2: Design and Meaning
The "meaning" of a product is its reason for existing in the eyes of the customer: it is the reason they feel that they need it, and the purpose the expect it to serve. The product is merely a vehicle through which its purpose is fulfilled. The meaning of a product is not as simple or straightforward as its functional benefits" people buy products for cultural and emotional reasons as well - and sometimes these non-functional benefits are more important than the functional ones.
The quest for personal fulfillment is a natural quality of the human being. We are not utilitarian, but are in a constant search for meaning, to know who we are and to become what we wish to be influence our actions, including our consumptive activities. We define ourselves by what we own and what we consume as well as by what we do - the choices we make in owning and consuming correlate to our understanding of ourselves.
Not many companies seem to consider the meaning of their products, nor take meaning into account when they seek to innovate. Some consider them superficially, believing that meaning is something that is grafted onto a product rather than designed into it. A few companies, particularly luxury brands, seem to better understand the way in which a product's design establishes its meaning to the customer, causing the customer to be attracted to (or repelled from) it.
While design has become a popular topic in management literature, much of this literature seems to have been written by those who do not know what that term means. Most often, design is used to mean engineering - making a product that is "designed" to maximize its capabilities, features, and efficiency regardless of whether any of those qualities has anything to do with the reason the customer is interested in the product.
Design: A Kaleidoscope of Perspectives
The definition of design is "fluid and slippery." Essentially, design is the practice of crafting something that serves a specific purpose - but there's a great deal of debate over what purpose it should serve. Some seek to design a product to suit the needs of the manufacturer and seller (it is cheap to make, easy to transport, etc.), others seek to design a product to suit technical or aesthetic agendas (it's the most advanced or most beautiful item), others seek to design the product to perform its task well, and so on. So the assessment of whether something is well-designed varies according to what the assessor considers to be important.
One example is the struggle between a product that is stylish and one that is effective. To be stylish sometimes requires the form of a product to be changed in a way that makes it difficult to operate, or vice versa. The phrase "form follows function" suggests that the purpose of a thing determines its shape, but we see many products whose function is compromised in some way to create a visually pleasing form.
There can be no universal answer, as customers (who ultimately decide whether a product is purchased and used) have varying tastes - some demand a cheap and ugly product that gets the job done, others prefer a very stylish product whose functional benefits are compromised or nullified by the aesthetics. These variances in tastes and needs mean that a single product design will not satisfy all users, which in turn leads to segmentation in the marketplace, such that different brands can provide different qualities (or degrees of the same quality) to different market segments.
Another stab at a definition: design is what makes things attractive. But again, there is the problem of diversity: different people have different ideas about what is attractive: a beautiful form may be attractive to some, but others recognize that aesthetics are only skin-deep and they are attracted to qualities other than visual appeal.
The Meaning of Products
The author returns to his vague concept of meaning: the emotional and symbolic portent of an item. It can easily be seen in fashion: when a person decides how to dress, they consider the meaning of the clothing they wear. A man wears a suit because it is a symbol of his position and status, he may refuse to wear a pink shirt because he feels it detracts from his masculinity, he may choose a "power" tie because it makes him feel more confident, and so on. Each item in his wardrobe is selected because of its meaning, not merely its function.
While clothing seems an easy target (it's a social convention to wear it at all, and except in harsh climates there is little functional value to consider), consumers in the present age have a myriad of choices for anything they purchase, and what causes them to choose one product/brand over another usually comes down to the meaning that product conveys. Even when there are utilitarian concerns, there are generally multiple products that meet them.
This is not reserved to high-end fashion merchandise, nor is it a product of the modern age. Throughout history, cultures have defined themselves by their consumption. It is appropriate for a member of a given religion or tribe to eat certain things and avoid eating others - a person takes it upon themselves (and may be pressured by others) to modify his diet to align with the culture and, in some instances, to demonstrate that he is not a part of another group, which consumes different things.
Even on the level of a person, there are consumption behaviors that specify their identity. A person generally seeks to behave (and consume) in ways that is appropriate to their gender, their social status, their role, and other factors. And in other instances, a person seeks to behave (and consume) in ways that are appropriate to the person he wishes to be (middle-class people mimic the culture of wealthy ones).
As human beings, we are constantly seeking to answer the question of "who am I?" to ourselves, and to communicate "who I am" to other people. Searching for and expressing our meaning is part of our nature that influences every choice we make and everything we do, which includes our consumptive behaviors.
Product Languages
A product communicate its meaning through its physical attributes. The sensory perception of an object communicates certain qualities - an object seems important or valuable because of its weight, a vehicle seems powerful because of the way it sounds, and so on. The way a product moves when it operates can also communicate meaning - the way that a CD drive opens may give the impression of quality or cheapness. And there are peripheral elements - the way that the name sounds when spoken, the environment of a branded store, the packaging in which an object is sold, a high price creates an impression of quality, and so on - that also contribute to the meaning of a product.
The difference between a cheap product and a luxury one that sells at ten times the price is often attributable to the way in which the product communicates to the consumer. The utilitarian aspects of the products may be virtually identical, but the major difference is in the meaning that is conveyed to the person who uses it. It is also these non-utilitarian qualities that causes a customer to become loyal to one brand over others that provide essentially the same product.
Ultimately, the meaning of a product exists in the mind of its user. The maker may wish to create a specific meaning and design a product to communicate supportively, but the meaning is created when the user interacts with the product. The meaning of a product can also change significantly over time even though the product itself remains unchanged: a product that is considered fashionable by one generation may be considered highly unfashionable by the next - it is the association of the product to a given "kind" of customer that contributes to the meaning it has for others.
The firm may have a sense of the reason people ought to want its products, but this may be different to the reason people actually do want them. The company that seeks to control the mind of the market usually finds its advertising dollars spent in vain - trying to prop up a perception of a product that the market does not share and will not accept.