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ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

It is unthinkable to produce too many goods and then rack our brains trying to find ways to eliminate them without poisoning the air or filling the country side with refuse-dumps, it is unthinkable to create a problem uselessly and artificially just to satisfy yet another fashion or affectation if it has to be solved at great expense and with great difficulty. We need to avoid the problem. In short we need to produce less, consume less and throw away less. We need to save. (Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, DOMUS, 772, June 1995, p3)

In order to truly understand the ramifications of needless luxury and the possible need to practice parsimony, we must take into account the circumstances that have led to the current environmental crises due to over-consumption. As Lampugnani expresses in the above quote, too many goods (which are difficult to eliminate in environmentally friendly ways) are being produced, in order to cater to the ever-changing tastes in fashion and affectations. Throughout this essay, I will be exploring the notion that human-to-product relationships are a reflection of, and influenced by human-to-human and human-to-nature relationships. This essay will propose that whilst there seems to be a dire need to be more parsimonious, the best solution may not always be in avoiding the problem. Whilst it may be too late to simply avoid the problem, there is ample room to adapt. Perhaps, if we are able to preserve positive relationships with one another and with the environment, the same will translate into our patterns of consumption, with an emphasis on lengthening product life spans, repairing damaged goods and designing emotionally durable products.

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At the centre of the issues raised surrounding our patterns of consumption is the imminent crisis of sustainability. I believe that this crisis has not risen merely due to technological advances and over-production, but is also intrinsically linked to patterns of human behaviour. Behavioral conventions are inevitably responsible for driving and influencing patterns of material consumption, and are thus fundamental to consider in analyzing contemporary sustainable design agendas. Products have come to possess a place and their own set of meanings in our lives, and as such have earned the legitimacy to even define aspects of humanity. In effectively addressing the sustainability crises, designers must conceive of objects that effectively instill meaning and value within human behaviour, and attempt to pioneer positive social, economic and environmental changes. One hindrance in the path towards sustainable consumption is planned style obsolescence, which occurs when the styling of products is changed marginally in order to have customers make more frequent purchase. Manufacturers are able to manipulate and even create fashion trends by incessantly launching new designs with minimal changes made to its previous form. For example, automobiles, clothing and mobile phone industries are all perpetrators of planned style obsolescence as they operate by peppering their products with minor feature enhancements and restyling. These stylistic changes often have little utilitarian value, and are designed to induce feelings of being old and out of date in the owners of the old model. As such, its plausible to say that planned obsolescence is dually linked to both functional obsolescence and psychological obsolescence. This method of deliberately shortening the lifespan of products is unethical, both in its profit-focused manipulation of consumer spending, and the devastating ecological impact inflicted by nurturing wasteful purchasing behaviors1. The commonplace practice of deliberately shortening product lives is surely the shortcut to using up all our available resources, being left with non-recyclable refuse, and shortening the future of our way of life2. It appears that innovative thinking has come at a price for the made world, which has now embraced normalcy within expendability, viewing almost everything as fleeting, transient and replaceable. Cynically, modern day consumerism entails waste being essential to the process of making way for the new, regardless of whether the waste objects are broken or

1 Chapman, J. Design for (Emotional) Durability. Design Issues: Volume 25, Number 4, Autumn

2009. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

2 Ibid.

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dysfunctional. As a classic marker of progress-driven obsolescence, the environmental consequences of continuing this way are grim, at best. Many products that were purchased for their functional, hedonic or psychosocial benefits3 and are eventually discarded (for seeming old-fashioned, their incompatibility with other products, or by being shown up by newer products that present more possibilities), still function perfectly in regards to utility. From an emotive point of view, unwanted electronics for example, carry the stigma of immateriality and the prospect of eventual defect. This incapacity to evolve and grow as a material object leads to its incapability to establish and sustain relationships with it users. This shortcoming generates a substantial amount of waste, coming at increasing cost to manufacturers and more importantly, the natural world. This is a further enforcement of the idea that in order to imbue objects with meaning, designing for durability must go beyond awarding longevity to products via physical endurance. Emotionally durable design is becoming an important design direction to consider, as it proposes new and alternative genres of designed products that reduce the consumption and waste of resources by increasing the resilience of relationships between consumer and product4. This is a more holistic approach to design(ing) for durability5, with legitimate consideration for the lived- experience of sustainability. A large consideration in regards to patterns of behavior and their connection to consumption is the emotional stimulants that linger between them. In order to assess how to put emotionally durable design into practice, we must evaluate these patterns and in terms of how and why attachments between consumers and products develop. Consumer- product attachment is defined as the emotional bond a consumer experiences with a durable product6. When a person is attached to an object, they consider it to be special and meaningful, and will experience emotional loss if it is lost. Thus, they are unlikely to willingly discard the product. This can also infer that the product has been deemed irreplaceable, holding symbolic meaning to its owner that is not present in other products, even when

