4 ms·

You make a good point, but I think there's a qualifier that convergence in this case is convergence to mass-market appeal. Everything looks the same because tha

You make a good point, but I think there's a qualifier that convergence in this case is convergence to mass-market appeal. Everything looks the same because that's the aesthetic that most appeals to ~75% of the population. What's missing is that there seems to be an increasing lack of alternative designs to appeal to the other ~25%.

sangnoir 4y ago
The link between sameness and mass-market capitalism is obvious to me. I was surprised by its absence in the article and comments here. Alternative designs that cater to a fraction (25%) of the population will not have the full benefit of economies of scale, so emd up having higher prices and forced to position as up-market/luxury products - which imposes another set of constraints that also impose sameness (see optional packages for luxury SUVs.) It's really hard for "quirky" products to succeed in the world we made as those products will be strangled by the free hand of the market.
- thwarted 4y ago
  A quirky product that succeeds would cease to be quirky. It would no longer stand out. Difference and rarity go hand in hand.
  - sangnoir 4y ago
    I agree, "quirky" sometimes become mainstream: just as the Gentrification Aesthetic[1] - now popular on AirBnB as noted by the article used to be quirky. However, I meant products that stay quirky will not succeed on the mass market, almost by definition. 1. Bare brick, white walls prominently exposed reclaimed wood
davidxc 4y ago
I don't think "most appeals" is accurate. It's the aesthetic that results in the most profit, which just means that it's optimal in terms of making tradeoffs between level of appeal to various consumer segments, price points, cost to manufacture, etc. But maximizing profit and the tradeoffs that result from that are definitely not equivalent to most appealing to the general population.

sangnoir 4y ago

The link between sameness and mass-market capitalism is obvious to me. I was surprised by its absence in the article and comments here. Alternative designs that cater to a fraction (25%) of the population will not have the full benefit of economies of scale, so emd up having higher prices and forced to position as up-market/luxury products - which imposes another set of constraints that also impose sameness (see optional packages for luxury SUVs.) It's really hard for "quirky" products to succeed in the world we made as those products will be strangled by the free hand of the market.

thwarted 4y ago
A quirky product that succeeds would cease to be quirky. It would no longer stand out. Difference and rarity go hand in hand.
- sangnoir 4y ago
  I agree, "quirky" sometimes become mainstream: just as the Gentrification Aesthetic[1] - now popular on AirBnB as noted by the article used to be quirky. However, I meant products that stay quirky will not succeed on the mass market, almost by definition. 1. Bare brick, white walls prominently exposed reclaimed wood

davidxc 4y ago

I don't think "most appeals" is accurate. It's the aesthetic that results in the most profit, which just means that it's optimal in terms of making tradeoffs between level of appeal to various consumer segments, price points, cost to manufacture, etc. But maximizing profit and the tradeoffs that result from that are definitely not equivalent to most appealing to the general population.