Form Versus Function: A Debate As Old As Time.
Behavioural psychology’s role in the design process.
Article for Design Culture and Theory, BDES 1201. Week 5: February 11th, 2021. Total word count: 556
The debate of form versus function is one the design community has been battling since the conception of the field. Jonathan Woodham’s third chapter in his novel, “Twentieth Century Design” ponders the possibilities available to us as designers when we have an understanding of consumer psychology and the role that emotions play in the design process. Woodham specifically focuses on the changes that this understanding brought to industrial design, and how our role as designers has changed over time. Following a similar viewpoint, Donald Norman’s article “Emotional Design” highlights and elaborates on the belief that “the emotional side of design may be more critical to a product’s success than its practical elements” (Norman 5).
In each reading, the authors come to the conclusion that in the design process, an understanding of how a product or object will make the consumer feel is key to its success both for monetary gain and the advancement of society technically. These readings differ in the application of this notion, where Woodham focuses on the evolution of emotionally charged industrial design and Norman debates the idea of usability versus aesthetics.
Because businesses tend to let logic make all the decisions, the emotional needs of consumers have been drastically overlooked in a majority of industries in the past. It wasn’t until the 1920s that the United States began to understand the power that products that excited the public had for mass consumption. Coinciding with this period, consumers began to expect a higher level of material expectation of manufacturers, designers and advertisers alike.
This idea of consumer-focused design in the 1920s is modelled perfectly in the example of the automobile industry. The introduction of annual model changes and updates, and the increasing choice of colour and exterior features made this industry one of the firsts to crack the code for recurring sales. With a better understanding of behavioural psychology, American designers and manufacturers began to implement planned obsolescence into business strategy. Woodham explains that “such an outlook was a significant factor in the recovery of the American industrial economy” (Woodham 37).
These principles are still clearly evident in our current society. Across a large variety of industries, products have been charged with specific emotions to draw the consumer in, then planned obsolescence is built into each product to ensure a continued purchase of the product. These principles are perfectly modelled in Apple's business strategy. The sleek, modern products elicit a feeling of wealth and fulfilment in the consumer, then like clockwork, a new line of products with minute changes are released every September. The perfect strategy for high-paying, recurring customers.
Although both Norman and Woodham’s writings focus on how emotionally charged designs have become the standard in our society, they differ in how they believe this will be revolutionary in the world of design. As outlined above, Woodham believes that the understanding of behavioural psychology was drastically important for economic growth in industrial design, focusing on the industries themselves rather than consumers. On the latter, Norman dissects the scientific reasons behind why consumers place their feelings regarding a product over the usability and function of the product.
Do you as a consumer consider your feelings regarding a product before its functional attributes? Do you recognize when you have fallen victim to planned obsolescence and is this something that is avoidable in our capitalistic society?