3 Schifferstein, H. N. J., & Zwartkruis-Pelgrim, E. P. H. Consumer-Product Attachment:

Measurement and Design Implications. International Journal of Design: 2(3), 1-14. 2008.
4 Chapman, J. Design for (Emotional) Durability. Design Issues: Volume 25, Number 4, Autumn

2009. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

5 Ibid. 6 Schifferstein, H. N. J., & Zwartkruis-Pelgrim, E. P. H. Consumer-Product Attachment:

Measurement and Design Implications. International Journal of Design: 2(3), 1-14. 2008.

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they are physically identical these feelings of irreplaceability are likely to form the most important component of attachment, because they are based on the personal, idiosyncratic relationship with the product7. There are marked differences in the levels of attachment between consumers and their owned products, and as such, certain products are held onto whilst others are easily discarded. In regards to the sustainability crisis, this would offer the idea that lengthening the life span of consumer products would prove worthwhile. This poses an unique challenge for designers, to conceive of design elements in accordance to possible future emotional bonding between the designed product and its consumer. One study identified and measured seven possible determinants of attachment (enjoyment, memories, support of self-identity, life vision, utility, reliability and market value), with the finding that the highest levels of attachment are with products owned for more than 20 years (where memories are the ruling factor) and recently acquired products (where enjoyment plays the primary role)8. A high product turnover is dangerous to the sustainability cause as more waste is produced, and scarce resources are inevitably used up at a faster pace. As such, attempting to increase the consumer-product attachment is one possible way to lengthen the product life cycle. When a person becomes attached to an object (they are) more likely to handle the object with care, repair it when it breaks down, and postpone its replacement (for) as long as possible9. Feelings of attachment towards a product may begin to develop before it is even obtained, as the person planning to buy it may be fantasizing about the feelings derived from its potential ownership and use. Manufacturers are able to stimulate and manipulate these fantasies of use through the advent of advertising, as these feelings are very likely to enhance the degree of product attachment a person experiences after the product has been acquired10. People are also thought to form attachments with objects as a way of defining themselves, creating their identities, protecting and enhancing their concept of self; beneath the surface

7 Schifferstein, H. N. J., & Zwartkruis-Pelgrim, E. P. H. Consumer-Product Attachment:

Measurement and Design Implications. International Journal of Design: 2(3), 1-14. 2008.
8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid.

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of purchasing a shiny, new item is the consumers journey towards the ideal (or desired self). This journey is marked by many factors, including the objects the consumer surrounds themselves with, and the underlying desires that lead to their purchases. Material artifacts are thought to be illustrative of an individuals aspirations and serve to define us existentially11. Possessions have come to symbolize our identities in terms of past, present and possible future realities. They also enable their consumers to assign unique meaning and significance to them, strengthening the consumers ownership of the object. As such, it can be said that products do not exist purely in a functional capacity, but also act as signifiers of human relationships and yearnings. Consumer motivations can often be unstable, as they are continually evolving and adapting. Emotional attachments to products are also likely to change over time due to a number of reasons, such as the (products) dynamics (e.g. loss in functionality, change in appearance), the consumers (e.g. increased age, change in family life cycle, move to another house), the product-consumer interaction (e.g. different usage, ownership), and the situational context (e.g. fashion changes, technological improvements)12. The various products available to gratify a consumers desires however, remain somewhat frozen in time, in accordance to their designed lifespan. Whilst consumers are generally familiar with the expected lifespan of products, as time passes and the individual changes (though the product remains the same), their adoration for the product quickly turns into a resentment of a now outdated and obsolete past13. This not only generates a certain cynicism and apathy between the consumer and their future purchases, but the severing of consumer- product attachment results in dangerous repercussions for the sustainability of consumerism. Given the disposable nature of affluent societies, where products surround us, its probable that detachment for many products starts soon after the product is acquired only few products remain cherished for a long time14. Thus, it can be seen that

11 Chapman, J. Design for (Emotional) Durability. Design Issues: Volume 25, Number 4, Autumn

2009. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

12 Schifferstein, H. N. J., & Zwartkruis-Pelgrim, E. P. H. Consumer-Product Attachment:

Measurement and Design Implications. International Journal of Design: 2(3), 1-14. 2008.
13 Chapman, J. Design for (Emotional) Durability. Design Issues: Volume 25, Number 4, Autumn

2009. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

14 Schifferstein, H. N. J., & Zwartkruis-Pelgrim, E. P. H. Consumer-Product Attachment:

Measurement and Design Implications. International Journal of Design: 2(3), 1-14. 2008.

