Matthew S. Hall
History of I.D.
11-2-2008
Genders and Design
How do products get their meaning? To what extent do you believe a designer is able to “design” meaning into a product and determine a user’s behavior? I believe designers have a small ability to design meaning into a product as far as what the product is intended for. However this has limitation to what the product is- for example: a shovel is designed for digging, yet some people use it for prying, lifting, pounding steaks etc. A knife is one of mankind’s first tools. A knife is intended for cutting food, materials and shaping materials. Yet some people misuse them for prying, turning a screw, digging or violence. A spatula is intended for flipping over food while cooking or serving food, but could also be used as a fly-swatter if one was so inclined.
Do you believe design has the power to effect or even control how a person can or cannot act? Tough question- I would have to say yes in some ways. For example with how I was raised, a firearm is intended to be respected as an essential tool used for providing meat at the table. Treated with great respect and care a firearm can last a lifetime and more providing discipline, food, and enjoyment with target shooting. On the contrary television and some contemporary music portrays the gun as a weapon of violence with gangs, terrorists, and many other crimes. I find this very unfortunate for those of us who take pride and responsibility with our guns to be used for recreation because some legislators are trying to eliminate our right to bear arms. They forget that if they take them away= only the “bad guys” will still have them.
In the gender specific designing I would have to say that it’s not that a product has to be used by a man or a woman but that societies and cultures design the expectations among us to make products gender specific by gender roles. Men have been portrayed as the provider of food and money in many cultures and women as one who cooks, cleans and takes care of the children. Therefore implying that a gun is designed for a man and a kitchen and its implements are designed for a woman. Yet all of the above can be used just as effectively by both sexes.
The vibrator was designed by men as a medical instrument to relieve women of hysteria. Today vibrators are used as sex toys by both women and men for self pleasure and or foreplay. I on the other hand am not one among the user group so I cannot contest to how they affect or control ones behavior.
How do you understand the user’s “agency”? Even tougher question, perhaps because the meaning or purpose a product is used for is determined by the user’s intentions and idea’s of how it can be used. For example, I’ve seen a coffee mug used as a flower pot.