contemporary craft & consumer attitudes: a literature review

MethodsinDesignR&P GRAP2225,Sem12010,LiamFennessy SophieBains3195033

CONTEMPORARY CRAFT & CONSUMER ATTITUDES

A Literature Review

By Sophie Bain

The nature of the themes discussed in this literature review support contemporary

attitudes towards mass consumption from varying viewpoints, allowing

supporting and opposing arguments on the correct path of action to correct

these attitudes. These will include the role of the user in determining the end use

of designed objects; reappropriation & open ended design, the control aesthetics

has over consumer choices & behaviours, nostalgia & the commodity, the effect of

normalization on eco design and inappropriate growth directions in some

consumer cultures.

One of the most recognised researchers in the field of user centred design is Don

Norman, his book “The Design of Everyday Things” is a common starting point for

students of industrial design and engineering. Norman draws on his extensive

academic career in cognitive science and experience with his design consultation

company, Nielsen Norman Group, to give a comprehensive analysis of the user

influence in design throughout history and its importance for the future of the

industry.

Norman believes aesthetics must be second to usability. The dilemma he presents

is that if design is ruled only by aesthetics it will be beautiful but unusable; causing

further wasted resources on modifications. However, if it is ruled by usability it is

likely to be functional to the defined user yet unattractive, raising the issue of the

importance of aesthetics in an emotional and social narrative.

An example of these mixed motivations can be seen in the industry recognition

and presentation of aesthetically concerned design awards recognising attractive

yet flawed designs offering no social, environmental or economic benefit. During

his travels to such museums and art galleries around the world, Norman found

that usability was second also in their displays. While they looked spectacular, the

exhibits were hard to understand and were therefore overlooking the purpose of

the facilities. When confronted with this, the designers responded the records of

high visitor rates and wondered why Norman was imagining problems that were

irrelevant or non-existent.

While he mostly refers to user centred design, Norman also touches on user input

in the design process. During the redesign of two administration offices in Seattle,

architect Sam Sloan proposed one building be designed under the suggestion of

the workers, the other be designed by a professional team. Don Norman describes


the results of this project as an example the lack of industry recognition of

successful user centred design. The effectiveness of the office designed partly by

the workers increased productivity by 7% the following year, while the

professionally designed office stayed at the same level of productivity, yet

attained several awards from the American Institute of Architects. The idea of

leaving room in professional design practice for the user to develop the outcome

by way of intuitive interaction and re-appropriation, relates to the concept of

open ended design discussed by Rob Trostle in his article The Power of Leaving

Things Half Done.

Steven Heller, author and graphic designer, invited Rob Trostle to give his

experience with the world of professional design in his 2008 release Design

Disasters: Great Designers, Fabulous Failures and Lessons Learned. Trostle

identifies the stage of the design process which occurs after the product has

entered the market and concerns itself with tweaking, adjusting and re-releasing

until the product is ‘perfect’. He questions the value of this phase as its aim is to

reach a point where the product can not possibly be improved, this is of course

impossible. If this stage is replaced with consumer/user re-appropriation, the

design will continue to develop in an organic manor resulting in a ‘perfect’ design

for that individual. This in turn will remove pressure on industry to release models

with slight improvements and adjust the consumer driven attitude toward

commodities.

This theory is also discussed by Hal Foster, scholar and art historian whose articles

occasionally featured in October Magazine. In the 2001 edition, Fosters’ article The

ABCs of Contemporary Design refers to the phenomenon as ‘running room’, where

the design allows room for the user to freely interact with the object. Providing

this freedom in the end use of a product can allow organic product development

determined by the user rather than research and development departments, often

resulting in more well received products enjoying a longer use life.

In this way, Foster reminds us of the Bauhaus mentality and that it is possible to

direct your lifestyle to be governed by the motto ‘Art as life and Life as art’. This

as an approach from the user, whether it is subconscious or premeditated, that

draws the commodities surrounding them into this lifestyle mix, ensuring they live

through material objects that reflect themselves.

