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Writer's pictureColin Aziz

Week 5


My research so far for this blog has been a lot of diving onto the different types of subcultures through the internet. Especially now with Corona making in-person meet ups impossible, the internet is thriving even more with forums and media share showing all the customizations of people. I found countless forums dedicated to projects of people and showcases of peoples feat. Customization branches across so many interests such as fashion, guitars, and even furniture, cultures I only briefly considered. Therefore, this week, I want to look at a more macro setting of customization on it’s psychology, history, and value today.



History:

The first article I found talks about the history of customization and what the future may hold. The writer brings to light some super interesting points about our ways of the past and how it needs to contribute more to our future. When humans first started creating things they were originally all one-offs. They would create tools that have been advanced to today but also ritual and personal devices that did not last the test of time and forgotten. Tools have become standardized for mass production to be made the cheapest possible or in a way of luxury with one set design. He argues that at our roots, our ancestors would make things for themselves on a need basis and wants to bring that back into society. “Hardware in the 21st century should move away from the cultural vacuity and environmental toxicity of massive scale towards a more localized, democratized product development process that serves people from beginning to end. It goes beyond customization, which is often dismissed as a form of vanity, to objects and devices to address problems at the root. We can reject the goods that have been force fed into markets, loaded with extraneous features that offer little value while impinging on individual privacy or security.” His main argument is that products need to be designed with more consciousness of customizability for the user to decide and modify the product to fit their exact need. Cars, computers, fashion, and many other cultures have had a foundation of fixing, changing, and modifying to fit the users' needs which is why they have branched so many subcultures and customizations. Today, however, products like phones and laptops and a lot of cars have lost all these features of easy customizability and upgradeability. They aren't meant to be modified or easily fixed for that matter. Whether you need extremely expensive tools, parts or its software restrictions, most of today's products are straying away from any type of 3rd party interaction.



Psychology

I found another great article on psychology today that describes the benefits of the online customization shopping experience. Even though this is focused on online shopping, there are many of the same principles and out-takes. It helped me make a few connections and I blocked some quotes out of the article that I thought really made some good points. First, “Many companies, ranging from major players to small retailers, are discovering the benefits of the personalized digital shopping experience. Online product customization raises brand awareness, increases engagement, helps companies identify emerging trends, and adds an additional source of revenue to their online business. So strong has it become that today many popular brands are embracing the mass customization model, adding it to their business strategy.” I was really focusing on subcultures and how you don't see much customization in the corporate world but this made me realize that was not true. Customization in the fashion industry has been in the corporate world for a really long time. “However, this doesn’t mean that clients want their product to be customized to such an extent that it overcomes the brand presence, especially when the brand is exclusive. A case study we held for a known sports gear brand showed that although people enjoyed customizing the colors, most refrained from the option of adding their initials instead of the brand’s logo. That seemed to disassociate the product from the status symbol connected to the brand.” People still want a brand presence from what they are buying but they still want it to be their “own”. This pushes a bunch of modern companies to work with their clients to create their vision which can sometimes lead to a marketing strategy. The article describes “Mass customization has become increasingly significant for brand name companies as part of a broader trend that views customers as value co-creators and not just recipients of value. Rather than being a passive consumer, the customer is now becoming a contributor in the product development process. From a psychological standpoint, the user experience of customizing a product is mediated by a number of unconscious factors that shape the customers’ final decision, even without their awareness. Moreover, the interaction involved in creating the product can lead the customer to buy it – even if they weren’t initially planning on doing so.”


Some of my final questions would be about how designers should comprehend these points into their process and work? I would also like to find the designers that have incorperated these points into their work and ask about their design and project process.


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Blanka Domagalska
Blanka Domagalska
Oct 15, 2020

I would be interested to find out what types of customizations ppl actually engage with. It seems that maybe there is a strategy or a pattern there. Like you said when give the opportunity most ppl wouldn't want to replace the company's logo with their own initials. Clearly, they perceive the value of the brand as greater to their own contribution. I find that very interesting because my reaction would be the exact opposite! So the question is what types of customizations do in fact make the audience feel like they are creating more value and then which audiences respond to which activities? Is there a pattern?

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jfidler
Oct 09, 2020

Is there anything interesting to found in looking into the difference between customization and personalisation? Is the 'customisation that large brands offer a perceived value or an actual value. Robert has already mentioned the emerging possibilities of changing manufacturing processes and models, and at some point, he (Robert) also mentioned Peter Lewis (I think that is his name) who spent millions and decades with Frank Gehry designing and redesigning a personal compound that never became reality. this did not seem to bother him, he perhaps was paying to be part of the design process – I wonder if there is anything interesting on a much, much smaller scale for average consumers. To be clear, you have moved away from subcultures nd are…


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rcreighton
Oct 08, 2020

I'm curious if you're interested in mass customization or individual - one off products. I would look deeply at new technologies to get a better sense of what is coming and which industries it will have the greatest impact upon. 3d printing, 3d knitting and robotics will likely have a dramatic impact on the manufacturing facilities of the future in the show industry.


This is an interesting example from Levis. They utilized CNC lasers to deliver the stressed visuals that some people expect but the benefits also move towards environmental issues and sustainability.

https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/blog/article/levis-presents-future-finish/

https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/blog/article/welcome-to-levis-eureka-innovation-lab/

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