46 ms·
My hypothesis as to why this is relates to how products over time seem to all converge on inoffensive sensibility and mediocre homogeneity. The more mass-produ
by samtho 2y ago
My hypothesis as to why this is relates to how products over time seem to all converge on inoffensive sensibility and mediocre homogeneity.
The more mass-produced something is or generalized use-case something has, the more important it is for the item to meet every single need. Of course, one of those needs is that the physical appearance of the item needs to match or blend in with the aesthetic of its final location. Not all older, crafted pieces match, and to choose one commits you a particular style. Once you’ve decided on that, the cost to change is significant.
So how do you meet all needs? Design something inoffensive, bland, and sensible.
- hyperadvanced 2y agoYeah, the IKEA model makes sense for a lot of reasons. But I think the broader aesthetic landscape draws that into question too - I can understand bland architecture or interior design, I have trouble understanding the relative simplicity of music, fine art, or fiction from the past 20 years along those lines. I think it’s clearly related to the demise of postmodern aesthetics - the intentional gaudiness/kitsch of the 60’s-90’s has kind of fallen away to a reinvention of MCM aesthetics: vaguely space-age, sleek and refined, high class, rather than the scattershot pastiche of postmodernism.