A Sensual Delight…

… people’s response to their aesthetic (look & feel) preference.  It is through our senses that we come to know the world, literally from the day we are born.  They inform us as to who we are.  As we grow older, we begin to take control of who we are,… defining our personality through the look & feel of ourselves and our surroundings.  When I was a small child I loved the colors red and orange.  I don’t know why, I just did.  Maybe it was because they had a way of grabbing people’s attention (once a ham, always a ham).  As I grew older, orange lost its luster for me; red on the other hand, remained a favorite.  And a new color emerged – black.  Suddenly everything black was cool, and it went well with my gray beard.  The point is, it’s what I liked,… and what I like may be at total odds with what you like.  There are no rights or wrongs when it comes to ‘like’; you may not even be able to describe why you like something, you just do.  It’s your signature, your style, and uniquely you.

In a commercial enterprise, the role of a designer is to anticipate what people will like.  As I mentioned above, there is no universal design aesthetic, not one definition of style.  One industrial designer wrote, “good design is not about the perfect thing anymore, but helping a lot of different people build their own personal identities.”  The design ideology of a modernist was often grounded in efficiency, rationality and truth.  But if you want to sell a bunch of stuff in today’s marketplace, these three now need to take a back seat to freedom, beauty and pleasure,… as defined by the buyer.  When the Audi TT was first introduced, I knew I had to have it.  My decision was not driven by logic or analysis; my decision was driven completely by emotion.  Like most people, cost and quality are important to me, but in this case were trumped by my immediate perception of individual delight.  Not everyone agreed with me, some thought it was rather strange looking,… but like it or not I bought it, and it now is part of what defines who I am to the world.

From a design perspective, what makes for a powerful aesthetic is one in which the user has the final say as to its fit to them.  This is easier in consumer goods,… as there are generally a good number of options, and one can mix and match with other items to achieve a particular look or objective.  To see how some have ingeniously repurposed IKEA components to their taste, check out www.ikeahacker.blogspot.com. It is more difficult with industrial goods, especially when someone else is making the decision for you.  This is what you have in office environments where a Facility Manager or Purchasing Manager selects a product to be installed throughout a company.  Since pleasure is personal, and in the eye of the user, how can they possibly make everyone happy.  The answer is to design a ‘platform for personalization’… one that encourages the user to become part of the final look and arrangement of their work space.  Mobility for sure, but also components of a lighter scale together with a simple means to change pieces in and out.  No installation manuals, no special tools,… just an easy and intuitive way to make it mine.  We have the answer in toy form – it’s LEGO, where you can make thousands of designs from a few simple shapes.  In the end, if you are trying to arouse my senses (and have me work smarter in the process), then give me a way to express my individual style.  Black or Red…?