The Role of Products in Society

How do products get meaning?

The construction of a product is not the creation of its meaning. Rather, meaning is the intangible value that is associated with a tangible object. It is through society, the designer, and the user that a product eventually is given meaning. The job of a designer is to create material symbols that reflect culture. By consuming and working with these symbols, people create meaning, which builds relationships within society. Through function and form language, the creator inputs social norms and standards that allow the object to gain meaning. However, this “meaning” is insignificant without an audience to identify its correlation with society. A product is able to obtain multiple meanings due to the wide range of users and societies. In addition, if an object is removed from its intended context, a single user will experience that product in a different way.

To what extent do you believe a designer is able to “design” meaning into a product and determine a user’s behavior?

Good design is a conversation of ideas that effectively is passed through a product. A designer is only as capable of creating meaning as the user is interpreting it. The designer is incapable of creating a significant product without being able to connect their principles with the user’s knowledge. A designer can only “design” the visual language that meaning is associated with. Furthermore, the “design” of a user’s behavior is created not from a single object, but through experience and prior knowledge.

Do you believe design had the power to effect or even control how a person can or cannot act?

I believe it is not design, but society that controls how a person acts. Design (the object) is merely a facet through which value, morals, and norms are communicated. These tangible symbols are testaments to our understanding of traditions that extend to the beginning of mankind.

How do you understand the user’s “agency”?

The user’s agency is predetermined by society. However, as a working part of the greater culture, each user has the ability to change their interpretation of society. Even then, the way they interact with an object is regulated by their relationship to that thing. For example, if a boy is brought up to believe that it is acceptable to play with Barbies and wear makeup, then their agency will be based on those conditions. If that same child is taught never to touch girl’s toys, their ability to act will be significantly different. In other words, an individual’s free will depends largely on external forces such as socialization. Either way, the boy will have a unique opinion of gender roles. A designer is able to suggest ways of interacting with a product, but it is the influence of society that eventually dictates how people will relate to that object.