How do materials obtain their meanings?

Ürün tasarımcılarından belli anlamları yüklenebilen ürünler tasarlamaları beklenir. Dolayısıyla ürün malzemeleri amaçlanan anlamları desteklemek açısından kullanılır; bir malzeme lüks durumunu iletirken, ötekisi tikel bir kültürel durumla ilişkilendirilebilir. Ürünün anlamını ürünün malzemesine yükleyerek katkıda bulunmaya çalışan tasarımcılar, seçtikleri malzemenin (anlam) evreninin geniş olması gibi bir zorlukla karşı karşıya kalırlar. Bunun yanısıra, ahşap sıcaktır, metal uzak durur ya da plastik ucuzdur gibi geleneksel kabulleri yansıtan deyişler, bugünün tasarım pratiğinde daha az anlamlı ve daha az kesin olduğu akılda tutulmalıdır. Kuşku yoktur ki, tikel anlamları yaratmak ve iletmek için malzemenin rolüne ilişkin öngörüler geliştirmek tasarım dünyasında giderek daha da önemli bir yere sahip olmaya başlamıştır. Ürünlerin türleri ve bağlamlarına göre malzemelerine farklı özellik atıflarında bulunmanın, belirli anahtar değişkenlerin etkisi çerçevesinde oluştuğu söylenmelidir. Çevremizdeki malzemeleri nasıl deneyimleriz? Bir malzemenin modern, zarif, seksi, kadınsı ya da mesleki olduğunu ne zaman düşünebiliriz? Bu makale ‘malzeminin anlamı’ üzerine yapılan bir doktora tezinin belli başlı bulgu ve izlenimlerine odaklanmıştır. Bu çerçevede yazıda, a) anlam malzemeye içkin olabilir mi?, ve b) malzemeye anlam yüklememizde etken olan anahtar değişkenler nelerdir? gibi iki soru gündeme getirilmektedir. Bu soruları yanıtlarken, 32 Hollandalı ve Çinli katılımcı ile yapılan bir araştırmanın sonuçları ile arkaplan teorik tartışması kullanılmaktadır. Yazı günümüzde yapılan malzeme seçiminın kaynakları ve tasarımda malzeme eğitimi üzerine bir tartışma ile sonlanmaktadır.

Malzeme anlamını taşımaya nasıl başlar?

Product designers are expected to create products transferring certain ‘meanings’. Materials of products are used for supporting the intended meanings in product design; one material may convey luxury, another material can be associated with a particular culture. Designers who aim to select a material that will contribute to the meaning they intend to convey in a product are confronted with the difficulty that the materials universe is immense. Moreover, traditional sayings such as ‘wood is cozy’, ‘metal is aloof’ or ‘plastic is cheap’ are less relevant and strict in today’s design practice. Without a doubt, having insights into the role of materials for creating particular meanings has become more and more relevant in the domain of design. It is to be expected that materials are attributed different meanings in different products and contexts, affected by certain key variables. How do we experience materials around us? When do we think that a certain material is modern, elegant, sexy, feminine, or professional? This paper focuses on the main findings and implications of a Ph.D. research on ‘meanings of materials’. In this paper, the following two questions are addressed: (i) can a meaning be embedded in a material? and (ii) what are the key variables affecting the attribution of meanings to materials? In answering these questions, results from a literature review and a study conducted with 32 Dutch and Chinese participants are discussed. The paper ends with a discussion on existing materials selection sources and materials education in design.

