Designers’ theme
Consumers have a difficulty in evaluating objects when they are composed of multiple components. One example is interior which consists of furniture, clocks, wall, window, etc.
Prior works suggest that when consumers need to evaluate holistic objects, they should break them down to a list of components. Doing so helps consumers identify how much each component contributes to its holistic object. This suggest that, for instance, if consumers find the relative value of furniture, clock and wall, they will evaluate the interior. Therefore, “learning” is suggested as an important topic. If consumers are exposed to multiple interiors, each of which has its evaluation score and various interior components, they will “learn” the contribution (or importance) of each interior component and other interior rooms. In sum, “breaking down holistic objects” benefits consumers.
However, I believe that consumers can benefit by “putting together components” because doing so helps consumers infer the theme that designers create. Note that when designers design an interior, they generally set up a theme and then choose approrpriate interior components. For instance, if the theme is jungle, designers may choose brown desks and green chairs to represent trees, paint walls with red dots to represent bugs, and place a round-shaped yellow clock on the wall to represent sun. If consumers identify the theme, they will evaluate the contribution (or importance) of holistic objects more accurately without breaking them down into components.
I believe themes explain why designers choose specific shapes and specific colors. I wonder if consumers identify a designer’s theme when they see an interior? Put differently, are consumers able to reversely engineer the designer’s message? If not, how can I help consumers find the designer’s theme?
It probably would be interesting to compare the consumer behavior of easily identified theme (brown table, green chair etc.) , and the reduced theme factors (change the brown table to white). I am very interested in this topic, personally.
Thank you, Sumiko, for your comment. I think this topic has a potential to explain many things. It can be a proxy for consumers’ design evaluation and designers’ ability to design. For instance, when a product has an easy-to-identify theme (e.g., Apple), it might be viewed as better designed than a product with an hard-to-identify theme. Or, when designers use an easy-to-identify theme, they might elicit better responses from consumers than when they use a hard-to-identify theme.