Design Rhetoric & Handcrafted Objects
October 20, 2003
This project was designed to prove a hypothesis that handcrafted objects use a persuasive design language that influences purchase decisions in some consumers. Looking at these object with a lens relying on design rhetoric as defined by Richard Buchannan, I created a survey to discover when logos (technological reasoning), pathos (emotion), and ethos (character) are influential factors in chosing handcrafted objects. Specifically, I was interested in asking people to compare two coffee/tea mugs to reveal "what matters."
Mug A (left) was handcrafted by a local potter while mug B was mass produced and sold through a national retail chain. The survey asked participants to choose one of the mugs, and then asked subsequent questions about their decision. The survey was designed to extract any influence the objects had emotionally, and asthetically.
The data revealed that the handcrafted mug (mug A) was preferred 2:1 but interestingly, designers made up the 75% of people who chose mug B (the mass produced mug). Craftsmanship, quality of production and emotion/feeling were the largest factors in making the purchase decision. Overall users priced mug A higher than mug B when participants were asked to assign prices to the mugs. Additionally, 75% of users who chose mug B would sway their decision to mug A if they knew the maker. Finally, 60% of users who chose mug A listed feeling/emotion as an influence, compared to 33% of those who chose mug B.
Introduction:
The following CATTt exercise is an application of design rhetoric from the perspective of persuasion, and as referenced in Richard Buchanan’s essay entitled, “Declaration by Design: Rhetoric, Argument, and Demonstration in Design Practice. This discussion seeks to investigate handcrafted objects, the designer’s argument, and the user’s perception of that argument.
“…Designer(s), instead of simply making an object or thing, [are] actually creating a persuasive argument that comes to life whenever a user considers or uses a product as a means to some end.”
The three elements of Buchanan’s design argument are logos, pathos, and ethos. The exercise below, while covering the logos of the problem (technological reasoning), will focus primarily on the questions of ethos (character) and pathos (emotion).
Contrast:
The designer seeks to provide users with an object that speaks with authority, by design, but lacks the concern of a specific outcome. Additionally, the end user (consumer) purchases an object without the consideration of the design rhetoric the object may employ.
“… many products in mass culture are persuasive because they refer to beauty, and seem to have a concern for it whether or not reality matches appearance. They [objects] speak in familiar voices, showing concern for commonplace virtues – [seeming] authoritative.”
Analogy:
The designer seeks to provide users with reasons they might consider adopting with new attitudes [when buying hand crafted objects.] In this case, the end user (consumer) makes a purchase decision based on design rhetoric, specifically Ethos (character).
“Design is an art of thought directed to practical action through the persuasiveness of objects and, therefore, design involves the vivid expression of competing ideas about social life.”
Theory:
Handmade objects contain characteristics that are not evident in pre-fabricated items of similar purpose/function. These items can be persuasive through designed, or arbitrary characteristics (ethos). This character allows them to become visually distinguishable (and perhaps preferable) to its mass-produced counterpart. The logos or technological reasoning of the handcrafted object is understood and appreciated by some, but not others. It might be that touching an object that was touched by another human is more satisfying to those who are makers, themselves. It could be argued that without the understanding of the design rhetoric used in the creation of the object, the question of the persuasiveness of handmade objects is moot. While pathos (emotion) is often called into question when considering the handmade object, its effectiveness is undetermined. It is my theoretical assumption that handmade objects are persuasive to some end users, while other handcrafted objects are not; and that certain objects, although they may contain directive rhetoric in their designs, can be, conversely, unpersuasive to certain end users.
“…concerned with discovering new aspects of the utility of emotional expression in practical life. …products attract and hold audiences in…different ways, and in this lay the importance of emotion as a mode of persuasion. It offers no conclusive proof of a designer’s ideas about technology or social life, yet it helps an audience to entertain new possibilities for practical living and to remain open to the technological reasoning and character of a product."
“Products have character because in some way they reflect their makers, and part of the art of design is the control of such character in order to persuade potential users that a product has credibility in their lives.”
Method
Compare handmade coffee-mugs to their mass-produced counterparts by preparing a survey that is designed to reveal and document end user purchase decisions based on design rhetoric. Specifically, find out how much the coffee-mugs characteristics are involved, and whether the end user feels they were designed or inadvertently present in the coffee-mug in question. Ask questions that indirectly reveal whether emotion plays a part in their decision, and in what terms this is described by end users.
Target
A survey (see survey .doc) given to 35 people asked to spend up to $20 on one of two coffee-mugs presented. Surveys were completed on site, with the exception of 14, that were returned in a pre addressed stamped envelope. The 14 surveys that were mailed-in use images of the mugs to base their decision on, while the other group had the mugs present. The survey was designed to extract what role emotion had in their decision and whether or not knowing the maker made a difference. It also asked under which conditions they would change their decision.
Tail
The survey data revealed that the handcrafted mug (mug A) was preferred 2:1 but interestingly, designers made up the 75% of people who chose mug B (the mass produced mug). Craftsmanship, quality of production and emotion/feeling were the largest factors in making the purchase decision. Overall users priced mug A higher than mug B when participants were asked to assign prices to the mugs. Additionally, 75% of users who chose mug B would sway their decision to mug A if they knew the maker. Finally, 60% of users who chose mug A listed feeling/emotion as an influence, compared to 33% of those who chose mug B.
In describing the responses in terms of logos, pathos and ethos, it is clear that all three were factors in the decision of users, but ethos (character) was the most influential. The term “has more character” was used most often in the comments of users to ask why they chose (mug A). Craftsmanship was also a big factor in choosing A, therefore “logos” or the technological reasoning of this object explains what is important in purchases of this type. Finally, pathos, or emotion was described in terms of “sentiment, warm feeling and personal” with the word “unique” being used the most often – referring to the logos, pathos and ethos of the mug.
Notes & Quotes:
Logos= technological reasoning, two audiences: a) the specialist who can follow and judge the reasoning as a process and b) general users who are only concerned with results. Ethos= character. The “voice” of the object. Pathos= emotion. The “…true province of design, - sometimes giving it the status of fine art”.
It is possible that by attempting to challenge the imagination or advancing cultural standards, the designer has little mass influence. Ideas can seem, ”…hostile and intimidating or are so subtle that they go unappreciated.”
Buchanan discusses pathos (emotion) in simply one sense. He refers to the use of pathos as the persuasive qualities of objects and their abilities to put users into a specific frame of mind using elements such as color, movement, and pattern. [I am, however, interested in emotion from two other angles – a) emotion as input and output b) emotional response] Buchanan could be referring to both: products having emotions, and users responding to products emotionally.
“Design is a debate among opposing views about such matters as technology, practical life, the place of emotion and expression in the living environment, and a host of other concerns that make up the texture of postmodern, postindustrial living.”