Abstract
An intriguing aspect of designed objects is their expressiveness. After all, perceiving objects as expressive comes most natural, but accounting for why an object is expressive is quite another thing. Oftentimes, an object’s expression may be seen as foremost motivated by social or cultural conventions. A hospital, for example, is recognized as being a hospital in part as the result of conventions defining what a hospital should look like. Upon nearing a big white building, brightly lighted from within and showing off many large windows, it doesn’t take too much effort to figure out the building’s purpose. However, next to being defined culturally, objects are also expressive in another sense. For example, a chair of great height may be perceived as proud or dominant. In these cases, understanding an object as expressive is arguably not, or to a lesser degree, the result of cultural conventions, suggesting, in addition to a cultural basis, a culture independent dimension of product expression. It is precisely this dimension of a product’s expression that is most elusive and difficult to account for in scientific terms. Accounts of this dimension usually are of a descriptive nature, relating specific expressions to specific product characteristics. For example, product expressions like friendly and secure may be related to an object’s rounded, organic form features. However, what is missing in accounts like these is an explanation of why specific forms connote the meanings they do. As a result of this explanatory gap, designers may be in doubt as to how to bring about a specific expression.
Citation
Van Rompay, T. (2004) Designing Embodied Expressions., in Redmond, J., Durling, D. and de Bono, A (eds.), Futureground - DRS International Conference 2004, 17-21 November, Melbourne, Australia. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2004/researchpapers/106
Designing Embodied Expressions.
An intriguing aspect of designed objects is their expressiveness. After all, perceiving objects as expressive comes most natural, but accounting for why an object is expressive is quite another thing. Oftentimes, an object’s expression may be seen as foremost motivated by social or cultural conventions. A hospital, for example, is recognized as being a hospital in part as the result of conventions defining what a hospital should look like. Upon nearing a big white building, brightly lighted from within and showing off many large windows, it doesn’t take too much effort to figure out the building’s purpose. However, next to being defined culturally, objects are also expressive in another sense. For example, a chair of great height may be perceived as proud or dominant. In these cases, understanding an object as expressive is arguably not, or to a lesser degree, the result of cultural conventions, suggesting, in addition to a cultural basis, a culture independent dimension of product expression. It is precisely this dimension of a product’s expression that is most elusive and difficult to account for in scientific terms. Accounts of this dimension usually are of a descriptive nature, relating specific expressions to specific product characteristics. For example, product expressions like friendly and secure may be related to an object’s rounded, organic form features. However, what is missing in accounts like these is an explanation of why specific forms connote the meanings they do. As a result of this explanatory gap, designers may be in doubt as to how to bring about a specific expression.