Monday, April 25, 2005
Product Design, Desirability, and the Cult of Mac
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Cult of Mac recently, mainly because I’m considering renewing my membership. my ageing iMac has finally outlived its usefulness, and is acting as a fairly large paperweight because of its lack of FireWire ports, which I need to do some video editing.
I’m reminded me of a piece on Radio 4 about Apple and the so-called Cult of Mac. Incidentally, I've been listening to Radio 4 since my early 20s - thus demonstrating the folly of trying to categorise your users as Russell has done in his piece on Ferraris and Fiestas, but then I have often been accused of being far too 'mature' for my years :-)
Apple have successfully built up a user base of near-religious consumers who see Steve Jobs as their High Priest and any new iProduct as an object of worship. That's what Radio 4 say anyway, and I sort of agree, but I tend not to think in such extreme terms, mainly because I'm a member of the Cult.
Anyway, my point : Branding is just as important as the design of individual products.
Making appealing designs involves thinking about more than just individual products, it involves an entire brand. Ferraris and Fiestas are clear examples of this - they both represent not just individual products but also well know brand names, each of which has its own associated values and characteristics. No-one is immune to this, even when we know about it (I bought a VW because I wanted a reliable car, for example). so my point is that often individual products can inherit style and appeal from their parent brands, but obviously not without some work on the design of that product as well. Also, we buy things not just because we're looking for particular features, but because we want to make a statement to the world about who we are and what we think. Again, no-one is ever immune: I'll probably never buy a Skoda, even though they're built by essentially same company that made my VW, simply because my friends would laugh.
apparently all of this global branding malaky appeals to our primal need to seek out tribal membership and to advertise that membership so as to locate rivals and fellow tribe members. it gets everywhere - just look at Google. yes, they're good at what they do, but now they do lots of different things as well, and we're all eager to try out the next Google Desktop, or Google Handbag, or whatever. (note that I'm not knocking Google Desktop - it's fab!)
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Cult of Mac recently, mainly because I’m considering renewing my membership. my ageing iMac has finally outlived its usefulness, and is acting as a fairly large paperweight because of its lack of FireWire ports, which I need to do some video editing.
I’m reminded me of a piece on Radio 4 about Apple and the so-called Cult of Mac. Incidentally, I've been listening to Radio 4 since my early 20s - thus demonstrating the folly of trying to categorise your users as Russell has done in his piece on Ferraris and Fiestas, but then I have often been accused of being far too 'mature' for my years :-)
Apple have successfully built up a user base of near-religious consumers who see Steve Jobs as their High Priest and any new iProduct as an object of worship. That's what Radio 4 say anyway, and I sort of agree, but I tend not to think in such extreme terms, mainly because I'm a member of the Cult.
Anyway, my point : Branding is just as important as the design of individual products.
Making appealing designs involves thinking about more than just individual products, it involves an entire brand. Ferraris and Fiestas are clear examples of this - they both represent not just individual products but also well know brand names, each of which has its own associated values and characteristics. No-one is immune to this, even when we know about it (I bought a VW because I wanted a reliable car, for example). so my point is that often individual products can inherit style and appeal from their parent brands, but obviously not without some work on the design of that product as well. Also, we buy things not just because we're looking for particular features, but because we want to make a statement to the world about who we are and what we think. Again, no-one is ever immune: I'll probably never buy a Skoda, even though they're built by essentially same company that made my VW, simply because my friends would laugh.
apparently all of this global branding malaky appeals to our primal need to seek out tribal membership and to advertise that membership so as to locate rivals and fellow tribe members. it gets everywhere - just look at Google. yes, they're good at what they do, but now they do lots of different things as well, and we're all eager to try out the next Google Desktop, or Google Handbag, or whatever. (note that I'm not knocking Google Desktop - it's fab!)
Comments:
Pete - do tell, what do you think the Google Handbag would be like? Can you, for example, put everything you want into it and it find the right thing for you when you want it - giving you immediate access to car keys, house keys, credit card or whatever?
:-)
:-)
I have no idea what Google Handbag would do, handbags are a lady's domain.
but I imagine it would provide something to dance around at discos, whilst simultaneously keeping a log of all the juicy gossip overheard there.
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but I imagine it would provide something to dance around at discos, whilst simultaneously keeping a log of all the juicy gossip overheard there.
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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