be a shoe that costs less than a dollar, and then you'd be able to take off parts and replace them if you ever had to, instead of buying a new pair of shoes.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo it was a good idea, but terribly executed.\r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nSo are there any designed objects in your everyday life, things that we come upon in our life, examples of poor design that you can share with us? Because I think there's a lot to learn there.\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nThe iPhone is one that scares me because it came out as something extremely beautiful, but I think it has this power where it's turned into vanity. You're going through a thing where it's like Instagram, for example, spending so much time on there, having the phone be an extension of who you are in your life, and you've become digitalized without even recognizing it.\r\n\r\nSo I think it's good design but bad evolution. Good design can evolve into something really scary.\r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nThere's an argument made by Hal Foster, and he has a book called Design and Crime<\/em>, and he says that good design is terrible because it ultimately allures us into doing things we don't want or need to do, or getting things we don't need to get, or buying. So he makes the case for bad design in a way.\r\n\r\nOr saying that good design has become a kind of tool for stimulating consumption. How do you feel about that argument?\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nI don't think so. I think I would disagree heavily because I think if something is well designed, it can be passed down from one generation to another with use.\r\n\r\nWe need more good design than five-minute thoughts like fast fashion, for example. If something is well made, like a leather jacket that's well designed, you can give it to your kids and your kids can give it to their kids.\r\n\r\nI think good design is important, and I disagree with that.\r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nIt tells me a lot about the way you work because you overlap well-made and well-designed. In many cases, there's a huge gap between the design of the thing, the conception of the thing, the design of it, and the actual making of it, right?\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nYes.\r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nYou could design something well and then it could be put together terribly.\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nYes.\r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nVery poorly made, right? But I think the fact that it's telling to me that when you talk about good design, you don't separate those things. Is that fair?\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nYeah, it's fair because I think one thing that good design does as well is that it takes into consideration stakeholders within the chain of an actual product.\r\n\r\nSo if you're designing an object, you're not just thinking about the end user. You're thinking about the maker, considering what it is that they can do and can't do. You're also considerate to the distribution. You're considerate to packaging. And then you're also considerate to the user.\r\n\r\nSo good design really and truly should take into account all of those stakeholders involved in creating one object.\r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nIs there one thing or one kind of project you would love to have a shot at designing in your career?\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nYes, but it's too political to say, so I'll pass.\r\n\r\nDavid Goodman:<\/strong>\r\nOkay, well since we've gotten you into hot water, I think we'll leave it there. Thank you so much.\r\n\r\nNifemi Marcus-Bello:<\/strong>\r\nThank you. Thanks for having me."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/videos\/1490629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/videos"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/videos"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1490633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1490629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=1490629"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=1490629"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=1490629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}