Meaning of Products|Relationship between Designer and Society

Meanings of Products are initially created by the designer who is influenced by the society of his time. However, as time passes and the world changes, the consumer products are marketed towards change, and so the society can alter their meanings. The new version of the design is now designed towards what that certain time's society expects from the design. So, the designer is influenced by the society again. Even though, the designer looks like the one in power, it is very hard for a designer to overcome a society's way of thinking at that time. In the two case studies we examined, the changes in the meaning of the exact same design were dramatic due to the time era the product was in.

After our class last week I started thinking about how interesting it was that in old times men used to wear high heels and today it is not acceptable for men to wear high heels, it is a product that is meant to be worn only by woman. The relationship between a certain design and how it is assigned to a certain gender was something I have never really questioned before. However the more I thought about it the more I realized how products get meaning not really based on what designer wanted people to interpret but rather by the society’s reaction to that product in a certain time period. As the society’s perspective on certain issues shift, the meanings embedded in the products shift as well.

Astonished by the thought of the major changes in society’s reaction towards vibrators and high heels, I started wondering about the relationship between products and gender roles people have to fit in to be accepted in a society. Products help people define and reinforce their roles in a society. Like girls in today’s world reinforce that they are girls by wearing bracelets, necklaces and rings. Gender roles are social constructs. Simply put “Based on the anatomical difference between men and women, each is prescribed varying and often stereotypical social roles that are reinforced at the individual level and by larger society”.

Gender roles are reinforced in everyday design. The first example I could think of was that women wear fancy jewelry with gemstones that are considered feminine while men wear simple, plain jewelry which are considered masculine. Then I suddenly remembered the day I found out that the fancy ring my grandmother was wearing was passed onto her from her father. I first thought she meant to say her mother. Because, you know, women are the ones who wear those fancy rings with gems on them in today’s world. I tried to correct her but she insisted on saying that it was from her father, and in fact most of the fancy diamond and precious gemstone rings in her jewelry box were once worn by his father. I was not happy about it because for me it was unacceptable. How could a man wear such feminine rings? Was he gay? My grandmother explained to me saying that back in the day, these rings were fashionable accessories that men wore. As a kid, I was very confused. However, now I can see that society constructs the meanings of products and as the world evolve; the meaning of products change according to the changes in the understandings of our society.

This critical thinking helped me realize that as I designer I could only go so far by trying to give a product its own meaning. Because it is really hard to make people see my design in my perspective, everyone will have their own understanding and often, this will be the understanding the society accepts as a whole. In the end, society re-fits the meaning of a design and customizes it in its own truth.