PDF

___

ARABE, K. (2004) Materials’ Central Role in Product Personality, Industrial Market Trends (March 2), retrieved from: http://news.thomasnet. com/IMT/archives/2004/03/materials_centr.html (accessed 08.11.2010).
ASHBY, M. (2005) Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, (Third Edition), Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
ASHBY, M., JOHNSON, K. (2002) Materials and Design - The Art and Science of Material Selection in Product Design, Butterworth- Heinemann, Oxford.
CARDELLO, A., WISE, P. (2008) Taste, Smell and Chemethesis in Product Experience, Product Experience, H. Schifferstein , P. Hekkert, eds., Elsevier, Amsterdam; 91-121.
DALTON, P., DOOLITTLE, N., BRESLIN, P. (2002) Gender Specific Induction of Enhanced Sensitivity to Odors, Nature Neuroscience 5 (3) 199-200.
DESMET, P. (2002) Designing Emotions, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TUDelft.
DEWEY, J. (1980) Art as Experience, Perige Books, New York.
EGMOND, R. van (2008) The Experience of Product Sound, Product Experience, H. Schifferstein, P. Hekkert, eds., Elsevier, Amsterdam; 69-86.
FENKO, A., SCHIFFERSTEIN, H., HEKKERT, P. (2007) Shifts in Sensory Dominance Between various Stages of User-Product Interactions, Applied Ergonomics 41 (1) 34-40.
GIBSON, J. (1979) The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, Houghton Mufflin, Boston.
HEKKERT, P. (1997) Productive Designing: A Path to Creative Design Solutions, Proceedings of The Second European Academy of Design Conference, The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.
HEKKERT, P., LLOYD, P., DIJK, M. van (in press) Vision in Product Design: Handbook for Innovators, BIS Publishers, Amsterdam.
HODGSON, S., HARPER, J. (2004) Effective Use of Materials in The Design Process - More Than a Selection Problem, Proceedings of International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, The Design Society, Stockholm; 593-601.
JOHNSON, M. (2007) The Meaning of the Body: Aesthetics of Human Understanding, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
KARANA, E. (2009) Meanings of Materials, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TUDelft.
KARANA, E., HEKKERT, P. (in press) User-Material-Product Interrelationships in Attributing Meanings, International Journal of Design.
KARANA, E., HEKKERT, P. (2008) Attributing Meanings to Materials, Proceedings of International Conference on Design and Emotion, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
KARANA, E., HEKKERT, P., KANDACHAR, P. (2009) Meanings of Materials through Sensorial Properties and Manufacturing Processes, Materials and Design, 30 (7) 2778-84.
KARANA, E., HEKKERT, P., KANDACHAR, P. (2008) Materials Experience: Descriptive Categories in Material Appraisals, Proceedings of International Conference on Tools and Methods in Competitive Engineering, İzmir; 399-412.
KARANA, E., HEKKERT, P., KANDACHAR, P. (2007a) Sensorial Properties of Materials for Creating Expressive Meanings, Proceedings of International Conference on Kansei Engineering and Emotion Research, Osaka.
KARANA, E., KESTEREN, I. van (2008) Materials Affect – The Role of Materials in Product Experience, Design and Emotion Moves, P. Desmet, J. van Erp, M. Karlsson, eds., Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle; 221-246.
KARANA, E., WEELDEREN, W. van, WOERDEN, E. van (2007b) The Effect of Form on Attributing Meanings to Materials, Proceedings of ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers in Engineering, Las vegas; 471-87.
KESTEREN, I. van (2008) Selecting Materials in Product Design, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TUDelft.
KRIPPENDORFF, K. (2006) The Semantic Turn: A New Foundation for Design, Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton.
KRIPPENDORFF, K., BUTTER, R. (2008) Semantics: Meanings and Contexts of Artifacts, Product Experience, H. Schifferstein , P. Hekkert, eds., Elsevier, Amsterdam; 353-75.
LEFTERI, C. (2006) Materials for Inspirational Design, Rotovision, Mies. LJUNGBERG, L., EDWARDS, K. (2003) Design, Materials Selection and Marketing of Successful Products, Materials and Design, 24 (7) 519-29.
LUDDEN, G. (2008) Sensory Incongruity and Surprise in Product Design, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TUDelft.
MACDONALD, A. (2001) Aesthetic Intelligence: Optimizing User- Centered Design, Journal of Engineering Design, 12 (1) 37-45.
MANZINI, E. (1986) The Material of Invention, Design Council, London.
MAYALL, W. (1979) Principles in Design, Design Council, London.
MOJET, J., CHRIST-HAZELHOF, E., HEIDEMA, J. (2001) Taste Perception With Age: Generic or Specific Losses in Threshold Sensitivity to The Five Basic Tastes?, Chemical Senses, 26 (7) 845-60.
NEFS, H. (2008) On The visual Appearance of Objects, Product Experience, H. Schifferstein , P. Hekkert, eds., Elsevier, Amsterdam: 11-36.
NORMAN, D. (2002) The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books, New York.
ORTONY, A., CLORE, G., COLLINS, A. (1988) The Cognitive Structure of Emotions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
OSGOOD, C., SUCI, G., TANNENBAUM, P. (1957) The Measurement of Meaning, University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
PEDGLEY, O. (2009) Influence of Stakeholders on Industrial Design Materials and Manufacturing Selection, International Journal of Design, 3 (1) 1-15.
POOLE, M., FOLGER, J. (1988) Modes of Observation and The validation of Interaction Analysis Schemes, Small Group Behavior 1(4) 477-93.
ROGNOLI, V., LEVI, M. (2004) How, What and Where is it Possible to learn Design Materials?, Proceedings of The Changing Face of Design Education, University of Technology, Delft; 647-54.
ROMPAY, T. van (2005) Expressions: Embodiment in the Experience of Design, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TUDelft.
SAPUAN, S. (2001) A Knowledge-Based System for Materials Selection in Mechanical Engineering Design. Materials and Design, 22 (8) 687-95.
SCHIFFERSTEIN, H. (2006) The Perceived Importance of Sensory Modalities in Product Usage: A Study of Self Reports, Acta Psychologica 121 (1) 41-64.
SCHIFFERSTEIN, H., SPENCE, C. (2008) Multisensory Product Experience, Product Experience, H. Schifferstein, P. Hekkert, eds., Elsevier, Amsterdam; 133-54.
SONNEVELD, M. (2007) Aesthetics of Tactile Experiences, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TUDelft.
WILSON, F. (1988) Plastics, Past and Future, Architecture, 77 (April) 108.
WITTGENSTEIN, L. (1999) Philosophical Investigations, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
ZUO, H., HOPE, T., CASTLE, P., JONES, M. (2005) Material Texture Perception in Product Design, Proceedings of International Conference on the Art of Plastics Design, Paper 5, Rapra Technology Ltd., Shrewsbury.