First Memory of Design

       There is a whole box of LEGOs on the very top of my shelf which has been covered with dust for some years. I already forgot when the last time I played with them was. Looking back over my childhood, I remember myself spending pretty much every afternoon and weekend playing with LEGOs just to create things like aircrafts, cars and robots. I still remember how much I enjoyed constructing things using these colorful tiny LEGO pieces and how much I was impacted by them as objects that allowed me in my early years to be creative and to experience what design truly is. 

       LEGO is a popular line of little construction toys, little plastic bricks of various shapes and colors with joints on them allowing one to freely connect them in many ways to construct various things. Different from any other toy, I never got bored with LEGOs. Unlike other toys, there are no certain instructions regarding “how to play” or “what to make”, it is all about creativity and how to apply the different shapes to the design in one’s mind.     

       It allowed me to experience what design is. For instance, I remember myself making aircrafts many times, but every time when I made a different one, rather than sticking to the previous idea, I would always add some new ideas making it in the way that I thought was better. I believe the attempt to improve things in their appearance, function and even style according to one’s delight is the way design is. I believe LEGOs are my first memory of the impact of design in my early life.     


image from: flickr.com