Tag Archives: Designer

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How knowing the creator enhances the beauty of a design: Frank Lloyd Wright

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At the Huntington Art Museum in Los Angeles, I was captivated by a dining room table and chairs. They were not vibrant but organized. They were meticulously crafted. I could not take my eyes off these sophisticated colorful items.

Nearby, a reclining chair caught my attention as well. When I looked closer, I discovered these pieces were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Suddenly, everything made sense to me. His furniture mirrored his architecture—minimalistic, harmonious, and timeless. His work, including the famous Fallingwater, follows these principles.

This experience reminded me of how knowing the creator enhances our appreciation of a product. When we learn who made it, we love it more. This idea was supported by a research about wine, showing that a wine named after the winery founder’s grandfather boosts consumer confidence. Even Apple, under Tim Cook, continues to build on this principle. We are deeply connected to the stories behind the objects.

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Reference (Fallingwater at Wikipedia)

Fallingwater is, according to Wikipedia, a house designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935. Situated in the Mill Run section of Stewart township, in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about 70 miles (110 km) southeast of Pittsburgh in the United States, it is built partly over a waterfall on the Bear Run river. The house was designed to serve as a weekend retreat for Liliane and Edgar J. Kaufmann, the owner of Pittsburgh’s Kaufmann’s Department Store.

After its completion, Time called Fallingwater Wright’s “most beautiful job” and it is listed among Smithsonian’s “Life List of 28 Places to See Before You Die”. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976. In 1991, members of the American Institute of Architects named Fallingwater the “best all-time work of American architecture” and, in 2007, ranked Fallingwater 29th on its “America’s Favorite Architecture” list.

Eight of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings – Fallingwater, the Guggenheim Museum, the Hollyhock House, the Jacobs House, the Robie House, Taliesin, Taliesin West, and the Unity Temple – were inscribed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites under the title The 20th-century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright in July 2019. UNESCO stated that these buildings were “innovative solutions to the needs for housing, worship, work or leisure” and “had a strong impact on the development of modern architecture in Europe.”

Cases

The story behind the brand is more powerful than the brand itself

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At first, I was not attracted by the Touch Wood phone made by NTT DoCoMo. However, an advertisement introduced by the Core 77 website changed my perspective. In the advertisement, a wooden ball plays Cantata 147 as it rolls down the wooden xylophone in the forest. Interestingly, I became more engaged with the phone after watching the “making film” or the video about how the advertisement was shoot  (http://answer.nttdocomo.co.jp/touchwood/?banner=dcm3#making).

Like me, people may like a brand more strongly when they happen to know the story behind the brand. Here, the story behind the brand could be about how an advertisement was shoot like NTT DoCoMo. Alternatively, it could be about how the product was manufactured like Apple Watch Gold.

Or, the story behind the brand could even be the information about the person who started a winery and raised grapes. One study showed that people are confident and more likely to buy a wine when they read the name of the wine maker on its back label.

I believe a story behind the brand could be anything like a simple marketing process. When consumers are exposed to this kind of story about a brand, they will like the brand more, in particular, when its quality is difficult to be judged (e.g., wine, painting, quilt, cheese).

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Reference

Choi, B., & Joo, J. (2021). Authentic information on the back label of wine bottle. Asia Marketing Journal, 23(3), 13–26.

This paper investigates whether including authentic information on the back labels of wine bottles enhances consumers’ confidence and purchase intentions about wine; it also assesses the moderating role of involvement and knowledge about wine. We conducted two experimental studies. Study 1 generated three findings. First, when the back label had authentic information, subjects showed higher confidence levels. Second, this effect was hold for subjects with low levels of involvement. Finally, we did not observe this effect for subjects with high levels of involvement. Study 2 extended study 1’s findings and identified the moderated mediation effect of confidence. The findings highlight the important impact on wine choice of authentic information. However, the findings also suggest that authentic information may not be sufficient to attract people with high levels of involvement and knowledge. This study’s findings provide wine producers with practical marketing insights.

Appendix 2a. Experimental stimuli for study 2-Label Grape.

Appendix 2a. Experimental stimuli for study 2-Label Authentic.