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since individuals and their desires are in a constant state of flux, products must be designed to be flexible and dynamic in order to adapt to promote sustainable consumption. The biggest challenge with meeting the need for emotionally durable, longer lasting products within design frameworks is the fact that the considerations needing to be made in this regard are seemingly intangible and pertain heavily to psychological functions. This is where I believe the influence of human-to-human relationships on other relationship formats has a part to play in influencing design processes. As stated by Carlisle, first there are human relationships; then buildings are designed taking these into account; then, in their turn, the buildings influence the types of relationships available to our children15. I take this statement to also relate to consumers and designed products, in inferring that human relationships influence the design of consumer products, which in a cyclical manner then come to influence human relationships. In lieu of this, I propose that successful human relationships will lead to successful human-to-product and human-to-nature relationships. Many theories exist as to the connection between human-to-human and human-to-product relationships. While some propose that intense bonding with products (electronics in particular) is leading to a disconnect between people, it is difficult to reconcile this fact with the aforementioned benefits of emotional bonding with objects. Contemporary life has progressively become more and more electronically mediated, which calls for us to examine the ways in which we engage with the plethora of designed electronic products that have come to be seamlessly woven into daily life. Jonathan Chapman proposes that our empathetic nature is no longer revealed with each other, but rather through fleeting embraces with manufacturedand ever more technologically advancedartifacts16. He goes on to express that these simulations move away from a sustainable culture of human- to-human engagement, toward a faster culture of solely human-to-product engagements

15 Carlisle, as quoted by Leeds-Hurwitz, W. Semiotics and Communication: Signs, Codes, Cultures.

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers: New Jersey, 1993.

16 Chapman, J. Design for (Emotional) Durability. Design Issues: Volume 25, Number 4, Autumn

2009. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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(thus) contributing to the wasteful and unsatisfactory character of material experience and the lives we construct around it17. Stuart Walker complements Chapmans views in relating that by using multiple electronic products at once as has now become typical, we cut ourselves off from our immediate environment (and) divide our attention; our mind flits from one thing to another in an unreflective manner18. He also points to neuro-scientific research to indicate that multitasking leads to the devotion of fewer resources to each task distractions can affect how information is learned, resulting in the informations being less useful in the future19. Walker also refers to recent studies that have suggested that this level of information overload (has the ability to) affect our ability to be empathetic, ethically responsive, compassionate, and tolerant and to develop emotional stability20. The capacity for empathetic and ethical concerns is apparently related to the slower acting parts of the brain that require time to reflect on the information received these parts appear to be circumvented when we engage in multiple activities simultaneously21. Whilst both valid perspectives in the complex sphere of arguments relating to designed electronic products, I find them to be overly humanistic and borderline idealistic. We cannot now renege on the technological advancements that have been made and the ways they have come to be inseparable from our daily lives. It should not be a choice of either reveling in consumer-product attachment or severing them to better human-to-human relationships; if we are to be motivated to change our habits and find a median between the two, ecological considerations must also be factored into the equation. The variety of concerns relating to electronic products, as mentioned above, cannot be tackled by only focusing on product design. How the products are conceived and designed, as well as the consumers personal choices are dually responsible for the differing modes of behaviour enabled by electronic goods. However, the role of the designer should encompass being able to lead

17 Walker, S. Wrapped Attention: Designing Products for Evolving Permanence and Enduring

Meaning. Design Issues: Volume 26, Number 4, Autumn 2010. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid.

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consumers down a better path than that which is currently being taken, one that not only is more environmentally benign, socially responsible, and economically equitable but also, potentially more personally meaningful to users of (their) products22. Sustainability within industrial design, whilst commonly linked to the interdependence of economic, environmental and social factors, is also tied to the individualism of humans, who are innately meaning-seekers. This refers to the individuals need for personal meaning as sustainability has to be relevant and meaningful to the individual person, as well as socially responsible it is broad enough to include a wide range of activities that different people find meaningful and enriching23. In adhering to this criterion, the present and future practices of industrial design should take into account a number of factors, such as how products are made, their longevity, how they are used and the usage they promote, and their eventuality once their useful life has ended. Whilst these factors address sustainability concerns, they are also linked to our conception of products and to the understanding of human purpose and fulfilment24 and as such, affect notions of emotionally durable design. Though advertising and marketing persist in tempting us to be self-indulgent and pleasure seekers, since the time of Plato and Aristotle, self-discipline, contemplation, and virtue have all been essential aspects of the meaningful life and substantive notions of human happiness25. In connecting this sense of personal meaning with sustainability, it is important to note that deteriorating ecosystems have been linked to a degradation of spiritual fulfillment, cultural identity, and various other factors related to the well-being of the individual26. This fact makes it clear that it is possible for designers to create a synergy between economic imperatives, environmental responsibilities, social concerns, and substantive matters of personal meaning27 by way of a systemic shift in the ways we conceive, manufacture, use, and re-manufacture or dispose of designed products28.

