Deciphering Design: Exploring Product Aesthetics and Feel
“Design is where science and art break even.” — Robin Mathew, design entrepreneur
Amongst various aspects of any product, the appearance is an extremely crucial one. It needs to be attractive and should respond to cognitive aspects for effective human interaction. In short, the product needs to be appealing, and design plays a very critical role in this regard! The domain of design is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field that borrows applied knowledge from various scientific and technical branches of study, marketing principles, and also draws its inspiration from arts and social sciences.
This article is a small attempt to explore, in simple terms, the process of designing aesthetic and semantic aspects of a product.
Design can be thought of as solving problems creatively by taking conscious decisions. An important point to understand here is that it is a link between the commercial world and the end-user.
What Affects the Product Form?
The first factor is functionality and feasibility. It encompasses some sub-points such as configuration (how is the product configured?), ergonomics (human factors), materials and manufacturing, and the product-cost. Essentially, if a product is not able to address these requirements, it will fail in its design component.
The configuration aspect mainly involves wrapping together constituents like the working principle of a particular product, transfer of forces or energy, and packaging components — basically, that’s how the product needs to be made! On the other hand, ergonomics is a field that is related to human scale. It is focused on product usability, safety, and comfort of the user. Talking about manufacturability, it consists of the manufacturing process, standardization, and product graphics. For example, the 750 ml and 4 L bottles of Castrol engine oil are drastically different in bulk but their cap-sizes are the same. This is because of two reasons, one, for ease of pouring out the oil and, two, for the standardization of the cap-size. Furthermore, a relatively flat surface is required so that the printing and picturization can happen on it, stating the USPs of that product!
Emotive and cognitive aspects form the second factor. It covers aesthetics (appeal, beauty, and sensory aspects — the emotions it generates and inspiration behind it) and product semantics (meaning and message).
Design for the Real World, a book by Victor Papanek (eminent philosopher and design teacher) contains a picture where he has compared two objects. One of them is the painting (the Last Supper) by Leonardo da Vinci, and the other one is the wallboard. According to Papanek, the purpose of both these things is to, essentially, just cover a wall. But, on one side we have an expensive and impressive piece of art, and it has a more aesthetic value than the simple wallboard. Even though the wallboard gives us various options of colors, textures, shapes, and sizes, aesthetically its value is less as compared to the painting. Moreover, the painting also depicts the symbolism from Christian beliefs, and the details in it were changed to address the then-contemporary lifestyle of people. It is the first version of ‘the Last Supper’ artwork that shows people eating their meal on a table and chairs instead of sitting on the ground.
The Art of Expression
Design is also a mode of expression. An example is that of a glass container, called Wave, developed by Alvar Alto in 1936. Such products are significant and can be compared to poetry. The two parts of this container pair and the kind of shadows they create under the light can be linked to the negative and positive spaces. It is considered to be a very modern art made during the 30s.
Nowadays in India, many brands are working with local craftsmen to bring out the latest sensibility in design. Chumbak, a popular brand, designs its products with a modern flavor that’s rooted in popular Indian art (such as truck art).
Often, we come across products whose forms are inspired by nature! A sugar-cube picker was recently designed by a student similar to the shape of an ant. The form was inspired by ants as well as the association of sugar was made with ants. Similarly, another student designed a hand-sanitizer bottle in the shape of an elephant head.
The utilization of metaphors gives quirky kind of products that are not usually seen. Generally, novelty items, souvenirs, and collectibles derive a lot of inspiration from nature and many other places. Allessi is a famous Italian company that works with such products (mostly household and basic stationery items).
How does the Designing Process Start?
Have you ever wondered about how designers go to their drawing boards and start the process of designing? Well, with the help of emotive attributes. The process starts with the identification of keywords that are used to describe emotional attributes or intangible aspects. Say, a sporty car — what is sporty? A portable and elegant lamp — what is meant by portable and elegant?
The next question is, how can these keywords be effectively expressed using lines, colors, shapes, etc.? For example, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was given a pen, she chose it to be for a Hindi Cinema celebrity (Rekha), looked at different visual inspirations, and designed it accordingly. The points worth noting here are how the aesthetic sensibility comes into the picture and how this can be a pen that Rekha can carry for signing autographs! Another example can be of a medical device for the inspection of ear, nose, and throat. It should be designed such that it can be handheld easily and possess a certain serenity related to the medical context.
Based on these keywords, the designers develop visual (image) boards. From there, they start deciding on a few elements viz, the bulk (say, different types of bottles used for different purposes), edges, line quality (say, various categories of cars), color, material, and finish of a product. Next in line, comes the composition of various elements and their interaction with one another (for example, modular furniture — how it can be arranged in various ways?). It imparts a certain character to the product. Similarly, the proportion is another necessary characteristic. A brand named Dyson designs its products in very simple geometric forms, taking special care of the proportions without disturbing the product’s sanctity. Other parameters include playing with textures, colors, and symmetry.