Pauline Madge provides a new take on the final stage of the design process –

normalization. Normalization is the final stage, if there can be, of the design

process where the consumer or user becomes so accustomed to the products

presence that it is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. For example, by following

the design developments and consumer attitudes towards the domestic freezer,

Elizabeth Shove & Dale Southerton map the normalization, or journey from luxury

to necessity, using marketing examples. These examples demonstrate the

motivation of the consumer to first own a freezer. They then move to suggest an


upgrade to a slightly more stylish freezer with all the features, and finally the

advertisements assume the consumer will expect the freezer to come as part of

their fridge. The notion carried by designers (and often engineers or marketers

that find themselves in a similar position) that a new model must be released to

combat a design flaw, drives these consumer attitudes. Through her investigation

of the term ‘eco-design’, Madge describes this productive drive of design in

relation (and contradiction) to ecological thought. Ecology in the design realm

denotes the interaction between manmade objects and social existence.

An all too frequent approach to innovation is to make slight or relevant

improvements to existing designs, creating a domestic material culture, another

branch of consumerism. This is of course not true innovation as by definition

innovation is the implementation of ‘the new’. Pauline Madge suggests we should

oppose such attitudes and reverse normalization; to turn the necessities back into

luxuries. Given the above example, it is fair to think this may be a point we have

moved beyond. However there are other consumer attitudes that can be played

upon to direct future design trends.

Anthropologist and advisor to the Greek Minister of Public Health, Nadia

Seremetakis talks about the role of nostalgia in design development and

purchasing power. Seremetakis explains how nostalgia is cultural defence against

modernism, which she interprets as ‘global sameness’. The introduction of new

senses brought to us by modernity creates a sensuous longing for past

experiences. Nostalgia is to remember a past experience that only grows stronger

and fonder with time - nothing tastes as good as the past. Younger generations

hear these fond stories of the older ones around them and remember the

emotional descriptions of objects seemed lost forever, creating a mystic and a

desire to have it return, assuming it brings the memories with it. Both Pauline

Madge and Nadia Seremetakis see that the productive drive of design is to blame

for the loss of many nostalgic artefacts; these may be as simple as a type of fruit

forcefully evolved into a ‘better’ tasting flavour and texture, the original seed

pushed beyond return leaving older generations craving the simple enjoyment

modernity has robbed them of. The more we design to improve motivated by

social development, the further we get from the original luxury and the stronger

the nostalgia. We then have a desire to go backwards in each individual and of a

localised cultural influence or direction. Nostalgia is perhaps the proof that most

design ‘improvements’ are unnecessary to the consumer and only provide

opportunity for economic development for production.

While economic growth is very often the force behind design for consumption, it

does not suit all countries to invest in this direction. Former director of India’s

National Institute of Design (NID), Ashoke Chatterjee, explains how this

phenomenon can be best witnessed in India. Independent India has some of the

most technologically advanced design, manufacture and research organisations in

the world; however the majority of its residents live in poverty. The country is


divided by two directions, self-reliant systems of design (traditional crafts)

promoted by Gandhi, and technological and scientific socialism as the ‘the way

forward’.

In 1921 Gandhi introduced the Swadeshi policy, a boycott of British made textiles.

This focused on home production of looms and textiles and is now globally

recognised as India’s biggest achievement in contemporary design and the

backbone of the culture and economy. The two directions appeared after India

declared independence in 1947. The developed world’s focus on technological

advancement influenced the initial path, while the suggestions of design team

Charles and ray Eames, invited by the government, resulted in the founding of NID

in 1961. NID was the first institution in a developing country to recognise the

design principles of the Bauhaus movement, in this case a blend of localised craft

and technology. However, the technological effort continues at great cost to the

country’s growth. It would seem that these observations prove the worth of the

nostalgic values of traditional manufacture outlined by Nadia Seremetakis and the

approach to ecological design and reversed attitudes to normalization suggested

by Pauline Madge.

The research undertaken for this literature review is an introduction to the level of

awareness surrounding our consumption habits. The broad selection of authors,

not always with a design background, gives an indication of the scale of impact a

change in approach toward design process would have on the way we consume.

contemporary craft & consumer attitudes: a literature review

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