consumption

What makes us choose something? Why do we decide one thing over another? What makes us like something? It could be anything, a piece of art, an artist, a band, a pair of shoes… anything…but why?

What is taste? Were does it come from? How does it develop?

These are all questions I have been asking myself and others for their opinion on. As designers we constantly have to create something for a person or a purpose. Often for someone who we don’t know inside out or back to front. Knowing if the person is going to like it or view it in the same way as we do is a challenge. We all have completely different tastes from each other – making everyone unique. This of course isn’t a bad thing. It just makes designs have to think more carefully about what we are designing and how others may view it.

Guy Julier explains how consumption is something that can have several factors that influence a person to choose one thing over another. This can be from our culture, our time in life to the demand for a certain thing that is “cool” at that time. We all want to have our own identity, our own sense of belonging to something or having objects that show that we are who we are.

When designing we need to appreciate that design is susceptible and work on this as being a positive thing. We should want to enjoy that one person may view our work and take something completely different from it from another person. This is something that is a practice, something that takes time and understanding to develop.
I am currently doing an investigation into how people develop due to their backgrounds and influences through childhood. More blogging to come about that to come very soon...