The creation of meaning

When talking about the meaning of a product I believe that it is important to distinguish between two types of meaning, personal meaning and cultural meaning. I should make it clear that I don’t believe that a designer can ever truly design either a specific personal or cultural meaning into a product. However I do believe that it is much easier for a designer to create a product that will take on some emotionally deeper personal meaning for the user as opposed to creating a product that will take on a cultural meaning that evolves from the society at large.

The personal meaning of a product evolves over time as the user has experiences with it. Even with a mass produced object where there are 100,000 identical copies of the same product the personal meaning of that product is going to be different to every owner because everybody is different. Take a French press for making coffee in the morning as an example. Even though the process of using the French press is done the same way, to each person their French press means something different. To one person it may be their most beloved thing because they start each morning with the French press and it provides them with coffee to get them going. To another it may just be a device to make coffee and if it doesn’t work well than it’s an obnoxious device that they have to struggle with every morning and for them the meaning of their French press is a negative one as opposed to the previous user. All products will take on some sort of meaning with every user but there is an opportunity within every object for a designer to design a product where an emotionally deeper and positive meaning can emerge. This deeper meaning can be achieved by using the power of story, and true user customization or “co-design”.

Story is something that is quintessentially human. Nothing else on this planet can claim to have a concept of story. Stories are something we connect with emotionally and are drawn into. Remember when you were a kid and stories of other worlds seemed so real that you had an intense connection with it. Designers can harness this power to create intense emotional bonds between people and the products they buy by weaving story into their products. When there is a story behind the design then there is something human in the product for people to connect with and human relationships are the strongest ones there are. In addition to imbedding story designers can also create deeper meaning by allowing the user to be involved in the design and creation of the product. This idea of the user finishing or customizing the product is called co-design. A great example of this is the Do Create series by Droog Design for the Dutch ad firm/publisher KesselsKramer. In this group of products the user bought a standardized, mass-produced design and then “finished” it by carrying out the process that the designer had set of for them. An example is the Do Hit Chair, which comes as a big metal cube that the user must smash with a sludge hammer in order to create the chair form. By smashing the chair the user goes through an experience of helping to make the finished product and every time the user goes to sit in the chair they are reminded of how hard and fun it was to create their chair and thus a deeper emotional bond is formed and with it a meaning that is unique to each individual. Designers should look to the power of story and of co-design as tools to add value to their designs.

The cultural meaning of products is a little different than the personal meaning of products. The cultural meaning of a product is something that evolves over time and is the collective understanding of what that product means in that society. The cultural meaning of a product depends on a vast number of people, as opposed to the personal meaning which depends on only one person, there for it is much harder to imbed a specific meaning into a product because there will be such a varied ranges of personal meaning that make up the collective cultural meaning. The cultural meaning of a product also depends on how many people either own or know of the product. The car has so much cultural meaning because everyone owns one or at least is very familiar with one, on the other hand the series of clay furniture designed my Maarten Baas is known about only in design circles and thus has not affected enough people to take on a cultural meaning in the same way the car has. I feel that it is important that designers realize that they can never design a specific meaning into a product because meaning is something that evolves out of experience over time. Designers should realize however that meaning is not something to be ignored and that they should strive to create products that set up situations to create deeper human connections with people as a way to add value to a product.