Functionality: the key to good design

Knud V. Engelhardt was one of the very first industrial designers in Denmark. He was of the opinion that it is the duty of the public authorities to create good design for the benefit of the multitude. A case in point is the 1910 Copenhagen public transport tram. Here, Engelhardt was in charge of everything from draft design and industrial manufacturing to the interior and exterior design of the trams.

Urban design
Advertising pillars are another example of urban design. Their mushroom shape protects them from wind and weather. And their roundness at the bottom keeps dogs from lifting their legs on them. The advertising pillar is simple and functional while at the same time rotund and inviting. This combination of tight functionality and soft humanism is characteristic of Scandinavian Modern, the style that Denmark would later become so famous for.

Today, urban design is an independent discipline. Designs for urban spaces are created at architects' offices all over the world to provide coherence between urban expression and function. Lamp posts, benches, promenades and buildings are all capable of tying urban districts together. For a city is not just a city either. A city only lives if people use it. And people will only use cities if they  work and are a pleasant place to be in. Think about that next time you go for a walk in your city.

Engelhardt's graphic talent
Knud V. Engelhardt was a 'multi-designer', but he made a name for himself in the graphic industry. Engelhardt designed typefaces and his graphic design still inspires young designers today. The graphic artists at the Danish bureau Spild af Tid (Waste of Time), experts in mixing genres like graffiti, free-hand drawing, collage and classical graphic elements, are inspired by old type masters like Engelhardt, Achton Friis and Biilmann Petersen.

Charlotte Jul is design writer and editor at KUNSTUFF, a Danish handicraft and design magazine.