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Design in the zoological world

Perhaps quite an unconventional tangent of design that not a lot of people consider – zoological design – design in the world of animals and their keeping/handling. This is obviously a topic which impacts a lot of people around the world, the incidence of people owning pets is pretty high. What most of those people don’t take into account, however, is the heavy effect of design on the field.

Now as someone who keeps several aquariums as a hobby, my education in design is one that has heavily impacted on how I keep my tanks – what I put in them, what colours I use, what arrangement they get – right down to even what breeds I put in the tanks. Put simply, if it doesn’t look good it does not go in. Why spend ridiculous amounts of money for something which doesn’t at least appease the senses it was meant to as justification for its purchase? Not the most sensible of things.

That being said, one aspect of it is the actual enclosure. Sure, it has to play second fiddle to the animals realistically (lest you’d be looking at an empty cage all day, wouldn’t you?), but that’s not to say that what houses them can’t look remarkable or pretty. I’ve gone to absolute pains to try and appease this aspect… I’ve looked at more places than I care to think simply so I can get that “one perfect setup” that makes everyone’s jaw drop and their eyes light up with excitement. Really, it’s like any design – if it has the basic function it intends to serve down, there must be room for making it easy on the senses to convey its message.

Not only will this make the inhabitants happy to be housed in something that is decent, but it’ll make everyone else happy because it looks hella cool. It’s nice to be able to wow everyone with your skills. That’s why I’m planning on going the fully customised route for the marine fishtank I mentioned – so I can set it up to do its job and look really cool at the same time.

When you get down to it, design can be applied to literally every aspect of life. The basic principles follow into everyday life, and really help to overcome the majority of problems anyone can face. It’s just a matter of trying it out.