I recently read an article over at HellYeahDude.com discussing how good design provokes customer interest. It stated the idea that customers generally buy things because of the essence, and whether or not it will cause interest in you from others. This idea was sparked by his recent purchase of the Starbucks Gold card simply because it looked good. Here's a quote from the article:
"A want can be things from cars, computers, clothes, or shoes. But why do we buy these things? First off, we ask ourselves, “are we going to enjoy this?” Then secondly, we ask ourselves subconsciously if it will cause the kind of interest we are seeking from other people."
After reading the article (fairly quick read), here's what I had to say: (continue reading...)
Desire, in my opinion, is the key factor to understand why people do things the way they do, including but not limited to purchasing things.
A lot of the times, it has something to do with the status-quo, and what they will gain from owning that product (whatever it may be) both socially and personally. I have been tempted so many times to buy things that looked great to me, but I resisted as I forced myself to realize its insignificance.
I like how you said that we do things to fill in gaps of whatever shape and form. These gaps, to me, are things like social desire, acceptance/praise/attention from others. After all, in today’s world, that’s what everyone seems to be doing, unfortunately.
It’s not very difficult for designers to create things that produce these kinds of results from people. A little bit of social research, asking around, simple observation and questioning will help you understand exactly why people desire the things they do. Thanks to this article, I will be posting an entry on my blog growing on the ideas I stated here, so, thank you for the inspiration.
To end this comment, I will say this: Human beings are phenomenally structured social animals. We are driven by social interaction of so many forms, that if grasped well, one will be able to achieve almost anything, hence the modern-day pop culture, gossip, media, and so forth. There’s nothing better than putting yourself in the shoes of the type of person you are trying to appeal to. The experience gained from it is unprecedented.
Have you ever bought something because it looked good, or thought you might get positive attention?
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