On 2/1/08, Andrei Herasimchuk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think you are somehow confusing aesthetic with materialism, and > then making a broad and borderline offensive assumption then about > American designers in that vein. Aesthetics and materialism are not > the same thing, and I'm not talking about superficial qualities as > they pertain to design.
I think you got me all wrong. I said aesthetics is one of the attributes and each attribute's need is a function of time and place. I dont know if you know but the same toy manufactured in the same factory in China comes in totally different packing when it comes to US and India and you can tell the difference by just looking at the two packs - not only there is difference in the quality of material used but also a difference in how much aesthetic value has been added to both. Now it doesnt mean that Indians dont care about design but just that given the price point of affordability functional behaviour is more important at this point of time than being extremely pleasing to the eye. The same cannot be said about the American consumer because it has matured beyond functional behaviour and aesthetics has become a differentiating value proposition. And since the consumer can appreciate that and is willing to pay for that, the American design community is giving it to them (there is nothing offensive about it). Now this doesnt mean that aesthetics in the future (time scale) will not gain importance in the other geographices just like there is no gaurantee that American consumer will not graduate to a newer differentaiting value proposition (if everything becomes equally beautiful, what will you do!). So my only point then and now is that aesthetics is an integral part of design but its value will vary both in time and place and hence I dont consider it fundamental because I can still do design without worrying about it, of course given the context of time and where I am. Thanks Pankaj PS: If my previous post was in anyways offensive and put the American Designer in the spot, I will apologise for that as that was never my intention. ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
