It seems as if all the choices in our lives are individual, and yet the majority of products that surround us are standardised. This is actually not a bad thing, as a multitude of collective agreements ensure that nuts fit bolts, dishwashers fit kitchens and digital tunes can be despatched to the other side of the planet. Many such advantages have inspired famous designers such as Dieter Rams and Piet Zwart, as well as manufacturers including Braun and Thonet, and schools such as Bauhaus, to devote their efforts to standardisation, applying it to design beautiful, good and inexpensive products. Norm = Form sheds light on the sometimes hidden agendas that are employed to implement product normalisation and standardisation. Communist administrators, uncompromising feminists and conventional housewives embrace notions of standardisation in order to fulfil their social ideals. Now that efficiency has become natural, the uniformity and limitations of rationality also receive criticism from artists and designers such as Joep van Lieshout and David Cerny. Ultimately, Norm = Form examines what the standardisation of products means in today's world. This book deals with a wide spectrum of historical and contemporary subjects: the standardisation of tools, the food processing industry as an example, the development of ready-made clothing and the sizing system, Taylorism in the American household, the inception of professional ergonomics, the introduction of colour systems, the standardisation of sound and vision carriers, and the acceptance of an array of 'classics', from pens to boats and cars to watches. ILLUSTRATIONS 180 colour illustrations