Case Study 1 — Packaging Design (Men’s Skincare Kit)
It was supposed to represent masculinity and be very clear in explaining that it is a body product. Furthermore, a certain cosmeceutical feel needed to be given to it. Cosmeceuticals can be understood as cosmetic+pharmaceutical hybrid products intending to enhance beauty through ingredients that provide additional health-related benefits. These features were topped with three more traits to address different aspirations — executive, sporty, and classy.
Utilizing these qualities, a family of product-designs with diverse proportions were generated. From these samples, the one displaying the most stability, physical balance, and masculinity was selected. This design was such that when flipped, it became feminist! Isn’t it interesting? For example, the shape of the caps was designed such that it was easier to operate as well as it gave off masculine vibes. Yet another question probed was how sporty, classy and executive are different from one another in terms of kind of graphic fonts, colors, and overall sizes and shapes of the containers?
Product Semantics: Theory and Systemic Applications
Elanor Rosch proposed the theory of category systems for the natural world and this applies to product semantics as well. She talks about the cognitive economy (why do we need such systems?). Actually, we have these categories in our own minds. Suppose, when small kids see a dog for the first time, we tell them that it is a ‘dog’. Next time, when they see a cat, they would call it a dog, but we correct them and inform them that it is a ‘cat’. Then, they start remembering the similarities and differences between these categories. This is how the world structure is perceived. There is a prototype (natural and artificial) for each category and they are defined by bundles of features (say, if we are presented with images of random body parts of an animal — like a lion — we would still be able to identify it even if we are not presented with its complete image. The same concept works with products as well). Rosch also defines the three levels of taxonomies (classification) in object research — superordinate (furniture), basic (chair), and subordinate (dining chair, office chair).
Usually, there is a typical zone that defines a certain category. Then, we start moving towards atypicality, and eventually, there is a fuzzy boundary after which we don’t know whether a member belongs to a particular category or not. It can be understood better with the example of birds. We, generally, associate the typicality of birds with a small sparrow or a medium-sized crow. This typicality also shifts according to the geographical regions and the times that we live in. Suppose, when we ask a person to draw a quick sketch of a bird, most of the time, it will resemble a sparrow or cuckoo. Now, if we compare this drawing with an ostrich or a penguin, it doesn’t come close to our established typicality. This is the point when we start to move towards atypicality!
According to a paper written by Klaus Krippendorff, the fate of all artifacts is decided by language. Designers should pay attention to the narratives in which an artifact appears as soon as it enters the conversation among different types of users. This will help in deciding the language (adjectives that direct the perception to specific qualities) that needs to be used so that a particular product can be articulated. It is a contrast from the earlier approach, where the designers were more intuitive. In this case, there is a demand for a more structured manner. There are terms like the cup-ness of a cup. So, what, exactly, is it? We start with the typicality (schema) of a cup. There are many forms (beer mug, teacup, a cup resembling a glass, etc.) and we can say that one looks like more of a mug and less of a cup and so on!
Case Study 2 — Electric Iron
The first objective was to identify the typicality of this product. Most people related dry irons to the typical iron forms. Other characters were distinct handle, base, edges, light weightedness, prominent control dial and lamp, glossy/chrome base finish and matt for the upper body. Based on this, the different taxonomic levels were handheld electric appliances (superordinate) and electric iron (basic). It was observed that the features defining a typical iron were, exactly, not the ones that defined the superordinate level. It kind of flips because the ones that describe an iron also distinguish it from the other members of handheld electric appliances.
The aim was to design a premium iron for young professional women in India that depicts maneuverability and establishes a connection with Indian clothing. The three keywords picked were premium, maneuverability, and Indian-ness. Eventually, the iron was chosen to be less typical and the selected design possessed all the traits (of the keywords). In terms of metaphor, another design was chosen that represented a snail (atypical). When it started being pushed to typicality, the same snail design got modified such that it possessed a prominent control and a handle!
This brings us to the conclusion that product semantics helps in defining the position of a product in the cognitive space. It also provides assistance with visual features defining functions. It also indicates actions and emotive properties for a better connection.
Conclusions
Earlier, the design of any product was more or less associated with its visual appeal only. But, with time, this thinking has changed. The design of the present times aims towards enriching experiences, making tech-savvy products interactive for all users! However, designers face some challenges such as restrictions due to functionality (a switchboard barely gives us a surface to play with!), feasibility (manufacturing and/or costs), and visual literacy of users. In the end, product forms draw from multiple aspects and can be designed both intuitively and objectively. Their decisions can be based on conscious choices of aesthetics and cognitive features.
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This article is based on one of the sessions (delivered by Manasi Anand Kanetkar, faculty of Design) of the Virtual Seminar Series by IIT Gandhinagar. It is an online program started by the Institute in the wake of the current pandemic as a means to engage the people so that they can learn about a diversity of topics from the comfort of their homes, in an interesting manner. (The 8th article of this series can be found here. The 10th article is available here.)