22 Walker, S. Wrapped Attention: Designing Products for Evolving Permanence and Enduring

Meaning. Design Issues: Volume 26, Number 4, Autumn 2010. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid.

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The reparation of the human-to-nature bond will also require a shift in thinking, to embrace product durability rather than merely accepting obsolescence as a natural part of life. For example, McDonough and Braungart suggest that consumers be eased into the mindset by first becoming acclimated to products of service29. This would entail industrial mass being designed to retain its high quality for multiple uses, with consumers buying the service of a product for a defined user period (instead of its ownership), and when they are finished with the product or ready to upgrade, the product is returned to the manufacturer who then replaces it and breaks down the old model, using its complex materials as food for new products30. This solution satisfies the consumers hunger for new products and industries need for industrial food31, whilst supporting technical metabolism and diminishing the extraction of raw (non-renewable) materials. It also positively impacts human-to human relationship, as the focus on reparation and service inevitably implies an increase in human interactions. However, as this solution calls for the severing of consumer-product attachment, it brings to question whether emotional durability as a design direction would indeed be more effective a path towards sustainability than the one suggested by McDonough and Braungart. On the other hand, several possible solutions are available to aid the design process of emotionally durable products, including designing products to age gracefully so that the marks of its use add value to its shared history with its owner, rather than degrading its appearance. In turn, this will enrich the bank of memories the product can hold, creating a possibly stronger attachment between consumer and product. As enjoyment is the other largest identified factor in consumer-product attachment, it is also important that products be useful and evocative of sensory and aesthetic pleasure. If we are able to increase product lifetime by strengthening the human-to-human, human-to-nature and human-to- product bonds, we may eventually be able to develop more sustainably effective consumption patterns.

29 Braungart, M, & McDonough, W. Cradle to Cradle: remaking the way we make things. North

Point Press: New York, 2002.

30 Ibid. 31 Ibid.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Braungart, Michael, & McDonough, William. Cradle to Cradle: remaking the way we make things. North Point Press: New York, 2002. Leeds-Hurwitz, Wendy. Semiotics and Communication: Signs, Codes, Cultures. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers: New Jersey, 1993. Norman, Donald. Emotional Design Why we love (or hate) everyday things. Basic Books: London, 2004. Packard, Vance. The Waste Makers. Penguin Books: London, 1960. Papanek, Victor. The Green Imperative: Ecology and Ethics in Design and Architecture. Thames and Hudson: London, 1995. JOURNALS Chapman, Jonathan. Design for (Emotional) Durability. Design Issues: Volume 25, Number 4, Autumn 2009. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chitturi, Ravindra. Emotions by design: A consumer perspective. International Journal of Design: 3(2), 7-17. 2009 DeBell, Margaret, & Dardis, Rachel. Extending product life: Technology isnt the only issue. Advances in Consumer Research: 6(1), 381-385. 1979 Desmet, Pieter, & Hekkert, Paul. Framework of product experience. International Journal of Design, 1(1), 57-66. 2007. BOOKS

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Maycroft, Neil. Consumption, Planned Obsolescence and Waste. History of Art and Material Culture. University of Lincoln. Mugge, Ruth, Schoormans, Jan, & Schifferstein, Hendrick. Design strategies to postpone consumers product replacement: The value of a strong person-product relationship. The Design Journal: 8(2), 38-48. 2005. Schifferstein, Hendrick, & Zwartkruis-Pelgrim, Elly. Consumer-Product Attachment: Measurement and Design Implications. International Journal of Design: 2(3), 1-14. 2008. Walker, Stuart. Wrapped Attention: Designing Products for Evolving Permanence and Enduring Meaning. Design Issues: Volume 26, Number 4, Autumn 2010. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. OTHER Dunn, Collin. Planned Obsolescence vs. Designed Deterioration. TreeHugger. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/planned_obsoles_1.php (accessed 19 September, 2011) Vinh, Khoi. Designed Deterioration. Subtraction.com. http://www.subtraction.com/2007/07/17/designed-det (accessed 19 September, 2011)

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