Today’s Conventions and societys needs

This week ive been thinking allot about what the needs will be for the future. So once again ive been looking at the past for inspiration and context. Ive just remembered that i covered a similar topic in my dissertation last year!

Today’s Conventions

As I said in my introduction, just as conventions in society cause us to think in certain ways, so do conventions cause us to view design in certain ways. The most heavily used conventions in design today are abstract expressions like “innovative” , “dynamic” , “trendy” and “cool”. These intangible conventions are more often than not perceived as the more tangible forms of colour and materials. The conventions of colour and materials evoke the abstract expressions of “innovative” and “dynamic”.

These expressions of image are nothing new. Many years ago, when electricity first became available to the general public, the conventions at the time portrayed electricity as very expensive and dangerous. This was a serious problem for the fledgling industry before it even got off the ground. What the industry needed to do was to change this perception from expensive and dangerous to that of a modern
source of energy, accessible by all.

At the time, the conventions that would best change the view of electricity where that of technological futurism. The 50’s technological view of a better future promised chrome-plating, streamlined designs and better quality of living for all. These provided a ‘back bone’ for electricity that would change its image to
a modern, and above all progressive, form of power that was ahead of its time.

This basic premise of progressive conventions is still true today, despite the symbolism changing somewhat. I think ‘I-pod’ is a prime example of this. It evokes images of ‘modern’, ‘innovative’ and ‘ahead of its time’. Take a look at one; its surface is smooth and clean, and has little, if any, moving parts. These conventions, which have been used across Apple’s product range in recent years, are also common conventions in science and, more notably, science fiction, to depict a cleaner more efficient future and advanced technologies. Two most notable examples would be a certain black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey or the relentless liquid metal killing machine T1000 in Terminator 2. These conventions in science fiction will be explored in more detail later on.

Science fiction aside, Apple’s design ethos, of late, also evokes an image of cleanliness which is more often a convention found in the bathroom rather than that of an innovative and award winning electronic products. So what is this convention doing in Apple’s design ethos? For that you don’t have look any further than Apples chief designer, Jonathan Ive. He came to Apple from a London design consultancy, that, among other things, produced bathtubs and wash basins. Products that both evoke a common perception of hygiene and cleanliness.

It’s these perceptions that have helped Apple’s designs become so successful, because people experience and interact with those perceptions on a daily basis whenever they go to the bathroom. These conventions are not immediately obvious to us outright, because we are not consciously aware of them. For example; have a look at an i-pod, maybe not the newer ones but certainly the early models. Now, have a look at a traditional bathtub. You will probably find that both have a smooth, white surface, with chrome finishes.

To sum up, conventions essentially shape our perceptions of the world and perceptions are crucial to the design process. The key to a good product in my opinion, is to communicate through conventions and in turn perceptions. More often that not, designs that have inappropriate communication or communicate a negative message never do as well as designs that have effective communication. Have you ever looked at or picked up a product in a shop and it just looks or feels cheap? I think this perception of value has a direct link with material and
communication conventions.

A prime example of this would again be the ‘i-pod’, or should I say the i-pods competition when it was launched on the market. MP3 players had maybe been around a year or so before I-pod came on the scene. Comparatively, i-pod and its competition functioned in much the same way. They both played and held similar amounts of music files. At the time, the current market-leaders in audio players had the edge
as already being established in the public’s mind-eye. Speaking from experience, I would certainly be perfectly happy to pay the extra money for a brand name audio product rather than a lesser known brand.

The ammunition that Apple unleashed to “blow its competition out the proverbial water” was its tried and tested new design ethos, pioneered by Jonathan Ive. Not only did the design of the i-pod evoke a cleaner perception of technology, but it gave a technological product something that it had long sought after but never truly mastered; style.

In years gone by, many electrical and technological retailers marketed products as “must have” items that, “would look great in your home”. Televisions and hi-fi systems would be finished with polished wood surfaces. Personal music players would be pitched with young and “cool” people dancing around with them in fashionable clothes. However Apple’s new ethos on design had made its products truly desirable. They didn’t need wood finishes or young people dancing around with them. They instantly portrayed this purely by the design.

The Apple design ethos dictated that; products no longer have to be finished with a variety of materials to match the furniture or decor because they became part of it! And personal music players no longer had to be marketed by young people in fashionable clothes because its designs became fashionable in their own right.

Because conventions ‘communicate’, we fill our homes and our lives with products that carry messages that communicate who we are. This has become increasingly apparent in recent years as a way to communicate social status via, self-expression, making design a powerful communication method. Conventions are even used in personal appearance. We can communicate what kind of person we are, our taste in music, or the social circles we move in,

“HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED AT OR PICKED UP A PRODUCT IN A SHOW AND IT JUST LOOKS OR FEELS CHEAP?”